Last Sail of the Season

After our passage from Greece and arriving at Siracusa, we were looking forward to a good nights sleep and a lazy morning. However, early in the morning we heard knocking on the boat and someone calling us. We hurriedly got up and went to see what was going on.

Some fishermen were outside and not very happy as we had laid our anchor over their fishing nets. We had to lift the anchor while they pulled their nets out from under the chain. Thankfully it was just our chain over the nets and not the anchor. They managed to get all of their net up without any damage, After giving us a bit of a talking to (that we should be mindful of where their nets are before dropping our anchor) they were on their way. If only they could mark it with something more visible than a small milk carton, there was no way we could see that in the dark when we arrived!

We moved over to the other side of the bay and relaid our anchor away from any fishing pots. It was a clear sunny day with views of the historic buildings along the waterfront and Mount Etna in the distance.

There was quite a lot activity in the harbour with enormous cruise ships arriving and departing. It was entertaining watching them manoeuvre between the sailing boats anchored in the bay, they certainly like to sound their horn if anyone gets in their way!

After a couple of days there was a good wind forecasted to take us around the coast to MdR. The journey is 60nm which we estimated would take us 12 hours and so we decided to leave at 3.30am to give ourselves plenty of time to arrive at the marina before the sun went down.

With very light winds and a flat sea, we departed Siracusa and headed south under engine. We left in the dark with the moon lighting our way, it was not long before we could see the suns rays coming over the horizon.

The forecast was for the wind to pick up to a force 3 from the east after a couple of hours and by sun rise we had a perfect sailing wind.

We reached the bottom corner of Sicily, passing the tuna factory’s around Porto Palo, then headed west for the last leg of the journey. Just as we could see Marina di Ragusa in the distance the swell picked up and the wind was unsettled shifting in all directions. This made the sails flap so we took them down and motored the last few miles finally arriving at MdR at 2.30pm.

We had a great welcome as we arrived at our berth, with some friends waiting on the dock to cheer us in. We are now safely tied up for the winter months and looking forward to getting back into marina life for a while.

Summary of our Sailing Season 2021:

• 168 Days of the season
• 438 Hours underway
• 2137 Nautical miles travelled
• 114 Nights at anchor/underway
• 30 Nights moored to a quay/marina (Italy-4, Croatia-9, Greece-17)
• 24 Nights out of the water (Baotić & Ionian Marina)
• Furthest point North – Opatija 45°18.82’N
• Furthest point South – Porto Palo 36°40.35’N
• Furthest point East – Vónitsa 20°53.17’E
• Furthest point West – Pula 13°47.64’E

These salty sailors now need some serious grooming before resuming a land based life!!