37:30.23N 13:04.65E

Thursday 7th August

Left Marsala at 9.00am and probably not before time. Sicily does not seem to be unduly bothered about raw sewerage and the odour around 5.00am was very unpleasant down in the harbour.

Not a breath of wind for the entire 50+ mile trip and certainly no sign of the forecast’s force 4 breeze. Kept quite close to the coast looking for a sight of an acropolis and complex of temples at Selinute. The first of these temples dates from 600BC and the subsequent ones continued to be built up until 400BC. The remains of the two harbours that made this site such a major and prosperous city are now completely silted up after being destroyed by Hannibal in 409BC and never recovered. We never caught sight of it, probably because of all the modern stuff that has sprung up along the coast.

Arrived in the outer harbour of Sciacca and tried to radio the yacht club as instructed, but got no response, so we continued our approach towards the pontoons and the few yacht moorings. At this point a very enthusiastic Custode (Agostini) waved us into a slot and helped take our lines. You really cannot fault almost all of the places we have been in the Med for their help when you are mooring up, but the Sicilians in the last two places have been really great characters and very welcoming. Mind you, we understand very little of what is actually being said but body language, hand gestures and beaming smiles suggest that we are not unwelcome!

The pilot book was not wrong when it suggested that this place had a bit of a ‘run down’ feel to it. We are probably the only visiting yacht here, which I find surprising given the lack of marinas and harbours along this coast. In fact I have been very surprised by the lack of yachts cruising along this coast generally, which might explain the pretty poor facilities everywhere, or is it the other way round? Certainly the town around the harbour is almost derelict except by the fishing harbour, which is still an incredibly busy, bustling commercial area.

At 6.30pm we set off to climb up the steep hill to where we believed the centre of the town was, but before we could leave the club premises , we were introduced to the club’s president, Giovanni, who insisted on giving us coffee and then a bottle of Sicilian wine to take back to the boat and finally he drove us up the long and almost sheer climb to the town centre and gave us directions (after a fashion) on how to complete the tour and return to the boat on foot. The drive predictably was un-nerving and it might have been better if he had paid any attention to the road, other users and pedestrians. The decision to put the steering wheel on the left now seems to have been quite arbitrary!. They do at least have a few white lines on a road near the harbour, but quite what purpose they serve is unclear as the users pay no regard to such things!

However, the ‘centre’ of the town was a revelation as it really was a huge improvement on the very spread out arrangements at Trapani and Marsala. In fact it is quite obviously a tourist centre with countless ceramics shops (some really imaginative) and no end of souvenirs. It is probably exactly how we had expected Marsala to be and it seemed strange here because the port is so dilapidated. It transpires that the town is built on an area of volcanic activity and the healing powers of the various spas, open air grottoes and baths still attracts Sicilians and tourists to ‘take the waters’ and has done since Daedalus discovered them when fleeing from King Minos. (well, according to legend that is!)

Any yachts following in our footsteps might like to note that there are two competing clubs with pontoons. We used ADS Circolo Nautico “Il Corallo” Phone 0925 21611 www.circolonauticoilcorallo.it (their email address is info@ the web address)