MdR – Malta – Licarta and back to MdR. 5-11 July

Wednesday

Left early for Pozzallo to clear customs then continue to Malta. Weather very foggy less than 5 k visibility not a great way to start the first trip. Thank goodness for charts and mobile apps like Navionics.

At Pozzallo we firstly had to tie to a small private marina as we couldn’t get into the main marina. EU 70 for 2 hours. Then went to find customs – it should have been the Carabinieri but we didn’t know that. Found customs and a very officious person who “made a meal” out of the process. Four hours later we had our clearance after he had called every department in Sicily and got the Carabinieri to come over and agree he could stamp the document. Then he told us he would drop us back to inspect the boat but in fact what he wanted was to see the owners cabin and  get a photograph of himself in the salon area!!!! Unbelievable.

There are two ferrys a day at Pozzallo from Malta and little else and they have 5 departments at the port for those clearing the country or coming in – too much bureaucracy and as one person said to me “they fight over who can stamp what”. We finally got out of there and motored to Malta with very little wind. Arrived on dark anchored outside the water polo club and close to the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Great to see so many people just swimming off the rocks – all the surrounding area marked off by buoys.

The biggest surprise was that we saw a yacht we recognised. This belonged to the Irish Aussie who had sold us the catamaran.  As soon as they saw us they were across in the dingy with beers. There then followed a discussion of all the problems we had had and how they never realised any of these parts that we had fixed were faulty or failed!!!! Believe it or not!! But as the night got longer it became apparent that the story kept changing from “it never happened “, changed to “sometimes happened”, or “didn’t really matter”, or “can’t you just live with it”, or “not too bad enough to fix” or “didn’t really use it” etc etc. On the issues we had had trying to get a departure clearance from Pozzallo  – we discovered he still did not have a Costituto for his new yacht and intended to clear into Sicily through Augusta but had been told he had to go to Pozzallo to get it anyway. At this stage we decided we would probably be safer clearing into a different port on our return.

Thursday

First thing in the morning we set off to find immigration and customs. It was great to speak English or a mixture of English , Maltese, Italian and French.  After several vague answers we asked the Marina office and they sent us to the right place which we had missed by only a few meters in a previous attempt because a local had sent us somewhere else.  The Customs and Immigration (Polizia and Guardia Costiera) were two great guys who could not see why the Italians were making such a big issue out of it since we should have just been treated the same as everyone else under the Schengen agreement. Anyway, they stamped a whole heap of forms for us so the Italians would have what they needed and said we could clear on Sunday- which was when we intended to leave.

The Marina office also gave us a quote for a berth which was EU 270 per night – this was the first of many high berth prices we were to be quoted. We felt we really needed a berth to fix all the problems we still had on the boat so decided to ask the RMYC since the commodore had suggested they might have a couple we could use. They were really helpful and friendly and offered us one for EU90 which we took for two nights but then extended for a third.  The staff and the handyman who helped with the marina were all great. It was so pleasant to have helpful friendly people who actually got something done. 

Late afternoon we set off on the never-ending hunt for boat parts with some good directions and an easy trip by boat. Surprise, surprise we found a whole boating and yachting area filled with every type of boat shop you could wish for.  This was heaven after Sicily and we ended up buying 3 salt water pumps (2 for the fridges and one for the deck wash) and a muffler – even though we had ordered them in MdR for our return. We decided while we could get spares we would as there was no guarantee the parts would be in MdR when we got back. We were very wary after the last two months.

Malta was also interesting in that they kept a normal English day as in 0900 to 1700 so after Sicily and the siesta period we had to readjust our operating times!!

Friday

Hew went to talk to the Nanni agents about the salt water pump on the port engine which was not operating correctly and the agent agreed to fix it then, while Hew was there. Very informative and helpful person. Seems that Mata does understand that now means now – not next week or next month. Hew spent all day working on the boat and putting the pumps in.  Valletta town has all sorts of festas. They say there is one for every day of the week and they all have to have fireworks( pretty lights and very noisy ones with no lights) . This racket goes on every day and it is apparently above international recommended noise levels . There is a saying that there is 3t65 churches in Malta so there is a festa every day and sometimes they all have them at once so they compete to make the most noise. Houses are decorated and streets shut.  

Saturday: More work on the yacht. We were also invited for a prize giving at the yacht club for the Marina di Ragusa – Valletta race and so went along. I was amazed only four boats took part but there were prizes for every person on every boat. Very generous sponsor who happened to to own a large family chandlery.

Sunday:  Decided to cycle around the town. Went up to the old fortified town of Valletta – very interesting. Huge amount of military history and great museum. You can see both harbours and the whole town from on top of the fort. Amazing view. Under the Order of Saint Johns who ruled there for many years the crusaders were really just pirates(bucaneers). A very colourful and interesting history.

We returned by 1500 and I went back to clear customs – no one was there, even though we had been told they would be. So  we would have to leave the next day.

Hew working on the boat again and had been out to see the sponsor for the yacht race to source some more parts.

Monday :

More pumps – this time the high pressure water maker pump – either a fix or a new one  but at the time hew went to get it fixed or buy a new one he had also organized the refrigeration engineer to come and look at the big fridges art 1100.

Meanwhile I went to immigration and customs but had to come back as one of the guys was off on holiday – his partner was surprised that he hadn’t been there on Sunday for me. He then kindly offered to give me a lift into the main office at the commercial port on the other harbour at 11. So the fridge man was left on the boat muttering that they were all right and H<Ew hadnt returned.!!!

I returned to customs and was duly given a lift over to the main customs and immigration building and all docs were signed and we were given 24 hours to leave.  They also told me that effectively ships masters and crews could stay in the EU for years as long as they were living on the boats they crewed.  The official was very interesting as his hobby was World War II motorcycles and Land Drovers and knew a lot of the history of the area.

When both Hew and I got back to the boat we decided to vacate the marina and anchor for the night then leave early in the  morning so we could make the trip in one day on Tuesday. Since we were doing that we took the boat out for a sea trial and to swing the wind vane and the compass which had not been reading correctly on the way over. We returned and anchored in the same place as we had on the first night all packed up to leave early.

Tuesday

We headed to Licata to avoid Pozzallo. the trip was longer but we thought there was  less likely to be hassles for the Costituto. The trip took all day and was mostly motoring due to lack of wind. About an hour out we were wending our way through trawlers and fish farms and the wind was slowly getting up so we decided to roll out the gennaker. In the middle of the process the steering failed – (one of the few systems we had not checked) – the yacht did a 90 degree turn to the left, the gennaker on the way out lost pressure and the reefing line tangled around the drum. I initially thought we had caught something a net or line but no the autopilot had let go since the pressure on the steering was too high. Dropped the gennaker as couldn’t roll it in or out and manually steered slowly into the port at Licata – Marina di Cala Del Sole. Thank goodness we had some left.

We arrived and  tied up outside the Marina office with the help of a french couple along side and two marina staff.  Hew went off to the chandlery (again) to get some hydraulic fluid and I went off to the marina office for the paperwork. After paying the cost to stay I asked about the Costituto and they were really helpful and called the customs(Guardia Costiera) for us and they agreed to see us that night since we wanted to leave early in the morning. Brilliant. Very good and helpful officials.

The  marina was not very full but very nice surrounds and we had a drink at the marina bar which had a  nice wine and a really nice free antipasto plate. We then ate  at the pizzeria next door. Meet one of the local English sailors who over-winters and he was really positive about the area and marina so had a good chat. Interestingly it is a working fishing village and not really a tourist village so a very different feel to Marina di Ragusa.

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