Malta...We Loved It!

I’m not sure why, but I (Marina here) really wanted to see Malta. Our original plan was to sail from Crete to Malta (a 5 day passage) but upon learning more about the local weather in the late winter/early spring we decided this might not be a prudent idea. We also decided that overnight trips for more than one night are really hard on us - we need one more crew to take a night shift. So we did the speed trip across Turkey and Greece to Cephalonia and a couple of days wait there for a weather window to hop to Sicily in Italy, just a one-night crossing. We weren't sure we'd have time to slip down to Malta, but thankfully we did as our race across Greece was quick...so south to Malta we went and are we glad!

I'm not much of a history buff, but some of the history of Malta is interesing, easy to "get" and fun to learn. In particular learning about the First Great Seige from the Turks against The Knights of St. John, and the Second Great Siege during the 2nd World War. Malta was a desireable, strategic location.

An exerpt from the Imray Italian Waters Pilot, Rod Heickel (2006 ed.) about the Great Siege of Suleiman the Magnificent against the Knights of St. John in 1565 goes as follows:
“The Turks, knowing of Malta’s strategic location, decided to rid themselves of this thorn in their side once and for all and on May 19, 1565, a Turkish fleet of 138 ships, 38,000 men, and much heavy artillery reached Malta. Combined with the ships and forces of the North African prirate, Dragut, this force faced only 600 Kights and 9,000 troops. The besieged Knights fought on through the summer of 1565 and lost Fort St. Elmo, until finally they were holed up in Birgu, Senglea and Fort St. Angelo. There were many dead and numerous atrocities on both sides. The Turks tied the dead bodies of the Knights to crosses and floated them across to the defenders while the Knights retaliated by bombarding the Turks with the heads of their fallen troops.

  

Eventually a relief force arrived from Sicily and the Turks retreated after losing, it is estimated, some two-thirds of their troops. Fort St. Elmo was rebuilt and Valletta, named after the brave and stout Grand Master was developed from 1566 onward.”

For two centuries the Knights prospered...and then Napoleon took over and used the riches from the churches there to finance his Egyptian campaign, which the British didn't like so they assisted the Maltese in removing the French...eventually in 1921 the Maltese were given local autonomy under a British governor.

Twenty years later, the Second World War began. A couple of interesting tidbits during this time were one, the Americans came and built a fully functional runway on the island of Gozo in 2 days - they needed to store about 1000 planes there. And two, as the harbour of Valletta is so large, protected and deep, it was a perfect spot to hide submarines.

To continue the Imray excerpt regarding the siege of Malta by the Italian and German air forces in 1941 and 1942:

“In the early part of the Second World War, Malta was a vital Allied naval base separating Europe from Rommel’s troops in North Africa. The Italians began a fierce blitz on Malta in 1941 and, unable to subdue it, were joined by German bombers. Throughout 1942 until November, Malta was bombed incessantly and the Maltese were reduced to living in rubble-strewn towns in near-starvation conditions. The Allies, well aware of how vital Malta was to them, attempted to keep the island supplied by convoys which failed to get through. In August 1942 a convoy with the tanker OHIO carrying much-needed oil, passed Gibraltar and, despite five days of fierce bombing in which many ships were sunk and the OHIO badly damaged, managed to limp into Grand Harbour where huge crowds had gathered to cheer it in and welcome the breaking of the blockade. For their bravery the islanders were collectively awarded the George Cross.”

Malta (the island of and including the islands of smaller Gozo and tiny Comino) are approximately 122 square miles in total. Such a small, tiny place with such great heart and courage.

We spent time taking wonderful old busses to the old town and wandered around – mostly window shopping and just looking around to get a feel for the old town and see the architecture. We felt very comfortable there and although Maltese was the "unusual" language spoken, most people understood a bit of English and we could get by quite easily. 

As we were there for a few days, we did look for a couple of “touristy” things to see and do – such as watch a 45 minute movie on the history of Malta and even more interesting, we took a tour of the WWII Lacarno War Rooms – restricted from the public for years. It looked just like in the movies! Underground, safe from bombings, with huge maps and charts, old desks and phones, switchboards and so on, and the area housed each of the army, navy, air force and marines during WWII. Eisenhower was there at one point.

Another special treat was to meet some friends of friends from the Martin 242 fleet at RVYC (Ray and Annie Parsons) and Matt and I were hosted by Annie's cousin Jerry and his friend Mary to a lovely and delicious dinner out. The dinner conversation never stopped and we hope to see them in Vancouver later this year as they plan to visit.

We left the Grand Harbour of Valletta after three good days to spend a night at anchor just off the small islet of Comino (between Malta and Gozo). It’s a touristy spot, in a bay called “Blue Lagoon”, which was lovely and blue, but not quite as nice as the one in the movie. We spent some time enjoying the sun, the beach and the water – then had a slightly lumpy night’s sleep and back to Sicily the next morning.

Syracusa to Marzamemi

We left Syracusa at 7:30 am because we were tied up at the gas dock – and we figure that when you’re poaching a spot you should be willing to get out early. We motored casually away from the dock, kids still asleep, and headed down toward Marzamemi – Marina liked the sound of this place because they have SHOWERS !!! Now if we could only find a place with Laundry facilities. When your 15 year old boy starts complaining that he needs to find a place to do laundry, then you know that it’s time to do laundry.

Well, there was no such luck about laundry, but we did hit the jackpot in terms of local Sicilian hospitality. We stayed at the Marzememi Yacht Club … a newly minted YC that uses a marina and has a couple of temporary buildings on site. They’ve got about 50 members and it looks like a wonderfully social place to be. Marzamemi harbour has a very tight entrance and some of our charts are not exactly high detail – kind of like Vancouver Island all on one chart would be a reasonable approximation – so we rely on the Italian Waters Pilot. The harbour had changed since that was printed so we were a bit on our own … the only thing we did know is that we had plenty of depth for Tara’s 2.3M keel. We were directed to a slip between two 50 foot powerboats and very deftly (if I do say so myself) Tara was maneuvered into a hole about 2 feet wider than her beam without a touch on either side. We tied up with laid moorings and totally relaxed. Showers, Internet, and a town nearby – what more can you ask for.

What we got was way better – we met Frank and Valeria – a couple that were staying on their new Jeanneau 45DS a couple of boats down. Frank helped us tie up the boat and was cleaning some fish. Later that afternoon he asked us if we wanted to take a ride with him into town to get some provisions. He first took us to the winery – where we filled up 2 liter water bottles with red wine – for 2Euros a liter. In a gesture of his generosity, he paid for our wine. Frank then took us to the supermarket, the bakery – where he arranged a tour of the oven, then to a local store that specializes in delicacies from Southern Sicily. On the way back to the club he mentioned that they were having a meeting about match-racing that evening and were going out for dinner at a local pizzeria at around 8:30 and asked if we’d like to come. We jumped at it and left the kids behind with a movie and some pasta while Marina and I dressed up a little and went out with about 20 Sicilian sailors. We had a great meal, Calimari, we shared some of Valeria’s fried anchovy – (you snap the heads off, then batter and fry them, and then eat them just like French fries – except with a tail) that are always really good. Both Marina and I had pizzas, there was lots of beer, some champagne and at the end some Grappa – that tastes a lot like tequila to me.

We wandered back to the boat and said our goodbyes. How can you thank someone for a chance encounter like that … we will probably not see them again but they made our lives much richer by their generosity and giving nature. Much like others we’ve met along the way – that’s what travelling is all about.

Fish farm ouside Marzamemi

It takes a few days to recover from a passage, so we hit the hay and after checking the weather, decided it’s a perfect day to go to Malta.

Unexpected Visitors

Most of the time on passages it’s a lonely existence, with only chance encounters with freighters that break up the horizon. If there were other cruisers that we could make the passage with that would be fun, but finding another boat on our route with our general speed characteristics is not that easy to do. What we find mostly this time of year is that we’re pretty much the only boat out cruising. I’d guess that will be a bit different come June and July.

Take a close look at Ross' head

Anyway, we managed to pickup a hitchhiker in the form of a bird. It started following the boat about a half hour before dark and then tried to land on the table .. but slid off, then tried to land on the companionway, but it was a little close to Ross and me, then flew off again. It was remarkably agile swooping in, gliding, then bugging out into the wind and all the time missing the various wires, poles and ropes around the cockpit. Eventually it was getting dark and he might have been getting tired, and he landed on, of all things, my hat.

Matt showing off his bird brain

He liked it there but if I moved he flew off. As the darkness came he became more and more interested in landing.  At one point he landed in Ross’ hair and I got him off with my hand and put him on my hat that I put on the winch …. Later on that night Marina moved the hat from the port to the starboard side … and he stayed put. At 6:30 light came and off he flew. I hope he wasn’t trying to fly to Greece, because we took him about 80 miles in the wrong direction if he did.

Jessie and the Bird on the Midnight Shift

Around noon on Friday we came across a big pod of dolphins that stayed with us for about a half hour – 10 or 12 of them – little guys maybe 2 meters long – diving and having fun on the bow for at least 30 minutes. And over the course of the next couple of hours, we had various numbers of dolphins playing with us.

We took quite a bit of video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jTimlAHKl4 and still shots – but the level of fun they appear to be having – there can’t be any other reason for them to do it – is awesome. Kind of like watching horses run around a field or dogs playing.

Anyway, it becomes the highlight of the passage as we power or sail for hours on end.

Kefalonia to Sicily

Thursday morning arrived and we pulled off the dock and got going. Marina set the alarm for 05:00 but it was still dark. I let her sleep another hour as I prepped the boat and shot off a few more emails. Then we lifted the anchor, spent 20 minutes sluicing the mud off the anchor chain. Marina found a brick stuck to the flukes of our anchor … we pickup the weirdest stuff. Anyway, once we were clear, we powered out of the harbour, pointed the nose 252 degrees and for the next 250 miles that’s the course.

After we powered out of the harbour, Marina took her leave and headed down for some more sleep. Unlike moi, she has trouble napping during the day. Me on the other hand feel no guilt and have no trouble having a power nap during the day. Tara powered along happily towards Sicily and at 7:30 Marina gave up trying to sleep and came up top to keep me company – and what wonderful company she is. At around 9:30 we started to motorsail, using the motor at lower RPMs and the jib to stabilize us in the waves and also gives us more speed and better fuel economy. By 10:00 we were sailing … and sail we did at 8+ knots for 12 hours. During this time the crew tried to keep its feet underneath them. Close-hauled/close reaching for the first 6 hours means that we’re heeling (leaning) over on about a 20-25 degree angle. Our trusty RayMarine autopilot ‘Otto’ did an OK job steering in the wind and waves. I could hand steer about .5-.75 knots faster, but that was a lot of work, so we let Otto do his job most of the day.

Our routine on overnights is to have everyone up during the day (except the boy who sleeps 6 hours a day when in port and 18 when we’re sailing…. go figure?) and we play games, read, do some work, enjoy the scenery. It gets dark at 7 so I take the 6 to 8pm shift with either Ross or Jess. Then Marina and Jess take the 8pm-12am shift waking me and Ross up at midnight where we go 4 hours and then the Girls (they really do have a great teamwork thing happening that I need to get going with Ross too) take over until the sun comes up. Then usually it’s me on my own for a few hours enjoying the morning sunshine, a cup of tea and some time to think.

This trip followed our routine except that we were sailing most of the time instead of powering. In Ross and my 6-8pm shift a small land bird – we think maybe a swallow, kept flying around the cockpit of the boat … scoping out whether to land. It was getting dark and he was becoming more bold. He tried landing on the table but it was too slippery, he landed on the side of the hatch cover – a piece of teak trim but it was too slippery too. After dozens of landing attempts he decided that my hat was the place to be. He took off and landed from my hat perhaps 6 or 7 times. I then took my hat off and placed it over top of one of our cabin winches. He flew in again, this time deciding to land in Ross’ hair. I did the ‘finger under the belly of the bird trick’, he sat on my finger and then I placed him onto my hat that I had put on the winch. He flew away one more time, then returned to sit on the hat ontop of the winch. And there he stayed.

Ross and I took off at 8pm and when we returned at midnight, Marina had switched on the engine as the wind had died down, and the bird was still on the hat, but Marina had moved the hat from the port to the starboard winch so she could roll up the sail – and the bird stayed put. Through Ross and my 12-4am shift the bird sat contentedly on top of my hat. When I woke up at 7 Marina said that he got up around 6:45 when the sun came up and flew off to the North. He left me a couple of “good luck” presents on the hat but … what the heck, how often do we get to spend time up close like that with nature?

Other than that the night was pretty uneventful, not too much traffic. At night we use a combo of eyeball, Radar and AIS. We can typically pickup the ships by eyeball first – then almost right away they show up on the AIS, that tells us their names, speed, closest point of approach in both miles and time. This takes the guesswork out of whether we’re safe or not and makes life much more pleasant. When we can see lights but no AIS track then we check with our Radar – a useful backup and also able to pickup land in fog – something we’ve managed to avoid so far.

We have noticed that the AIS stuff shows up about the same time as we see the ship. It makes us wonder whether they cycle them on and off … perhaps in a reaction to the Somali pirates. What’s the point in letting the pirate know where you are, your name and usually by extension cargo, and your heading and speed. My guess is that most of the AIS systems are turned off on the west coast of Africa.

The morning brought us lighter winds but still pretty big seas and powering into these is both uncomfortable (think bash, bash, bash) and it takes a knot and a half off our speed. So we pulled out the sails and aimed a little lower to see if we could make a marina south of Syracusa sailing in the beautiful morning sun. We aimed about 20 to 30 degrees lower than our course for a while until it became apparent that the wind was going to continue to veer … we rolled up the jib and waited until the wind switched to port-tack and then we pulled out the jib again. About 20 miles out from Syracusa we experienced building wind and had to reef our jib – 25 to 30 knots of apparent wind so we sailed at high speed and high heel angle into Syracusa. And lucky us, along this stretch we had a nice long visit from a big pod of dolphins. They are such a delight to see.

We came into the ancient harbour and called to the Marina … no answer … now what do we do? We decided to take a chance, pulled out the bumpers and came into the harbour looking for some dockspace to use. Unfortunately we didn’t have a schematic that took into account the mooring lines under water so we were cautious and decided to pull up on the wall of the mole.

The 20 knot wind was blowing us off the quay so we needed some help onshore to tie up our stern while I motored forward being careful not to rip the stern cleat off while bow-thrusting like crazy. We got tied up, took a few deep breaths, said our thank-you’s, and had a quick shower before heading off into old Syracusa.

We wandered the beautiful city for about 2 hours looking for a Vodafone store to get our new phone numbers and internet stick SIMS, then selected a pizza restaurant and went for dinner. Turns out that .5l Heineken, a tall glass of local wine, and a 330ml Sprite or Coke are the same price. There are some things you just have to love about Europe!

Anyway, we walked back to Tara, put our heads on our pillows and slept the sleep of the dead for about 10 hours.

Kefalonia – an unplanned 4 day stop

Well, Kefalonia is a cool kind of island and we are getting a little more prudent with respect to weather on these off-season crossings. In spite of the weather accuracy, we are beginning to err on the side of caution, perhaps it was the 6 hours of hand steering we had to do on our way out of Turkey that did it to us.

Anyway, Kefalonia is a cool harbour. We made a tactical error when we arrived and tied up to the mole side-to instead of our normal med-mooring with our anchor and stern-to. When we arrived the wind was going parallel to the mole and we thought it would be fine. About a half hour after our arrival the wind shifted and pushed us right up against the wall – we needed all 8 fenders on the port side to keep from getting worked onto the cement breakwater.

That night we realized that our keel might be slightly into the mud as our depth sounder read 2.1 meters at one point so we moved forward in the morning to slightly deeper water (2.7M instead of 2.3M) The wind had abated and we thought we’d be OK. Well not more than a half hour later did a 20 knot breeze come up and pin us to the dock again. We resolved to move to Med Moor as soon as the wind decreased. On Tuesday we did that, fueled up the tanks and got ready to head out Wednesday first thing.  It's funny how your perspective changes. When we got to Europe I was quite concerned about med mooring and would have preferred to tie side-to a dock as we do in Canada. Today, I would choose stern-to mooring over side-to every time. It's easier to get in and out, the motion is easier and it provides for 5-10x the number of boats in the same space. Altogether it's a much more efficient way to store boats at a dock -- and I hope we start doing it in Canada soon.


At dinner on Tuesday night Marina made the command decision to wait another day. We did this to avoid a 20—30 knot period of wind from Midnight Wednesday to 4am Thursday. Twenty to thirty knots is not too bad on Tara coming from the right direction, but at night we thought we’d wait another day, the wind will now be 15 knots and we’ll all be more comfortable.

So, what is there to do on Kefalonia – pretty much everything. Once we pulled the boat off the dock and med moored so we were way more comfy. I had a bunch of work to do but still managed to rent a scooter and zoom around the island with Jessie on the back. We had a bit of a start when some wanker came around a blind corner in a 4 wheel drift about 150 feet from us. Thankfully he regained control of his car and didn’t kill us but it is a reminder that when you’re on two wheels you don’t always control your own destiny.

Jessie and Marina did a bunch of shopping. Unfortunately for me there aren’t really any marine stores on Kefalonia, but there are lots of clothing and shoe stores, so Jess was in heaven. We tried to dress Ross up a bit, get him out of his basketball-shorts, Tshirt, and adidas zip up soccer pullover but to no avail.

As we head to Italy it’s time for me to start dressing better too. My Old Navy shorts are getting a bit ratty and while I have a stable of 10 Tshirts, I’m not sure the 50 year old skateboarder look is all that good for me.

The dining in Cepahlonia (greek spelling) is very good … as good as Simi. On the mole everyone fishes. They have these 20 foot long fishing rods they use with small bobbers and maggots as bait. One of the pretty successful fishermen near us was pulling in 6-10 per day. I think they sell them to local restaurants. They looked OK but I didn’t try them … the harbour wasn’t that clean – I figure if I wouldn’t swim in it I shouldn’t eat anything that swims in it.

Sprinting Across Greece

When we decide to go, we can get a move on. Granny Sharon is arriving in Tuscany in mid April and we want to get there. Unfortunately there’s some 900 miles to go before we get there. So, we’d better get a move on.

The weather looked fabulous (well for us powerboaters it looked good, not too much wind) so we powered from Marmaris to Simi and bunkered with fuel. Simi’s fuel prices are reasonable, or at least a lot more reasonable than in Turkey, so we filled both tanks – about 600 Euros or $1000 worth of fuel.

Ouch, but by buying it in Simi instead of Marmaris we saved 150 Euros. We had our normal runaround checking into the country – Police, Customs, Port Police, Police, Port Police and they’re arranged around the harbour as far as possible from each other. It’s about a 2 to 3 hours procedure to get into the country.

But Simi is a special place for us – where we met the Pantons -- David, Tina, Bimi and her friend Claudia there, so we have a special place in our hearts for Simi. From Simi we did several long days in a row to get across Greece.

Simi to Astipalaia 65

Astipalaia to Paros 73

Paros to Kythnos 55

Kythnos to Poros 45

Poros to the Corinth Canal 40

Corinth to Nisos Trizonia 55

Nisos Trizonia to Messalongia 35

Messalongia to Kefalonia 70

 So in the span of 8 days we managed to go from Turkey to the stepping-off point to sail to Sicily or about 450 nautical miles. That doesn’t sound like very far but if you divide by 7.5 knots you end up with about 60 hours of travel time … and that’s about 7 hours a day on average.

A Few Days in Marmaris - Tara Goes Blue

There are two marinas to stay at in Marmaris: Netsel – downtown, nice amenities, 87 Euros a night; and Marmaris Yacht Marine – big boat-yard, outside of town, 25 Euros a night. Since we were there for a week we chose Yacht Marine and saved the 400 Euros – which we promptly put into Tara.

Over the winter we had a number of maintenance issues crop up and if you ever want to get something done to a boat, Marmaris is the place to go. So … we got a new GPS antenna setup – repairing our GPS, had some stainless tubes made for the fridge, purchased a new battery, repaired the furler, took the jib in and had the leech line repaired - -and at the same time had a new dodger and bimini made and had the steering wheels recovered in new leather. The guys at Sharp Marine did very quick work – a 2 day turnaround for all four items, and at what we think was a competitive price – and the stuff looks great. Tara has pretty much shed here ‘charter boat’ look and is a proper yacht.

Not only that, we had some fun in Marmaris just hanging out for a couple of days. We even went bowling which was fun! Much more reasonable than Israel (where it was almost $10 per game per peson). Would have liked to play some tennis but not enough time and the marina is a 15 minute bus ride out of town so not very convenient.

Checking out of Turkey is a bit of a process, so we took the boat to the fuel dock at Netsel, came back and collected our papers and were cleared to depart Turkey. What a great place to go, we’ll need to come back one day. It offers wilderness cruising like we have in BC with warm, clear and clean water. Definitely a plus, and I think the shoulder seasons of May-June and September-November are the nicest times to go.

Kemer to Marmaris



Leaving Kemer

After 2 long days of 50+ miles from Kemer to Kekova Roads where we quietly anchored out and then on Skopia Limani (with a stop at 7 Mile Beach on the way), we spent two days in the Gocek area – an incredible place.

Clear water, wilderness, you can climb up the local hills and explore tombs of different types – pigeon-hole tombs that are simply scooped out of the rock to very elaborate tombs that have Doric columns and archways on them (all emptied out generations ago I suspect).

 The Turks are perhaps further along in terms of coast conservation than other places we have been so we were pleasantly surprised to see they had installed a line of new mooring balls – with 30,000 Kilo anchors (WOW .. now I can sleep well!) in the place we had intended to anchor: Skopea Limani. This area around Gocek is becoming a pretty popular cruising ground … clear water, short distances, quite enclosed so you don’t really need to worry about weather, some towns to visit: Gocek and Fethiye. If you had 10 days on a boat this would be the ideal setup – kind of like the Med’s version of the BVI.

Gocek Area

The biggest issue I would guess when it gets crowded is where to anchor and swim (thankfully part of cruising in Turkey is a need for holding tanks – and a 4000 Euro fine if you discharge a toilet near shore) … so they’ve just put down some 20 or so top class mooring balls. I guess the only downside would be that the afternoon entertainment of watching the charterers “wankering” is minimized – though I can recall a French boat taking more than a half hour to connect to a mooring ball – and given the simplicity of that manoeuvre it was just as entertaining, though in a different way.




 Anyway, it was time to get to Marmaris. Big weather is coming in the Greek Islands and we wanted to be in Marmaris to do some final boat preparation and then when the weather looked right hop off to Greece for our trip west. The weather was settled but cloudy and it looked like we were going to get a little rain … and we’d need to power for the 50 miles or so to Marmaris ….. boy did that turn out to be wrong. We powered out of Skopea Limani and into the open ocean – no wind, but some lumpy waves.

After about 10 minutes we had 15 knots from behind so we pulled out the sails and cut the motor. Over the next several hours we had everything … including some very, very big waves. If you can stand watching some amateur video I put about a 10 minute video of that day up on Youtube … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSsQGrqgfrw. It will give you a small glimpse of what the longer days are like, how we pass the time, and why you need to be careful at this time of year to watch out for the weather.

 Anyway, we made it, perhaps a little worse for wear, but as Marina said “that was a confidence builder” and we needed it after the 2nd day on our trip from Israel. You know … like at the beginning of the ski season everything looks dangerous and by the end it all looks easy. This is the beginning of our season and we’re happy we made it through the first day unscathed.


Coming back from grocery shopping