October 2006 - March 2007

Sicily

I left from the Greek island of Orthoni with a strengthening wind called a Meltemi blowing (the prevailing Mediterranean wind from north-west)

In choppy seas and grey skies I sailed across to the heel of Italy, and anchored on the outside of the port of Leuca in a swirling current. The anchorage was protected from the wind, and I had a reasonable sleep till the early morning.

At 4am I unsnared my anchor from a fishing net and sailed off in a light breeze across the arch of Italy's boot. In the evening I arrived at a small village of Rocello Ionica and anchored near a shipwrecked cargo hulk at the edge of the beach. It was full moon and I rowed ashore, hauling the dinghy up the sand behind the wreck, where the waves were smallest. Unfortunately the town was 4km away but I enjoyed a great coffee and dolci at one of the many little cafes in the town below a floodlit castle.

It was a thrill to be in a new country, and in a little village where suddenly the food and language was different.

The whole of the next day I sailed along the toe of Italy's boot with a following breeze. Then across the Straight of Messina all night, narrowly missing a fishing boat which was manoeuvring erratically. Finally, around 2am I entered the relative calm of the natural harbour of Siracuse. I tried berthing alongside the stone wall, but realised it was not a good idea, because of a protruding stone ledge just below water level. So buggered around with my ropes and anchors and finally anchored out in the bay at 3am and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day I took the dinghy ashore, after talking to some neighbouring yachties who explained the process of entering the country and where to find the important things, markets, laundry, supermarkets, and the old town.

It took a couple of days to slow down, but I loved looking around the old walled city, with fountains, stone buildings, gargoyles and churches. On one day I wandered into a laundromat with a mountain of clothes and met an attractive Italian girl, Cristina, who worked there. We went to dinner that night at a restaurant specialising in Sicilian fare. It felt great to be with her, and a relationship developed. The romantic feeling was heightened by the charm of the old city and living amongst the Sicilian culture.

Cristi showed me the coastline, farmlands and surrounding villages on her groovy yellow motorbike. One weekend we caught a bus to Catania then another up to Mt Etna, followed by a chairlift and 4-wheel drive bus to see a lava flow and sulphur smoke from the active volcano. Deep rumbling sounds could be heard and the mist and smoke swirling around seemed ominous.

Unfortunately a strong wind had sprung up overnight and when I returned to the boat, I was dismayed to find the stern was bashed in and windvane brackets all buckled up with the vane on the stone quay. A Sirocco had caught me by surprise, and now I paid the price for being careless.

I quickly inspected the damage, taped up the hole with duct tape and found a place to haul out. 2 months later after a lot of work rebuilding 2 metres of the stern in new steel plates and welding ribs and backstay supports, Weatherly was launched. Not after panicking one night when a big earthquake shuddered the apartment we were living in. I imagined the worst, Weatherly fallen down off her wooden pole supports and the mast in pieces. But she was fine, hadn't budged at all. Whew!

We flew to Turin to have Christmas with Cristi's parents. I found Turin to be a charming town with modern and efficient transport, fine architecture, and had a beautiful backdrop of snow capped mountains. We visited a museum of artillery, majestic buildings, a palace and forts. I also enjoyed some great mangia (food) including fine chocolate in a Chocolateria, an expensive restaurant with local dishes from Piedmont region and also some gelato (ice cream).

Then up to the mountains to stay with Cristi's dad and his family in a chalet in the little village of Claviere on the border of France. We had two wonderful days skiing in the sunshine high up in the Italian/French Alps. One of these days, high up on top of the mountains, was one of the best days of my life - fresh air, huge mountains, fantastic snow, and a beautiful girlfriend skiing next to me. Cristi and Gabrielle took us in the car over the French border to a mediaeval town of Briancon, historic for visits by Tunisian army general Hannibal in his attack on the Rome, and later by Napoleon.

We returned to Sicily and spent the next 3 months in Siracuse, with tours of the countryside on Cristi's bike on her days off. The nearby town of Noto had great baroque architecture, and the day we visited they had a Ferrari rally and a Fiat 500 show. I remembered these cute Italian cars from my visit to Europe 20 years ago, when I used to call them guinea pigs.

We also borrowed a car to see the glamorous and popular seaside town of Taormina, though fortunately there were hardly any people there.

I had some major and expensive problems with my laptop computer. After visits to several dodgy computer repair places (one even claimed they'd lost my laptop and the police were called to get it back) I gave up and bought a new machine. But the new operating system, Windows Vista, was a disaster. All system messages were in Italian and the drivers to my devices, such as printer, camera and GPS for navigation didn't work. So I downgraded and bought Windows XP, costing more time to set everything up, but at least I have a usable computer and programs again.

I was invited to give a presentation at a local yacht club about my travels on Weatherly from Sydney to Sicily. I gave an hour talk on 10th February to an intent crowd of around 70 members, showing many slides and telling short tales from each of the countries I visited. Andrea, the club secretary who'd invited me to talk, interpreted for me. They gave a resounding applause and president presented me a timber plaque from the club at the end. They also took me out for a pizza afterwards and it was a memorable and exciting night for me.

My relationship with Cristi grew and we planned to sail together, on to Australia. This was a big step for Cristi and required a lot of activities to organise, selling her bike, letting her job and flat go, selling her stuff and packing belongings onto Weatherly.

Finally, by the start of March we were living aboard in Siracuse for a week in heavy winds and rough seas slashing the coast on the seaward side of Siracuse. It as an ominous start, but finally the wind and sea tamed down and we set off on a sunny autumn day down to Porto Palo on the South-eastern tip of Sicily.

At daybreak the next morning we sailed away from Italy, on gentle seas and motored most of the way to Malta. I felt relaxed in the warm sunshine, and even made time to service the winches en-route.