Sicily, North to South with a new teak deck

After two and a half months at Portorosa in the North of Sicily, we finally got the call from Carlo that the work was done.  Dragonfly's old teak had been stripped and replaced after 19 years of service.  This was never going to be a small job but as expected with an old boat, there were issues and delays. The deck hardware backplates had corroded and required removal and replacement, necessitating extensive removal of interior panels.

Dragonfly now needed to return to her annual mooring back in the south of Sicily at Ragusa. Julia couldn't leave the kids so I managed to persuade our great friend Jan to help with the mission.  Despite the delays and a few changed flights we eventually arrived in Sicily on the 7th and 8th of December -Jan flying in from Brussels and myself from Warsaw.

The plan was to retrace our route from a few months earlier, however it now being December we were anticipating changeable weather. We also had some serious time constrains so needed to manage the journey of 170nm in four days.

On arrival I was relieved to find Carlo and his team at Teakmarine.it had done a fantastic job!  The work was flawless and made our 2006 Jeaneau look and feel brand new.  The new teak is much thicker than the original and is from better quality, mature seasoned stock -hopefully good for the next 20 years.

While in Portorosa we also had some other jobs done. The exhaust elbow that had only just been welded up was showing another pin hole leak and the boat smelled slightly of exhaust. This was welded up by Michele.  He also serviced the engine and outboard.  I'd asked him to replace the fuel gauge/sender as this was not showing a reading. I turns out I just needed to hold down a switch beside the gauge and it powers up the sensor -a free fix!

Around midday on Monday Jan arrived and we were ready to set off. Unfortunately we had been wedged into the mooring by a large catamaran but the marina staff managed to make just enough space for us to squeeze through, then we were on our way.

Day one saw perfect sailing conditions as we tried to approach the Straits and tick about 5 hours off our itinerary.  Unfortunately many of the marinas were closed for the winter so we couldn't stay at Dello Stretto and anchoring was not advised on the Navily forecast. We took the safest option and found a berth in Milazzo. Only two hours of sailing but no bad thing to have an easy start/shake down sail.

We moored up on the outer pontoon at Milazzo Marina del Nettuno, then went to explore the town.

Sicily is wonderfully empty in December but many of the restaurants and bars remain open.

The next morning we set off for Catania at first light.  The forecast was for warm calm conditions with very little wind.

This was my third time passing through the Straits of Messina.  It's always busy with shipping and changing currents but we kept a good lookout and motored through without drama.

The landscape around Taormina is breathtaking however we had no time to stop and explore.  We maintained schedule with good accuracy as we were under motor and autopilot. We pulled in to Catania at about 6.30pm.

Plenty of time to polish and wax the coachroof sides. But still too lazy to stow away the fenders!

Motoring past Etna on a glassy sea as the sun sets. A pod of dolphins appeared but sadly didn't give chase.

We found a berth at Circolo Nautico (the large icon above), a vast improvement on Blu Marine where we stayed last time.  I was keen to arrive before 7pm as there was a shop I was keen for us to visit. Three month earlier, while exploring Catania, I had spotted an antique mercury mirror in a gilded frame -ideal to replace the unwanted widescreen TV in in the saloon!  I had already reserved it -I just hoped it would fit.

It's our plan to make Dragonfly feel like a home from home. We never did this with Bumblebee as we did not expect to own her for ten years.  With this in mind we bought some small, affordable paintings in auction and had them shipped to Portorosa.  Annoyingly they got held up at customs and arrived after our departure! I'm still trying to work out how to retrieve them.

We wandered around exploring Catania. Approaching via a different street to my previous visit revealed the city in a totally different light. It appeared clean, grand and welcoming!  We discovered a great little seafood restaurant and returned to Dragonfly completely exhausted after a long (if not tough) day.

A light breakfast and coffee before heading off.

Motoring out of Catania on Wednesday mid-morning on another calm sunny day, we realised there would be no prospect of sailing again on this trip.  Quite ironic as we brought wet weather gear and harnesses expecting foul conditions!

Fuel was beginning to be a bit of an issue with all the motoring.  We were told there was no fuel to be had at Catania and warned our next destination, Marzamemi would be much the same.  After many calls we persuaded the fuel dock at Syracuse to open for us. We would have to take a detour and wait a couple of hours but we had no other options.

Approaching Grand Harbour and waiting on the quay in the hopes we were in the right place.

All went to plan and we set off from Syracuse with a full belly of fuel but heading into the darkness with 3 hours still ahead of us.  Jan was kitted out like a pro, including proper sailing shoes. After badly stubbing my toe and bleeding over the new teak I'm inclined to buy a pair myself.  That evening we discovered how useful the radar overlay on the plotter is for spotting little fishing boats and even buoys on a very dark night.

Our destination for Wednesday night was Marina di Marzamemi. We had been warned in Catania to approach the entrance on the starboard side as the channel is silted up. Useful info as our radio was somehow failing to transmit as we reached the entrance and the marina staff were slightly panicked that we arrived without being guided in.  

Another beautiful day on Thursday as we rounded the South-Eastern corner of Sicily and reached Marina de Ragusa perfectly on time for Jan to jump on a bus and make his flight.

It's a pleasure to see our AIS location being updated on Marine Traffic. It seems we often get frozen in the middle of the sea for weeks at a time!  Here we're also hammering along at 8.5 kts.  This speed is quite comfortable without over-working the engine given a flat sea. We push the revs a bit higher higher every couple of hours to clear out carbon build up in the exhaust and turbo.

With Dragonfly back at her annual mooring and Jan on his way to the airport, I spent Thursday evening running through a check list of jobs, fixes and cleaning before turning in for an early night. Friday morning saw me catch the first bus to Catania and on my way to the UK for the weekend (stopping over in Rome) before joining back up with Julia and the kids in Warsaw.  We will be returning to Dragonfly around March next year with the kids for a whole summer at sea!