We left Malta
very early in the morning to cross the Malta
Strait to Sicily .
The Mediterranean is
divided into a Western and Eastern basin, with a narrow hour-glass constriction
in the middle. Malta
lies at the centre of this constriction,
between Africa and Sicily .
The water is very shallow in the strait, shelving from a depth of 4000m
to just 70m. and as a result, there is a fairly strong current running here,
from West to East along the northern shore.
In fact, the current has been against us all the way to Gibraltar .
We reached Sicily after
nightfall and anchored in the bay at Porto Empedocle, under the ancient temple of Agrigento
We left again at dawn and watched as the sun rose out of the
ocean. Again we had no wind and a
current against us so we motored the 80nm to our next anchorage, at Isola
Favignana. This is a little island off
the western coast of Sicily .
There we swam in crystal clear water and had a romantic dinner anchored under
the Venetian fort of Santa Caterina, perched precariously on the top of a very
steep hill. The water was absolutely flat with the lights of the village and the
full moon reflecting into the water.
 |
| Santa Caterina fort, Ils. Favignana, Sardinia |
On to Sardinia we went and here we crossed paths with our
inward track into the Mediterranean . Again, we
had no wind and did quite a bit of motoring.
We spent the night outside the port of Carloforte ,
on the island of St.
Pietro , which is just across a narrow channel from the western
coast of Sardinia .
 |
| Dawn at sea |
The trip across from Sardinia to Menorca
was very different from the previous days of motoring. We had a brisk wind of around 25-30kn. and a
sharp, choppy sea and to our disappointment, we were taking quite a bit of water
into the boat from our stanchions and around the mast. As a result, we had a delay of week in Menorca
while the repairs were done. The upside
of this is that it has all been sorted before we leave for the Canary Islands . We would have been forced to turn back to
have this sorted out if it had occurred in the Atlantic . We took the opportunity to see some of the
island on the weekend, while no work was being done. We caught a bus to Ciutadella on the western
coast and explored the delightful little town of Mahon where we were moored. This is
the town where Mahonaise (Mayonnaise) was invented by a French nobleman’s
chef. Today, Aioli is served as a dip in
all the restaurants and tapas bars. The locals also pride themselves on their
local cheese and leatherwork.
 |
| Mahon, Menorca |
 |
| Repairs, repairs, repairs |
 |
| Mahon, Menorca |
We reached Mallorca
late in the evening on leaving Menorca . We did not land but anchored for the night in
a quiet cove. On leaving our anchorage,
the beautiful cruise ship, “Freedom of the Seas” crossed close to our bow, on
its way into Palma de Mallorca. A
thunderstorm was brewing and there was lightening, lighting up the land. Fortunately it seemed to be stationary over
the land and left us be. Again in Formentera, just south of Ibiza ,
we anchored. This night we were early
enough to have a quiet “sit-down” dinner overlooking the numerous boats
anchored around us, unusual for us as until we reached the Balearic
Islands , we had seen very few boats.
We left Formentera in the very early morning and made for Alicante , our first stop
on the Spanish mainland. We pulled into
the marina but as nobody was around we tied up on the fuel dock for the
night. We took the opportunity to get
off the boat and eat a restaurant meal – what a treat! We left very early once again and made for Cartagena . This is a
delightful town, developed around 243BC
by Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian. This
town became the centre of Carthaginian influence in Europe and was used by his
brother Hannibal, as a base for his sortie across the Alps .
The town has a very Spanish feel to it, with black wrought iron balconies and
roads paved with marble. We were tied up
along the waterfront where the locals (and cruise ship passengers) took their
evening promenade and it was fun to watch the passing parade. We had to fix our windlass as, yet again, we
had found a leak. We used a tube of
Sikka which I threw away upon completion of the job. That evening Dimitri noticed one small area
that had not been sealed. In his torn
work shorts, shirtless and barefoot, he ran off to the nearby garbage bin where
I had deposited the bag and started rummaging through the garbage. People must
have thought he was a tramp. I wish I
had had my camera ready! Anyway he found
the tube of Sikka and completed our job. The next night we again anchored after a long day of motoring. We had a disturbed night as we had a swell
rolling in around the headland. When the wind dies, the boat turns sideways to
the swell and we rock and roll much
more. We decided to go into a marina for a rest the next night. We seemed set for a good catch-up sleep. Unfortunately we had a group of party people
opposite us who sang and made a nuisance of themselves till 2am., then the wind
came up and the rings on the docks holding the mooring lines of the boats
squeaked for the rest of the night! Oh
the joys of marina living!
Our last leg was a shorter one (50nm.) so we arrived in Gibraltar with plenty of daylight to spare. There were more than 60 ships in Gibraltar bay
and just outside, all waiting to refuel as Gibraltar
is a duty free zone. Several tankers in
the bay were being refueled by large fuel ships tied alongside them. We are in
a marina on the Spanish side, in La
Linea . The two
sides of Gibraltar have stark differences, the
English side with English pubs, fried fish and chips, English breakfast, the
Spanish side with numerous street restaurants, tapas bars, flamenco music… We
walked across the runway into Gibraltar and on
our way back stopped to watch a plane land, just after the pedestrian boomgate
had been lowered.
 |
| Ships await entry to Gibraltar Bay |
 |
| Gibraltar airport runway |
 |
| Gibraltar airport runway |
The Rock of Gibraltar
is an amazing place. During the
Napoleonic era, tunnels were dug into the rock, with openings through which
cannons could be aimed and up to 17,000 troops could be stationed in the rock,
complete with a command centre, hospital and
ammunition storage. There
are also some pretty caves to see and
the biggest treat of all, the Barbary Apes.
They are looked after extremely well, all being inoculated, as legend
has it that when the last Barbary ape dies, England will lose the rock.
Mary and John, our “surrogate children” who have sailed with
us before, met up with us. This is Mary’s first ocean trip but John has sailed
with us from Darwin to Lisbon . We are all working on the boat,
polishing steel and repainting wood in preparation of our trip. We leave
Gibraltar in about ten days, bound for the Canary Islands .
From there, we will travel south, down
to around 20 degrees N latitude to catch the trade winds, before turning west.
This is the route that most sailing vessels take across the Atlantic
and was first worked out by Christopher Columbus around 500 years ago.
