Reaching your destination under the power of sail always gives us a good feeling, motoring costs money and puts pressure on our systems.   Reaching Mallorca was no exception, it was a good passage.  

Anchoring is always our preferred option, not only is it quieter and more picturesque its free. Marinas for us are only there for short periods so that we can restock, hiding from bad weather or in an emergency.  

However whilst at anchor our hot water system had decided to fail, it turns out that our water heater does not like the bio fuel, the only fuel that Valencia had. Our hydraulic winch for our anchor also started to play up.  

We spent three days at Club Nautico Las Arenal, after many phone calls to the makers of our water heater system we were able to solve the problem or so we thought. The hydraulic issues were not so easy to resolve but it was working when we left.

We only have a few choices usually when planning a trip, wait for the right wind and weather window for the whole passage, except that you might have to motor for some of it, or go knowing that you have to motor because you have a time constraint. 

Whilst at the marina our friend Bob from Heart of Gold who we first met in Bilbao back in 2019 offered to join us on the passage from Sardinia to Sicily.  Both of us appreciated the extra help and made arrangements to meet up in Caligari in a weeks time.

Usually we start a passage knowing that conditions are favourable, having worked out how long the passage should take but expect that everything could change.   

This passage was no exception, we were forecast to have winds in the right direction of around 15 -17 knots with good weather for at least the next two days, with around 260 nautical miles to run the conditions looked ideal. We left Mallorca around 9.00am local time on the 30th April bound for Carlo Forte an island on the southern tip of Sardinia on a flat calm sea, with very little winds so having to motor.  

The predicted winds started to kick in around 2pm local time.  They did not las for long though and by 5pm we were motor sailing. 

As we started our night watches we had a beautiful calm sea, the moon was bright and Ocean Waves just chugged along at 1100rpm moving at an average of 4knots (we still had a dirty bottom full of weed slowing us down) and the stars were in their thousands. 

I really enjoyed this night passage, star gazing is one of my favourite things and when there is very little light they do not disappoint.  

The sunrise is equally beautiful.  We ended up having to motor sail the majority of this passage, it cost us around £200 in fuel, and made the boat hot and noisy. 

None of the weather forecasted arrived but arriving in Carlo Forte was no less an achievement, we had left Spain and said hello to Italy.   Carlo Forte was stunning, with dramatic coastline and nature reserves with wild flamingos.   We stayed at MarinaTour, Andrea the manager was very welcoming friendly and helpful throughout our stay.   

We were supposed to have sailed onto Caligari to meet Bob but due to bad weather and very strong winds around the southern tip of Sardinia we had to remain in Carlo Forte.    Andrea helped us arrange a shuttle to bring Bob from the airport in Caligari to Carlo Forte.  

Bob arrived from the states on Saturday the 7th May and after some rest and some of the best Tuna we had eaten in a long time we restocked the food cupboard, the fuel and water and agreed on Monday as our departure day.   Bob was going to be with us until the 15th May.

We love having people onboard it makes Ocean Waves feel more like home.   

 AND THEN THERE WAS THREE 

Our passage to Sicily was going to take three days, largely due to our dirty bottom restricting our speed through the water and partly due to wind or lack of.   After using Andrea’s car to get non bio diesel fuel (there are no fuel facilities in the marina) and running our pre departure checks we were ready to slip the lines around 11am local time.  It was a cloudy morning and our forecast was good in terms of wind coming in around tea time. 

Having Bob with us was going to be fun and make the night watches so much more manageable.  Having said goodbye to Andrea we slipped the lines and quickly settled into the passage.  

Ocean waves is comfortably able to accommodate three people and the wheel house provides good protection from what ever weather conditions we encounter. The Sardinian coast line is beautiful and the island is much larger than we had expected, but as we saw earlier in the week not really protected from weather systems.  

At around 6pm we  encountered rain, quite heavy rain that lasted about an hour, that wasn’t expected, but it did give us some lift from the wind, we had been motor sailing since we left the marina.

Sardinia is famous for its tuna farms and as we know the tuna was really good so it wasn’t long before fisherman Alan had the rod and line out hoping to catch dinner.  I had already prepared a chicken pasta dish as a back up.

By 7pm we had eaten the pasta dish I had prepared, put away the fishing rod and prepared Ocean Waves for her night passage.  Part of our safety procedures is that we don’t go outside of the wheel house at night unless we have too. 

Unfortunately it looked like we were going to be motor sailing for most of it due to a flat sea and very little wind.  Our average speed had been 4knts for most of the passage so far.

Our night watches we going to run in three hour shifts starting at 10.00pm, this allows everyone to get at least 7 hours sleep a night, with just two of us it was a constant three hour shift pattern with very little sleep.  Bob was going to take the first shift, Alan the second and I would take over at 4am for the sunrise shift. 

During Bobs shift he noticed that the alternator light kept flickering, this usually indicates that there is a problem with the alternator belt slipping.  As Alan came on watch the decision was made to switch off the engine and run only on sail to allow the engine to cool down enough to be able to investigate the issue. 

This meant a slow sail of around 2knts per hour over the ground and at this point we had just over 160 miles to run. It was a very quiet night though, I had got used to the engine noise but it does disrupt sleep.   

By 11am on the second day the alternator belt had been replaced and the engine restarted, time to make up ground, wind was a consistent 4knots on the beam which is not enough to give us the speed we need unfortunately.

Spirits on board were good though and the crew were well rested and well fed. 

.At around lunch time we were joined by a swallow, we called him Sammy.  He flew around the boat from time to time and sat with us in the wheelhouse for a while and generally seemed to be enjoying our company. 

It wasn’t long after Sammy joined us that we spotted two large turtles and a lone dolphin. Seeing the turtles were a real highlight of our trip to Sicily.

By 6pm we had 112 miles to run. All of us enjoyed our second night passage, the conditions were good, we were still motor sailing though.  Unfortunately on Alan’s watch Sammy passed away, we were pleased and blessed that he choose us to spend his last day with, RIP Sammy. 

The stars tonight were in there thousands again and both Bob and I witnessed shooting stars on our shifts.  I like the sunrise shift especially when you are treated to a spectacular array of colour as the sun rises.  One of the many joys of sailing.

By 10am on the third day we were about 51 miles to Sicilly, we noticed the islands in the distance and noted how green and mountainous Sicily is.   By 6pm we had booked ourselves into Capo san Vito marina expecting to arrive there around 8pm. 

Going into a new marina is always a little stressful but going in at night when the guide book says the entrance can be tricky and to watch out for the sand bar made this one more so, well for me anyway.  All you could see were lights everywhere making port lights more difficult, Alan and Bob had it under control and the navigation system is brilliant. 

After a tense hour we we’re finally tied up in a very pretty marina with a beautiful beach, overall a good passage albeit made under motor most of the way.  Sometimes that’s how a passage turns out and we appreciated the time that Bob had been able to give us.  

Bob will be flying home from Palmermo on Sunday.   Before departing for Palmero we took some time to rest and explore the beach and local cuisine. 

Alan has all the gear and qualifications to dive on our own boat to clean the hull etc but due to Italian law you are not permitted to do so, it would have incurred a fine of £2000 Euros and a criminal record if he had been caught doing so.  So we  asked a local diver to clean our hull and after a fee of £200 euros we were very glad we did.