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Plan ‘A’ to visit Tunisia was changed as it was closed due to a large spike in Covid cases. So Plan ‘B’ – Albania was put into play. From Siracusa we did an overnight passage to Rocella just up the coast of the toe of the Italian boot. We had good wind to start and the usual dodging of cargo ships along the way. Did not get much sleep as it was too hot. Little did we know that very hot days and nights were to be the norm. The wind died shortly before dawn and the sails came down. Fortunate as about 0500 the wind unexpectedly picked up reaching 38 kn as we approached Rocella. The tired crew waited for a break in the wind before entering the marina. The marina was well protected. Much to our surprise the marinara was a Toronto Maple Leafs fan!

From there we made a dash across the bottom of the Italian boot in two long hot days stopping at Crotone and Santa Maria di Leuca. Nothing special about these marinas but all pleasant. We had brief periods of good wind but in general a lot of motoring. Along the way we enjoyed good pizza, the Italy/Spain semi final match, dinner in a lovely courtyard in Santa Maria (Hosteria del Pardo), and we even worked in a few boat chores including servicing 2 winches.

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We finalized details with the Albania agent at Sarande Summer Tours. Albania was doing well with Covid so no quarantine or testing was required.

On the morning of July 10 we left Santa Maria, Italy at 0530 for a 12 hour sail to Albania. It was a great sail with 15-18 kn of wind most of the way.

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We arrived in Sarande at 1730 and made way to the Customs dock on the west side of the large city harbour. We were able to dock alongside the concrete customs dock where we met our agent. Our checkin process went smoothly (only 30 minutes) and our agent arranged for a fuel truck to arrive the next morning as well as a Covid test for getting back into Italy. Very impressed with Jelja’s service! We were able to moor at the Customs dock for our 2 night stay. This was much more secure than anchoring in the harbour bay and we could not be any safer than being in the secured customs dock. We were only there a couple of days but the custom guards got to know us.

We were busy with fueling, Covid tests and getting supplies so we didn’t venture too far into Sarande but enjoyed the Albanian food at CACI (lamb with yogurt, squid). It was a busy place and many families out strolling the seawall at night. No particular interesting architecture as most of the buildings were in the post war Soviet style. It was a good visit.

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Our exit papers were prepared for the morning of July 12. We decided to break up the trip back to Italy by stopping at an anchorage we saw on our way over – the Greek island Othonoi. There were a few boats in the bay when we arrived but they all left by nightfall and we had the bay to ourselves. Beautiful! Charlie thought he heard the Sirens calling during the night but he did not succumb.

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After a long a 9 month separation due to Covid, we were reunited with Chinook again in Marina di Ragusa. She was miffed about us abandoning her for such a long time but after a good washing of the deck, all was for given. She spent the winter in the water with a watchful eye from Sam. We began the neverending tasks of getting her ready to sail once again.

On July 1st we left the docks and started to sail the coast of Sicily. First stop, an anchorage at PortoPalo and then to Siracusa.

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Enroute to Siracusa we stopped by the beaches at Pachino where the 48th Highlanders (Charlie’s old regiment) landed during the invasion of the Sicily during World War II.

The wind picked up in the afternoon and we roared into the Siracusa harbour at 9 kn with no relief from the winds. While sailing in that wind was exhilarating, it made it difficult getting the sails down and complicated the mooring at the marina (Yacht Club Lakkios).

Siracusa is a must see in Sicily – really enjoyed it. Very ancient city rivaling ancient Athens in its day with many layers of following civilizations. The narrow streets were charming and also provided some relief from the ever present sun. Cod da Saretta was a very small restaurant in the old city that served wonderfully fresh seafood: sea bass, swordfish (Charlie’s favourite), langostina, mussels (Kathie’s favourite) and of course, pasta which was great even in the marginal food places we hit on our trip. Euro 2020/2021 was on at this time and we caught the Belgium Italia game outdoors in Piazza Archimede. The Sicilian fans were infectious with their enthusiasm.

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We are now in day 12 of our 14 day quarantine at home in Calgary after our return from Europe. To help pass the time, we’ve been busy updating our Chinook website with our adventures.

We posted our Tunisia blog today where it mentions the heavy winds and waves on the second day and night of our passage and the difficulty we had avoiding the fishing pots around Cap Bon during the bad weather. We lost a fender (in its Chinook sock) off the stern during this rough weather however this was not mentioned in our blog.

We received an email tonight from someone in Libya who was navigating through facebook and found a post about a fender that belonged to a foreign boat which had washed up on the western shores of Libya. This person did some research on the internet and found our Tunisia blog and made the connection. Amazing! Not quite like finding a message in a bottle, but close.

Below is the facebook page with pictures. Our fender (still in it’s sock) is in great shape after its long trek and it looks like she has found a home. Ha! the fender even has 188 likes so far.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

September 12 – 22, 2020

On September 11, 2020 we embarked on our first overnight sail.  It was a 22-hour sail from Palamos to Fornells, Menorca.  We sailed most of the way with good winds and arrived 2 hours before ETA at 08:30 with dolphins greeting as we approached Menorca.  With a small current Chinook clocked 11.2 knots SOG at one point during the passage. It was a touch early upon arrival to crack open the traditional post docking beer but we don’t like to break tradition.

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Fornells is a very nice town in a beautiful bay. It is a wonderful anchorage, well protected from almost all winds and swell. It was a great spot to get some R&R after our overnight passage.  We were on a mooring ball for 2 nights. We enjoyed the local tapas and each day ended with a dip off the stern in the clear blue sea to cool off.

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On September 14 we had a good sail to Ciutadella, a historic port city on the west coast of Menorca. Our new code D sail (aka Pink Panther) performed well along the trip. We docked at Club Nautic in a picturesque and charming port.

We enjoyed walking around the old quarter and medieval streets. The main square, Plaça des Born, is home to an impressive Gothic-style City Hall. Restaurants were busy requiring reservations. We stopped here again on our way to Mahon. We enjoyed a rare dinner out at a very nice restaurant where the owner ironically did some of her schooling overseas in Grand Rapids, Kathie’s hometown in Michigan.

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On September 15 we travelled south to Mallorca. On the morning of departure, we were remined that rushing things can sometimes lead to mistakes. When departing, we decided to wait until the French boat on our port side completely cleared the dock as they seemed to be in a rush to get away. We saw them cast off their stern lines and, although we did not watch them closely, we had assumed that they had already cast off both bow lines attached to the anchored laid lines out in the fairway. The skipper throttled the boat forward with some authority but shortly thereafter the bow was yanked abruptly to starboard and the stern pivoted out to port. Fortunately this all happened well clear of Chinook and there was no boat on their port side. In their haste, they had forgotten to cast off their starboard bow line. No damage done other than to their sailing pride.

It was another hot day. No wind which meant we had ample time to do some chores along the way – polishing, cleaning the upper deck (including the Inox) and linseed oil for the woodwork.

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We anchored in Cala Magraner surrounded by high cliffs which is a popular spot for climbing. The Cala also turned out to be a popular spot for boaters with 5 boats already anchored. The wind had picked up and so did the seas. We chose a spot close the mouth of the Cala taking care to avoid the sea grass. We did an anchor check in the clear blue water and all was well.

During the early evening a few more boats joined the Cala. The winds increased and changed frequently causing swell in the Cala making our night somewhat unpleasant. In the morning we ended up pointing 180 degrees opposite of what we were when we went to bed. We left the next morning for Isle de Cabrera at the southern tip of Mallorca. We had good winds for most of the trip.

Cabrera Island was not to be missed.  A National Park since 1991 has kept Cabrera and surrounding islands an untouched paradise.  You need a permit and reservation to moor in the natural port of Porto de Cabrera located at the NE of the island.  Beautiful hot weather and clear blue water made for a wonderful 2 night stay. 

We climbed up to the 14^th century fortress (at the port entrance) which originally served as defence against pirate attacks.  The view was spectacular. 

During the Peninsular Wars this island was a prison for 1,900 French soldiers many of which died from starvation and disease. Walking trails around the island led you to a monument and cemetery for the soldiers. There was also a museum with displays of the history and ecology of the island. The relatively untouched coastline has a wealth of species native to the Balearic Islands including small black lizards seen along the trails.

There was only one commercial enterprise on the island and that was a small Cantina on the beach offering snacks and cold beer. A welcome treat after our hike! Another small world story. The owner of the Cantina grew up in Mexico and for some of the summers in her youth, she was sent to a camp on a lake just outside Peterborough, home of a good friend of Charlie’s and not very far from where Charlie spent his summers at his family’s cottage.

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To get to Tunisia, the best route was to sail to Sardegna and then onto Tunisia.  We sailed up to Mahon, Menorca (our hopping off spot to Carloforte, Sardegna).  Our sail on September 20  started off well as we raised Pink Panther (our new Code D sail) to gain more speed in the 10-13 knot winds.  Not long after, the halyard shackle released and our new sail dropped instantly into the sea.  We could not believe our eyes.  We both scrambled to pull this huge sail up and over the starboard lifelines.  We were lucky there was no damage and fortunate to have a spare halyard that we used to raise the sail from the deckand furl it.  Lesson learned:  be sure the halyard snap shackle “snaps” closed. 

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We arrived in Mahon at the floating docks in Puerto de Mahon.  In non-Covid times we heard these docks were lively and social but this time there was only 1 other boat distanced on the dock. The marina had a designated dinghy dock onshore to allow us to get to the town. Our outboard gave us a good workout each time we used it as it was very difficult to start and would often stall when slowing it down to go into forward gear. The dock was too far to row in the wind. Each time we went into town, we had to go through the “starting” theatre of numerous pulls on the starter cord, sputtering, swearing and short running bursts with intermittent stops. It was not Charlie’s favourite time.

Mahon (Mao) was a larger town/city and more industrial than Ciutadella. It is the capital of Menorca. It has a very large protected harbour with the Spanish Naval Academy occupying part of it close to where we moored. The town was straight up from the harbour. Made for good exercise. Numerous narrow and interesting streets and many old British style mansions lining the streets. A legacy of the many years it was ruled by the British, particularly the British navy.

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We did not realize it at the time but the rest of our trip was now going to be even more different. Up to now, the experience of visiting the ports and anchorages was relatively normal although many sites, markets and attractions were closed and we chose not to visit large cities and avoided large gatherings of people. We were missing some of the atmosphere of the ports and restaurants but it was still enjoyable. But hereafter, because Covid cases in Europe were accelerating, the compliance with the ever changing rules and restrictions of each country became a dominant focus of our days. The new norm was uncertainty and anxiety regarding the ability to enter countries and the mobility restrictions being imposed by each country, including quarantine requirements. Accompanying this was the requirement to complete dozens of forms every time we moved the boat and Covid tests.

Because Spain was on the EU’s Covid naughty list, to enter Sardegna from Spain we needed to fill out numerous forms and either go into quarantine while waiting for  a Covid test to be done when we arrived in Sardegna or get a Covid test before we left Mahon and arrive in Sardegna within 72 hours of the test.  The marina in Carloforte, Sardegna, our destination, told us that a Covid test in Carloforte could take up to 8 days.  Fortunately, the marina in Mahon gave us the contact of a private clinic in Mahon where we could obtain the test on short notice and have the results emailed to us.   

We started reviewing our departure opportunities on PredictWind for the best day to embark on our 36 hour sail to Sardegna.  This was our first 2 night sail.  Before we could head out we needed to complete one task which was to retrieve the halyard left at the top of the mast after our sail splashed into the water yesterday.  Kathie volunteered to go to the top in the bosun chair. She also had a back-up climbing harness on. She was connected to the mainsail halyard and also connected to the other spinnaker halyard as a back-up. Charlie safely maneuvered the halyards and winches below.  The mission was successful. Another first for this trip. 

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