After the bustle of Valetta, it was lovely to be at anchor in a small bay on the island of Comino. We had our first swim and snorkel of the year in crystal clear waters.

The passage from Malta to Sicily was peaceful and uneventful but although we set off with a favourable wind, it soon faded and we ended up motoring into a wind on the nose as we approached land. We decided to anchor in Porto Palo in the south east corner of Sicily instead of motoring on to Siracusa. But, oh how we wish we hadn’t ventured ashore there!

We had been told to watch out for the Mafia in southern Sicily and to take care of our dinghy so we carefully locked it to the quayside whilst we checked out the opening times of the fish restaurant opposite. As it wasn’t due to open for another half hour we went in search of a phone-box to report in to the family. We left the boat for no longer than 5 minutes but when we returned, the outboard had been smashed off, leaving the wire and padlock in tact.

Dave was devastated to lose his trusty engine which had always started first time even after a winter lay-up!

The owner of the fish restaurant was very helpful and took me for a hair-raising ride on the back of his scooter to the local police station a few miles away. Unfortunately the very nice policeman on duty was unable to help, telling me to come back the next day. We decided to cut our losses and left early the next morning bound for the safety of Siracusa Grand Harbour.

Siracusa and particularly the old town of Ortigia is beautiful and interesting. The fresh produce available is ‘to die for’ and consequently Fiona is full to the gunwales with food and wine!

We managed to source a new outboard at the knock-down price of €800 – rip-off!! That has now blown our budget entirely for this year! We tried to report our theft again at Siracusa police station but they also didn’t want to know.

We have been here at anchor for a week now and for 3 days we have had strong winds from the west. When they peaked at between 30 and 40 knots at one point, nearly all the boats around us dragged their anchors. Luckily we managed to stay put. Now the forecast promises lighter winds and possibly favourable weather for our crossing to Greece in a few days.