Sardinia to Sciacca, Sicily - 209nM, 37 hours and 80 litres of fuel.

Pretty much as expected, the passage was a calm but boring one. We experienced quite a lot of traffic and very little sea life, just a few turtles, jelly fish and dolphins and possibly, just briefly, the knobbly spine of a whale that was about the same size as Hitrapia. While on passage we made the decision to travel an extra 20nM to the port of Sciacca, which looked fairly straightforward to approach at night, and it was, apart from dodging some tiny, completely unlit, local fishing boats.

After sleeping like babies, the next morning bought a number of surprises. In the light of day, we saw that the marina facilities left a lot to be desired. The dilapidated pontoons were caked in bird crap and the rust encrusted mooring rings were already making an awful mess of our mooring lines; we later put on our springs and chains. We had great difficulty checking in with the marina staff who shooed us away in a friendly manor until the evening. When we finally did check-in we learned that there were no showers, only one toilet and that the mooring fee was €20 per night (an apparently reduced rate for September) and not €10 as we'd expected. We later found the voltage of the electricity supply to be inconsistent and the fresh water supply to be a little suspect. But somehow, it was impossible to complain or get upset about as the friendly staff were so welcoming. They spoke no English, and our tiny bit of Italian didn't seem to be understood in Sicily, but that didn't seem to get in the way. On checking in, we were given a calendar, a very nice bottle of local wine and directions to the local supermarket, internet café and a highly recommended restaurant. We were given a second bottle of wine when we checked-out! They would also make us tiny espresso coffees at every opportunity. There are few well-sheltered harbours on the south coast and there was nowhere else to run, this was the best place to be with more unsettled weather due again in the next couple of days.

The immediate areas around the marina and fishing docks were also very 'rustic', yet the main town was a complete contrast. Perched on a cliff top over-looking the harbour it was clean and relatively cosmopolitan. We very much enjoyed a somewhat dangerous morning wandering around the fishing trawler boat yard, we observed with great interest a fraction of the 12month building process of a traditional wooden fishing boat.

Jack and Patricia got the opportunity to reunite with their friend Peter aboard SV Sayonara, who they had last seen 3 years ago in Bermuda! Travelling west out of the Mediterranean and making the most of the easterlies that were causing us so many problems, he had sailed single-handed from Malta to Sciacca. They introduced us to Peter and the five of us enjoyed a couple of days and pleasant evenings together, as he made some repairs before continuing his journey. On his last evening with us he very generously treated us all to dinner before he stepped aboard his 32ft sailboat and slipped away into the darkness alone, with a 900nM passage in front of him, direct to Almerimar, Spain.

Unable to passage-make yet again due to 30knot easterly winds, thunder, lighting and torrential rain, the four of us decided to share the cost of hiring a car, without which it seemed we'd see little else of Sicily other than Sciacca. To the east and west of Sciacca lie some very impressive and historically important ancient Greek ruin sites, which unfortunately seemed impossible to get to by public transport. None of us were 100% comfortable with driving amongst the crazy Sicilian drivers but in the end Wayne bravely volunteered and we were all very, very, grateful.

Having collected our very funky, lime green and silver Smartforfour the night before, we were on the road at 8am, excitedly headed east towards Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, said to rank among the most impressive complexes of ancient Greek buildings outside Greece. Getting out of Sciacca was pretty stressful and once on the highway it was mostly a matter of coming to terms with the Sicilian style of over-taking, but we arrived at the awesome site unscathed by 9.30am. Walking a 6km circuit, we were able to cover five of the nine Doric temples, dating from the 5th Century BC, and also visit the Archaeology Museum. Here we were able to better understand what we had seen and view many artefacts excavated from the sites. It was a good excursion to undertake on an overcast day with a fresh breeze and fortunately the rain held off, we doubt we'd have lasted the distance on a sunnier day. After a brief 'packed-lunch' stop at the car we were back on the road west to Selinunte, the destination of our second ancient ruin site of the day.

Selinunte, founded in 651BC, became one of the great cities of Magna Graecia - the part of southern Italy colonized by ancient Greece. Its ancient name Selinus derives from the wild celery that still grows here. It was an important port, its wall defences can still be seen around the Acropolis and its toppled temple ruins are among Sicily's most important historic sites. Eight of its Doric temples are distinguishable, but particularly well preserved are the three that lie a short distance outside the acropolis. The smallest of which has been partially re-erected while the other two look as though they lie pretty much as they might have fallen in 409 BC, when Hannibal and the Carthaginians demolished the city in a battle of epic proportions. From the sheer enormity of the third temples massive columns and foundations, it's easy to see why it's considered one of the greatest Greek temples ever built. The incredible thing about the Selinunte site, unlike the Valley of Temples, is that nothing is cordoned off; you are free to wander through re-erected temples, climb their imposing steps and scramble through its toppled magnificence. We enjoyed the close-up and tactile exploration of these ruins that gave us a real appreciation for scale. Sadly, threatening black clouds followed us to the Acropolis and before long heavy rain began to fall, driving us back to the car for shelter and putting an end to our visit. The drive back to Sciacca was made doubly unpleasant by the torrential downpour but apart from being sore, exhausted and wet-through, we delivered the Smartforfour back in one piece before collapsing into a pizza house for a well needed sit down and refreshment.

That afternoon was the beginning of yet another five days of unsettled weather. Night after night we suffered terrific thunder and lightening storms with severe squalls and by day it was baking hot one minute and bucketing it down the next. After the first of these downpours, the lower streets of Sciacca suffered horrendous flooding, which left them and the marina water littered with dead cockroaches and rats, yuck! However, one opportunity arose from these persistent heavy downpours, we practised catching rain water to top-up our tanks, as we were stuck here for a total of 11 days it proved very useful!

Stuck between a rock and hard place...

On the twelfth day the long-term forecast was foreseeing yet more easterlies and we were getting somewhat twitchy about staying in Sciacca much longer after our prison term in Fornells. We rose early to prepare the boat for sea but decided to wait for the later Sicilian forecast before making a final decision, as the unsettled conditions continued. While waiting on the forecast we discussed making a run for Malta if a F5 was forecast but not in a F7, simple - the forecast was for a F6 with moderate (2.5m) seas. Maybe not so simple after all! Anyhow, having spent many a stormbound day reading our Malta and Gozo Lonely Planet guide, we figured Malta definitely had more to offer than staying put and therefore decided that we were prepared to endure 24 bouncy hours at sea to reap the hopeful rewards.

Next Page > Making landfall in Malta.