Letter from the Med- From Tunisia to Valetta

by Ian and Andrea Treleaven on 5 Aug 2006 Hi Everyone,

Exiting Tunisia takes many hours of patiently waiting in a police office with one fan and one shared small glass of water each, while they find the key to the cupboard to get the exit stamp.

I think we are the only yacht to depart from here this year. Finally getting to leave, the customs officer who has come especially from the airport inspects every cabin on the boat, making sure we have no stowaways.

Our night sail of 130nm is very uneventful and a wonderful sight to see the Mediterranean blue sea again. Lampedusa, a small Italian island only 10km by
3 km, south of Sicily, was to be only a recovery stop, but to our surprise we find another holiday secret for Italians.

We have all read about this island where refugees from Africa land and are housed here in there thousands. Arriving early morning we tie up to the town wall and the next thing we see, is a patrol boat towing in a fishing boat full of refugees, into the bay. The fishing boat is very much like the ones we had been seeing in Tunisia, but we are not sure where they have come from. To think we must have passed them in the night is amazing. Apparently this happens nearly every day and a huge problem for this beautiful island.
Up to 18000 refugees are here, housed in appalling conditions and we think in Australia we have a problem.

What also surprised us is no one took any notice of us arriving and since we came from Africa you would have thought customs would have been all over us.

Life goes on here as if it doesn’t exist, and that’s exactly what we do.
Surrounded by clear water, this is a diver’s dream destination. Sand stone cliffs remind us of Sydney and we are soon in a bay of white sand, sky blue water and lots of day trippers in small boats. Turtles come ashore here and lay their eggs at night, so part of this area is completely out of bounds for all motor boats, and no one is allowed on the beach at night.

After Tunisia this is of some relief from the heat as we swim and stay a night at anchor in this beautiful bay of Conigli. Fascinated, we go in search of another religious statue ‘Madonna and her infant child’ beneath the water, you can see it snorkelling 6 metres down in clear dark blue water.

The village comes alive at night as the main street is lined with bar chairs that become a parade of people watching. George dreams of air conditioning but has to settle for a Peroni beer, sexy women and salami. What a difference 24 hours make. We did enjoy Tunisia especially the north, it is a very, very different place. July-August is probably not the time to go there, but we will reflect on memories while we are skiing somewhere.

So impressed by this island we sail out to the Volcanic island Linosa 25nms north with a population of only 400, but apart from a delicious meal of fresh fish on the waterfront and very clear water everything is black and rugged.

George has us up at 4am, the wind is up and he is ready for a fast sail 80nm to Malta.

Gozo Island is our port of entry but we are very soon in the Blue Lagoon Bay on the island of Comino, which lives up to its name. A breeze through the boat is very welcome in what we hear is a heat wave all over the Med.

Before we get to the built up concrete Fort Valetta, we have a night in St Julian’s Bay. The Hilton Marina is too posh so we settle for anchoring in the bay and dine ashore. Malta is now in the EU and prices since we where here 2 years ago have doubled.

Valetta is stunning on approach with its Fortified Fort, Dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and Spire. Msida Marina will be home for five days and guess what, 100s of chandlery shops for Ian to poke around in. All I crave for is some parts for the anchor windlass that will make life a little easier for me but this once again is not proving very easy.

You never know who your neighbours are going to be and here beside us are Ted Nobbs and Nancy Knudsen on Blackwattle from Sydney. They are heading the opposite way to us on their way back to Australia via the Atlantic. Nancy is the cruising editor for sail-world.com. We have been following each others voyages for three years so it is nice to finally meet up and share all our stories and adventures.

A day spent inland at Mdina to find the Catacombs at St Paul’s and see the 9th century Baroque walled city Mdina. Passing a very dry sandstone landscape, once you get there we are all impressed that with time of sedges and earthquakes it’s still immaculate with its sandstone laneways and churches.

George and Sabina leave us here bound for Sydney and we will continue to weather the heat wave. Leaving here on Sunday we will have a big sail to the Greek Peloponnisos Peninsular 360nm away, and joining us is Christine and Ken Allen.

From a very hot Mediterranean summer.

Andrea and Ian