Tunis To Syracuse

After a wonderful week in Tunisia we left the shores of North Africa once again to continue our journey eastwards. The local dolphins gave us a friendly sendoff out of the Gulf of Tunis and we spent the next 48 hours riding the wind to eastern Sicily.

Passing through the Strait of Sicily is an important milestone for mariners. It represents the halfway point between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, bridging the east and west of the Mediterranean Sea. The straits between Tunisia and Sicily have been a trade route through the Mediterranean for thousands of years, and represent one of the world’s most important underwater heritage sites. The charts here are littered with wrecks.

Despite good winds in our favour, the journey to Sicily was long, tiring and uncomfortable. But we made good time into Syracuse harbour. And since she dominates eastern Sicily, we were greeted upon arrival by Europe’s biggest volcano; the mighty Mount Etna.

Entering into the harbour of Syracuse we also passed by the imposing Castello Maniace, a fortress that has stood guard here since 1240 CE. Located at the eastern end of the city of Syracuse, it actually sits on a promontory of Ortygia Island, that is separated by a narrow channel where two bridges connect it to mainland Sicily.

Since then, we have spent the past two weeks aboard under quarantine, as required. But we’ve been happily sat at anchor in the bay with only ourselves for company (not an unusual request for a liveaboard!). We even managed to have online shopping delivered straight to our dinghy. At sunset every day a flock of pink flamingos fly overhead, honking like geese and looking like sticks with wings. Aside from a 35 knot wind storm that had us bouncing on waves for 24 hours and feeling a little green around the gills, it’s all been rather pleasant!