Sail, Savour & Sightseeing

Many years ago I had some very important trainings in systemic consulting and coaching. So now it was a great pleasure for me to have my former teachers Hella and Axel Exner on board of Sea of Joy. They arrived on Saturday 8th of June 2013 and we had an exceptional dinner at Hosteria L'Oste e il Sacrestano. On Sunday morning we had fog, but at noon we were able to start with no wind motoring to San Leone, where we moored at Mediteraneo Yacht Club and had dinner with a lot of antipasto di mare at Il Pescatore.

Next day we started with a forecast of 4 Bft from northwest, but we had to motor until 13:00 local time. Then the wind got very strong and we had to tack until we reached Sciacca at 7 Bft with very high waves, so that some of my crew had to use the bucket onroute. In Sciacca we recovered at Lega Navale and walked around the city next day and had dinner at AlFaro.

On Wednesday 12th we rented a car and went to Caltabellotta, where we had a wonderful lunch at Petra Relais Ristorante in beautiful surroundings. Then we went to Eraclea Minoa and visited the Greek settlement.





Last we visited Castello Incantato, where Filippo Bentivegna created his magic world of 3000 stone heads.

Thursday we motored with no wind to San Leone, where we visited Agrigento and had a fine dinner at Expanificio. Friday we motored again with no wind back to Licata and enjoyed a simple, but very good pizza at LaBriglia. Saturday 15th we went by rental car to Modica and Ragusa, where we had lunch at IlBarocco and attended a wedding ceremony in Cattedrale di San Giorgo. We closed our trip worthily with another exceptional dinner at Hosteria L'Oste e il Sacrestano.



We sailed 113sm in 20 hours. You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on Google Maps.

Short Trip to Tunisia

Weather was not so good - a lot of waves and wind, but with my experienced long-time crew Gusti and Richard Stastny we took advantage of a small weather window with north easterly winds Force 5. We started at 22:15 local time on Sunday 26th April 2013 and sailed directly to Port Yasmine / Hammamet, where we declared entry and moored at 08:00 on Tuesday 28th. It was rather cold, wind was good and we were lucky, because the wind turned and got stronger after our arrival. In the evening we went to Hammamet by Taxi, visited the Medina and had diner at La BelleVue restaurant with very good briq.






Next day we went to Karthago by Bus and visited there all important sites, finally proceeding to Sidi Bou Said, where we went up to the lighthouse and down to the marina. A very good fish dinner we enjoyed again in Hammamet at Chez Anchour.







Thursday 30th we went by bus again to Tunis to visit the famous Bardo museum with its beautiful Roman mosaics and the large Medina.






On Friday we sailed with some wind from south east to Monastir, where we moored and met Anne and Willi from S/K Leev Linda and Heidi and Herbert from S/Y Albatros.




Next day we took a taxi to Souuse, where we visited the new museum (even better than Bardo) and the beautiful Medina with its ribat and mosque. Back to Monastir we mixed with local people and took the train.


Sunday we visited Monastir, got some provisions and had a good, halal and very atmospheric dinner at DarChakra near the mosque.



Monday, June 3rd, good wind conditions opened for the next 30 hours, so we bunkerd diesel (0,5 Eur per litre), declared exit and set sail for Marsala, where we moored after 26 hours of cold, but easy and enjoyable sailing, right in time for a tasting session of Marsala wines at Cantine Florio.
Next day we sailed to Sciacca and had a very good fish dinner at AlFaro.

On Thursday 6th we sailed from Sciacca to San Leone. When the wind got very strong from east, we decided to take shelter at Porto Empedocle. But the transit pontoon inside the harbor was fully occupied. We were able to go alongside an old fishing boat and nice fishermen sold us very fresh shrimp, which we cooked in olive oil with garlic and savoured on board during the storm.

Friday, June 7th we reached our destination and moored again securely in Marina Cala del Sole in Licata, where we shared the rest of our shrimps with Erika and Manfred from S/Y Motu in the evening.
For the season it was much to cold and windy, but We enjoyed this challenging cruise very much.

We sailed 483 sm in 84 hours. You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on Google Maps.