That morning a New Zealand boat arrived and attempted to dock at a slip in the fairway behind us, but shortly after reversed back out again. It was very windy and they came within inches of our over-hanging stern. Todd was in the cockpit offering assistance if they wanted to try again, but they decided to return to the reception quay and get another slip assignment that had an easier approach.
A few minutes later we heard a knock on the hull and we met Mick, an expat Brit who had been in Tunisia for 11 years with his wife Jo. He had stopped by to give us some info about the local area, like where the best grocery store was, the best (and cleanest) beach bar, offer his services for boat jobs, and answered some questions we had about the local boatyard. Mick passed on some experiences that other people reported who had been hauled out there..they had told him that their boats were “held hostage” and the price doubled before they were lifted back into the water again. Mick mentioned the alternative yard that was down the coast in Monastir, (albeit a commercial yard catering to mostly fishing boats), where other cruisers had some good results for very reasonable prices. We had originally contacted the local yard in Hammamet about getting new bottom paint while we were there, but they said they wouldn’t give us a price until after they hauled the boat out. So we were already feeling a bit dubious about the yard, and after chatting with Mick we confirmed that it would likely be a bad idea. Unfortunately the yard down in Monastir didn’t appear to have a lift big enough for our boat, and between that and the weather issues we decided we’d get it done somewhere in Italy. During the 5 days that we were in Tunisia, there was a large weather system which had formed in the Ionian sea and was moving North. This “Medicane” was keeping us in port and also canceling our plans to head back to Sicily via Malta.
The wind had picked up and our lines were pinging and squeaking loudly as we were pushed around on the end tie, even though we had 2 spring lines and another line from the opposite bow holding us to the dock. (I moved our bedding to the opposite hull the next morning after a restless nights sleep). Mick came by the later that morning and invited us out to his favorite beach bar “The African Queen”, and said the Kiwi couple would be coming too. The wind persisted and our daily weather check showed there was a possible window for crossing back that Saturday, 2 days away. It would be lumpy and windy for the first 12 hours or so, then gradually fading, with motoring likely for the last 8 hours. Otherwise we didn’t see a possible weather window for another week, and we were paying for our winter berth starting October first in Sicily, so would prefer to be headed in that direction, (not at risk of beating up the boat and crew in lousy conditions though!).
We met up with Shona and Gavin, the Kiwi couple as we all walked over to meet Mick and Jo, and piled into their minivan. When we arrived at the bar, there was another expat Brit, Peter (who had been in Tunisia for 28 years), and he was there to tell us about a desert tour he represented. The tour sounded fantastic. It was over 2 days with a night stay at a 4 star hotel, and in an air-conditioned bus. You would visit 3 deserts (the salt desert at sunrise on the 2nd morning), and an immaculately preserved coliseum. There was a 4 wheel driving excursion over sand dunes to an old Starwars Tatooine village where Luke Skywalker grew up, (that was built in the 1970’s but was still standing), and an optional camel ride. The tour was for Sunday and Monday, and cost 215 Dinar per person with 85 Dinar for each excursion. If our weather window didn’t eventuate, we were pretty keen to do it. Otherwise we’d just have to return to Tunisia and take the tour next time.
A fun night was spent hearing about the cultural differences, various sailing and travel adventures, and future plans. It turned out that Gavin and Shona had a similar experience to ours with their purchase of an ex-charter boat from the Croatian boat factory for Salona boats. Their boat wasn’t ready on time last year when they arrived, and they were further delayed almost a month this year, before cutting their loses and headed to Greece to have the work that they couldn’t do themselves completed. Mick and Jo had been on an open-ended cruise, but the financial crisis of 2008 had put a big dent in their cruising budget. They had since moved off the boat into a little house they had built in Tunisia, and Mick had started his boat service business. Jo mentioned they now had 9 dogs as she couldn’t say no to a stray, and they weren’t little ones either! We asked her about the dogs as we hadn’t seen any around town, and Jo said that the Tunisian people were generally fearful of dogs. As far as living there, they had a fenced yard and security gate. There was already a guard at the entrance to the driveway, but overall Jo said she felt safer at their home in Tunisia than when she visited family in England.
We did get to spend a few hours with Gavin and Shona looking at boat gear and discussing cruising plans and various boat projects. They would be crossing the Atlantic this winter so were gradually making their way to Portugal. The rest of the day we spent prepping the boat and making a stew for the crossing back to Sicily. A final weather check that night showed it was still looking good for leaving tomorrow.
On departure day, our plan was to get to the fuel dock and tie up, take on fuel and do our clearing out. Of course this was the morning that one of the large Pirate Galleons needed to refuel so we stayed at our dock until we saw them reverse back into their usual spot on the reception quay, and then we made a quick dash. It was windy and there was a lot of surge in the harbor again, and the fenders took a pounding on the concrete quay. The diesel price was excellent at 1.48 Dinar a liter and we put 300 liters aboard for less than 200 euro, yah! The departure from Tunisia required us clearing out of the country and settling the marina bill.
I got an up-close view of the Pirate Galleon leaving for their tour which included loud music, cheering, and staff climbing the rat lines and hanging upside down while aloft. Todd returned with the chief of police and the customs representative, (the police chief asked for 2 more crew shirts which Todd nimbly side-stepped), and then they stood on the quay until we physically left.
The wind was averaging 20 knots, so we were trucking along at 9-10 knots and enjoying the first few hours of sailing before we cleared land and the swell increased. A weird thing that happened, was that an hour into the trip we had hundreds of flies aboard, and it took the next 4 hours to kill them all, yuck!! (This was a great time to practice Fly-Chi with our USB zappers though!). With wind increasing, and now wind waves crossing the residual 6 foot ocean swell, we weren’t able to hold our desired course. (It was causing some hobby-horsing and slower boat speeds, and was generally uncomfortable). We hoped we could make up the difference later on, when the wind died and we were motoring. In the end we had to turn the engine on around 8.30 pm and motor sail through the night. Todd was kept very busy until around 1 a.m, when we had cleared most of the shipping traffic and I came on watch. The wind continued to fizzle, and by day break we were motoring with a reefed main but back on course for Licata. It was sunny and calm when we pulled up to the quay on Sunday Morning September 30th at 10.30 am. The excellent wind at the beginning of our trip meant we shaved 3 hours off the crossing time which was terrific.
