Letter from the Med- Bizerte to Kelibia

by Ian and Andrea Treleaven on 20 Jul 2006 Hi Everyone,

When the spinnaker is up the men couldn’t be happier.

From Bizerte to Kelibia it’s up all the way, 70nm and what a beautiful day to spend at sea.

Our visits ashore are kept brief in this heat but at sea it is fabulous but surprisingly the evenings are cooler.

Bizerte is not a tourist town and it’s as basic as it gets. In the markets we can only buy what’s in season, the supermarket is very basic and the meat market well!!!!!!!!!

Being a farmer’s daughter I’m sent in and instantly I’m surrounded by sheep’s heads, skin and stomach on the counter, my feet walking through blood. I quickly return to have a think about it, and wonder if the men would prefer fish. I have to admit I did eventually return and get lamb chops, they where simply deliciously fresh.

The village is run down, the medina home to cats and rubbish. We replenish the yacht with difficulty, Ian and Nick pushing a loaded trolley through the
village: then Ian announces it’s a one way trip back in the dinghy. It’s quite surprising how much you can get in one small inflatable, plus 5 people.

Kelibia is a fishing port and every morning the huge fishing boats return with their huge nets and hundreds of trays of fish. How does the sea replenish itself when nets these sizes reap the sea day after day?

Nearby are the Punic Ruins known as Kerkouane, discovered only in 1952 when locals were digging for water. We hire taxis and visit this near-complete layout of the village from the 5th century BC; the drainage, baths and street layout still visible. It is interesting to note that the Carthaginians had baths in their houses but the Romans who followed had very large and ornate communal baths.

I ask the guide for directions to a symbol of protection (the Tanit) I’d read about and by the time I get there he wants to hold my hand and live with me in Sydney. The men are very funny towards us foreign women and that’s because they think of us as something completely different to their women.

The local winds in the afternoon are perfect for sailing south to Hammamet.
Setting course and just enough time for a quite read or siesta, or so we thought!!!!!!!

From Hammamet to El Kantaoui we are reaching along in local winds of 25 knots when we see a huge fishing boat setting a net. The fishing boat is travelling quite fast so Ian decides to go some distance behind. It looks like the nets have sunk and the boat is dragging them away. Unbeknown to us they dropped a buoy and set a line some 10cm thick more than 500 metres behind their vessel. You guessed it, we ran into it.

Not a pretty sight seeing a line one metre beneath the water. Nick was at the helm and very quickly tacked dragging the rope a little but we were very quickly freed. A bit of a heart stopper! Just as we breathed a sigh of relief two huge dolphins came to greet us, playing and jumping: I guess they are feeding off fish in the nets.

Anchored in the bay of Hammamet between the fishing boats Nick cleans squid that we bought in Kelibia. Fresh that day I simply fry in lemon and garlic and it was very tender.

El Kantaoui marina is like coming to Tunisia and not seeing Tunisia, but complete with pirate ships and a fake tower with a sign that says it all:
‘400 metres of gifts and crafts’. The marina is clean and we get washing done, swim and a massage is a welcome treat enjoyed in one of the many hotels lining the area.

Monastir is our favourite port so far with its impressive Ribat (stone watch tower), mausoleum to the past President Bourguiba and an ancient Arab town.
While our guests visit El Jem and its colosseum, Ian and I enjoy a tour of the mausoleum. One marble gold dome, two green domes and two gold domed minarets it’s a very impressive monument reached by a long paved walkway.

Inside are gold plated and white marble archways beneath a chandler of 365 pieces of crystal. The resting place for the past president took 20 years to build and was then left closed until he finally died another 20 years later.
Nothing like being prepared!

The people are ever so friendly and helpful. If they have a crime problem then it’s certainly not obvious. In the marina the men sell night jasmine flowers; and families wandering around late into the night.

Here Nick, Michelle and Stephanie Smail leave us; we wait for George and Sabrina Snow who will join us for 2 weeks. We will continue sailing south, not sure why in this heat, to the island of Jerba, unknown territory for us and hopefully an inland trip to the Sahara.


Cheers Andrea and Ian

PS. Lesson on passing fishing boats, especially at night. Give them a very wide berth.