The final chapter of our 2011 sailing adventure.

Our rush westwards was all due to our decision to go home for the Tall Ships festival in Shetland and also two family weddings. So basically we had to make bookings for a marina berth, plane tickets, etc and then as you might expect, it was panic stations thereafter, to try and make sure we actually got to our chosen berth in good time.
The result was we hammered along Sicily's south coast, rushed past the south of Sardinia, positively fled around Mallorca and Ibiza, and just made it to Agua Dulci on the southern Spanish coast in time to get the boat bedded down for the summer break.
This break being "plan A ", was to go home for the summer, attending to the various things that required our attention, then to return back to the boat and head off to the Caribbean for another year or two.
Well, Plan A got kicked out sometime in late August, and was replaced by another "Plan B" which has resulted in Linda and me back at work, the girls attending school, a car being purchased, and TV license, phone land line,etc, etc and a general hemorrhaging of money like you never saw!
The simple fact was, we had so many things to attend to back home, our planned return to continue our trip was not possible, so now we plan to stay home for the winter and return to our travels in the summer of 2012.
So anyway, with all this "Plan A / B" thing, did we have fun?, and yes we did.

After leaving Malta, we headed back to Sicily and spent a few days in a couple of marinas on the south coast. The first one, "Licata" was a brand new marina, and we got a 1st class reception. We were picked up by one of the marina staff in an electric buggy and taken to the office, and shown around the shower/toilet block, and made very welcome. The marina is still having the pontoons installed, so there were hardly any other yachts there. The town itself was just a short walk from the marina, and being an old town, there were plenty of nice views, and as usual, stunning architecture!

The wonderful thing about travelling is having the opportunity to be in "out of the way places" and learn how people do things in different ways. Here we stumbled on the fish van, except it was the fish 3 wheeler pick-up, very typical of Italy, doing a brisk trade down a narrow alley.
All too soon we were slipping off the mooring lines and heading out to sea, with an escort! This "royal" treatment also included the marina staff collecting our empty spare diesel drums, filling them up and delivering them back to our boat, great service.

We then had a  calm engine on day, but only a short 30 mile or so trip up the coast to Sciacca

Again another nice old town and a welcoming marina, although not quite a grand as our last one, much more industrial.

The town of Scaicca is an old port, active as a fishing and a commercial harbour.

The town also had a history of ceramics manufacture, as we could see from the very decorative features on the buildings.

There was a festival of some sort going on, but it must have been in a hidden location, because we hardly saw a living soul- the streets were empty.

We did find a lovely park to have lunch in, which was purchased from about the only place open, a street kiosk.

The girls measure most places by how good the breakwater is for scrambling, climbing and fishing on, so this one was quite acceptable.

The other item high on the girls list of importance was the loosing of "baby" teeth, with the obvious benefit of the "tooth fairy" calling in the night. So the loss of a tooth, which you might have thought would have been a traumatic event, was in fact a bonus, almost a pleasure!

I might keep this photo for later, perhaps to scare off undesirable boyfriends!

This was to be our last stop in Sicily, as we planned to go straight across to Sardinia, a two day sail. We had been watching the forecast, and were hopeful of some decent sailing conditions. We took on water, fuel and food, and headed off in nice relaxing conditions.

Under the spray hood is the girls favourite hideaway, shelter from wind, sun or rain. Alisha is a total bookworm, and will read the entire day if left alone.

However little sister is not so quiet, and usually looks for a more physical and energetic activity- this is their "puppy dog" game.
The sail to Sardinia was very leisurely, we had full main and genneker up most of the way, and made good speed.
The the evening of the following day we had the coast of Sardinia in sight, and eventually anchored in total black dark in what we believed to be a nice anchorage.

When we awoke next morning we were pleased with our choice of anchorage, although we were not expecting the coast to be so barren, hardly a house in sight.
After breakfast, we thought that we would press on and make our way west around the south coast.

The coast was mostly rocky, high hills and not much sign of life. We did see an occasional farm or village, and of course, an occasional yacht.

One of the things that we find very odd, is that the sailing season does not really begin until well through June, and this being still (late) May, we never saw many other yachts out and about.

Although every now and then we got a little surprise, such as these guys, the bigger red yacht towing the small yellow one.

We anchored in a small bay on the southeast corner of the island of San Pietro, which lies about a mile or so west of mainland Sardinia. The town of Carloforte is just around the corner, and our intention was to spend a day at anchor, basically use up our fresh food, then go into the town marina and restock, before the fairly long sail over to Mallorca. We always try to fit in some rowing practice, and plenty of exploring ashore.

San Pietro looked to be a nice island, and the town of Carloforte was very hospitable, with helpful marina staff, and not too expensive!! I would say that Sardinia generally has a reputation for expensive marinas.

The place was quite busy, and we spent two enjoyable days, just wandering around, shopping, eating etc, with a bit of "school" and boat cleaning thrown in.

The whole area has a "country" feel to it, not "music" I might add, but nothing too built up, and also a history of tuna fishing, which appeared to be why/ how the town was first established.

This tuna fishing is still carried on today, but also tuna farming, or at least tuna growing!

The tuna are caught in nets, and then kept in pens out in the sea, and fed, presumably until they are much bigger, and therefore more value. Also I suppose they can be better marketed.

These nets are semi permanent and very long, and the pens are close by.

There were quite a few small fishing boats working in the area.

So, it was time to leave, we stocked up in our last Italian supermarket and headed off, again another beautiful day, north west through the sound and out to sea.

This place looked to be a fish factory of sorts, certainly there was some commercial activity.

Another Mediterranean sunrise.

And strawberries for breakfast, no problem with the "5 a day" when you have fresh strawberries on board.

And here we are, Porto Pollensa in Mallorca, and we were looking forward to seeing if Hewitt and Margaret Clark were in town. We knew them from back home in Shetland, and we knew that Pollensa was their base port, so I could hardly wait to drop anchor, and get the dinghy fired up. It was a busy anchorage, with a lot of yachts, so it actually took me a while to find "Lady Margaret" their boat.

In fact it was so busy, we ended up way out in the bay, far away from Hewitt and Margaret who are on a permanent mooring, close to town.

Pollensa is a very picturesque bay, almost surrounded by very rocky hills. We spent a few days swimming, walking, eating and just enjoying the place. Pollensa is a popular holliday resort, so there were other attractions (Pint of lager !)

A spot of excerise........

....and then a rest- ah its a hard life!

The girls were very impressed by the sand sculpture artist.

We even found an area laid out as a bird watching park, with information boards about the various birds living in the park.

After a few days in Pollensa, we said our good byes to Hewitt and Margret and headed down the west coast towards Port Soller.

It is a spectacular and rugged coast, and I would say a highlight of Mallorca.

It was a calm day, so we motored most of the way.

The temperature had jumped in the past few weeks, so we were all trying to find cool and shady spots....

although there is always spelling practise to keep folk occupied.

The entrance to Port Soller, almost invisible from the North.

...but in fact, completely open from the North West. This fact makes it an unsuitable anchorage in bad weather, and especially as the holding is not too good. We had to keep a good lookout, as the harbour was very busy, and some folk will always try and convince themselves that there is plenty of room, when in fact there is not.

Happily, we had no problems, and enjoyed a fantastic three days.

We found it to be a friendly place, and met quite a few old and new acquaintances.

One guy rowed over to ask if we would like a bit of tuna- yes please, and boy was it good!

Now that is a big tuna steak, we could only get one in the pan at a time.

Port Soller has a unique narrow gauge tram running from Soller to Palma, which I had suggested that we must have a trip on. It goes right across Mallorca, through some stunning countryside.

The side windows can fully open, which was good, as it was a hot day.

Now these trams are British built, of course in a period in history when the UK could build things. I have seen "English Electric" trams in various towns and cities throughout Europe, old but still in service, beautiful traditional wood construction. And in Edinburgh, they are struggling to build a tram line, and its not even a UK company that are doing the work! now that's not progress.

The choice of restaurants ashore was good, so we picked a nice small place with tables overlooking the harbour. 

Next morning it was "up anchor" and an excellent 60 mile down-wind sail to Ibiza.

Again, leaving Port Soller, we were treated to more lovely scenery.

Now, as we were always getting closer to mainland Spain, there was hopefully a chance that we would meet up with some of our old friends from our 1st winter spent in Barcelona.

We knew that Kristor was somewhere in Ibiza, and also that Ton and Ingrid were in the area, so we were keen to reach San Antonio, where we knew that Kristor would be passing through.

On our way along the North coast of Ibiza, we could see that Ibiza also has some spectacular scenery to offer.

We spent one night in an anchorage before venturing into San Antonio. It is a busy place, with a big marina and also a big anchorage, and plenty of boats.

It was not that long after, that we spied our big Swedish friend in his catamaran, who waltzed through the maze of boats to eventually anchor next to us.

Lets say that the rest of that day was spent catching up on news and socialising!... and visiting...

.....comming for a beer?

smiles all round!

Kristor "showing off" in his slightly bigger and faster dinghy.....

San Antonio harbour seems to be a kind of yacht "graveyard" with a lot of interesting boats in various states of repair.

This catamaran had an interesting rig-

And this once beautiful ketch was laying at the pier, neglected, apparently a victim of drug running.

The Spanish authorities will eventually auction the boats that are apprehended, but it takes forever, and in the meantime, the boats are left, basically to rot- very sad.

After a few days at anchor, we had to say goodbye to Kristor and once more set sail, this time a 300 mile or so sail to our lay-up yard in Agua Dulci, mainland Spain.

We had been watching the forecast, and we reckoned that we would have some nice sailing winds.

So after the refuelling and stocking up on food and water we set sail.

At first it was text book down wind sailing, but as the day wore on, the wind increased....

and we were soon bombing along, all sails reefed.

And by the time we reached our destination, it was so windy that the entrance to the marina was too dangerous to approach so we tucked ourselves in behind this headland, the "Cabo de Gata" and laid to the anchor for a day.

Even behind the headland we were recording 40+ knots.!

And finally, three months, and over two thousand miles later, we reach our lay-up yard, Aguadulci, just southwest of the town of Almeria.

We chose this yard, firstly it was recommended to us, second its not too expensive, and third, the Almeria airport is only 20 mins. in a taxi.

So, here she is, still in splendid condition, almost 9000 miles since we left the Voe marina in 2009.

We spent the last week cleaning, swimming during the hottest part of the day, more cleaning, and generally preparing to go home for a spell. As I said earlier, we hope to return in early summer 2012 and continue our journey.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank any one who has been interested in our little adventure for following the blog.

It was almost 100% Linda's effort, and it is only due to her good nature that I ever got the chance of doing the trip.

Next blog, hopefully next June.............goodbye for now

Malta

A note to all viewers- this Malta Post was composed early this summer, not that long after we had been in Malta, but due to the very rushed nature of the rest of our summer, we never got round to actually posting the blog. So here it is, and we wish you a happy festive season.

Our trip to Malta had been talked about, but never actually agreed upon, until we found out that our friends Brian and Rosie were still in Malta, and having their mast re-rigged.

We have had an ongoing rigging problem, and the chance of having a highly recommended rigger inspect our rigging was  the final catalyst in encouraging to head down to Malta.

So we left Siracuse in Sicilly,  but due to lack of suitable wind, we anchored for evening in the bay of Porta Paulo. When we left at about 8.00 pm we had high hopes of a good night time sail, but in fact ended up motoring most of the way in a very choppy sea, rolling from side to side like a see-saw, not nice.

Anyway, as we approached Valletta harbour, the moon was shining down on us, almost lighting up our entry to the harbour. 

We had decided to head for Messida Creek jetty, where according to the almanac, we would find the customs office. We very quietly tied up to the end of the pier, and  as it was still only about 6 am, Linda went for a snooze, and I drunk some tea.

By then the sun was rising and for some reason I was feeling a bit energetic, so I set off across the town to the marina yard where we knew Brian, Rose and Alixora were berthed.I dont know who was more surprised, me at actually finding them, or them as I wandered down the ramshackle jetty that they were berthed at. We said our hellos and then had tea, as friends do.
Plans were very quickly made to have Brian and Rose over for dinner and some drinks that evening, and to catch up on the winters gossip!
Things were moving fast, but the fact was, they were more or less ready to leave, so we did want to have an evening together.

Alixora at the Messina repair berth- note the very old crane in the background- a feature of Malta, there are a lot of very old things here.

I then wandered back to our berth, to shake up our crew, who by then were mostly awake anyway.
When I got back, I was amazed to find out that we had , by complete accident berthed next to folk whom we had met almost two years ago in Portugal, Brian and Irene, on board "Dando", so even more catching up to do.
The next on my agenda was the visit to the customs office, which (obviously) was not where it should have been, and I then had to walk a very long ( by now the energy was draining) way to sign in.
Thankfully, officialdom is not too official in Malta, and things went along quickly, so I was soon on my way back to the boat with a bag of various pies- Malta has lots of pie shops, and we like pies!!
Linda and the girls were delighted.

We did not do very much that day, a bit of a walk around the harbour, but enough to get a flavour for the place.
The old boat in the background is the "Black Pearl", sunk twice, but now an on shore resteraunt.

Our berth on the end of the  pier, next to "Dando"

One of a very many "Maltese" looking day tripper boats.

They come in all sizes!

Recycling at its very best- an old cannon used as a mooring bollard.

Now this is what a great many people visit Malta to see- the fleet of old busses- and there are plenty of them!!

This takes my back to my first days at primary school. This one was lovingly restored, but some are running on a prayer and a measure of good luck.

There are all types of older vehicles to see.............

This old truck was in daily use, and why not??

I think it is great when older things are kept going, and well looked after- at least thats what  am constantly telling Linda!!

This old bike just rounded off the day- what a beauty!

We made contact with the rigging specialist that Brian and Rosie had been using, and an appointment was made for him to do an initial inspection.

Appointments are a bit "flexible" in Malta, but he was worth waiting for!
The rigger, by the name of Nicky, scooted up the mast, using a variety of mountaineering gadgets, faster that a squirrel up a tree.
This was the bit that I was almost dreading, the inspection!!, but actually all is well.
Basically we have a mast and rig that can flex, especially in heavy weather, which I do not like.
Nicky offered some advice, and we agreed that he would fit an inner forestay and running backstays, which he assured me would make the rig "Bullet Proof"
(We have now sailed a further 600+ miles and his advice was 100% correct)
All this extra rigging work took almost two weeks, so we had plenty of time to visit other parts of the town, and take in some of the history.

We first visited the museum of the "Knights of St John", which was really interesting, as we had learned quite a bit about their earlier history when we were in Rhodes.

The variety, quantity and condition of the exhibits is really fantastic.

There are examples of all kinds of armour and weapons.....

To pierce you, hack you or simply.............

Blow your brains out!!
The Knights of St John were thrown out of Rhodes by the Turks, and allowed to settle in Malta.
The of course continued to harrass the Turks at every opportunity, and eventually they decided to get rid of the Knights once and for all.
In  ??    over 38,000 Turks landed and laid seige to the Knights forts in Malta.
This was definately a David and Goliath thing, as there were only about 600 or so knights and about 3000 - 4000 regular soldiers defending. They did have immensely solid forts, which were defended with great skill. After a summer of seige, when it did look as if the very much superrior Turkish forces would succeed, a relief force arrived to save the day.
The Knights enjoyed over 200 years of unbroken rule, and Malta was built up to be a very prosperous island- the "Jewel of the Medditeranian", so much so, that Napolian Bonnaparte decided that France should have it, and that was that , at least for a time.
The unfortunate Maltese people have actually not really had much luck regarding being left alone to look after themselves, as century after century, which ever country was the most powerfull at the time had a go at running the place. Good old GB of course had a go, which of course lead to the infamous blockade and bombing of the second world war.
Its kind of funny that now, when most of the great super powers of old are almost bankrupt, Malta is so far holding its own.

Valleta town has a great many old buildings, and we spent some time just walking around and looking.

Almost all of the grand old buildings date from the period when the Knights ran the place.

And there are the "coats of arms " everywhere.

Its not hard to see the influence of the period of UK occupation.......

The princesses being taken to the Royal Ball...........

Or the princesses getting entirely soaked at the water fountain in the square!!

As we walked around the harbour, we saw some odd looking craft moored. I dont think that this one would go our too far.

The harbour was always busy, day trippers, cruise liners, regattas, etc

Finally , with the work done, and a reasonable weather forecast we said our goodbyes and set off.
Brian and Irene, showing off her injuries of the previous day.

We went a short distance up to St Pauls Bay to anchor for the night, and to give ourselves a good early start on our trip back up to Sicily next day.
We anchored just below the remains of what is claimed to be the small church the St Paul built when he was shipwrecked and lived for a short while in Malta.
The monument to the right is much newer.
We did Malta "in a nutshell" but it was a great place to spend some time.
Next blog- the final chapter!!!!            

Testing!

Just a little email to test out emailing straight to the blog which we will be doing via our satellite phone as we are crossing the Atlantic!

 

 

Alistair Tulloch & Linda Bannister onboard Islay Mist

 

E-mail:       islaymist@hotmail.co.uk

 

Blog:          http://islaymist.blogspot.com

 

Tel:            00447900578984 (Ali)   00447810443694 (Linda)