Sicily - why do people come here?

We waved goodbye to Geoff and Mark in Olbia, Sardinia, then spent a frantic morning in the marina getting provisions, gas, water, laundry and finally fuel before setting off for Sicily.  Fuel was interesting; we had to wait for a modest (no staff) powerboat to take on €5,000 of fuel before we could collect our 58 litres!

We spent one final night amongst the rich and famous before sailing south.

One last look at the toys people have, before leaving our anchorage

Hoping for wind as we left Olbia bay

We got what we wished for, but we'd clearly not been specific enough! We had a 36 hour beat, a big sea, and the 100 mile trip took us 150 and lots of tacking!  On the second evening the wind died and we saw a bay with a few yachts at anchor so went to join them - had a reviving swim and settled down for the night.  At least that was the plan ... 0300 had us wide awake being shaken from our slumber, the wind had most definitely come back, bringing with it a vicious swell.  All hope of sleep abandoned, we were on our way to Sicily by 0330.

At least the 170 mile crossing to Sicily wasn't a beat, but the first 24 hours the sea was lumpy and confused - not the easiest sailing conditions, quite frustrating at times as there was not really enough wind to make up for the sea state.

But - we had the most spectacular dolphin show ever!

Not only did these dolphins stay with us a good hour, but we saw a couple of other equally playful pods, plus two turtles - yet to capture one on film, unfortunately they have not yet mastered jumping out of the water,

The final few hours of the crossing were very enjoyable - the wind was finally being kind to us.

The trusty spinnaker back in use, the very mountainous landscape of Sicily comes into sight

We had arranged to collect Ian's sister Hilary and her husband Martin in Palermo so we anchored in a bay a few miles outside the town to wait for their arrival.

There seemed to be a variant of Brighton Pier in the bay

Brighton meets Sicily?  Loads of people anchor their speedboats in the bay, and the beach was solid with humanity

We went into Palermo Marina to collect our visitors - the Marina is located in a particularly depressing area of Palermo - the streets were piled with rubbish and although the water of the marina was probably the cleanest we'd ever seen, the town was filthy and run down, quite a depressing place

We set off East along the Northern coast of Sicily, sadly mostly motoring because we're on a time deadline and there's very little wind.

We are now a bit too familiar with this landscape, time for something else now!

Hilary at the helm, under the sunshade

Hilary and Martin go for a refreshing tow behind the boat - if water at 30C can be called refreshing

Then a bit of rest after all the excitement.

Our first night at anchor with Hilary and Martin was a bit of deja vu:  there was a swell, it was hard to sleep.  If they'd found a way off the boat with their luggage, I think they'd have taken it,

The second night was much much better - we were sheltered by a large breakwater in the town of Agata di Militelo and had a great night's sleep

Beaches are few and far between, all patches of sand are packed with beach umbrellas

We passed Cefalu, which has a large cathedral but like many of the towns we passed on the north coast, it looks to have fallen on hard times

S. Agata di Militello, our second anchorage. We couldn't work out the plan for this boat - the next morning bulldozers were piling rocks up round it - extreme wheel clamping, perhaps?

Sunrise, at anchor.  S Agata di Militelo

And on we go - heading East towards the Messina Straight.