Cefalu towards Sardinia

Phoebe B
Sail Ionian
Sun 17 Oct 2010 16:34
38:31N 11:54E

Saturday 16 October 2010

Our arrangement to meet Renzo on the fuel dock at 08:30hrs was proven to be
a bit optimistic, we finally left Cefalu at 10:00hrs, however the delay did
leave time for a quick trip into the town and a cappucino on the city wall .
We slowly left the rugged Sicilian coastline as we steered a course of 290T
towards our next planned port in Sardinia. The weather was warm and sunny,
but the westerly wind at 10-12 knots did not enable much motor free sailing.
Repetative severe weather warnings were broadcast on the radio, and it took
some skill (for a complete novice) to work out the details from what
initially sounds like random numbers first in Italian and then in English.
The horizon became gradually more bleak as the afternoon progressed and by
19:00hrs heavy rain and lightening were not far away - as a result we
decided to divert to a port on the NW of Sicily, tempted by the restaurants
of the small fishing harbour at Terrasini. At this point we started a 3 hour
treasure hunt for harbour lights, first arriving within meters of the
harbour with no sign of the lights, puzzled we double and triple checked the
chart plotter and pilot book before finally attempting to find the next
harbour 6 nm along the coast at Balestrate - again we were within in meters
of the harbour entrance with no sign of any navigational lights to guide us
in!!! However third time lucky, we did find one of the reported navigational
lights at the entrance to Castellammare del Golfo a further 6 nm along the
coast and were welcomed into the town by live music from the quay side.
Perhaps there is a new career opportunity in harbour lighting and updating
the pilot book for the Phoebe B crew !!!

Sunday 17 October 2010

Awoke early this morning to do a few minor repairs (followed by waffles and
melted Mars bar) before resuming our journey to Sardinia on a heading of
300T. The weather was a complete contrast to yesterday afternoon and
evening, and we enjoyed glorious sunshine and the company of dolphins and 3
whales this moring. There hasn't been much traffic and we haven't seen
another boat since we past a few small fishing boats off the NW tip of
Sicily.