Slipping our lines for a Sicilian Adventure - Part 1.

> Posted on 30/06/10

Although a little behind schedule finishing boat jobs and tying up loose business ends, we were ready to depart Malta by the end of May but the weather had other ideas. A strong north westerly blew for a week straight and with our first port of call being due north, and not fancying a boisterous passage for our first in 20 months, we were inevitably delayed, finally setting sail for Sicily at dawn on Sunday June 7th.

On our passages to and from Malta over the past few years we have spent little time in Sicily and none at all on mainland Italy, therefore this year we planned to see as much as possible enroute to Greece.

The 52nM crossing to Ragusa was easy and uneventful apart from an annoying beam-on swell left over from the weeks strong NW's, but it thankfully reduced as we got closer to Sicily. The brand new marina at Ragusa is clinically plush and spacious (and obviously expensive) but the sweet little holiday resort town has some history, character and a lovely stretch of sandy beach; a novelty to stroll after spending 20 months in Malta.

A few days later we travelled on to Marzamemi, just around the south east corner of Sicily. The harbour, in complete contrast to Ragusa was 'rustic', and the staff at 'Marina Sporting Marzamemi' were weathered Italian men in overalls, not finely groomed multi-lingual young ladies - it turned out to be one of our favourite stops. The staff were very friendly and helpful and the facilities adequate and clean, we even had free wi-fi on the boat! But best of all was the hidden gem of a town a short stroll away, with its own tiny harbour, historic tuna salting factory and delightful old village square. We enjoyed a few days relaxing here, one of them at the beach, from where Wayne painted a small oil of the village and harbour and we braved our first dips in the sea.

Our next port, Siracusa, we know quite well, having explored a lot here in October 2008, but we were surprised by just how familiar it felt and how vividly we remembered our way around. During our stay here we caught a bus to Noto, renowned to be one of Sicily's most enchanting towns and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, explored some of the lesser walked back streets of Siracusa'a old town and of course, visited a couple of our favourite Pizzeria's!

Our options from Siracsa were to either make the crossing to mainland Italy or travel a little further north, and as Wayne has always wanted to get up close and personal with a volcano, we chose to sail northwards to the city and busy commercial port of Catania.

It was exciting on passage looking for the first signs of Mt Etna to appear through the summer haze and even more remarkable just a few hours later to be berthed on a small yacht club pontoon, smack in the middle of Catania's docks under the shadow of Etna's south side . We have a soft spot for large shipping ports having sailed out of Plymouth and the Bristol Channel back home and with an historical city on our doorstep and Europe's largest live volcano, we knew we were in for some fun here!

Our Sicilian Adventure - Part 2.

> Posted on 30/06/10

With an Etna excursion top of our priority list we spent our first morning in Catania walking the city, getting our bearings, finding Tourist Information and checking out the bus and train stations. On our second morning we were on the 8am bus to Nicolosi Nord, a base just north of the village Nicolosi, 1,910m up Etna. From here there are several options of excursion dependant on time, funds and fitness level. At the bus stop and base camp there are a couple of craters to explore by oneself or one can catch a cable car to the next level at 2,500m. From here there are four wheel drive trucks to take you up to 2,920m and from there, a guided hardcore 5 hour hike to the summit at 3,345m and, all the way back down to base camp, visiting several other craters enroute. No prizes for guessing which route we took as it was like Christmas Day for Wayne! There are the usual overpriced snack bars and souvenir shops at the base camp but to be fair they supplied packed lunches (sandwich, fruit and drink) for five euros and the excursion companies were well set-up, supplying hiking boots, socks and jackets for the extreme conditions at the upper limits. We were most disappointed with Tourist Information in Catania who had advised us that we would require no more than a jumper and trainers! Bearing in mind that we experienced this in late June, when the temperature at sea level was around 30C, it was 0C and blowing at least 30knots at our lunch stop on our decent at 2,920m! In areas it was like climbing a mountain of black desert and snow, in a severe sandstorm, with patches of dense fog/steam that soaked you to the skin at sub zero temperatures. We wished we'd had hats, gloves, scarves to cover our faces and boot garters, but hey, we made it through, albeit uncomfortably.

The climb up the side of the highest crater was the toughest, very steep and mostly soft loose gravel underfoot, and to be honest, reaching the top held little reward as the spewing sulphuric gases were choking and visibility reduced to around 10ft, but the decent was something else. Although the terrain remained tough throughout the tour the conditions became less severe on the decent and we were rewarded with some spectacular views over the valley, the city and the various craters and lava flows of the past 10 years. All in all an experience we'll never forget.

For several days afterwards we strolled for miles around this fascinating city, the perfect solution to stretch and ease our stiff muscles back to normality. After being decimated by the earthquake of 1693, the city was comprehensively rebuilt and contains street after street of magnificent Baroque buildings, many of them creatively designed and built from Etna's dark grey lava, giving the city a characteristic and sophisticated colour scheme. Another remarkable fact about Catania is how its coastline has been extended by Etna'a eruptions over the centuries. We visited a medieval castle, originally built on the shoreline but which now sits inland and it was incredible to see Roman and Greek ruins, right in the city centre, which have been excavated from Etna's lava.

Before departing Catania we also took a bus ride north to Taormina as we did not intend to sail any further north before crossing to mainland Italy. It's difficult to pin point why, but neither of us enjoyed the atmosphere of this pretty cliff-face town. The views of course down in to the bays were beautiful and the castle perched even higher overlooking the town was a spectacle, but the town lacked charm in our opinion. Most probably wiped away over time by high tourism as the streets were mostly lined with souvenir shops and restaurants. It made us a little sad, as we are all tourists of some description when we visit places away from home and our travels can obviously have negative and positive impacts on places. A day or two later we changed our plans, deciding to make the trip north to Taormina by boat after all, just for an overnight stop, before crossing the Straits of Messina. It would give us a better angle on the northerly wind and make the crossing shorter. Arriving by boat gave us a totally different perspective of the town and landscape which was more preferable and we could see why many of our sailing friends find this spot attractive. We enjoyed a few Sambucas watching the sunset and the full moon rise in this picturesque spot, before early to bed for a 4am start the next day. Sadly however we were not converted, we got little sleep before our 14 hour passage as we rolled in the anchorage all night!

Liveaboards once again and preparing to sail away.

> Posted on 30/04/10

After moving all our worldly possessions from our rental flat back aboard Hitrapia on Easter Saturday and Sunday, we spent the following week re-mastering the art of 'live-aboard stowage'. It's been a while - ten and a half months since we moved ashore - and although Hitrapia felt immediately like home, we were surprised how unpractised and clumsy we first felt carrying out everyday duties. However, there was no time to spare in getting ourselves and Hitrapia ship-shape, with Wayne's Exhibition Opening to attend on Saturday evening and our friend, Phyllis, arriving for a 10 day visit that very same night!

Not really knowing what to expect from the event we headed into Valletta both excited and nervous. Thankfully, in the capable hands of the Gallery staff and our caterer's, we were soon at ease and enjoying the moment. A steady flow of guests - both Maltese and International - came to view, chat and mingle over a glass of wine or two, including a surprise visit from Louise J Stanton, The British High Commissioner in Malta. Wayne received much praise and positive comments for his work. He is humbly moved by the support shown for is first solo exhibition in Malta and thrilled that many were inspired to buy. The works can be viewed at Wayne's art Website, VGB Art Gallery and Wayne's Facebook page.

After such an intense month building up to the Exhibition Opening and moving back aboard, we were somewhat in need of a little rest and relaxation. Therefore, we completely took advantage of Phyllis's visit and awarded ourselves some time-out too; enjoying the sunshine, sights and a few extra Zzzz's to recharge our batteries. Although no disappointment to us, Phyllis was, like so many others, stranded in Malta longer than planned, due to Mother Nature flexing her muscles in Iceland. However, with little time now to spare before setting sail and the usual sizeable list of preparations awaiting, Phyllis became crew for her extra week and contributed nicely to the team as always.

We hope to set sail for Sicily in the next week or two, weather and final preparations permitting, with Southern Italy and the Northern Ionian Islands also on the agenda for our 10 week cruise this year. After which, Hitrapia will remain in Greece, awaiting our return next Spring, while we'll be dividing our time between England, Scotland and Malta!

Racing against time!

> Posted on 08/03/10

It is March already and we're both busy, busy, busy, racing against time as the weeks slip by.

Wayne is sketching and painting every minute of every day with just three weeks left to prepare artworks for his first solo exhibition in Malta. Saturday 10th April will be the official Opening Evening. His new collection of artworks will be posted on the art section of the website after this date.

Angie has been working flat-out on Hitrapia, completing jobs that are doubly difficult when living aboard, such as painting lockers and varnishing, in preparation for us moving back aboard during the first week of April.

Last weekend she undertook a more personal challenge and fulfilled her dream of running in the Land Rover Malta Marathon. The International event in its 25th Anniversary year received a record number of entries and 1,400 participants endured their mileage under blue skies and in un-seasonal hot temperatures. Having never raced before, Angie's target was to complete the Half Marathon distance of 13.1 miles without walking in around 2 hours 30 minutes. Wayne and a friend Phil raced around the course by car dodging road blocks and traffic jams to pop up several times along the route to offer cheers of encouragement. They were pleased to see her cross the finish line smiling in 2 hours 18 minutes and 27 seconds. Well done Angie!

We look forward to reporting next month on life back aboard, readying for the off and of course Wayne's Solo Art Exhibition.

Happy New Year 2010!

> Posted on 13/01/10

How time flies. 2010 is well underway before we had time to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! Unfortunately we have been 'off-line' since 11th December due to unexpectedly and very suddenly moving apartments followed quickly by a trip to England and Scotland for Christmas and New Year. We are now back in Malta and although our new apartment still has no working telephone line we have set ourselves up with internet access via a dongle.

We hope you all enjoyed the festive season wherever you were in the world. Our flight back to the UK was cancelled due to heavy snowfall, but we were fortunately offered an alternative flight to Bristol airport the following day and were able to alter our travel arrangements without too much extra expense or inconvenience. Despite the difficult and bitterly cold conditions, we enjoyed the Christmas period with our families in the Midlands before travelling up to Scotland for Hogmanay. In hindsight, I guess we were a little crazy to attempt the 400 mile trip considering the weather conditions but we love visiting Scotland and our friend Phyllis and the beautiful snow-covered scenery made the 18 hour drive worthwhile. We had a wonderful few days together catching up and were kept amply warm and cosy by a roaring log fire and her fabulous hospitality.

Before kicking off our 2010 news updates here's a brief overview of our second half of 2009. July and August in Malta were extremely hot and humid. We found it impossible to progress with any maintenance on Hitrapia and just spent our time working and hiding away from the sun and summer crowds. September was a little cooler but sticky and wet at times - in-fact, The Valletta Boat Show was almost a wash-out due to floods in the days and even hours before opening its doors. Luckily, the majority of the four day event was dry, sunny and a huge success. Wayne exhibited 6 paintings there along with a number of other artists and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, from meeting other Maltese artists, receiving feedback and advise and exhibiting his work to a Maltese audience for the first time.

Once the Boat Show was over our main priority was to prepare Hitrapia to be re-launched and apart from a 10 day trip to the UK, Wayne worked flat-out throughout October completing all the necessary underwater maintenance. With Hitrapia back afloat in Msida Marina we had intended to move back aboard by the end of November however, Wayne was approached by a Valletta Gallery interested in representing his work exclusively in Malta. Due to this exciting news we made the decision to extend our apartment rental giving Wayne the space and stability required to work towards a solo exhibition. Angie too had reason to celebrate in November as she reached the big 40!

December saw us rounding up the year in high spirits. Wayne has sold 8 of his 9 paintings produced and is very happy to have teamed up with a professional gallery giving him an outlet for his work while we are travelling once again in 2010. Angie is directing all her attention toward preparing Hitrapia for a brand new sailing season.