JOHN, ALICE AND LILY ARRIVE IN SICILY

With the imminent arrival of our son John, daughter in law Alice and grand daughter Lily into Palermo, we moved to Trapani harbour, about 50 km from Palermo airport.
We were about one mile out from our Favignana anchorage on our way to Trapani when we noticed our RHIB was no longer behind us - I had improperly secured it, so couldn't blame Di! We turned around and went back to the anchorage, where the RHIB was now close to rocks ashore, so I brought Envoy in as close as I could and Di leaped into the water, and swam about 40 metres to the RHIB. The plan was for Di to climb aboard, start the engine and bring the RHIB back to Envoy, but Di had forgotten where the outboard’s power tilt button was so couldn’t start it. I could see that Di was having problems and had got back in the water to hold the RHIB away from the rocks, so I anchored Envoy close-by, swam to assist her and all was OK. But there’s a lesson here - it’s nearly always me, the skipper who drives the RHIB, but it should be your crew so they are familiar with it. I’ve also thought about whether I should have asked Di to wear a lifejacket. I think the answer is no, because the swimming distance was short, conditions were reasonable, it was close to shore, and a lifejacket would have made swimming much more difficult.

Trapani is an interesting town based around an ancient large well-sheltered harbour where Peter of Aragon landed in 1282 to begin the Spanish occupation of Sicily. Trapani has an interesting well-preserved “old town” full of cobbled alleyways, churches, former palazzos (palaces), restaurants, tavernas and quirky shops.

Statue of Neptune in Trapani

View down Vittorio Emanuele, one of the old town’s main streets

A Trapani wine shop where you can taste first and buy cheaply in bulk

Delicious selection of Sicilian pastries including our favourite cannole (bottom left) – fried pastry filled with sweetened ricotta cheese

Berthing alongside a jetty in a Trapani shipyard cost 40 Euros (NZ$63) per night including power and water. Our location was anything but picturesque, surrounded by large vessels in various states of disrepair, but it was sheltered, safe, cheap and suited our needs.

Envoy moored in lifting berth in Trapani harbour

Impressive view of hydrofoil below water. She was out for repairs

On Monte San Giuliano (St Julian) 756 metres above Trapani is the fabulous medieval walled village of Erice, accessed by cable cars that provide fabulous vista for miles of surrounding area. Baby Lily was agape as she waved at the cable cars whizzing over our heads at the lower terminus.

Alice and John take in the view during cable car ride

Diane and the great view from the mountain-top village of Erice

The Norman castle, about 1,000 years old is still in good shape

Erice street musician with gaily painted donkey-drawn cart

Close-up of historical scene paintings on cart

Erice is famous for the mysterious ancient Cult of Venus – in the Temple of Venus acolytes (assistants to the priestesses) participated in sacred prostitution. Lonely Planet says it’s easy to guess why the site remained inviolate through countless invasions, until the Normans built the Castello di Venere on the site of the temple.

Ceramics shop on cobbled lane in Erice

Prior to leaving Trapani we needed to get our Constituto stamped by Coastguard so John and I went down to see them. Normally we find Coastguard staff to be civil and bordering on friendly, but these were a strange lot – it seems that a snarl on your face is a job pre-requisite, but after a long wait and none-too-friendly service we finally got the stamp we needed.

Back at the Egadi Islands we all had some family catching-up and relaxation time – swimming, walking, having coffees and beers ashore and generally chilling out. 11 month-old grand daughter Lily took to the water like a duck, and Diane and I loved looking after her, giving John and Alice some time out.

John, Lily and Alice enjoy a refreshing swim

Lily enjoying swim Favignana’s tepid waters in her new lifejacket with John

For a time one issue at the Egadis was a small jellyfish, called Pelagia, that give a nasty sting, feeling like a minor electric shock. Di had a brush with one that left nasty welts and still hadn’t healed over two weeks later.

Pelagia jellyfish

The jellyfish scars on Di’s upper arm was still there three weeks later

I got stung twice, and John once, and although the marks took some time to go they weren’t anywhere near as sore as Di’s. From then on wherever we swam we kept a sharp lookout for them, particularly with Lily in the water. At least there are no wasps – a curse last year in Croatia, and very few flies or mosquitoes.

Our plan was to head towards Palermo and then out to the Aeolian Islands, north of Sicily, so we cruised back towards Sicily in a rising WNW wind exceeding forecast, reaching 20 knots. The long fetch here caused waves up to three metres high on our port quarter with some cresting and breaking, making for an uncomfortable trip and poor Lily was seasick, although fine after that. Anchored outside Capo San Vito marina that night was quite rolly from the unsettled seas, even with our flopper stoppers down, but by next morning when we set off for Castellamare del Golfo the wind and seas had dropped considerably. 

TECHNICAL The guest head holding tank contents full light isn’t working – another job for electrician Doug.


ENVOY LOG As at 10/7/14, we’d spent 93 days aboard and cruised 757 miles for 128 engine hours.