October 2020 – SV Chinook

October 11 – 31, 2020

The immigration and customs exit from Tunisia was cumbersome and lengthy. Motored the whole way as was extremely calm. Made for an easy crossing. Filled out more forms.

Early in the morning, we had second thoughts and thought we should try to get back to France. We changed course to go further up the Sicily coast to land in Sciacca, Sicily as we had read it was a port of entry. It looked like we would have to do a 14 day quarantine but maybe not if we had recent Covid tests. We would have to see what the marina directed us to do. Arrived late. The marina was not concerned that we had been to Tunisia so long as we filled out a particular form. Once completed, we were free to do what we wanted. We quarantined anyway. Only saw the town from the docks.

Found out the next day that Sciacca was not a port of entry for “non commercial” boats and that we had to go to Marsala to have our passports stamped. We were going to go that way anyway as it would be a good jumping off spot to Sardegna. However, because of high winds, we were stuck in Sciacca for 3 nights. We were getting concerned that we had been in Italy for 4 days and had not checked in and still did not know if we were Covid acceptable.

The extra time in Sciacca gave us time to fix a problem with one of our critical systems on the boat, the head! On the trip from Tunisia, it stopped pumping water into the toilet bowl for flushing. The pump sounded like it was not primed. Sent a note off to the manufacturer and checked all of the hoses for leaks but found none. The manufacturer replied saying it could not be a priming issue as the pump was self priming and we must have a leak that is allowing air into the system. We are very sensitive to leaks onboard and knew there was no leak. Kathie said we need to suck the water from the seawater intake to the pump to make it easier for the pump to prime itself. She was right. We did this with a siphon pump and we once more had a modern sanitation facility onboard.

The wind decreased overnight and we cast off from Sciacca on the morning of October 14 with our destination being Marsala. Mixture of sailing and motoring and filling out forms. When arrived in Marsala, the marina manager asked where we were coming from and we replied Sciacca but we had been to Tunisia and needed our passports stamped. He did not want to hear that. He said that was bad. We could not get our passports stamped without a Covid test which would take at least a week and there would be 14 day quarantine period. It did not matter that we had recent negative Tunisian Covid test results. It was not the news we wanted to hear. That timing was not going to work for going back to France.

Quarantined in Marsala – Sadly our only picture

The next morning brought better news. The marina manager had convinced Marsala’s medical officer that no Covid test was required and that the port police would be coming to our boat tomorrow to stamp our passports. He then added that we were not to mention Tunisia when the police arrived. Perplexing. Police arrived the next morning, no one mentioned Tunisia, took our passports and returned the stamped passports later that day. A big relief. No longer “illegal migrants” but still quarantined. However, since we were quarantined to our boat, we could move our “quarantined home” so long as we did not get off the boat and, of course, filed multiple forms.

Covid cases in France, Spain and Italy were getting worse and there was more lockdown rhetoric. That plus the difficulties just getting into Italy, bad weather had already held us in port for 4 days since leaving Tunisia and was only going to get worse and our energy and enthusiasm for a long voyage was dwindling, made us flop back to our decision of wintering the boat in Marina di Ragusa and getting back to Calgary sooner than later.

On October 17 we left Marsala for Sciacca once again. Mixture of motoring and good sailing. Had a pleasant lunch anchored under some Greek ruins near Selinunte.

Next day, October 18 sailed and motored to Licata. Saw some more Greek ruins on the coast near Agrigento. Were thinking of anchoring but the wind direction was going to change almost 180 degrees overnight with little protection after it changed. Being prudent we docked at Licata. Was a very large manmade harbour with lots of room for expansion. We were docked against the harbour wall which was so high, we could not get off to hook up water or electricity. Still in quarantine and did not see anything of Licata. At night many families walked along the marina promenade, most with masks.

October 19, had a beautiful sail down the Sicilian coast to Marina di Ragusa. Winds were not too strong but we made good speed with Pink Panther and the mailsail up (7.2 SOG with windspeed 10 kn). Arrived at Chinook’s winter docking spot next to a nice British sailboat. Shortly before landing, we received an email from the Sicilian health ministry saying that we were now quarantine free. We did not know why but were elated. Maybe the Tunisian tests were finally reviewed and sprang us free.

Marina di Ragusa is quite modern and large and is home to many wintering boats, most of which remain occupied for the winter. We spent the next 10 days washing and cleaning the boat, taking the sails and running rigging down, fixing our leaking compass, pleading with the Volvo dealer to come and service our boat for the winter (they finally did), rigging up some heavy duty stern mooring lines with chains and compressors, polishing the inox (Charlie’s favourite pass time), buying a new fender (lost one during the storm on the passage to Tunisia), having the outboard serviced and generally closing down the boat. As a result, we did not see much of the town which was slowly locking down. During the time we were there the closing time for the bars and restos went from 11pm to 9pm to 6pm.

One other task was finding our way home. Our return flight was later in November from Paris. We wanted to go earlier. We were concerned that flights from Rome or Paris to Canada would be more sensitive to cancellation if Italy and France went into lockdown. There were more flights from London and even a Westjet non-stop flight to Calgary. UK was talking about lockdown but that would not be coming as quickly as Italy and France. To our surprise there was a non stop Easyjet flight from an airport close to Ragusa to London. We booked the flights and hoped for the best not knowing what Covid restrictions would be in place.

The first flight from Catania took off; 30% full. No one at Gatwick gave us a glance. We nixed the airport campout and booked into an adjacent hotel. We did not give a sigh of relief until the Westjet plane (30% full) started taxiing down the runway on the way to Calgary. The snow and cold weather of Calgary were a welcome sight.

October 1-10, 2020

We left Cagliari for our 48 hour sail to Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia in the afternoon of October 1. Because of the Covid restrictions, Cagliari would be the last port we were able to get off our boat to explore until October 19 when we arrived in Marina di Ragusa to store our boat for the winter.

Our weather forecasting models forecasted that we would have a calm sail. As we would find out the second day and night, they were only partially correct. Our first night and day was a mixture of good winds (higher than forecasted but manageable) and motoring. Not much traffic the first night. The only incident was a sailboat on a collision course with us sailing on a port tack. We were tracking it for some time on radar and expected it to change course as it was required to do when we are on a starboard tack. When it became clear the sailboat was not going to change course, we had to take evasive action. It was a close encounter but still a safe distance. Either the other skipper did not know the rules, did not even see us visually or by radar or was just an asshole. My money was on the last one.

The second day and night is when the actual weather deviated dramatically from the forecast. The wind and seas were building all day. By nightfall the wind had shifted enough to require us to tack in order to get around Cap Bon and down the east side of Tunisia, with large waves coming at our bow. The winds and seas continued to build all night with winds reaching over 30 knots and waves crashing over our bow with some flying over the dodger. Our watch schedule fell apart as neither of us could sleep and the extra help was needed on deck. We had put in our third reef earlier and the boat was sailing well but waves going in the opposite direction slowed our progress quite a bit. It was tough sailing.

During the night we started sailing across the east-west shipping lanes off the coast of Tunisia. In fact, there are so many ships who take this route on the way to or from the Suez Canal, there was a traffic separation scheme for most of the distance off the Tunisian north coast keeping the ships in designated lanes depending on whether going east or west. We could see the ships’ lights from a distance and it was rush hour traffic for these ships. One after the other with few miles between them. Using AIS and radar we had to dodge around them. Similar to crossing a multi lane road as a pedestrian when the cars do not stop. Difficult to do when the ships are traveling at 11-14 knots and we are only going about 4-6 knots with little maneuverability when sailing. Later we started motor sailing to sail closer into the wind to our destination.

Once across the shipping lanes, we then needed to look out for fishing pots as we had been warned that Tunisian fishermen put out numerous pots off the coast . Getting a fishing pot line around our prop could seize our prop and render us without an engine. We did not want to dive under the boat at night, in bad weather, to free the prop. If we did snag a line we could still sail but would take many hours longer. With the wind and waves we could not see any of the buoys marking fishing pots even with a full moon and, with the bad weather, the radar could not pick up the buoys. We were at the mercy of Poseidon/Neptune.

We rounded Cap Bon and stayed well offshore hoping there would be no fishing pots out that far. Not so. About 10 hours from our destination, still dark, we must have run over one as the engine started to sound differently and RPMs decreased. We tried going in reverse and forward a few times which works reasonably well with a fixed prop to unravel something around the prop but not so well with a folding prop, which we have. It did not work at first but after a half hour of trying, the engine increasingly got better and then was back to normal. We went further offshore.

By sunrise on October 3 the wind was more favourable and we sailed the rest of the way but not without another incident. As we were about to go into the port, we tried pulling up centerboard (there were some shallow spots in the port) but could not. We could see through the centerboard trunk viewing port that the line used to pull the centerboard down was caught between the centerboard housing and one of the spacers for the centerboard. It had the effect of jamming the centerboard tight so that it could not go down or up. This was something Allures was to fix but had not done so. We went into port with the board down and avoided the shallow areas.

Just before we left Cagliari, Italy went from Tunisia’s green list to its orange list. This meant we needed a Covid test as soon as we arrived and another test 5 days after arrival and would be in quarantine until we received the results of the second Covid test. It effectively meant we were in quarantine for 7 days. Tunisian immigration would not check us in until we were out of quarantine. We were directed to the quarantine dock with all of the other boating quarantine “lepers”.

VIew from Chinook for 7 days in Yasmine Hammamet

During quarantine, we could only get off the boat to hook up our water when we needed it. Could not even walk down the dock or go to the beach for a swim. And it was hot. Had a good neighbour next to us. Coincidently, they ran a guardianship business for boats left in a port in Marina di Ragusa, Sicily, for the winter. Ragusa was one place we were considering leaving the boat for the winter. Mike, an affable Brit, who had been in Tunisia for many years, would come by every morning in quarantine with baguettes and pain au chocolat. A legacy from the French colonial days. The baguettes were subsidized by the government and cost 1 Euro for 15 baguettes. No lacking in pastries, especially bread.

We kept busy with boat chores. We hired a diver to check the prop (it was good) and to free the jammed line around the centreboard. He came back to the surface with an octopus which he offered to us but we politely declined. The harbour was the dirtiest we had seen.

The Covid testing was not conducted with same protocols as accustomed to in Canada or Mahon but the tests were done on time and we received results within 48 hours.

By the time we were released from quarantine, the Covid news in Italy and elsewhere was getting worse. We then made the decision to leave Tunisia as soon as the weather was good in order to get into Italy before any lockdown. But where should we go? We had always intended to go back to France. Allures said they cannot go to any place other than Port Napoleon to finish the warranty repairs but it was a long way back to there and with the weather getting worse as heading into the fall, the days getting shorter and possible lockdowns, it did not seem like a good option. We decided to head to Licata, Sicily to check into Italy and then to Marina di Ragusa to winter the boat.

Had one night quarantine free in Tunisia and left the next morning on October 10.

Month: October 2020

Fall 2020 – Sicily – The Quarantine Ports

Fall 2020 – Tunisia