We’re now resting up in Malta and recovering from a exhausting trip. Mixed feelings – wonderful to be here and feels amazing to have completed our journey from the UK to Malta. But also feels slightly strange that we’re not going sailing today or tomorrow or possibly even this week! We’ve sailed around 3,000 miles this summer over about 11 weeks (we took several holidays ashore!), met many great people en route, visited some wonderful places, had many terrific experiences, seen dolphins, flying fish, turtles and swordfish (sadly no whales), had a very steep learning experience (looking back I realise how very inexperienced we were when we set off – which has made it a bit stressful at times (as some of you may have noticed!)), had mostly good weather (although the wind always seemed to be from an unhelpful direction – either dead ahead so we had to tack upwind adding considerably to our distance and time – or dead astern which is uncomfortable and slow) and greatly enjoyed having so many friends sailing with us and helping us bring ALMA to Malta. Many, many thanks to all of you who have helped us on the journey:
· Lymington to Plymouth – Tim, Doug and David
· Plymouth to Baiona – Geoff, Andy and Doug
· Povoa to Oeiras – Steve and Peta
· Villamoura to Gib – Michelle
· Gib to Ibiza – Doug, Roy and Ed
· Ibiza to Palma – Roy and Jackie
· Palma to Mahon – Nick and Lindy
· Mahon to Marsala – Andy, Ian and David
· Marsala to Malta – Tim and Chris.

Hope you’ll all join us onboard again next year – whether on a delivery trip or just cruising somewhere nice (Ionian and Croatia?). Will start planning for next year shortly!

Take care, enjoy yourselves and keep in touch. Hope to see many of you over the winter.
Very best wishes
Helen and Iain

The initial forecast was for light ENE winds; but later on Wed evening I got an update (via text from Andy in the UK!) suggesting great winds about 10 to 15 knots ENE or NE due to a low pressure system forming in the Adriatic – perfect for the crossing due south to Malta. For the first hour we did have light winds and wondered if we’d have to motor. Then suddenly we had 20 knots of wind building to 25 knots and we had to put a reef in the main. So we had a very fast crossing and we entered Grand Harbour Valletta at 1430 in time for a late lunch! It was a great crossing although with quite a rough sea especially approaching the harbour. We were excited to see Gozo then Malta appear on the horizon and then pick out landmarks on the coast. Previously (when we were onshore in Malta) we’d thought the Hilton Tower was a bit of an eyesore; but we discovered for arrival by sea it’s the best landmark on the whole coast! Then we began to pick out the forts and churches of Valletta; then the harbour breakwater and finally the magnificent Fort St Angelo and beside that our apartment block. Great moment to sail into Grand Harbour past the wonderful historic sites and moor up almost outside our apartment.

END OF THE JOURNEY TO MALTA

SICILY TO MALTA - 2 TO 7 OCT

Next stop on our journey south east along the coast was Porto Empodocle – a large commercial port (ferry port for the southern islands and major fishing harbour) which we’d been told was dirty and smelly; which it was a little. But it is only a few kilometres from the Valley of Temples at Agrigento – more superb Greek temples (6th century bc). But we found the port very friendly and it had great non touristy restaurants, cafes and bars. Once again we were amazed by how kind people can be – we asked the marina manager how we could get to the Temples and he arranged for the pontoon marinero to drive us there in his own car and then come back and pick us up a few hours later! And he would absolutely not accept payment. Then when I tried to buy an allen key to replace a jib block that had broken the chap in the chandlery called the marinero who went off and then brought back a key for me to use rather than have to buy one – again he wouldn’t accept any payment; not even a cup of coffee. All this was conducted in sign language as he did not speak any English and we don’t speak more than 2 or 3 words of Italian (we need to learn some basic phrases before we come back next summer) – I really wished I could have told him how kind he was to help us out. All I could do in return was buy a fishing lure from the chandlery (the chandleries here are for fishing not sailing) – it’s for tuna so not sure if we’ll ever use it! – and we left a bottle of wine on the pontoon for the marinero.

Our next port of call was the new marina at Licata – unfortunately we arrived to find it hadn’t actually been built yet although the break waters were built just no pontoons and absolutely nothing ashore. However it made a very secure anchorage. Next morning we set off early for Ragusa where it was promised there would be another new marina. This has been finished and it is a very high quality marina – hard to see how it will make money as no expense seems to have been spared in building the marina. Its main attraction for us was that it is the closest departure point on the south coast of Sicily for crossing to Malta – approx 52 miles.

SICILY - 28 SEPT TO 1 OCT

While Helen was in London, I returned to the boat in Marsala (Ian had stayed onboard after our crossing from Menorca to boat sit and explore the region around Marsala/Trapani) and Ian and I re-visited Favignana Island (this time anchoring on south side – took three attempts to get the anchor to dig in as there was so much thick weed on the seabed – fortunately the water was so crystal clear that even in 5 metres we could see where there was a small patch of sand and drop the anchor directly on the sand). Then we took the boat further south east to Sciacca from where Ian returned to the UK and Helen, Chris and Tim joined me.

I collected everyone from Trapani airport and we visited Erice – a middle ages town (although the Elymians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans all had settlements here) perched on a hilltop (750m) overlooking Trapani with outstanding views of the west and north coasts and the offshore islands. The town still has a superb Norman castle (extraordinarily the Normans conquered as far south as Sicily and Malta) built on the site of the ancient temple of Venus/Astarte/Aphrodite. Erice is also famous for wonderful pastries! Then we drove to Selinunte where there are remains of Greek temples and the acropolis – the Greeks colonised Sicily and Selinunte was established around 650 BC but then destroyed by the Carthiginians around 400 BC.

Sciacca was a great town to visit – not only a good base for exploring the temples of Selinunte but a very friendly marina (we were offered beer and a bottle of wine on arrival and on Sunday morning some bread with oil and anchovies!) and the town has some lovely buildings, is well known for its thermal springs and for ceramics and has an amazing piazza looking out over the harbour. The downside is that the town is an arduous climb up from the harbour – we discovered how unfit (at least for climbing) we have become. Sciacca also has some famous citizens (incl Bon Jovi’s family and Johnny Dundee (boxer) was born in Sciacca) and other important families!