September 28th. – Marina di Ragusa

Sciacca is a renowned fishing harbour, thermal baths and a stopoff port for boats travelling to Tunisia for the winter. We had a couple of very jolly evenings with a delightful Swedish couple, Marie and Pelle, and their dog Milou.

We also had the best meal of the summer at Hostaria del Vicolo, tucked away in a tiny lane and fully booked on a Wednesday evening apart from the last table we grabbed. Go there when you are next in Sciacca!

 

 

 

 

We spent a couple of hours bathing, obligatory swimming cap purchased, in the thermal spa in tepid water smelling of rotten eggs. It must have been good for us.

 

 

 

Our plans changed when Terry’s sister Margaret and friends, Sue and Richard McKenzie, joined us in Sciacca. Instead of our planned cruising the south west coast, we decided to sail eastwards back along the south coast of Sicily. The weather was against us for this trip later in the week so instead of banging into headwinds and swell we had some of the best sailing weather this year, moderate westerly winds allowing Exotica to be seen at her best.

We sailed to Porta San Leone in beautiful sunny weather. This time we ventured into Trattoria Il Pescatore, we could hardly see the peeling paint in the night light. It was busy and the fish excellent.

The following morning we got a taxi to the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, Greek and Roman temples to rival both Athens and Rome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thence to Licata, another excellent sail, only marred by a 20 knot side wind while tying up at the marina against a “pirate ship” with no fenders.

A somewhat slower sail back to Marina di Ragusa, but it was the last sail of the summer, so sail we did.

The crew’s last night on Exotica entailed the obligatory hose down and Inox shine before dinner on board, a BBQ no less, accompanied by Terry’s iPod playing Wagner and Strauss to Tom Lehrer and Bing Crosby.

Our guests were booked on a flight from Palermo airport, diametrically across the island of Sicily from Ragusa.  So we hired a car and made our way to the seaside town of Terrasini.

Lunch at Caltagirone, famous for their tiled steps, and just out of Piazza Armerino, the fascinating Villa Romana di Casale. Built in the first quarter of the 4th century containing the richest, largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world.  There were signs forbidding photography so we didn’t take any pictures despite the fact that most of the other visitors took no notice and flashed away happily.

We delivered our guests early to Palermo airport after the breakfast component of B&B, a coffee and croissant at a local cafe.

 

 

 

 

 

Then drove to the north west of Sicily to the mountain top town of Erice, 750 metres above sea level overlooking Trapani.

 

 

 

 

 

Known as Eryx to the Greeks it has a history stretching back to the Phoenicians.

It is crammed with ancient churches, palaces and towers on narrow cobbled streets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we drove back along the south coast to Modica, founded in 1360 BC. Another picturesque steep hillside town, it was destroyed by the earthquake of 1693 after which the 29 churches were restored in the baroque style. It’s other claim to fame is the chocolate factories influenced by the Arabs during their occupation.

On Sunday 28th September we waved goodbye to Exotica in her home port of Marina di Ragusa. It took a week of servicing, scrubbing, oiling decks and packing to get her into pristine condition to leave in the care of Anne and Stephen from Wandering Dragon, who will watch over her until our return.

 

 

So we come to the end of our first year of Mediterranean cruising.

It’s been full of adventures, we’ve learned a great deal and made most of the mistakes of beginners.  We were certainly a little unlucky with the weather.  Everyone agrees that it was not a good summer in the Med. June and July saw multiple weather systems with heavy winds around Sardinia and Corsica causing us to spend much time avoiding them.  We weathered a couple of quite nasty storms.

Altogether we travelled 1,676 nautical miles in 57 sailing days.  We used the motor for 262.9 hours and had 14 guest crew plus 10 day sailors.

We have met some marvellous and fascinating fellow sailors on the way and we have learned that things go wrong with them too.  In fact the motto of yachtsmen seems to be “There is always something!”

It was probably a mistake to spend August in the busiest and most expensive time around Capri, Amalfi and the Bay of Naples.

Our time in the Aeolian Islands and Sicily have been stunning and we had some excellent sailing particularly in the final month of the cruise.

Next year we plan to return to Exotica in mid-April and take off for a mini-refit in Malta.  From there we hope to sail up the Adriatic coast of Albania, Montenegro and Croatia as far as Venice.  We intend this to be a more leisurely cruise than 2014 with a greater proportion of the time spent at anchor around the islands of the Adriatic.

We have also had some wonderful crews during the year and hope they and others will return in 2015.

Sciacca –  September 10th. 2014

We continued our journey down the east coast of Sicily stopping for two days in Catania, the second largest city on the island and a busy seaport. The yacht marina is on a rather ramshackle pontoon but despite that we managed to get two important repairs done to the chart-plotter and the air conditioning.

After a jolly dinner party on board Deborah Humble left us at 5am the next morning. Later in the day we explored Catania.  It is pretty grimy and uninteresting around the port but the centre has quite some charm if somewhat faded and the open air markets are a feast for the eye although very wet under foot in the fish section.

 

 

 

One expects extra fresh food in such markets but they won’t let you choose your  own. He can’t have liked the look of us as the bag of tomatoes we bought were rotting the next day. Where was our Diva to charm him!

 

 

 

 

 

From Catania we motored over a glassy sea to Siracusa where we arrived mid-afternoon.

 

 

 

 

This is Syracuse, a city of much power in classical times.  We took a walk around the island of Ortiga, which together with the harbour, was the reason why the city was to rule the Southern Mediterranean for so long. Now, as so often in Italy, it is faded glory with a seafront of impressive buildings which appear deserted and even the occupied ones have plaster falling off the walls.  The centre of the town, however, is much smarter, full of designer and art shops for tourists.

We had planned to spend a couple of days in Siracusa to explore more thoroughly but on awakening the next day Julie checked the weather which forecast a strong Mistral headed our way.  We were on a mission to find a place to overwinter Exotica and did not want to be holed up in Siracusa for a week so made a quick decision to leave for Ragusa, a large marina on the south coast of Sicily.

So within twenty minutes of making the decision we were on our way.

We motored for many hours but once round the south-east corner of Sicily the wind came in and we had a few hours sailing and arrived in Marina di Ragusa to a warm welcome from the marineros.  The next morning the westerly wind came in with a vengeance, it blew for 6 days covering the boat with Sahara sand and thick salt. We doubled up the lines and were comfortable and secure.

Marina di Ragusa is a large and fairly new construction, well laid out and tidy with really excellent, helpful and pleasant staff.  It is a favourite place for live-aboards.  These are people, nearly all couples, who have sold up everything to live on their boats.  They cruise the Mediterranean during the summer and hole up in marinas during the winter.  Ragusa is very popular for wintering and we met people who have returned here for a number of years running.

Many have already returned for the winter so we took much advice, the outcome is that we will leave Exotica in Marina di Ragusa over the winter where we are very happy that she will be secure and cared for. This is a great relief and means that we can enjoy the last few weeks of this year’s cruise without the anxiety of not knowing where we will end up.

We stayed in Marina di Ragusa for a week and got to know some of the live-aboards very well.  Went to their regular Friday night drinks session, they have a very active social life when all the boats are in for the winter.  It almost made us feel like staying on.

During our enforced sojourn in the marina we took a bus to the town of Ragusa.  Another place of great antiquity and power in classical times although destroyed by the earthquake of 1693, along with most of the south east of Sicily.  It was rebuilt in two parts, the upper town, Ragusa Superiore, is the current modern city while Ragusa Ibla, is built on the site of the destroyed city. Stunning Baroque churches, palaces, museums and colourful houses built into the side   of a steep ravine.

The walk down to Ibla, is accessed by a very long and steep set of stairs.

The town itself is marked by narrow streets and a wide central piazza dominated by the Cathedral.  There are also multiple other churches, almost as many as houses.  We speculated as to where all the congregations were to be found to fill them.

 

We had an excellent lunch at a sidewalk restaurant where we were serenaded by an accordionist playing the theme from the Godfather.  There is a rather ‘Don’t mention the war’ attitude about the Mafia.  Some deny that it exists.  Terry is currently reading Midnight in Sicily, a book about the Mafia and if half of what one reads is true then I don’t think I would be playing that tune on an accordion.

Once the winds had abated we set off for a leisurely cruise along the south coast of Sicily, stopping first in Licata, another popular marina for overwintering.  Here the marina is close to the town and the shops but has the reputation of covering the bottom of boats with a forest of growth.

 

There is a great Arabian influence in the tiny streets near the port where the balconies on both sides seem almost to touch. Tiny produce shops with groups of men passing the time of day outside. One could only see women on the balconies, usually smoking cigarettes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sailing from Licata we could see the mausoleums in the cemetery on the hillside characteristic of this area.

 

 

 

From Licata we had another short motor to San Leone, we were guided through the shallow entrance to the small marina full of RIBS and small motor boats. A dusty and rather downtrodden town overlooked by the city of Agrigento.

 

It was Julie’s birthday and we were determined to eat out, however the best restaurant in town, we were assured by the female harbourmaster, did not look so splendid in the daytime.

 

 

 

 

 

We settled for one adjacent to the petrol station which turned out to be very elegant with excellent service and delicious food.

 

 

We have now arrived in Sciacca, (pronounced ‘shacker’) yet another hillside town.  There are 241 steps up to the main square from the port but the town looks charming. It appears to be a centre for ceramics and almost every second shop is filled to bursting with gaudily painted pottery and tiles. We don’t have any room for them on board Exotica.

Here we plan to stay for a few days and meet our final crew for the year, Terry’s sister Margaret and friends Sue and Richard McKenzie. We plan to explore the south west of Sicily while they are here and then head back to Ragusa.