Sicily and Sardinia
Marita3
Mark & Helen Syrett
Sun 2 Jun 2013 19:41
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In the early part of our passage from Milazzo we
passed a large flesh like object in the water. Upon closer inspection we decided
it must have been a dead whale.
 After our enforced detour into Palermo we awoke the
following morning to calm water and sun, somewhat different to 18 hours earlier
when the sea was boiling and the wind howling. Palermo is a mixture of old and
new having been heavily bombed during the war
 with a vibrant port
 and submersible dry docks
  we resumed our passage to Sardinia with an easterly
wind to blow us along but the 'instability' of the weather soon reared it's ugly
head with gale warnings for the sea areas ahead. After two days and nights at
sea we arrived in Cagliari in the early morning with the skies looking
threatening
 and went onto the marina---a choice of three.
Massimo was the only one to welcome us so we went onto his pontoons----some
wobbly planks, a framed marquee as a club house hanging on for grim death to the
pontoon, or perhaps the other way round, but a very welcome and helpful
place.
  The wind picked up in the afternoon and then
blew at force 7+ for nearly five days. It is due to calm down tomorrow but
we are not holding our breath.
It was about a twenty minute walk into Cagliari
with it's old quarter of narrow streets
 Mark went to the top of the St Pancras Tower, built
in 1305 to host the Royal jails. It was from this tower that the bell tolled for
those on their way to the gallows.
Helen kept her feet on terra firma
 The views from the top were excellent looking over
the rooftops, always an interesting view of a city
 towards the new docks in the far distance. Enormous
sums of ''Euro'' money must have been spent creating this huge container
terminal---shame there was only one ship there!!
 There were some lovely old buildings but otherwise
it is an uninteresting city
  with a railway station, including an old steam
engine (for Yannick!)
 and even the postmans 'van' was
different
 A flamingo park/lake was on the edge of the town
and every night at about 1800 there was a fly past by about 20 flamingos. Their
return trip into the wind was more difficult for them as we watched them
'tack' back upwind into the gale, crabbing along as the wind created significant
leeway!
So it is not only us in Marita that has difficulty
in these conditions of instability!
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