MAY...MOVING ON

In Cradle

The story continues.........the entire hull required sand blasting.  The process is very labour intensive, about 1 1/2 days of persistent work and Sicilian temperatures.  The black dust layer settled over the entire boat; inside and out.  We lived on board the entire time so we could watch and keep tabs on the workmen.  After the sand blasting the crew applied 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of anti fouling.  During these 10 day in the "cradle" we could not drain any water as the hull needed to stay dry at all times.   As you can imagine this makes cancelled the morning shower and doing dishes meant using a bowl and bucket and carrying the water down the ladder.  When our water tanks went to empty, the staff very kindly airlifted in several litres.

Refilling the water tank

During this time, Gaby made an appointment for Luisa, Vivamare's cat to be sterilized.  The surgery was a success, but she needed 2 antibiotic injections daily.  Dr. Rohn to the rescue, Wolfgang 
acted as the doctor while Gaby and I  assisted by holding Luisa down so the injections could be administered.    
In the meantime, the stitches have been removed and Luisa is once again prancing around as if she owns the boat. 


 Things took a little longer than excepted but the boatyard team worked very conscientiously and finally April 27th S.A. was returned to the sea.  Planned deparature for Tunisia was scheduled for April 29th but first we needed to provision, give her a thorough cleaning and bid a fond adieu to friends and neighbours.




Once safely back in the water we prepared to set our sails towards Tunisia.  One last gathering was organized with friends with much laughter and a few tears.

last evening in Licata

After 6 months and 10 days in Licata departure is finally imminent in the direction of Tunisia.  We have our first live on board visitor, Christian, our nephew who flew into Catania April 23 with his return flight from Tunis May 5.

Christian

This is his first big sailing experience and we love having him.





Our first stop after leaving Licata was Sciacca where we had the most delicious linguini with seafood.

Linguini with seafood

Early next morning we head out to Pantelleria, an Italian island in the Strait of Sicily just 60 km east of the Tunisian coast.

We arrived late afternoon, not a single person insight on shore; random docks (not marina), tied up and went looking for some kind of official looking person.  What we found was a senior German sailor living on his "cradled" boat.  He immediately invited us to have a beer with him and told us his story.  It turns out we were in the wrong harbour and so we motored to the communal harbour along side two others.

Pantelleria Harbour