26 Oct - 27 Oct 2002 Selinunte

Central Mediterranean

Italian Republic

Sicily

Sicilian Strait

Selinunte

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, right opposite the ruins.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 37° 34.86' E 012° 49.86'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Matt: Exploring the cliff-top ruins of Selinunte, one of the most important of the Greek colonies in Sicily, rambling over the ruins and looking in awe at the re-erected Temple of Hera, the undisputed star in this 19th/20th-century CE archaeological showcase.

Leaving Europe for Africa without clearing out at first light in the morning.

23 Oct - 26 Oct 2002 Marsala

Central Mediterranean

Italian Republic

Sicily

Sicilian Strait

Marsala

Town Harbour

SY "Kamu II" alongside.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 37° 47.24' E 012° 26.48'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Touring the historic cellars of the Donnafugata Winery +390923724200 in Marsala and tasting the genuine Marsala wine (Vergine e/o Soleras, aged at least five years), a fortified wine similar to port which originally was fortified with ethanol, to ensure that it would last long ocean voyages and whose invention is attributed to the English trader John Woodhouse who landed in 1773 CE at the port of Marsala and "discovered" the local wine produced in the region, which had been aged in wooden casks and tasted similar to Portuguese fortified wines then-popular in England.

Visiting the westernmost point of Sicily where Guiseppe Garibaldi and his One Thousand landed on 11 May 1860 CE, thus beginning his struggle for Italian independence (after he had married a Lombard noblewoman, Giuseppina Raimondi, on 24 January 1860 CE, whom he had left immediately after the wedding ceremony due to her infidelities).

18 Oct - 23 Oct 2002 Favignana

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Egadi Islands

Favignana Island

Favignana

Town Harbour

SY "Kamu II" alongside.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 37° 55.85' E 012° 19.55'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Hiking on Favignana Island, learning about its history and visiting the bronze monument of Ignazio Florio (who had bought the Egadi Islands for two million lire in 1874 CE) and climbing 314-m high Monte Santa Caterina, the highest point on Favignana.

Taking the Siremar ferry from Favignana Island to Marettimo Island for € 4.- per person (one way), hiking on some very well marked hiking paths along the mountain ridge, enjoying great views onto the Mediterranean and being forced to doing a one-hour detour by a bloodthirsty, road-blocking Egadian bull thus just making the last ferry of the day in a wild downhill gallop.

Matt: Taking the hydrofoil from Favignana Island to Levanzo Island and crawling into the cave Grotta del Genovese to study some Palaeolithic wall paintings and Neolithic incised drawings.

16 Oct - 18 Oct 2002 Trapani

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

Trapani

Yachting Club Lega Navale

SY "Kamu II" with her bow to the pier and with two permanent stern moorings.

€ 26.- per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our marina berth:

N 38° 00.83' E 012° 29.92'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Exploring the city of Trapani, founded by the Elymians to serve as the port of the nearby city of Erice (ancient Eryx), which overlooks it from Monte San Giuliano, and is still an important fishing port and the main gateway to the nearby Egadi Islands, and incidentally discovering brioche gelata (an oven-warm and crispy bread roll filled with Sicilian ice cream and quickly to be eaten on the spot).

Taking the local bus to the medieval hill town of Erice (about 750 m above sea level) and enjoying the marvellous views overlooking the city of Trapani, the low western coast towards Marsala, the dramatic Punta del Saraceno and Capo san Vito to the north-east, and the Egadi Islands on Sicily's north-western coast.

Provisioning for the next months which we were going to spend in unknown Tunisia at the well-stocked Conad supermarket in Trapani which excelled in its great delivery service.

15 Oct - 16 Oct 2002 Marettimo

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Egadi Islands

Marettimo Island

Cala Manione

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, below the ruins of the Moorish castle.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 37° 59.34'. E 012° 03.75'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Coping with an unexpected wind shift which turned our “sheltered” anchorage below the ruins of a Moorish castle into a dangerous lee-shore and leaving in a hurry at midnight.

14 Oct - 15 Oct 2002 Levanzo

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Egadi Islands

Levanzo Island

Cala Fredda

SY "Kamu II" at anchor.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 37° 59.30' E 012° 20.78'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

08 Oct - 14 Oct 2002 S. Vito lo Capo

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

San Vito lo Capo

Town Marina

SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the pontoon.

€ 12.- per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our marina berth:

N 38° 10.83' E 012° 43.99'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Waiting for an improvement of the weather and spending some days on the pristine, unusual arc-shape beach of San Vito lo Capo right behind the town marina.

Exploring the town of San Vito lo Capo, famous for its couscous and strongly Arabic flavour and discovering the first examples of north-African architecture - cube-shaped white houses, clad in bougainvillea with flat roofs which double as rain catchers and for drying agricultural products.

Matt: Climbing the steep 425-m high Monte Cofano, the northernmost of a small mountain range, which has a large cross visible from the town marina below on its peak and looking around a quarrel where the famous Perlato marble of Sicily was mined, whose luminescence contrasts with the rough rocks.

06 Oct - 08 Oct 2002 Castellamare

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

Castellamare del Golfo

Town Harbour

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, inside the harbour.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 38° 01.91' E 012° 52.81'

Mediterranean Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
Italian Republic
Sicily
Castellamare del Golfo
Town Harbour
SY "Kamu II" alongside the N breakwater.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 38° 02.04' E 012° 52.76'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Socialising with a bunch of friendly and very hospitable German-Sicilians who invited us into their house in Alcama for a noisy dinner party with excellent pasta and great red wine.

03 Oct - 06 Oct 2002 Scopello

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

Gulf of Castellamare

Scopello

SY "Kamu II" at anchor (trusting an old tuna anchor as permanent mooring anchor) off the old tuna fishery.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 38° 04.30' E 012° 49.35'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Exploring the old, ghostly and abandoned tuna fishery (tonnara di Scopello) that ceased operations in the 1980s, surrounded by rows of rusting anchors and old machinery.

DM Konni: Scubadiving with Cetaria Scopello Diving Centre +390924541177 and a gang of fellow diving beer-drinkers from the UK.

Visiting the ancient village of Scopello, climbing the red rock towers (faraglioni), relaxing over a few espressos and watching the days go by in this forlorn corner of rural Sicily.

Waking up at night to 35 knots of on-shore wind and realising that the old tuna anchor which we had used as mooring was dragging and that we were already only 20 m away from the rock cliffs with huge breaking waves, firing the diesel engine in an instant and motoring away from the cliffs with the old tuna anchor in tow for the first 50 m; so sorry, Vittorio and Elisa, that we changed the location of your mooring.

02 Oct - 03 Oct 2002 Cala Guidaloca

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

Cala di Guidaloca

SY "Kamu II" at anchor at Cala di Guidaloca, 5 nm N of Castellamare del Golfo.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 38° 03.50' E 012° 50.70'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

21 Sep - 02 Oct 2002 Castellamare

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

Castellamare del Golfo

Town Harbour

SY "Kamu II" at anchor inside the harbour.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 38° 01.91' E 012° 52.81'

Mediterranean Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
Italian Republic
Sicily
Castellamare del Golfo
Town Harbour
SY "Kamu II" alongside the N breakwater.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 38° 02.04' E 012° 52.76'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Experiencing, at anchor inside the narrow town harbour of Castellamare del Golfo, rapidly changing katabatic winds from opposite directions: starting off with 45 knots from SW, changing only 3 hours later to 40 knots from NE, whilst SY "Kamu II" was swinging at the necessary minimum length of 50 m anchor chain around her anchor.

Being puzzled when we read in a newspaper that this town full of very friendly and welcoming people once was reckoned to have the highest number of murders per capita of all towns of Sicily and that the name “Castellamarese War” (from 1929 till 1931 fought by the Joe [“The Boss”] Masseria clan against the Salvatore Maranzano clan for the leadership of the Italian Mafia in New York City; Maranzano's faction won, and he briefly became capo di tutti capi ["boss of all bosses"], the undisputed leader of the entire mafia, but was soon assassinated by a faction of young upstarts led by Lucky Luciano) derived from this picturesque town.

Watching in the harbour how a big wine tanker was filled up with local wine, during day and night, from an endless supply of tanker trucks until her waterline was not visible any more.

Matt: Taking the local bus to Segesta, the political centre of the Elymian people who inhabited the W part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical Antiquity, and visiting the unfinished, 5th-century BCE Doric Temple and the Greek Theatre, an incomparable combination of architectural elegance and wonderful natural setting.

18 Sep - 21 Sep 2002 Palermo

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

Palermo

Yacht Club del Mediterraneo +39091581837

SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the jetty and with one bow anchor in the mud.

€ 20.- per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 38° 07.34' E 013° 22.34'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Leaving our ship SY "Kamu II" under the reliable protection of our friend Nino, a man of honour from the Palermo Yacht Club del Mediterraneo +39091581837, ignoring the grey and evil monsters of the Guardia di Finanza in the harbour right next to us and strolling along Via Roma and Corso Vittorio Emanuele as well as through the beautiful and belligerent, decayed and decadent, allegedly Mafia-owned heart of the inner city of Palermo.

Marvelling at the golden mosaics of the Cattedrale di Monreale and watching a very Sicilian wedding of a handsome bride-groom and a beautiful bride, accompanied by the beaming and happy members of both their families.

Provisioning at Palermo's colourful markets, and buying fresh fish at the La Vucciria market, trying to make sense of creative political graffiti, such as: "No coca cola, no israele. Solo la patria e archangelo Michele“, and relaxing under the shady trees in Garibaldi's garden.

Being invited to a somewhat confusing vernissage in a specialist bookstore for nautical books, sea charts, maritime novels and art and enjoying the excellent Sicilian white wine (free of charge), the extraverted and polite company and the exalted shoptalk until we could not take any of it any more.

08 Sep - 18 Sep 2002 Cefalu

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

Cefalu

Porto Nuovo

SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the jetty and with one permanent bow mooring.

€ 12.- per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 38° 02.28' E 014° 01.99'

Mediterranean Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
Italian Republic
Sicily
Cefalu
Porto Nuovo
SY "Kamu II" anchoring off.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 38° 02.25' E 014° 02.25'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Logging the sailed distance of of 50 nm between Filicudi Island and Cefalu on the north coast of Sicily in about 12 hours during a rainy and stormy night with low visibility.

Exploring the captivating seaside town of Cefalu - one of the most scenic places in Sicily - with her 12th-century CE Sicilian Romanesque Cathedral (with a fine mosaic figure of the Pantocrator in its apse), climbing up to La Rocca, rambling through the remains of a Saracenic castle there and enjoying the unique view down onto the harbour and onto our ship at anchor.

Hiking in the Parco Regionale Naturale delle Madonie and visiting the old mountain villages of Isnello, Pollina and Castelbuono in the Madonie Mountains (apart from Mount Etna, the highest land in Sicily) whose inhabitants have their own delicious cuisine (e.g. a special durum wheat bread, the sweet provolla-delle-madonie cheese and sfoglio, a short pastry filled with tuma [alpine pasture cheese], zuccata, egg-white, cocoa, sugar and lemon peel, cooked in the oven and served chilled).

Watching a noisy and burlesque performance of the traditional Sicilian marionette theatre (“Opera die Pupei”) of the Cuticchio family whose roots go back to the Provencal troubadour tradition in Sicily during the reign of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, during the first half of the 13th-century CE.

Buying a full-day all-inclusive package tour (for € 19.- per person) and joining a bus excursion from Cefalu to the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Agrigento (renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragras, her most famous citizen: pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles) on the S coast of Sicily thus cutting across Sicily by bus from the N to the S and visiting the famous Greek temples in the Valle dei Templi (most impressive: the remarkably intact Temple of Concordia, the large Temple of Olympian Zeus and the remains of one atlas [a support sculpted in the form of a man which may take the place of a column] in the Olympeion field) under the scorching Sicilian sun.

Indulging in sweet Sicilian specialities: crema mandorla, latte di mandorla and Konni’s famous DIY granite di mandorla and tasting the rural elixirs of cactus liquor and ash-tree manna from the Madonie Mountains.