Malta to Morocco (24 April - 13 June)

Siracusa to Malta We left our spacious anchorage in Siracusa, Italy on April 24th under sail. It's a great sensation to leave an anchorage with your sails and not with your engine...like we tip-toed silently out of the room without disturbing a thing. With the main sail hoisted, we were pushed towards the exit of the bay and when we set up the genoa we were sailing at 6 knots in the Grand Harbour of Siracusa. There were no waves in the bay...the conditions were perfect....an hour later we had to change course and head south to Malta. In the early evening the wind died and we had to turn on the engine. After dinner Paul checked the weather with the SSB radio and went to bed. At around midnight we had 9 knots of consistent wind from the west, so I set up the genoa and turned off the engine. The wind gradually got stronger and stronger...10, 12, 16, 17 knots so I reefed the genoa...and hoped the wind didn't increase. I'm not comfortable sailing alone when the wind is strong. I was supposed to wake Paul at 1am but he woke before when he felt that the boat was heeled over too far. Paul reefed the main sail and it was my turn to sleep :) We arrived in Malta early the next afternoon and we intended to anchor in St. Paul's Bay but we didn't find a safe spot...sooooo many small mooring buoys! We anchored just north in Mellieha Bay and stayed for two nights. On Sunday morning we sailed south to Valletta where we reserved a berth at Msida Marina.

It was only 24 euros a night for our boat (in April) while other marinas were charging more than 50 euros. However the shower was cold and it was in a public portable. The same afternoon we toured around Valletta but most of the shops were closed because it was Sunday. The following day we filled up our water tanks, gas tank, and bought a new AIS antenna. We were looking for an inverter but ended up leaving with an antenna...

In the afternoon we sailed south and anchored at Cala San Giorgio for the night. We left early the next morning to sail towards Pantelleria...or western Sicily...or Sardinia...wherever the wind would take us. Well...when we were sailing North we were against the wind and the waves. It was annoying and uncomfortable so we decided to wait for more favorable conditions to leave. We sailed back to our original anchorage in Mellieha Bay.

We were stuck for a week until the Northerlies died down a bit, but luckily we discovered we could rock climb in Malta. For only 1.50 euros you can purchase a one day bus pass. We bought the climbing guide, used public transport to get to the climbing sectors, and climbed for the next three days.

Sardinia We finally left Malta on May 6th and our destination was Pantelleria. The entire first day we used the engine. The next morning we had 7 knots of southerly wind (in our back) so we were able to set up the sails, but the wind died in the evening. During the second day after consulting the weather fax we decided to head straight to Sardinia.

We arrived in the afternoon on the 9th and consumed 50 litres of gas since we filled up in Malta. We were doing so well in consuming as little as possible when we left the boatyard in Leros, Greece in February. We were anchored in Pula Bay and stayed for four nights. We spent one day in Cagliari, not to see the city but to fix the engine pump. The seal broke and some seawater was entering the engine compartment.

During our stay in Sardinia Paul's mom called to tell us Paul's grandmother was sick...close to dieing. We couldn't afford the expensive marina in Cagliari and the expensive flight to France so we considered our options and decided to sail to mainland Spain and take a bus to France. We spent one week in France and left the boat in Alicante marina.

Morocco When we left the boatyard in February our original plan was to be in Morocco the middle of May. We told our friends Greg and Arnaud to meet us in Morocco to climb at the beginning of June...when we left Alicante it was June 5th. Greg and Arnaud were flying from France to Morocco on the 5th. It took us a day and a half to sail from Alicante to Saidia, Morocco. Thankfully, the weather was fine for us to make the crossing and we weren't stuck in Spain and we were able to see Greg and Arnaud. We arrived in Saidia, Morocco at 6am local time and the entry formalities went smoothly. The marina took their sweet time to tell us what berth to take in the marina, but it was ok we slept. By the time we organized our climbing gear, the boat, and hired a rental car it was already 1pm. Google told us it would take 7 hours from Saidia to Amellago. I am not one to encourage discrimination but it is advantageous to pick up female hitch hikers. They give you baked goods, fruit, and fresh eggs!!! We picked up 13 hitch hikers (most only for a short distance) and all of them were locals :) It was great. We arrived at Chez Mimoun around 10pm and found Greg, Arnaud, and the climbing guru Mimoun patiently waiting for us. We shared a great feast of vegetable tagine and skewers of mystery meat...no it was goat I think. So we were able to spend the evening and the entire next day climbing with Greg and Arnaud. All was not lost.

Our rental car broke down, a Moroccan who lives in France took us to a garage, our new Moroccan friend showed us the market while the car was getting fixed, he took us to the spice shop where we bought spices at a ridiculous price. However we were naive and didn't think anything of it...until we were in the tapis shop. Our new friend was not our friend he wanted his commission from the spice man and the tapis man. On our way back to the garage we were wondering if he would make a commission from the mechanic. In the end we didn't loose a lot of money...and it's good to share the wealth.

Let's see what awaits us in the rest of Morocco.