S/V Aphrodite

We have been in Sicily for 3-4 weeks now and have only seen about half of the country. We have been dealing with winter weather patterns which are more immobilizing than we expected. Near the end of Oct. we started having a few days of terrific blows followed by 2 weeks of calm which allowed us to get off the boat as well as to make headway sailing south. But, since Nov 1st we have had almost constant blows with a day or two of calm intermingled, limiting both our land exploration as well as our sailing distance. Our original plan was to circumnavigate the island, or at least most of the island, before departing for Tunisia where we have a berth reserved for 2 months. But in actuality, we have only covered a couple hundred miles in total, and have spent most of our time keeping ourselves and Aphrodite safe amidst gales. We have dragged anchor more in the past month than in the past 4 years. A few nights ago we had 60 kts winds (hurricanes start at 64 kts) in a moderately protected anchorage which caused us to drag. Over the years we have developed quite a bit of experience dealing with ‘when the **it hits the fan’ circumstances, but this time we did not move fast enough to prevent dragging into an area where the local fisherman moor their small fiberglass boats. It was a disaster, we ended up snagging and disrupting several of their mooring lines, trapping ourselves between two fishing boats, one of the boats in between the hulls and under our boat, our anchor chain caught on other anchor lines snagging us and limiting our ability to move out of the mooring field. All we could do was watch and listen as Aphrodite rubbed and banged up against the hull of the other boat. The only good thing was that since we were snagged, we were not going to drift into shore. At about 7 am, one of the local fishermen rowed out to investigate the situation; his was one of the boats we were entangled with. Imagine trying to communicate with an Italian fisherman while trying to figure out how we were going to get ourselves out of the predicament. It was a mess, and in the end, the fisherman cut the mooring line to the small boat which we had capsized, setting it adrift, which let us finally dislodge ourselves from the tangle. Unfortunately, that was not the end of it though, because our anchor had become so entangled that we were unable to raise it. In the end Michael had to cut it loose, leaving it and all of our chain and rode behind. He attached a buoy to the bitter end with the plan to retrieve all of it later after the storm passed. We then proceeded to try to re-anchor, which required retrieving and attach another anchor, chain and rode. The story and difficulties go on, but I will leave it out for sake of brevity. We secured an additional anchor from a fellow cruiser and rode out the rest of the storm, finally getting some sleep. The next day Michael took the dinghy ashore, looking for the boat owner to make restitution and retrieved our anchor, chain and rode. We are still hear, in the same unprotected anchorage, unable to leave because the continual gales, force 8-9 and high seas 5-10 M. We are feeling somewhat stir-crazy and frustrated, unable to change location, make progress towards our goal or leave the boat to see the island. ‘Here we sit, broken hearted, ready to go, but can’t get started!’ Our plans have changed, no longer hoping to sail around the island, renting scooters to see the rest of the island and getting to know local folks. Now we are just looking for a weather window to turn around, head back to the jumping off point and sail directly to Tunisia where we can secure Aphrodite at a dock. As of today, Sat. 11/17/07, it looks like our weather window is tomorrow night through 11/20/07. We have met another cruising couple, Angela and John, who are just starting out in this life style who are joining us for the 2+ day journey to Tunisia. We are looking forward to their company and hopefully an uneventful crossing. What follows is a collection of pictures taken during our limited shore-side explorations. We are disappointed about leaving without getting a chance to follow some of the paths of ancient sea warriors, pirates and, of course, Odysseus through the Straits of Messina, climbing the slopes of still active Mt. Etna and participating in a Sicilian cooking class, but are looking forward to securing Aphrodite in a marina and preparing for our return trip to the States for the holidays.