Trawler Blogs

Envoy is now among the Egadi Islands, north-western Sicily.
At Porto Empedocle it was nearly time for Chris to leave us, and the marinara, Giuseppe, was a huge help during the five hour process of getting a stamp in Chris’s passport. First we went to the Customs office, and were directed to Coastguard. They were happy to record Envoy’s arrival, but directed us to the Border Police for Chris’s stamp. The officials are friendly, but everything takes time and patience is a must. Nothing seems to be computerized and information is hand-written into huge, heavy ledgers, reminding me of what we used in banks about 50 years ago. They wanted to photocopy some documents but their copier had broken down. It was a 15 minute drive to the other side of town to see the Border Police, and the first challenge was to get into the Police complex as it was fenced and gated and the intercom on the gate didn’t work. So we waited for a car to leave and bounded through the gate before it closed. After a 30 minute wait we explained what we wanted, but he Police weren’t going to make this easy and wanted to see all our passports, our ship’s papers, Chris’s flight ticket, details of how he would travel to Palermo to catch his flight, and a statutory declaration from me as Captain, stating why Chris was leaving Envoy. We assembled the required papers and a policeman came down to the harbour to check them, gave Chris the much needed stamp and made him 100 Euros (NZ$156) poorer. I offered to pay something to Giuseppe for his considerable time and help but he declined. Chris later said that when he went through emigration at Palermo Airport the official didn’t even look for an entry stamp.
Chris left us after six weeks and 625 miles of fun cruising, and holds the record as the guest who’s spent the most time aboard Envoy (and who’s done the most work!)
With a Scirocco (strong southerly wind) forecast, we decided to stay on at Porto Empedocle for a few days. Our neighbour, Michel, showed us his compact but stunning Fiat Rabath, with a 1.4 litre, 16 valve turbocharged engine capable of pushing the car to a cracking 200 km/hr. One night they drove us 25 km down the coast for dinner so we had a heart-stopping demonstration of the Fiat and Michel’s driving prowess!

Michel’s grunty Fiat Rabath is capable of 200 km/hr

Close to our position in the harbour was a sombre looking prison now turned into a museum. Here in 1848, the prison’s governor fearing a revolt had 114 prisoners moved into a pit accessible only through a narrow opening through the floor above. He also ordered that firecrackers be thrown down among the prisoners to quieten them down, and it was later found that all 114 had been asphyxiated by the sulfurous fumes. 

Sombre-looking prison where 114 prisoners tragically suffocated

The Scirocco didn’t eventuate and we cruised on to Sciacca. We had a wind up to 23 knots on the nose with 1.5m seas and a head current so could only made good about 5 knots at 1,600 rpm towing the big RHIB.
Sciacca doesn’t have a proper marina, but two yacht clubs rent berths to visitors. It’s not well-protected and numerous trawlers coming in and out of the harbour added to the swell causing Envoy to roll at her berth (it was too shallow to use a flopper stopper). The floating pontoons moved around so much it was even difficult to walk a straight line down them, and that was before our evening drinks!
Sicily is still a major fishing area and several dozen 15 to 25 metre trawlers are based in Sciacca, leaving and entering at all hours, and making no speed concession to the pleasure craft moored at the yacht club. 

Looking down on Sciacca harbour where there are many fishing boats. Envoy was moored right side of picture

Cost was 40 Euros (NZ$63) per night including water and power, but there was some problem with low voltage (190 volts) so we didn’t use it. It’s going to be fixed some day soon (yeah right …read some month or year).
Sciacca’s an interesting place to wander around, and here the wind really was blowing so we stayed three nights waiting for the wind and seas to drop.

Sciacca cathedral – we’ve seen more than a few similar but never tire of them

Stunningly ornate pipe organ in medieval Chiesa di Santa Margherita

Sciacca is famous for ceramics and mosaics and this stairway is adorned with them

Quirky ceramic chop in Sciacca

This Sciacca medieval courtyard drips atmosphere

Even small supermarkets have fantastic delicatessen areas

TECHNICAL – Nothing to report

ENVOY LOG As at 19/6/14, we’d spent 72 days aboard and cruised 649 miles for 114 engine hours.