Gorges and limestone crags in the countryside around Ragusa

So we've been in Marina di Ragusa three weeks now and we're really enjoying the place. We're on a very international pontoon with Brits, Americans, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, Dutch and Danish for neighbours.

I've been taught to crochet and there will be a weekly happy hookers / knitty natterers / crafty creations group to keep each other inspired and just well, to have a natter! Exercise is well taken care of with outdoor circuits or tai chi and I've started running again with so far no achilles problems. I need plenty of exercise to counteract all the lovely pizzas and ice cream. Up in Ragusa Ibla we tried an ice cream made with wine which was devine and an excellent way to end a 9 mile walk out into the countryside around Ragusa, the scenery there reminded me of north Yorkshire or the White Peak, all limestone crags and deep gorges.


Wine and ice cream - a perfect combination

We had a day trip out to the Ragusa weekly market, Lidl and a shopping mall with a bus that picked us up from the marina and took us to each place which would be difficult to do without a car. And the bus had a huge boot to fit our everyones purchases in, it might have been sitting a bit low on the suspension with all the tins loaded in for the trip back.


Shopping trip

A daily morning radio net lets us know whats going on in the marina as well as being a place to ask for help or advice, to sell things or just to say hi or bye. Twice weekly happy hours have been a good place to meet new people, there has been a BBQ, film night and other events still to come and there are many guitar players in the marina for Colin to jam with. We even had a surprise visit from John and Fran, friends from Cambridge who sailed into the marina for a night, their boat was the first yacht Colin crossed the Channel on.


Pontoon boat jumble - we managed to come away €5 in profit!

The town itself still has plenty of life to it with bars and restaurants remaining open through the winter. We can get most of the grocery stuff we need in several supermarkets and a weekly market, anything else we can catch the bus up to Ragusa which is a 30 minute journey.

The toilets and showers are a wee bit of a trek but whilst the weather is still good it's quick enough on the bike to get to them. If I time it right I can cycle there and have a lycra-clad bike club pass me in the opposite direction calling out 'ciao bella' to me. Now that was a good start to the day.

Other than the blip of a stormy couple of days on our first weekend here the weather has been fantastic with temperatures still up in the high 20's. The sea is still warm and the beach is right next to the marina. It's going to be a shock to the system when we head back to the UK for a few weeks (although I won't be doing any swimming in the sea back there).


There's a storm a coming

As well as having fun we have managed to get on with a few jobs - putting Emerald into floating caravan mode by taking the sails down, packing away the dinghy, servicing the outboard and IGOR and being able to leave things out down below rather than putting away.

Colin has started on the project to extend the dinghy davits; at the moment it's a bit of a faff raising and lowering the dinghy because the Hydrovane rudder gets in the way. So the plan is to extend both arms on the davits and also put in a wire strop from the davit ends up to the arch which will help support the weight. We should then be able to hang the dinghy with the outboard still attached off the davits which will make life a lot easier at anchor. We also need to get cracks on the base of both davits rewelded.

I've been busy ordering up lots of fabric for the many sewing projects I have to do this winter - more shade covers, new cockpit seat covers and the interior seats need new covers. Pearl the Singer is going to be busy, i just hope the new motor I've bought solves the overheating problem I had last year caused by my being a bit over enthusiastic with the lubrication oil. Just need to find some discipline to get on with the jobs rather than having fun!