Cala Rossa, Isola Favignana, Egadi Islands - 25 September 2021

We had been enjoying our beautiful bay so much that we decided to stay another day. We had protection from the wind which was a bit stronger that yesterday and a secure buoy to be attached to. There was swimming for some before breakfast.

During the day, the bay filled up with boats of all shapes and sizes and we were treated to several fine examples of port theatre. One motor boat full of lads came steaming toward the buoyed area, and the abruptly stopped. It transpired that someone had lost a hat overboard and they wanted to get it back. This was accomplished by somebody jumping into the water to retrieve it. While he was getting it, the boat drifted away from him and he had to swim back. Doing this with the hat in his hand was difficult, so he threw it back to the boat, except he threw it right over the boat and back into the water. He had to swim round the back of the boat, past the propellers, which I think were still turning. Ultimately man and hat were recovered to the boat safely.

Later another boat came in, with the bloke driving and the woman on the foredeck. She caught the buoy with the boathook, and was trying to hold it. The guy came from the back to help, but between them they could not pull the boat closed to the buoy.  Eventually they both let go and the boat hook remained caught in the ring on the buoy, in a very precarious position. She got into the dinghy at the back of the boat, which we then thought was untied from the boat, without either engine or oars, and pulled herself along the side of the boat to retrieve the boathook, which she did. Ultimately she was able to take a line from the boat, through the hook on the buoy and then back to the boat, while holding onto the boat with one hand. It all seemed rather less that the RYA training would advise.

By this time the boat full of lads had rafted to another similar boat, and they decided that we all needed to hear their music(?).

I finally undertook one of the jobs that I had been most wary of, and as a result had put off for as long as possible, getting the outboard motor to work. These are always tricky. We checked the spark plug, topped up the oil and put in new, fresh petrol. Then started on the attempts to get it to run. Goodness knows how many tries it took, with various further looks at the plug, and examination of the carburettor. Finally as I was about to despair, it fired up and ran. Major triumph. We will still worry about it every time we use it on the tender, but we know that even for a few moments it worked, and so it should again.

The rangers came round again for the mooring fee, and we had a final swim of the day. A couple of laps of the boat, easy downwind but harder work upwind.



We had been watching a guy in a very small fishing boat go up and down all afternoon, obviously playing a line to catch fish. As he finished and headed home he came over toward us and gestured to ask if we wanted any fish. He started to show us what he had, and before we knew it we were buying from him, the freshest fish you could wish for, caught about 100 metres away. The fish was transferred to us in our bucket and this was then used to clean the fish, rather than risking the process below deck. It was cooked and eaten in no time at all, and was absolutely delicious. We are not sure exactly what type it was, but we really didn’t care.

Steve (and Tricia, Teresa and Tom)

Distance today               0 miles

Total distance 2021:   319 miles

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