We’ve been watching the weather on “Predict Wind” for the last week and all the different models seem to match and we seem to have a weather window for our return trip today. We were initially going to leave at 1900 to miss heading straight into 3 metre swell and also catch the wind which picks up from nothing to a 8kt south easterly at the same time.However, walking along the sea wall after breakfast, suggested that the swell was minimal. So we decided to leave early and motor the first few hour to miss the ever increasing wind and swell towards the end of our planed passage. This was predicted to increase to 30 kts from the south east with a 3 to 4 metre swell in the same direction.

We slipped lines at 1100 the 19th of January, gently springing off the harbour wall and heading out through the entrance and into the open sea on a beautiful sunny day with no wind. As we engined out our own swell prediction was correct. The was a metre swell heading towards us, but not breaking and we easily skimmed over it as it had a fairly long wavelength. Just goes to show, that the forecast can be out, this time in our favour. But the prediction was correct as far as the wind was correct, picking up at 1750 and enabling us to unfurl the genoa, turn off the nine and start sailing.

The wind progressively increase, also as predicted and we had a cracking sail all the way to our destination of Villasimius. The last few hours were challenging, with gusts of over 32 kts and 3 to 4 metre swell. Our boat speed was consistently over 7.5 kts, hitting over 12 kts surfing down the swell and breaking waves.

I must say that the sail was exhilarating and I personally enjoy pushing myself as each time you gain more experience and confidence, no matter how many miles or hours one has sailed.

We arrived at Villasimius at 1410 the 20th of January, reversing into our mooring, to a waiting Marta, who greeted us after travelling from Cagliari to Villasimius by bus that day.

We almost immediately ordered a cab and headed out to town by taxi and to probably the only open restaurant. We all had steak and I also had a spaghetti vongole. The food was good, but not cheap.

And so we returned to Aria, to a very well deserved rest and sleep having managed our crossing of 154 nms in 27 hours, door to door, averaging 5.7 kts, which included getting in and out of moorings and harbours.

We were going to take a train ride into Marsala, but over coffee Massimo suggested that we sail to the island of Favignana. The wind was 25 kts, a north westerly and in our favour to achieve the short 10 nm crossing.

As we slipped line, Massimo was a little late in applying power and the wind caught our bow and turned the boat through 90 degrees and pinned us port side the the pontoon, damaging our front bow metal work and bending it in several places.

Getting off in 25 Kts of 30 degrees behind the bean isn’t easy and I suggested we rig a forward spring line and try and get the stern through the wind.

We just about managed to do that and reversed out without further incidents.

We managed to have a fantastic sail and reached the island in one tack and just and 1.5 miles east of the harbour entrance. We engined the remaining way and into the harbour to access our options for mooring.

There was no apparent place for yachts of our length and draft to moor. We eventually choose a harbour wall a per the diagram below, circled in red.This proved very roly and we walked around the the other side of the harbour to access the situation there. Not many option except for mooring along side or dropping anchor and revering into wind and onto a lower part of the harbour wall.

As there in effect only two adults on board, mooring along side was not an option, especially as there were no cleats to speak of on the harbour. In fact, it was a tangled mess of large diameters lines, around bollards and some fed back to fishing boats.

So we opted for dropping the anchor and reversing. This actually would have worked out fine, had it not been for a couple of friendly locals recommending that we pull along side. So we raised anchor, reversed back into the 25kt wind, got one lone ashore and then tailed a long line from the bow, outside the yacht an into the hands of a local. All we had to do then was sweat the line in and we were along side. We ended up moored in location marked by the green circle in the diagram above.

Whilst Massimo and Alex stayed on Aria, I took a quick walk out of the harbour and along the quay wall to take in the views and snap a few photos.

In the evening we all walked into town to provision, for our onward journey. There are many patisseries, butchers and supermarkets with fresh produce, especially fish. Even for January, the town square was a bustle of locals and some tourists enjoying evening life in the local café, bars and restaurants. We managed to find a lovely restaurant, “Ristorante Ammukka on via Garibaldi”, which had steak on the menu, one of Alex’s musts and probably the only reason he agreed to visit this island. The food was absolutely excellent, Massimo had a stuffed squid, Alex the medium raw steak, whilst I had my first spaghetti vongole of our holiday. All followed by some local Sicilian deserts and coffee. A final walk through town and the back to Aria for a welcome sleep. Well that’s what we thought.

Two hours of sleep and then the fun started. The swell in the marina proved for a very uncomfortable night, wit line squeaking and jerking throughout the entire night. Although we were protected from the main sea swell, it made it’s way into the harbour and bouncing off land and other harbour walls proved not to be so sheltered.

Our second day in Trapani was started with a trip to Erice, a small town on the summit of Mount Erice, some 750 metres above sea level.

Unfortunately, the cable car that I had used to get their last time was undergoing maintenance work and so the only option left was a ATS bus ride all the way from Trapani ferry port to the summit.

We had breakfast as we waited for the 1130 bus, which would take an hour to get there.

The bus arrive promptly at 1130 and the bus ride was extraordinary beautiful as it wound its way up the narrow road with wonder sea views including that of our marina and the city of Trapani.

On arrival we immediately noticed the drop in temperature from the city of Trapani some 750 metres below.

I had come prepared as last time I was here I was caught out. This time I had dumpers and coats for Alex and myself, even so it was only e cold side and we made our way up the narrow cobbled streets to find a hostilely for a spot of lunch. It wasn’t easy finding anything open out of season and all the tourist attraction and restaurants were closed, but we found a hotel ” Hotel Moderno on Via Vittorio Emanuele” that was offering a menu of the day as well as steak for Alex.

Massimo pointing out the city of Trapani from the summit of Erice One of the lovely gardens and fountains in Erice

After lunch, we walked through the cobbled street and thought of what life might have been like for the people who established this town and the reasons that drove them to do so so high on the mountain.

There we only another two buses returning that day the 1500 and the 1830 and we opted for the earlier of the two. One to get back whilst it was still light and two we had a restaurant booked for 2000 in the modern part of Trapani.

We had to put Arba in my ruck sack to permit Arba to travel by us by public transport. Thankfully she didn’t stay in it for the whole one hour journey, Italian bureaucracy.

Back in Trapani, and a walk from the marina to the new town, approximately2 kms

We awoke to another beautiful morning on the island of Maretimmo. Massimo and I wanted to stay another day, but Alex was keen to get to the hustle a bustle of shops and restaurants so we decided hat we would head to Trapani on the Sicilian mainland, some 20 miles east. But before we did, we had another wonderful breakfast on deck and took one final walk through the village and along the coastal path. The walk, although short, provided spectacular views of the east coast and Castello Di Punta Troia.

We eventually slipped lines at 1100 and with no wind, motored to Trapani and the Marina “Vento di Maestrale”. I had stayed here before a few years ago when I visited with Ed.

The passage was uneventful when we were 500 metres from the harbour entrance announced our intentions to Trapani VTS on channel 10. Soon after we called the marina on channel 74 and within minutes were greeted by a rib describing how to enter and find our berth, great service. We reversed into our berth and by 1615 were snuggly in our new home, connected to water and electricity for the first time in 3 days, not to mention very decent WiFi connections at good speed. The office was closed, so we relaxed before heading into the city in the evening for a well deserved pizza at “Pizzaria Calvino”, apparently the oldest in Trapani.

On our way to the pizzeria, we walked along the city sea walls and ramparts and popped into a few shops and bakeries. We stopped at a fantastic ceramic and pottery shop called ” Ceramiche Perone”, to buy gifts for Marta and I was surprised to receive a gift myself from my very good friend Massimo. The shop is fantastic, full of wonderful hand made items. Some are even made on the premises.

Massimo talking to the owner, who’s proudly showing family photos of the business

Then another quick stop to a fantastic Sicilian party shop “Panificio Oddo Michiele”, to buy some fantastic Cannoli.

Finally, we arrived are “Pizzeria Calvino”, for the long awaited of fantastic pizza. Would you believe it, we even ran into a Polish couple, originally from Tczew, where Alex goes to school, at the moment. Alex was not amused and did not want reminding of Poland, let alone Tczew. Still the pizza soon made him forget and he was back in the land of the living.

Another beautiful night sail, once again watching the moon rise, although this time over sea. It started as it’s usual orange, then blood red, before turning to a brilliant white and illuminating the sea. The waves reflecting and refracting its majestic light made for an awesome and tranquil scene. Alex wanted to stay up for all this and we laid together staring at the heavens, discussing and exploring constellations. Out the blue he described how to find north using the Ursa Major ( The Plough ) and Polaris, I was impressed. Every few minutes, we would see a shooting star as it skimmed the earths atmosphere. I then asked Alex to momentarily, turn of the navigation lights so as we were in total darkness and showed him a different Universe in the sea below as Aria sliced through the water, disturbing the sea and agitating sea plankton making them sparkle like little stars and sometimes in larger pools of light.

Alex eventually retired and Massimo and myself started our night watch. It was 0200 as we approached Marettimo. Massimo had already planned to anchor off the South East corner of the island, in a bay called Conca. We arrived there at 0300 and edged our way in, but in my opinion it was unsuitable. Firstly there was swell and secondly there was no way of knowing what the seabed was like, it also looked pretty exposed. So I suggested we head for the small and only village and harbour of the island, located on the mid eastern side of the island.

As we approached and then entered our strange new home, it seemed completely different to photograph we had studied. No berthing pontoons to be seen, we later found out these are seasonal and removed for the winter months. As we edged closer to the beautifully and delicately illuminated village I decided the only option was to reverse onto the harbour wall, as pulling alongside was impossible due to one foot protruding concrete just above sea level. So we motored out some 50 metres dropped anchor and started reserving toward the harbour wall whilst letting out chain. We aimed for a spot where two sets of stone stairs dropped to form a one metre platform and this is where Massimo stepped of and I then threw him one of our stern lines, which he secured to one of the bollards on top of the harbour wall. We were successfully and safely in. After securing our other stern line, we briefly explored our location and situation, and decided to stay. We made Aria secure and retired for the night.

Alex and I awoke are 0830 and went on deck and then onto the harbour wall to briefly access and view our new surroundings. Everything looked so different to the night entry we had performed a few hours earlier, as if transformed and repainted by glorious sunlight. Quaint little white houses with blue shutters peppered the skirt of the harbour and soaring terrain towered above the only village.

After a leisurely breakfast on deck we decided to take a walk up towards the “Casa Romane” some Roman garrison buildings, well worth a visit. There is also a small Byzinetine church which is open to the public together with a small calling to prayers bell outside.

It’s a really pleasant and easy walk up to the ruins and even more pleasant coming back down through wooded pines and almost African style forna.

There are 18kms of walking trails on the island, including a summit trail and one to the castle. Apparently, there are many caves accessible from the sea, but we didn’t have the time to explore these. You could literally spend a week on this island and still have places to discover.

On our decent we saw donkeys and much flora and fauna specific to the island.

When back on Aria, we had a brief rest before heading out for the evening to a local restaurant. In the winter months you have to call early and they I’ll open and cook specifically for you. Menus are limited to pasta and sea foods and depend very much upon the catch of the day. As we walked along the quayside, we passed groups of locals fishing for squid and many with much success and wondered if this is what would be on the menu tonight.

Squid caught in the harbour, metres from Aria.

Our sailing season has opened early this year with an invitation from Massimo and Marta, to visit with them for a sailing adventure.

The adventure begins with a late night flight out from Gatwick to Gdansk. Wizzair, are now flying from Gatwick and I caught the 2130 flight, on Thursday the 9th of January, arriving at Gdansk at midnight. Everything is a lot easier in Poland now compared to several years ago, even the car hire companies stay open 24/7. So I picked my car up from Express rentals and after a few hours kip at the airport made my way to pick Alex up from the dull town of Tczew. The only good thing about this place is the road out of it. Even the advancing Russian didn’t stop here in WWII.

Alex joined me at 1345 and we made our way back to Gdansk airport and for our 1830 flight back to our home of Esher.

Much to do, including cooking steaks for Alex, packing, haircuts ( as there seem to be no barbers in Poland ), and general getting ready for our Saturday flight from Stansted to Cagliari.

The time at Stansted passed quickly with a visit to “Giraffe” for a steak and chicken Terriyaki and then onto our RyanAir flight to Cagliari. We took off on time , 1740, and with a good tailwind, landed at Cagliari 30 minutes early to a warm welcome from Marta, Massimo and off course Arba.

Our friends took us to the Sir Francis Drake, in the town centre. A fantastic restaurant and bar open 24/7.

After a long and very busy day, we were driven back to Aria, at Sant Elmo marina for a well earned rest and a peaceful nights sleep in our new home.