Northern Sicily

The trip accross was long and fairly lumpy. We had a nice beam wind most of the way though so we were able to sail and keep the average speed close to 5 Knots most of the way. There were no incidents. There were squalls around but we led a charmed life and got lightly rained on just once and didn’t get punched by any heavy squall winds. I did the shift from midnight till dawn and got all the way through my first Jon Grisham novel on Lindsay’s iPod. A wonderful invention – mad the long boring night pass fairly quickly.
Shortly after dawn we got our first glimpse of the Egadi Islands just to the west of Sicily. It took until 1.00 to get to them. We had intended to moor there but found that the pontoon had been taken up for the winter. Knowing that all the mooring hardware would still be down there, thirsting for our anchor, we decided to go straight on to Trapani on the mainland and got there at 5.00.
As we motored down to the marina in the deepest part of the harbour, a man on a pontoon waved us in. I thought the layout must have changed and in we went. It subsequently turned out that it was a new marina and the original one is still there further down. It was a happy occurrence though. They are both teh same price (€50 for us) but the new one, called Cantiere Navale, was one of the best places we have stayed. It has all facilities – including excellent security, friendly staff, a free washing machine, free electricity, free WiFi and potable water. There is even a nice little seating area with coke & coffee machines and chairs. We stayed two days.
From Trapani, we had only 4 days to get close to the Aeolian islands and pick up Mike and Linda so it was days of long passages and short stops. The forecast was fairly rainy and unsettled and the north coast of Sicily is very mountainous and steep-to so there are not many places to stop anyway. We decided to put as many miles behind us as quickly as possible in case of bad weather later.


We stopped at Femina, Cefalu and St. Agata Militello. As we approached Femina from the West, we went between the island and the mainland over an area charted as 5M. A fisherman shouted at us that it was only 2 Meters and I had some difficulty explaining that we draw less than one. In the event, the depth got down to only 1.5M in one place with rocks below – so if you’re following us and not in a Southerly – round the island would be much more sensible!
Femina was a nice little fishing port. The pilot says that mooring is from the quay – but this isn’t true. It is completely choked with fishing boats. There is a pontoon round to the right run by an Ormegiatore. No English spoken and no receipts given despite a great deal of form filling and bureaucracy.




Cefalu was lovely – a real Gem. We were sorry not to be able to spend a day or so there. It has winding medieval streets which seem to be perfectly preserved and the Cathedral is stunning.A huge, very plain nave with a huge ancient freso behind the alter. The walk from the port to the town takes about 20 minutes but very pleasant. There is a well hidden footpath that goes right down by the sea.
St Agata is now providing good shelter as the mole has been extended and hooks around. Helm Yachting (part of Kiriakoulis) runs a charter business from here and provides a really excellent service for their modest fees. At weekends though, the pontoon is likely to be full of charter boats so weekday arrival is a good idea. They provide a free taxi service to a local supermarket and to a local restaurant.
An excellent fish shop lives on the se front on the way from the quay to the town. The lady in there is very friendly and speaks excellent French.
Mike and Linda arrived by train in the afternoon. We stayed overnight and then set off to see the volcanoes in the Aeolian islands.....




.... And back to Milazzo to drop Linda and Mike and pick up Marion and Hugh.
The place is a complete Rip-Off. It was the most expensive marina we've been to anywhere - €60 for a 10 Meter boat in the off season and with pretty much the poorest facilities. It'a just a few pontoons in a corner of a busy commercial port. Ptrovisionas are a real expedition - although the fish when you find it is excellent. The marina has only one combined toilet + shower for each sex and those are dirty and with no thought to how you stow your clothes without them getting soaked. The queues in the morning have to be seen to be believed! Electricity and water are extra and metered (meanly). No intenet of course. We won't be going back there ever!

The journey along the final stretch of the north coast is bland and surprisingly long until you get to the Straights. We were expecting a rough ride but compared to Husrt Narrows it is a pussy-cat. We pulled into Reggio Calabria a couple of hours later poised to tackle the east coast.