Passage from Sardinia and Turtle rescue! As we were nearing Sicily, we saw a loggerhead turtle flailing on the surface. We watched him for a few minutes, and realized something was wrong. Daniel went out to the turtle on one of our paddle boards to see whether he was caught on a fishing line, while Sabina drove the boat. The turtle didn’t dive down or away upon aproach, so Daniel picked him up to see if he could figure out the issue. The turtle had a wound on his underside, so we decided to take him with us to Sicily and find some help for him. We managed to get all 30kgs of him onboard, which was an adventure. We had a large plastic container on board, which we filled with saltwater to keep the turtle nice and cool. Daniel played animal doctor and put fresh saltwater over the turtle every 5 minutes, which he seemed to like. We motored at full speed to the closest island off the coast of Sicily, which was an rugged and wild island called Marettimo. We pulled into it’s marina, and the staff there called the Coast Guard for us. The Coast Guard showed up fairly quickly, and whisked the turtle off to a marine hospital on a nearby island. There were lots of jokes about turtle soup at the marina, so we hope the little guy is alive and well somewhere! In any case, loggerhead turtles are dwindling in numbers in the Mediterranean, so it was well worth the effort. Western Sicily Marettimo had just one bar and a few restaurants, but the little town was alive. The bar played loud music and people milled around it on the street with beers. It reminded us of Jobim in Rio. We then headed across to mainland Sicily, stopping first in Marsala to get our Osmosea watermaker installed. After meeting with Osmosea, we realized we wanted to upgrade our watermaker and would need to wait to get the new model in. So, we set about exploring Marsala, and had a fabulous lunch at a place called La Marinara, which creates a new menu each day based on the fresh fish and other ingredients available. The next afternoon, we sailed up to Trapani, covering 25 nautical miles in about 2.5 hours, with over 15 knots of wind. A great sail! Most of the marinas in Trapani doubled as boat yards, and when we arrived to our marina, they put us in their travelift bay for the night. A funny feeling, sleeping under a giant travelift in a boat yard! We explored Trapani that night, crossing through it’s main streets which were bustling with bars, restaurants, and people. We were impressed by the streets’ tall, impressive historic architecture. For dinner, though, we went to a place recommended by a blog online that was off the beaten path. We didn’t have a reservation, but lucked out as a random group of 3 Italian guys invited us to join their table. We had a fun night hanging out with the guys and the food was delicious. Palermo and the North From Trapani, we headed to Palermo, the capital of Sicily. After reading that the marinas in the main port were unsecure, oily, and a bit smelly, we decided to stay north of town, in a lovely marina called Arenella. The marina staff had great suggestions for us on where to go and what to see in the city, so we set off to explore. We had our sights set on Palermo’s popular street food. We hit the jackpot at night, where we found fresh seafood street food in a square filled with street food vendors, outdoor tables, and heaps of people. The calamari we had was so fresh it was moving on ice, before our vendor grilled it for us. 
After Palermo, we set our sights on the Aeolian Islands. To shorten the trip, we broke journey in the medieval town of Cefalu. We enjoyed seeing its historic Norman church and picturesque alleyways, as well as the large beach beside the city. The Aeolian Islands were so amazing, there’s another post on them specifically, which you can check out here. Eastern Sicily After a week experiencing the Islands, we came back to mainland Sicily, coming through the strait of Messina. It’s an ominous place, with currents running in two directions, and large commercial ships careening through in various directions. It’s also a local fishing zone, particularly for swordfish, which come from the deep through the channel on its warm currents. As we passed the city of Messina we contemplated stopping in and looking for a good Gelato. But a bit of internet research told us that although Messina ice cream is spectacular in Sydney, Messina the city is not actually known for it’s icecream. And it’s a very industrial town without much to see, so we gave it a miss. We went to Toarmina, 20 knots down the coast, instead. Sicily’s most popular resort town, Toarmina has quaint streets filled with restaurants and boutiques, and is flanked by two large sandy beaches. We climbed a steep trail to get up to the town, perched 200 meters up from the bay where we anchored, giving us an appreciation for its location and its views. The highlight of Toarmina for us was it’s ancient Greek theatre, dating back to 3AD, but rebuilt in Roman times. The theatre had many places to roam, and was surrounded by spectacular views of the ocean, Mt Etna, and the other mountains behind. 
From Toarmina, we went farther south to Catania, which is Sicily’s economic centre. Our main reason for stopping there was that it has an Ikea, and we wanted to buy a softer bed! Boat mattresses can be quite stiff and after Ikea, we finally had sore shoulders no more 🙂 While in town, we also enjoyed Catania’s many open air markets (more popular than grocery stores), and took an excellent cooking class. We learned how to make authentic bruschetta, stuffed calamari, fish baked with a crispy potato top, and swordfish pasta. Great recipes for us to use at sea! 
Our final adventure in Sicily was a trip to Mount Etna. We took a bus to the base of Etna, then a cable car from there up to 2500 meters, then a four-wheel jeep up from there to the location of the eruptions in the early 2000s, at 2900 meters. The most impressive thing about Etna was it’s size. From miles away, the landscape changed to boulders made of lava and black silt. At the top, looking down, there are dozens of craters, each from a different series of eruptions. 
turtles
