Spellbinder's Web Diary - Friday 17th June, Ragussa Marina, Sicily

Friday 17th June, Ragussa Marina, Sicily

Spellbinder

Fri 17 Jun 2011 10:53

The passage to Nisos Othoni, now with Henry, Teresa Whelan and George Rock-Evans onboard, was completed entirely with the motor with a few hours of motorsailing under the mainsail when a zephyr of a wind from the southwest stirred itself in the afternoon. The scenery was beautiful, however, with the island of Corfu to port and Albania to starboard. The thundery weather was gradually clearing. Spellbinder anchored inside the "old" harbour with a number of other yachts and established the ferry wasn't expected although it still used the old quay. The "new" harbour had not been maintained, the water and electricity pedestals were not working and some knocked over. A charter company rep at the "new" quay said the holding was not good for Mediterranean mooring and there were some rocks to watch out for offshore! A comfortable night in the old harbour at anchor was followed by another motorsail in light east northeast winds across the mouth of the Adriatic to Santa Maria di Leuca on the heel of Italy. Anchoring outside the harbour behind the sea wall we noticed a slight swell developing from the south overnight. A Scirocco (hot south wind) was on its way and in freshening winds veering from the northeast to south the genniker was flown and a good sail was enjoyed to Ciro Marina on the west side of the bay of Taranto. This promised shelter from the Scirocco that by 1800 was blowing F5 with gusts and threatening thunderstorms. By the morning Spellbinder was covered in fine Sahara sand, after spectacular thunderstorms and heavy rain, berthed on a small boat quay of the Lega Navale mercifully with enough depth of water. It had been difficult to find a berth, Ciro Marina had been badly damaged by a winter storm, the northeast concrete quay for visitors was wrecked and sunk, and the port hand light was lying on its side. To make matters worth, two Dutch and French boats with room alongside refused to allow Spellbinder to berth, unhelpfully pointing to the fishing boat quay that was rapidly filling up as the fleet sort shelter from the coming storm. We amused ourselves in a rather run down but very friendly Italian seaside resort with an excellent restaurant at the "White Beach" resort. On Wed 8th June, having worn the boat round with ropes to extricate ourselves from the small boat basin, the wind having died to nothing again in true Mediterranean style, we motored to Crotone to be met by our old friend Natalie who manages the Turistico quay from his car. He very kindly gave the boat a bottle of his fine home made red wine. A crew`change was achieved here by Teresa flying out of Lamezia on the Italian west coast not far across the toe of Italy from Crotone. Geoff Bell flew in on the same aircraft to join us for the cruise to Sicily. We had planned to do an overnight passage to Augusta in Sicily along the exposed south coast of Italy that offers little by way of ports of refuge in bad weather. Rounding Capo Rizzuto in light southeast winds was uncomfortable in a lumpy swell from the west and a confused sea. The south-going current on the western Adriatic rounds this point to meet the gusty winds from the northwest in the malevolent gulf of Squillace. We assumed that this, added to the steep underwater topography, resulted in the unpleasant motion we were experiencing. By mid afternoon when Squillace lived up to its name we were reefed down in a fresh, gusty northwester. Then suddenly it would turn light only to come in more strongly as night fell. By 2200 it was blowing a gusty F6 but with a double reefed main and many rolls in the genoa Spellbinder sped to the southwest at over 8 knots. Reefs went in and out overnight as the winds went alternately strong and light, but by daybreak had settled into a nice northwest F3/4 as Sicily came into sight with Etna smoking gently on the horizon. We anchored after a 25 hour passage of 150 miles outside Augusta harbour in the centre of the large but shallow bay of Porto Xifonio. We were a long way from the shore but the anchor was in stiff mud and secure, so we enjoyed a quiet evening and night at anchor with a good meal and wine and a further game of Upwords in the Ionian series. Syracuse, once the largest fortified city of the Greek world, was the next port of call reached by ghosting with the genniker. We were a little alarmed to find that a dangerous reef outside the harbour was no longer marked, but anchored safely in the north of the bay having admired the old town, Ortiga, as we rounded its southern tip. That evening the old town was visited and a meal on the seafront enjoyed. The passage south to then round the southeast point of Sicily, Capo Passero, found the fresh wind changing from northeast to southwest resulting in an enjoyable afternoon beat up to Porto Paulo. After 33 miles Spellbinder was anchored in the west of the bay and put the dinghy ashore to explore the hinterland and buy some victuals. Again, the locals were very friendly and welcoming perhaps mindful that this part of the coast was used for the Allied landings in Sicily in 1943. From Porto Paulo the motor was used for the 15 miles to Pozzallo were we anchored off the breakwater in sand and went ashore to find out about ferries to get George to Malta. A gentleman called Franceso stopped to give us a lift into town and that evening was invited with Santo to enjoy sundowners on Spellbinder and discuss nothing much in particular, but fun was had by all. Spellbinder entered the new and smart Ragussa marina on the morning of 15 June where the hot summer months were to be spent. A car was hired to visit the beautiful Baroque cities, including Ragussa, in this part of Sicily. George was put on his ferry to Malta, and after a day putting Spellbinder to bed, Henry and Geoff prepared to fly out to Catania on 18 June the airport being reached by a twice daily bus from Ragussa Marina.