In the Ionian and on the mainland!

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Jo F

Finally, we have managed to get ourselves over to mainland Italy and into the Ionian Sea. We left Siracusa at 1800 just as this amazing motorised trimaran arrived. I have never seen anything like it.

We have really enjoyed our time in Siracusa, if only for the entertainment value of watching others moor stern to with their anchor – some nationalities appear to think that it’s an optional extra. It has been brilliant spending a few days just chilling and playing tourist. I think it has helped both of us to relax. The sail or motor over, to be more accurate, was pretty uneventful. The swell was moderate so we both managed to get some sleep during the 16 hour passage. The only memorable moment was sunrise. 

We arrived at 11am into Roccella Ionica and went straight to the Fuel Pontoon as we were planning on leaving early tomorrow. Having phoned the number on the fuel berth, a chap arrived about 50 minutes  later, which I think is quite prompt for Italy. The marina itself has finger pontoons, a rarity in the Med, although they are styled on the French ones so that they are incredibly unstable and only go half way along the length of your boat! Still, at least we didn’t have to deploy the gangplank and we will have an easy exit tomorrow having reversed into the space.

During the afternoon, a number of other boats came in and it was lovely to see so many different nationalities. On our pontoon we have Dutch, French, Swiss and ourselves. Not one visiting yacht was Italian.

We were planning on going into town to explore but Nimmie had other ideas. As water and electricity are included in the overnight stay price, we washed all the sand, sea and grime she had collected since leaving Malta almost a week ago. We pretty much did the same to ourselves as well!  We also found a leak in one of the hatches so that was taken apart and mended. All in all, we are still sitting in the cockpit at 1930!

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Staying a while longer

Posted on May 13, 2017 by Jo F

We had intended to leave tonight, Saturday, but there were supposed to be some very strong winds forecast to blow down the Messina Straits today. Other forecasts show a different view but the swell is still big from the the SE winds coming up from Africa that managed to cover Nimmie in orange sand. There’s not much we can do about that at the moment as we don’t have access to water and don’t want to use up a precious commodity. Jo also woke up full of cold so we are going to enjoy another free night on the town quay. Some boats have left but others have come to join us. It seems that everyone who walks by wants to chat about the boat, where we have come from, going to or just passing the time of day. It’s almost as if they feel they can talk to you if they see you in the cockpit, despite the fact you might not want to! The latest were Darius and Marius, two Polish guys who are on a Norwegian flagged boat on the quay. They wanted us to keep an eye out on their boat whilst they went out to a bar. I did try to point out we’d been here three days and not had any trouble. Yesterday, we took advantage of our extended stay to wander around the streets of Ortigia and be a tourist for the day. There are many alleyways and pedestrian zones although you wouldn’t know it by the number of cars and scooters that go up them. Clearly, traffic restrictions are for guidance only. The ramparts are very reminiscent of Alghero with restaurants and bars overlooking the sea.

We spent an hour or so going around the Castello Maniace that guards the entrance to the harbour. The entry fee was €2 and great value for money.

After a liquid lunch stop in Archimedes Plaza, which has Diana’s Fountain (sadly in the middle of a busy roundabout), we went in search of the relatively new museum dedicated to Archimedes and Leonardo da Vinci. It was a fascinating visit showing many interactive inventions from the two men, including what may well be the earliest type of lifebuoy!


Today, we took a Hop On, Hop Off bus around Siracusa and Ortigia for the princely sum of €5 each. Whilst we had seen many of the spots, it was nice to get our bearings again. We visited the Basilica Sanctuario Madonna Della Lacrime, which is a very modern church with a copy of the Turin Shroud (not sure why it was there). A very late lunch and then a bit of retail therapy for Liz will be in order.

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Practice makes perfect

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Jo F

After a wonderful night’s sleep, we awoke refreshed and given that the forecast hadn’t changed, we called the harbour master to seek permission to move onto the free town quay. There aren’t any lazy lines so you need to drop your anchor as you motor back towards the quay.  All went well although the rings you use to attach the lines are low down on the wall and far apart – think they are designed for super yachts! Just as we were finishing, a tourist boat came in and told us in no uncertain terms that we were in their spot! So, we upped anchor and moved out of their way whilst trying to get hold of the harbourmaster to find out which berth we could move to. As we couldn’t get hold of anyone we decided to chance it and went into P7. Two harbour officials then turned up to inform us that P7 was a double berth and we needed to shift either right or left. To say it wasn’t obvious is an understatement. So, we moved for a third time (upping the anchor again!) and this time they appeared happy.

When you anchor in the bay you don’t need to present any papers but, apparently, when you use the town quay you do, so we traipsed over to the Guarda Costiera (Coastguard) to present our papers and duly completed form. As it happens we arrived at 3pm just as the office was reopening after lunch but only for the next hour otherwise it would have had to have been at 9am tomorrow.  So, all in all, it had taken us the best part of 4 hours to move half a mile!

We could stay here for free for up to 5 days but we are probably leaving on Saturday evening for our overnight sail to Roccella Ionica on the sole of Italy. We are now safely moored under the old walls of Ortigia. It has been overcast all day and even rained for an hour or so!

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Finally, the adventure begins

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Jo F

Finally, we were ready to leave Malta but the weather was trying to thwart us as it had been quite blowy overnight Monday and all day Tuesday.  We thought the sea might be a bit rough so we left it as late as possible. It did seem sad to leave somewhere we had got to know so well having been there for two and a half years. So, after our goodbyes to Peter, we did a quick shop for bread etc before casting our lines for a final time.

The wind was coming from the west which was perfect for us to be going NNE towards Siracusa. The waves were described by the coastguard as moderate to rough – translated as more rough than moderate so it was like being in a washing machine for the next 8 hours! However, we persevered and, according to our electronic stalker, we topped 7.7 knots. The sea had calmed down considerably by 3am so the second half of the trip was much easier. We arrived into the harbour at Siracusa around 10am, both knackered but happy to have started our 6 month adventure in earnest.

The natural harbour at Siracusa is huge, so much so that a cruise liner was anchored in the middle of it when we arrived. The regulations have changed for boats since we were last here in late 2014. You have to ask permission to enter the harbour and they also tell you precisely where to anchor. We had a very nice chap this morning giving us these precise instructions – “anyway in the middle next to the sailing yachts”!  So that’s what we did.

As our next stop is another 90nm we will need to do an overnight sail again so we arrive in the light, especially as we have never been there before and the entrance can be “tricky”. The forecast for tomorrow night is for moderate winds but a big sea following bad weather in Malta. We could have gone tonight and missed it but decided to rest instead and enjoy the fabulous ancient city of Ortigia for the next couple of days.

Apparently, you can now moor on the town quay for free so we will ask to move there tomorrow to avoid the swell that will come directly into the harbour. We can then easily walk into town rather than take the dinghy in.

The other bonus for not going tonight is that Liz has an opportunity to trial her fish finder for the first time! We’ll keep you posted on developments……

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Nearly there

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Jo F

Sunday was a day of planning and exploring. Planning the routes and waypoints for the various combinations between Malta and Brindisi (where we need to be by May 31st) and exploring parts of Valletta that we hadn’t seen before.

As always, the planning takes longer than expected as we have various options when we leave – north to Syracuse in Sicily to anchor in a lovely sheltered harbour or NE to Roccella Ionica on the sole of Italy. It will all depend on the sea and wind conditions. I know the forecast is for a NW wind on Tuesday evening but it was supposed to be that today and it swung round to the SW by 2pm!

As it’s likely that we won’t be in Malta again (but who knows), we decided to go into town on Sunday afternoon and visit the war rooms underneath the battery at Barrakuh Gardens. We arrived just at 4pm when the Guns are fired on a daily basis.

We then went to the Lascaris War Rooms that were built into the rock and housed the HQ of the defence of Malta during WWII. It was an interesting hour spent looking at how the operations rooms were set out and the tactics used to defend the island. There was also a film made in 1943 after the blockade was lifted, narrated by Lord Olivier.


We caught the ferry back to Sliema for a farewell drink and then on the walk home came across a newly installed memorial for the 89 lives lost on the submarine, HMS Olympus, that hit a mine in 1940. Very poignant after the afternoon we had spent.

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In Malta for a few more days…

Posted on May 6, 2017 by Jo F

The original plan was to leave Malta tomorrow (Sunday) to take advantage of favourable winds and sail north to Syracuse in Sicily. However, the jobs list, whilst significantly smaller, is not yet complete and the shops we need aren’t open again until Monday.

We’ve spent the last two days continuing to get Nimrod ready. The 70m of new chain was duly delivered and had to be measured and marked so we know how much chain we are putting out when we do anchor. We did a large supermarket shop, which they kindly delivered. We walked miles between shops, chandleries and the marina. We also paid the marina for the extra nights we are staying over and above our contract. They gave us a very generous discount by calculating our extra nights as if we had a summer contract with them so it meant we paid less than half the daily rate.

Someone once said that boat jobs always take at least twice the time you think they will but I reckon that it’s three times. A case in point is the electrical socket below. It sits very close to where the speed log is and we pull the log out each time we leave the boat so that it doesn’t get clogged up with barnacles etc. Over the years, water must have been splashed onto it and you can see that it’s looking a mess. No problem, we thought, we’d just replace it and duly brought one over from the UK. Should take 5 minutes. Trouble was that the new one has a different arrangement behind the front plate and doesn’t fit in the hole in the wood panel! So, instead Jo spend an hour cleaning the old one up and putting the new one back in its packaging.

 

We decided we would host a get together of any members of the Cruising Association who were in Malta by putting an email out to the Med section. There were 7 of us in total although two couldn’t make the actual dinner or drinks beforehand on Nimmie but they did meet us at The Royal Malta Yacht Club after we’d finished eating. It turns out that most of us are making our way to Croatia this season so it was good to swap plans. A lovely evening was had and the walk home took all of 3 minutes for us!

Having decided on Saturday morning that we would delay our departure, the pressure was off a bit. There is a blow coming through Monday so it will probably be either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning depending if the sea has died down by then. Having spent Sat morning doing admin, we indulged Liz as she wanted to go to a large DIY store in Birkirkara, which entailed two buses and a yomp through an industrial estate and past the Cisk (pronounced Chisk) brewery.

 

We decided to walk back as it was less than an hour and was better for us than getting the bus.  On the way we even found a Lidl – good to know when you’re just about to leave a place! We also went through some lovely residential areas. Finished the day off with a Pimms sitting in the hammocks. Lovely.

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Very sad to nearly be leaving Malta

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Jo F

I can’t believe that it’s already Weds and I haven’t written a blog for four days! At least one of our followers has already berated us so apologies 😉.

Liz duly arrived around 1am on Sat eve/Sunday morning and again after unpacking etc, it was nearly 2am before we got to bed. We tried to sleep in and managed until 8.30am but then decided we had too much to do! As it was a bank holiday weekend, not a lot was open either Sunday or Monday so we spend the day on Sunday doing chores on the boat that needed two of us. However, first of all, we went for a run. This was supposed to be a 5km run at most as Jo hadn’t run for a couple of weeks and Liz had run that distance on Saturday morning before she flew out.  However, by the time we had got distracted with fishing, sightseeing and gangplanks (more about that  later), we ended running well over 6km and for far longer than we had intended. We did get to see Manoel Island in more detail with some splendid vistas across the harbour. Manoel Island has been used as a quarantine centre, a hospital and also a fort. By the time we got back and had breakfast or brunch, suddenly it was the afternoon.

Monday morning was spent trying to work out how we are going to affix our new gangplank. For those of you who have visited us, you will know that our gangplank was purloined from a building site in Gibraltar in 2012 and then promptly split in two after the first month. So, you could say that we have had good use out of it! We did decide, though, that the time had come to replace it with a somewhat sturdier version.  You’ll have to wait and see how much sturdier and safer this one is. In the afternoon, Jo went diving as part of her Advanced PADI to a reef in the harbour where she saw a seahorse in its natural habitat. Unfortunately, she didn’t take her camera with her so is dependent on the dive school to share the photos. She also dived onto the wreck of HMS Maori, which saw action in the sinking of the Bismark as well as protecting the Med Fleet during WWII. It once again brings home how much the war impacted Malta. So much so, that the HQ of the Med Fleet was in a house just opposite the marina.

 

Tuesday was an early start for Jo as she was going to the neighbouring island of Gozo for the final two dives of her course. One was a ‘Deep Dive’ down to 30m and the other one a ‘Naturalist Dive’ that was about identifying various forms of aquatic life. It was amazing to be that far down into the ocean.

After coming back from Gozo, Liz joined Jo for a celebratory drink with Leo, our lovely Open Water Padi instructor. We then couldn’t be bothered to cook so went to our favourite local restaurant, Mamma Mia for a late meal. Great value for less than €40.

Weds has definitely been an expensive day. We decided that after  20 years we should replace the anchor chain. Some bits had rusted and it had lost all of its galvanisation so we bit the bullet and order 70m of new chain. Luckily, they gave us 10% discount so it ended up costing around €380, which isn’t bad at all, and we can rest easy that between the anchor and the new chain we will be able to anchor a lot over the next six months.

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The beginning of the adventure – sort of!

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Jo F

I arrived late on Tuesday evening, having waited for the plane to disembark (too many passengers in passport control) then waited for the luggage (no explanation) and finally for a taxi! By the time I got to the boat, it was well after 1am. I still needed to get on board, connect the electricity and make the bed. By 2.30am, I was finally in bed. You can imagine my joy when a boat came in  next to us at 8am and then Peter delivered our new gangplank at 9am. I gave up then and got up!

Wednesday was spent shopping and generally sorting the boat out. I wanted to spend a relatively quiet day as I had my Advanced Open Water Diving course the following day. The course comprises of 5 dives, the first two were Underwater Navigation and Buoyancy. We went to two wrecks but unfortunately operator error meant the Go Pro failed. The picture is off the Internet. Wreck X127 was used in Gallipoli in WWI before being sunk off Manoel Island, Malta in WWII.

Suffice to say that I slept like a log on Thursday night. I was supposed to finish my course on Saturday but we had work being done on Nimrod then so I’ve postponed the rest of it to early next week.

The boat is in good order generally although we haven’t yet taken her out for a shakedown sail. I have given her a good clean inside and ensured things are working such as the fridge, bow thruster, engine starts – that sort of thing. Peter’s son, JP, had to dive down today (Saturday) to scrap the hull as the growth was bad. It really does seem that our coppercoat is not keeping the growth at bay in the warmer climes of the Med.

Kurt, the electronics engineer, was due to fit a new loudhailer and VHF antennae but his co-worker who goes up the mast had decided to go sailing for the weekend (can’t say I blame him!) so they are coming back on Tuesday. As I’m writing this, Liz is in the air having finished work for 6 months so she should be with me by 1am. And then the adventure can truly begin!

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A short but profitable visit

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Jo F

We had decided that we needed to go out to Malta at the end of Feb to check on Nimmie but, more importantly, to get some new electronics fitted. We had bought a transmitting AIS (Automatic identification System) at the Southampton Boat Show back in September and wanted it fitted before we set sail in May.

It transmits our position so anyone can track us via various apps like Marine Traffic or Ship Finder and of course, any boats in the vicinity. Just search on Nimrod of Tamar. This is additional functionality to the old AIS we had that only showed us the position of other boats.  An engineer Peter knew came and fitted it in less than 90 minutes. Very impressive.

We also had the new tender to check out. It’s considerably lighter than the old one, so much so that it can be carried as a backpack, and hopefully, with UV resistant glue! Apart from that, it was good to also clear some stuff off that we are no longer using, such as charts and pilot books for the Atlantic Coast and Northern France. Since we’ve been back we have already passed them on to others who are doing a similar trip down to the Med.

Whilst we were there, we bumped into Sheila, an old friend of Liz’s. She was staying on a converted trawler along the pontoon from us! One or two G&Ts were consumed in celebration but not many chores were completed after sun down. The fridge appears to be working well now. So much so that I can report that ice has finally been made!

Before we knew it Sunday morning was here and we said goodbye to Malta once again. Next time we are there it will be the start of our 6 month adventure to the Adriatic – can’t wait!

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New season, new gear

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Jo F

We haven’t managed to get back to the boat since we ‘winterised’ her at the end of September. Life in the UK has got in the way but she has been admirably looked after by Peter, our caretaker. We have given him a list of jobs we needed doing over the winter and look forward to going out in a couple of weeks to catch up. In the meantime, it became apparent in September that our tender had an irreparable leak. It was probably our fault leaving her in direct sunlight during the hottest time of the day in Favignana in June but I suspect also due to the fact that we have been using her in the Med for the last 5 years. So, we bit the bullet and ordered a new one that is half the weight and, hopefully, with better glue!

The new tender, 3D Twin Air for those who need details, was duly ordered in the UK and delivered to Peter in Malta a few days later. He transported it on his scooter from his offices in Ta’xBiex to the boat. I know it’s light and packs down small but I’m not convinced it was that sensible an idea!

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