sySpringDawn

It was a wrench to leave Siracusa as we'd thoroughly enjoyed staying there but it was time to move on and start making our way towards Licata. We left at first light on Friday morning and anchored outside the small harbour of Porto Palo, just around the corner of the southernmost tip of Sicily.

We'd noticed that while we'd been in the anchorage in Siracusa, the hull of both Springy and the dinghy had attracted a fair amount of barnacle growth. However, nothing had prepared us for the extent of the growth - Springy's hull was just covered! With the water temperature a pleasant 26 degrees, it was nice to be able to swim again (the water in the anchorage at Siracusa had been a bit manky so we didn't swim while we were there). So, it was on with the snorkels and out with the scrubbers and scrapers. We spent the whole day dipping in and out of the water for an hour or two at a time, removing as much of the barnacle and worm cast growth as possible.

I forgot to take any photos in Porto Palo so here's a picture of an award that Robbie received from our friends Jackie and Pete! While we were still in Siracusa, once again Cap'n Robbie's International Rescue skills were called for. One afternoon, the breeze had got up to 20 + knots and I noticed a couple trying to paddle their dinghy into the wind and getting absolutely nowhere. After 10 minutes they were still in the same place, having made no headway at all. Robbie jumped into our dinghy and wizzed over to them, they were an elderly couple and were absolutely knackered from trying to row out to their yacht (their outboard had failed). Robbie took them under tow, got them back to their yacht, jumped on board and tied their dinghy up, unloaded them and their shopping - all of which was saturated. Then, for some reason, our dinghy came un-tied and made a bid for freedom with the wind behind it, Robbie dived in, swam after it and got it back. All of this was witnessed by me (I did take some photos but they didn't come out very well as the action was taking place at some distance from me) and Jackie and Pete and they felt this award was justly deserved!