Well, we missed SailStice - a worldwide effort to get sailors to sail on the Summer Solstice. I feel bad. I guess I must not be getting enough sailing in! :-)

We had a pretty leisurely said from Siracusa down to the southern tip of Sicily, Portapalo. Portapalo was to be our jumping off point for the 60 nm ride to Malta. While in Siracusa we had a French boat anchor right next to us (the French seem to like to do that). I mean, he has this entire bay to anchor in and he has to anchor close enough to where I can hear him change his mind!

The boat was named 'Thales', after the Greek philosopher famous for measuring the height of the Great Pyramid (using shadow lengths and ratios), and for cornering the olive oil market. He accurately predicted a bumper olive crop after several years of drought and so he went out and bought all the olive oil presses in Greece. When his weather prediction came true all the olive farmers had to go to Thales to get their olives pressed into oil. But I digress.

Going to Portapalo we had a boat catching up to us from about 20 nm behind. He was either motorsailing or bringing breeze. We were in no hurry cuz we had all day to do 30 nm. And this time of year the days are long. So we just let this boat gain. But as we got to within a half mile of the anchorage this boat was getting too close. I mean, we had to beat him to the anchorage! But we were too busy checking out the wrong side of the anchorage and this other boat snuck in there and dropped their hook first. It turned out to be Thales! Grrrr.

They must have left Siracusa well after us and motored I.e. cheated), I dunno. In any case, I knew they were headed to Malta (like us) and I was strategizing all night how best to beat them! But my plans went awry when I awoke the next morning to find that Thales was a premature starter -- she had already left the anchorage! More grrrrr! Once Will and Ruth awoke we upped the hook and took off - focused on only one thing - catch and beat Thales! At least it made for some fun kidding aboard. (Or was I kidding?!!)

As you may recall, our engine would not engage into forward - at least not until after about 30 sec. of cajoling, swearing, threatening, dancing, and otherwise looking and feeling like a goon. Like when we left the anchorage in Siracusa and I had to back out of the anchorage cuz I couldn't get the fool engine into forward and I was afraid of blowing down onto, who else? My good friends on Thales, of course!

So that night in Portapalo I pumped the oil out of the transmission (once again) only this time to fill it with regular 15-40W engine oil. By this time the transmission has seen everything from Caro syrup to BBQ starter in it as we tried to figure out how to help it find forward gear. I am pleased to report the 15-40W worked great and our tranny has returned to us! Yeah

The wind filled in on our way to Malta and we had a nice beam reach, but with big waves, which makes for some uncomfortable - but quick - sailing. We were pulling 7.5-8k in 15-20k. But the up and down yaw as the waves pass under the boat made it rather uncomfortable. But 15 nm out of Malta it kicked up to 25k, so we tucked a reef in both sails. Malta is unique in that they want you to check in 10 nm outside the harbor, and again at 1 nm. We did as we were instructed, and so do not need to visit customs.

Coming into Valletta has to be one of the most dramatic port entrances yet for us. Malta is, and has been, a major shipping center for millennia. And it shows. A huge, developed walled city with 4,000 years of construction. Simply incredible!! All of the buildings are a tan color from the brick, except for the churches that have red domes with white stripes running from the top down. I would highly recommend a visit to this small, remote island nation. Malta is made up of 3 islands - the main island of Malta, Gozo, and the small island of Comino in between the two which doesn't have anything other than a beautiful blue lagoon.

We'll give you a full scouting report of Malta after we have had a chance to fully check it out.