We sail to Licata, Southern Sicily

August 30^th, 2013

Previously, I had read on the Noonsite web pages about a new marina in southern Sicily. The marina had received good reports and was in a secure location. We needed a place to berth the boat for about a week whilst we traveled around the region. Licata fitted just fine.

Licata was only about 70 miles to the north of Gozo. One of those messy distances! Too long for an easy sail to arrive in the light but a bit too short a distance for a full overnight sail. Especially if you sail a bit faster than the 5 knot average we apply to these shorter sails.

In the end, partly because we had a full crew (to help see in the dark) and partly because we could see that this was a large open marina with lots of space and not many things to bang in too, we decided to leave early and try to arrive ‘just before sunset’.

The sail was uneventful and the wind pushed us along from our starboard side at with a steady 15 knots to start, followed by a brief 20 plus knots. The sea was a little choppy with a swell of up to 2 meters though.

Our boat doesn’t like 8 knots or less in a choppy sea.
That well known law contrived with the swell and lack of wind to make us miss arriving in the light. We arrived at just before 9.30pm just before the true night arrived. We also had the night vision toy mounted high up on the mast. The night vision camera is perfect for entering harbors and anchorages under motor.

Hello? Hello?  Is there anybody there?

We called ahead on the VHF radio – no reply? Again, again, again – no reply?
Finally a RIB appeared and asked us if we wished to enter the marina. Then, with Les, Cathy and Bob all standing on the deck as extra eyes for me, the dockhand proceeded to show us the way.
The docking team soon had us safely secured in no time and then asked us why we didn’t radio ahead? They just so happened to be looking out to sea, saw us hanging around and decided to come and investigate.  .. I thought the radio had been checked in Malta and given the all clear? We had also used it again to enter Mgarr marina. 
Hmmm.. this needs investigating again.
The next morning we performed a radio check with the marina office – perfect!
hmmm.. don’t get this.