Femmine - 4 October 2021


It’s been a day of excitement, even if it did start peacefully enough. We were at anchor in a quiet bay, and woke after being gently rocked all night. We prepared and set off promptly. There was almost no wind but we got the sails up, with only a few little complications. The weather forecasts we had seen indicated that the wind would funnel through the large bay we were in, but only later in the day. This turned out to be incorrect because when we cleared the wind shadow of the hills behind the bay, within about 1 minute,  it went from 3 knots of wind to 20 knots. We were over-powered for these conditions and very quickly had to reduce sail to get everything back under control and comfortable. It was one of those occasions where you pick up odd cuts and bruises without knowing, and I was surprised to see some blood on the deck. After it was all over, I had to do a quick review to find out where the (very minor) injury actually was. 

As we crossed the bay and got further away from the funnel effect, the wind reduced and we were able to set more sail area again. All very pleasant. 

The airport is in front of this rock

You can just see a plane about to land in this photo


Our route took us past Palermo airport, which is 30+ km away from the town, on what I can only assume is the only piece of flat land big enough for an airport in the area. It looks as if it might even be land reclaimed from the sea, as it is so out of character with its surroundings. We had considered 1 possible anchorage for tonight, only to read that yachts were often moved on from there by the coastguard as their masts form a potential hazard for the planes. We decided that we didn’t want to be that close to a flight path anyway, so chose a bay a bit further on. There are not too many flights at the moment, but the view we had of the landings was spectacular,  the best we have ever had. We were using the internet to track the planes that would be arriving and spotting them as soon as possible. We could then watch them on the glide path, all the way to seeing the puff of tyre smoke as they touched down. I can honestly say that I have never been so excited to see a Ryanair flight land, (except when I have actually been on board).

The bay we have moved to a Femmine, has undersea cables coming ashore, and we had to take great care to be well away from these when we dropped our anchor. We saw a day excursion boat snag a cable with its anchor a week of so ago, and they had a terrible time trying to free it. We certainly don’t want to be responsible for the lights going out here. Once the anchor was down, we both donned masks and snorkels to check that the anchor had set well. The first impression was that our chain was crossing a cable, but a second look showed that it was actually another part of our anchor chain. The boat had drifted and the chain was in a figure of 8 shape (we hope). 

Later in the day, a fishing boat came up to us and we expected that they would be trying to sell us their fish. On this occasion and after a bit of back and forth to work out which was the best language to communicate in, they asked how long we were staying, and told us that they were putting out nets. If we leave before they return, we need to give these a very wide berth. The fishermen do not want their nets damaged, and we do not want them to be entangled round any part of the boat.

This bay is famed for its view of the sunset, and we certainly enjoyed it as we ate on deck, I’m not quite sure how many photos I took. I hoped that a plane would land and be silhouetted against the sun, but the timing was just off.

The evening was rounded off with a firework display on the shore nearby. We had a great view, and the reflection on the water made it even more spectacular. We have no idea what was being celebrated.




Steve (and Tricia)

Distance today              23 miles

Total distance 2021:   398 miles

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