Month: August 2024

We arrived in Trapani, Sicily on Saturday, August 17th.  We pulled into the marina where we were tied up next to a 90 foot sailboat and two even bigger boats on the other side of him.  Another 90 foot sailboat soon came in and tied up on the other side of us.  Here we were sandwiched in between 2 mega yachts.  We were literally the littlest guy in the marina! The nasty weather was due to arrive on Monday, and the kids would arrive on Tuesday.  Since we had decided to drive to Palermo to pick them up and show them around, Dan and I rented a car for a couple of days to do some exploring of our own and take care of some necessary errands.  He put out 10 requests to various local rental car places, and one got back to him with availability.  This was actually quite lucky since August in Italy IS their holiday time.  This also means everywhere is overrun with people….lots and lots of people.

We picked up the car on Monday and headed for the town of Marsala.  This is the region known for the Marsala wines.  After bumbling around, we stumbled on a winery and popped in for a tasting. The winery welcomed us in with open arms despite us not having a reservation, and a big group of people already well into their tour.  They had a huge table laid out with nibbles, and a multitude of bottles of every variety of Marsala.  The owner pulled aside a young woman who spoke very good English, and she quickly brought us up to speed.  When they cut people loose for the tasting, it was like a free for all.  It was a pour your own tasting and taste as many things, as much as you want.  Everyone bellied up to the banquet tables where they proceeded to park themselves and strap on the food and drink bag.  I stood off to the side, quite overwhelmed by the whole scene.  Our young hostess kept telling me to get in there and try some things.  I told her it was too crowded for me.  I am accustomed to people going in and putting some food on their plate, filling their glass and then stepping aside for others.  Nope!  Not here!  They parked two deep all around the tables like the goodies might run out.  I did eventually get in there and taste some things that were quite yummy.  She then took us outside to see a truckload of grapes coming in and being dumped into the hopper for crushing (only some of us opted to leave the “trough” to see the sight).  We were told that due to the very hot and dry conditions this year, the grapes had to be harvested now instead of in September, or they risked losing them.  After we had more than enough samplings of Marsala, we got a private tour (the part we missed with the group) of their facilities.  It was quite fascinating.  Then we ended our experience in the wine shop where of course we purchased a lot of goodies.  It must’ve been a lot since they kept giving us free stuff!

The rest of our day was spent running around doing errands (not fun).  We hit a sporting goods store to buy a new SUP (ours blew up in the heat a few weeks earlier) and a new pump (also blew up).  The salt water and salt air environment are definitely hard on everything.  We went to a hardware store for some materials for the boat, a home goods store for some new pillows, and the grocery store to get provisions before the kids arrived.  Definitely not the most fun part of our day, but the winery closed at 3:00 for the day, so we had to get that in early.  Trapani is a very lovely town.  At night, the streets come alive with people and music.  Beautiful lighted decorations arched from one side of the pedestrian area to the other creating a very magical atmosphere.  Of all the places to hunker down for 5 days, we truly enjoyed both our marina and the town.

The following day, we had an hour drive to the Palermo airport to pick up Richard and Denise.  They had left Phoenix, Arizona the day before….flew to Atlanta then Rome then Palermo.  It was a very long journey for them, but they planned to hit the ground running until they could go no more.  We headed into the city center of Palermo, Sicily where we wandered the streets taking in all the sights.  As is everywhere here, tourist season was in full swing, and the streets were mobbed with people.  We wandered the sights for a couple of hours and then headed out in the direction of the boat.  We made a stop at a sight called Segesta which housed a beautiful archeological park.  Here we explored one of the most amazing ruins complexes in Sicily.  The temple itself is remarkably well preserved and has sat unfinished for over 2500 years.  It was built in the 5th century.

Once we had our fill of the ruins, it was time to head to the boat.  We got the kids settled in, and after a much desired shower, they were perked up and ready to go again.  Since we would be leaving the following morning, we wanted to show them Trapani and the hilltop town of Erice.  At the base of the mountain is a gondola which takes you to the top of the mountain.  The views were incredible looking out over vineyards, farmlands, city, and sea.  We had a reservation for dinner at a panoramic restaurant with similar views.  We enjoyed a very nice dinner overlooking Trapani and the sea while very ominous, storm clouds rolled their way over top of us.  By now the kids were running on fumes, so we headed back down the mountain and back to the boat.

The next morning we explored a little bit of Trapani, took care of formalities for the boat and our crew and were off once again.  We had about a 4 hour day down the west coast of Sicily to San Capo Lo Vito.  Fortunately the winds had died down, but the forecasted seas were not as slight as they were suppose to be.  Before long, we were rolling around in 6 foot seas hoping the kids didn’t want to jump ship as soon as we hit solid ground.  We opted for a marina again since the anchorage is known to be quite rolly, and we wanted them to be comfortable as they adjusted to boat life.  This was a popular beach town, and it was quite adorable as well.  All the streets and alleys were strung with lights; shops and restaurants were bustling; and music was playing all around the town.  We had some dinner and wandered the streets enjoying the night life.  Before long, we headed back to the boat for an early morning start.

Our next leg was going to be a long one for our new crew.  They had agreed to do an overnight passage with us.  It didn’t require them to do anything, but it would mean being trapped on the boat for an 8 hour run followed by 24 hours.  We decided to break it up the best we could which meant an  8 hour journey to the island of Ustica.  Dan had reached out to see about reserving a mooring ball, and they said yes.  Nothing else.  That should’ve been our first sign.  The sea swell had also not died down like the forecast said (and we told the kids).  So, we spent 8 long hours trudging through 3-6 foot swells.  When we finally arrived, we saw no open mooring balls.  There was no room for us to anchor given the depths surrounding the island.  We also buzzed by the tiny harbor.  Nope, no way we were fitting in there.  Dan finally reached someone by phone, and we were promptly told there were no mooring balls to fit us (biggest one we saw said 5 ton limit….we are 16 tons).  Our crew looked very crushed when we told them we were unable to stay here and had to press on.  This meant a 24 hour passage after already doing 8 and the excitement of being finished for the day.

We rolled into Minori on the Amalfi Coast late in the afternoon the following day.  The marinero’s came out and helped tie us up to forward and stern mooring balls, and we were finally settled in.  This was a very popular spot for locals on speed boats and other motorized watercraft which meant it was incredibly rolly. We bounced around in 2-3 foot swells which was NOT fun.  The day hot so we tried to make the most of it and swim anyways.  At night time, everyone in the area left and the water was calm and quiet.  We had amazing views of the town and coastline.  The next day, Dan’s niece and her boyfriend came out to the boat to spend the day with us swimming, jumping off the boat and a nearby cliff, and having a great time.  That evening, we wandered the town of Minori taking in the sights and enjoying drinks and dinner on shore.

We were all in this particular location (and why we were covering so many miles at break neck speed) to attend Dan’s nephew’s wedding in the hilltop town of Ravello overlooking the Amalfi Coast.  We arrived Thursday evening, and when Sunday rolled around, we were all meeting in Amalfi for a 4 hour boat tour of the coastline along with swimming.  We took the ferry to Amalfi where we met up with the group (60 people!).  We were loaded on to several different boats, and off we went.  This turned out to be a very rough, 4 hour adventure.  We made 3-4 different swim spot stops, and each one got worse in terms of the sea.  Ironically, this had nothing to do with weather conditions.  It was all caused by the massive amount of power boats and ferries transiting all these hot spots and kicking up 3 foot swell and waves.  Unfortunately, this meant a lot of people were not feeling well and some became very seasick.  Many powered through and enjoyed swimming, exploring sea caves, jumping off the larger boat’s roof, and even a cliff (much to the horror of the mother of the groom and mother of the best man).  Luckily all was fine.  We returned from the boat trip in the late afternoon and then needed to move Zoe about an hour away in order to put her in a marina.  We would be heading up to Ravello for a few days and were not comfortable leaving her on a mooring ball in case weather came up.

We were tied up in a very small marina Sunday evening in a town called Cetara.  Once again, we headed out into the town to check out the scene.  The next morning, our crew headed to Naples to go explore Pompeii while Dan and I did boat chores.  Ahhhh, the joys of owning a boat.  We would meet them in Ravello in the late afternoon at our B & B.  Getting to Ravello from where we were turned out to be a very painful experience…..especially late afternoon.  We took a 45 minute ferry back to Amalfi and then hoped on 45 minute, very crowded bus to Ravello.  This entailed some one lane parts of the road and switchbacks the whole way up.  Once we arrived, we had to lug our bag up the hill some more before finally arriving at our room, a hot sweaty mess.  Tonight would be another wedding event…..a welcome party.  We wandered up to a pizzeria set on beautiful gardened grounds.  At midnight, Dan and I wandered back to the room while some of the others looked for places to after party.

The following day was wedding day.  We wandered the town with Rich and Denise exploring the views; all the beautiful, little shops with their handmade wares; and a stunning villa perched on the side of the hill.  We found a spot offering limoncello tasting and tried a variety of flavors before purchasing a few of our favorites.  We enjoyed a nice lunch, where we paid way too much for way too little, but the views were incredible.  It was time to go back, cool off and rest, and then get ready for the main event.  This was a black tie optional affair, so we were all decked out to the nines.  All the guests convened in one location until we were given the signal to make our way up to the venue.  Once again, the venue grounds and views were stunning.  The wedding was quite special as it was tailored very specifically to the couple.  We then enjoyed a cocktails and small bites reception before being escorted into the main tents for the dinner portion of the event.  Yep, you guessed it….it was breathtaking as well.  The dinner was multi course, very yummy, and beyond what a normal person could consume in one meal.  There was of course dancing afterwards, and at midnight, Dan and I said our goodbyes while everyone else went inside for the after party that lasted until 2 a.m.  We would have liked to have joined, but we had a 7:30 a.m. bus, followed by a 45 minute ferry, and a 10:15 departure from the marina for a 6 hour passage north.  Ughhhh.  I am worn out!

I have taken you on a rather long journey this go around, so I will leave you here for now.  The day after the wedding, Richard and Denise left us to go explore Rome and then head home to the U.S. the following day.  Dan and I are headed north up the coast of Italy toward Rome where we will meet my sister and brother-in-law in a few days.  Stay tuned for more adventures along west coast of Italy and various islands along the way.

We finally made it back to Zoe in mid-July.  This was definitely our latest season yet, but we had two grandkids celebrating first birthdays this year and could not miss being with them.  When we finally arrived at the boat yard, we were quite crushed to see how filthy the boat had become.  If you will recall, we had spent days polishing her up really nice.  While we did not expect her to still be clean a month and a half later, we did not expect the magnitude of dirt and mud that coated her (all the result of Saharan dust storms).  We had only given ourselves a couple of days to prep the boat before putting her in the water, and it quickly became evident that we needed an extra day.  We had a lot of work done on the boat while we were gone, some of which had problems when we returned.  We had put in new underwater lights and only 1/2 worked.  We had new standing rigging done (the cables and wires that keep the mast up) and now our anchor light did not work.  That was probably the biggest problem.  No anchor light, no anchoring.  Luckily, everyone was very responsive, and we were back and running just in the nick of time.

Once again, we had our eyes on another nasty windstorm and needed to quickly leave the area in order to meet our first guests of the season.  The wind had already begun when they slid us into the water, and we rapidly got underway.  We needed to get to the Italian island of Sardegne (Sardinia in English) which was quite a distance away.  We made our way nearly 7 hours down the south coast of France to an anchorage in order to stage for our overnight (and open water) passage to Sardegne.  I couldn’t believe we were making our first overnight passage the 2nd day of our sailing season while trying to outrun a wicked wind!  Talk about jumping into the frying pan….ugh.

At 6:25 the following morning, we were underway for the 175 nautical mile passage.  Our destination was a very beautiful island (Asinara) off the northern tip of Sardegne, and well protected from the incoming Mistral.  Unfortunately, the last 6-7 hours of our 33 hour passage were spent bashing into the waves, reducing our speed greatly.  We grabbed a mooring ball in Cala d’Oliva, in Asinara, where the donkeys and goats wandered the landscape freely.  The water was crystal clear, and the scenery was idyllic.  Ahhh, back to my happy place.  The next day we decided to explore a new cove, slowly moving us closer to our exit point but remaining protected from the Mistral.  Once again, we tied up to a mooring ball.  Here was a much bigger town with a lot more activity.  The wind had long since arrived, and this particular cove was not very well protected from the incoming swell.  By the next morning, we were pitching around in 3 foot swells hitting us on the side.  This meant that things were falling and crashing off the shelves.  We decided to abort a 2nd night here and quickly moved around the corner to another mooring ball field with better protection.  While the wind still howled, there were no waves on the bay making for a much more peaceful stay.

After 3 days of waiting out the wind, it was time to get moving.  Unfortunately, our departure did not allow enough time for the seas to die down after multiple days of very strong winds.  As we exited the small cut between island and mainland Sardegne, we found ourselves riding the bucking bronco of 3-6 foot swells.  We painfully took them on the nose for a few hours before finally being able to turn and take them from the back corner.  This made for a much more pleasant ride and gave us quite the speed boost as we surfed down the swell.  After a 7.5 hour passage, we arrived in one of our favorite towns, Alghero.  We tied up in a marina, outside the walls of the old city, and began preparations for the arrival of our first guests the next day.

Our friends, Chris and Heather, arrived the following afternoon.  This was their first visit to Zoe, and we were super excited to be able to share our adventures with them.  Once we got them settled and oriented on the nuances of boat life, we grabbed a cab and headed for a winery to enjoy a tasting.  The winery was set on beautiful grounds, and we had a great time trying a variety of different wines.  Of course that resulted in stocking Zoe’s wine coffers for the rest of our trip!  We returned to the boat to drop our goodies, and then headed into the old town where we wandered the cobblestone streets.  Alghero is a beautiful old city with lots of small alleyways containing shops, restaurants and homes.  We took Heather and Chris to a favorite restaurant that we had discovered the year before.  Heather decided to have the lobster dinner.  Much to her dismay, the waiter insisted that she come “meet” her dinner.  He tried to convince her to have the lobster with all the eggs (a delicacy) to which she politely declined.  Dinner was delicious, but I think she could’ve done without the face to face meeting of her dinner.

Since our guests only had a week with us, we were on the move every day in order to show them as much as possible.  By 8:30 in the morning, we were on our way to another one of our favorites….the town of Bosa.  This was a short 3.5 hour hop down the coast.  We found a nice spot in the bay and dropped anchor.  Once settled in, we hopped on our paddle boards and headed into the beach bar.  Dan and I were a little slow going since our pump blew out before our SUP was fully inflated.  That was a slow slog!  We returned to the boat where we hung out in the crystal clear water on our floats enjoying some Sardegne beer (Ichnusa).  Yes, this would become a daily ritual.  After, we jumped in the dinghy and headed up the river to the town of Bosa.  We wandered the streets enjoying the scenery (unfortunately it was blistering hot).  Luckily, Chris found us a dinner spot with a table right in front of a giant fan!  As the sun began to set, we jumped back into the dinghy for our cruise back down the river and back to the bay where Zoe awaited.

The one nice thing about the Mistral (nasty wind in this part of the Med) is that it is always followed by beautiful weather….this time was no exception.  Because the weather was so calm, we decided to go to an island that you can only safely visit in the calmest of weather.  It is known as Isola Mal Vente (island of bad wind).  This was another 3.5 hour sail, but the island did not become visible until we were quite close.  Apparently, everyone else had the same idea as the anchorage and mooring field were packed with boats.  We continued on to a further bay which was a little less crazy.  We grabbed a mooring ball and snorkeled the crystal clear waters.  The boys decided to go explore in the dinghy where they got into a little mischief when some very drunk girls jumped into the dinghy with them, spilling wine all over Dan from head to toe. The boys worked hard to extricate themselves from the situation without causing an international incident.  When they returned, we all jumped into the dinghy and circumnavigated the island which has some spectacular rock formations and land features.  Needless to say, Dan gave a wide berth to the Spring Break scene that was taking place on the sandbar.  We had a wonderful steak dinner on board and then headed into the beach where we had an awesome beach bonfire to top off our evening.

The following day, we were on our way again.  I told you this was a whirlwind journey (I think we wore our guests out)!  Our original plan had been to anchor in a beautiful bay surrounded by incredible rock cliffs with caves to explore.  Unfortunately, an onshore wind had kicked up making it feel very unsafe to spend time at anchor.  It had already been a very long day, but we decided to pull up anchor and head to the town of Carloforte where we would tie up in a marina.  In the end, it was a 9.5 hour passage (too long for any of us) and getting tied up in a crosswind had all four of us on our toes.  Finally, we were safely tied up and ready to relax.

We had a little later departure the next day as the wind was still a little rambunctious.  Once there was a lull, we got underway to our next destination, Porto Pino.  The wind did kick up once again, and we were cracking along, under sail, at almost 8 knots of boat speed (really fast for our big girl).  The boys decided this would be a great time to fly the drone over Zoe to catch her under full sail.  We had never done this before for fear of losing the drone in the water.  With just two of us, you can’t fly the drone, land it on a moving object and drive the boat.  This was the perfect time with me driving the boat, Dan flying the drone, and Chris ready to snatch it from the air when we brought it back down.  Problem was, Dan lost sight of it and the drone returned to its launch position.  With the motors on, I flogged the genoa (front sail), spun us around and motored back in the direction we had come from.  Before long, we spotted the drone high in the sky, and Dan brought the drone down with Chris snatching it from the air.  We realized later, we had done all of this with a fishing line still in the water…..oops….that could have wrapped our prop and ended badly!  Soon, we were back on our way to the bay.  Porto Pino is a very large, beautiful anchorage in white sand, making the water stand out as a beautiful expanse of turquoise blue.  The beach itself had a  number of lovely beach bars and sand dunes.  Since it was still a little windy (with choppy water), we decided to take the dinghy up the canal to the town and swim later when the wind died down.  We cruised up the canal and wandered the quaint little town checking out the local specialty shops and bought some goodies.  We then headed to a beach bar for some cocktails, calamari and fries.  That evening, Heather decided to do some hand fishing off the back of the boat.  We turned on the underwater lights as she dangled some tasty beef fat in the water.  As the evening got later, more and more interesting things started to make their way to the lights.  Before long, we had an octopus checking out what was happening in the water under us.  Then, something big darted in and out of the darkness.  It moved too fast to figure out exactly what it was, but everything scattered, including the octopus which buried itself in a sand divot, trying to stay out of sight.  Our best guess is that it may have been a small shark.

We were down to 2 more nights with Heather and Chris.  Boy did time fly.  We headed to our final anchorage of their visit, Malfatone.  We tucked up deep in the bay across from another nice looking beach bar.  Once again, the water was crystal clear with lots of sea grass below us.  You can usually find a lot more sea life when there is sea grass present, allowing the fish to hide.  We snorkeled and played in the water before calling the beach bar for a pick up.  At this point, we were all craving a nice burger and fries.  Unfortunately, when we opened up the restaurant menu, it was not your usual bar fare.  It was a lot of seafood and pasta with a very gourmet flair (and gourmet price).  Sadly (I know….poor us), we all found something we could live with to eat for lunch.  Don’t get me wrong, the food was very good….just not what we were all craving.  Chris managed to sweet talk one of the staff members into selling the boys a couple of their staff shirts which were quite nice.  As the sun began to go down (and it became a little cooler), we took the dinghy into a cove and hiked up the hill to the remains of a watch tower.  The 360 degree view with an ice cold beer was spectacular!

Well, the dreaded day had arrived.  It was our very last passage with Chris and Heather on board.  We were headed to the big city of Cagliari where they would leave us the following morning to make their way back to the states.  We tied up in a small marina which was half the price of the ones closer to town.  We soon learned why when the electrical breaker continuously tripped every time we turned on the air conditioner.  Uh oh…..this was going to be a long night!  We decided to head out to the heart of the city where there was a huge indoor market and called for a cab.  This was a bit of a disaster as one company kept hanging up on us.  In the end, we almost had an international incident when 2 different cabs showed up.  Dan managed to sort it out (with a little money for cab number 2, of course), and we were on our way.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to the market, they were 15 minutes from closing, so a lot of the shops had already closed.  It had everything imaginable, and I was disappointed to not have had hours to spend time shopping.  We did manage to buy a variety of yummy cheeses.  We then walked to a highly reviewed restaurant that was definitely off the tourist beat.  It was very good.  We then struggled (we cannot use our usual Google translate when talking on a phone) to get a cab back to the marina.  Luckily, a Brit had come by and spoke in Italian to the cab company for us, and we were all set.  As we sat in the cockpit relaxing that evening, the fish in the marina were going crazy.  Something very big was thrashing around making quite a ruckus in the water.  No mater how hard we tried, we could not see what was causing the commotion.  Whatever it was, we could see that it was very big as it bumped into the boats during its hunt.  We needed to make this an early night as Chris and Heather had a 5:00 a.m. cab booked to catch their flight to Rome.  The time had gone by way too fast.

Dan and I had our own dilemma.  We would be leaving Sardegne for Tunisia in order to get our boat out of the EU.  Since our boat is American flagged and not tax (VAT)paid, we are only allowed to have her in EU waters for 18 months before either leaving or paying the tax (24% on their perceived value of our boat!  No thank you!).  Our dilemma was that another big Mistral was on the way, and the marina in Sardegne had no room for us to stay until it was over.  The mistral was bringing very high winds followed by very nasty seas (6-10 feet).  Our choice was to leave as soon as possible after Chris and Heather left (Friday) or wait until Tuesday for the seas to die down.  I had no desire to anchor out during that mess, and Dan didn’t want to move to the nicer marina for 200 euro per night (can’t say I blame him).  The passage to Tunisia was going to be 20 hours, and we would barely be in front of the weather as it came in.

We walked our guests out of the marina at 4:50 a.m. and sadly said our goodbyes.  Dan and I returned to the boat to catch a couple more hours of sleep before our overnight passage.  Once up, we walked to the other end of town to start the process of checking ourselves and the boat out of Italy.  Turned out to be a fairly easy process (for once).  As we got Zoe ready to go, we soon discovered what had been making all the ruckus in the water the night before.  Swimming through the marina were 4 dolphins!  It was so great to see.  Our final challenge was getting underway early enough to stay ahead of the weather, but not so early that we arrived in Tunisia in the dark.  We were underway at 11:30 a.m. with the hope of arriving in Tunisia at 7:30 a.m. the following day.  With that, I am going to leave you here, hopefully on the edge of your seat, and we will return soon with tales of our crossing and adventures in Tunisia!  Thanks for following along with us!