Crossing from Tunisia to Malta

We deliberated over whether to travel from Port Yasmine to Malta directly or to go via Pantelleria, a tiny island southwest of Sicily.  Our Aussie friends, the Boardmans, had visited the island and found it interesting and so we felt that it might be worth a stop, as well as breaking up the journey to Malta.  In the end, the weather window was small enough that we would be pressed to make it to Malta before the winds shifted against us, so we decided to head straight east to Malta.  The other concern was the large number of illegal migrant vessels in the area between Tunisia, Sicily and Malta and we did not want to spend any longer than necessary making the transit.

One of the most frustrating things about sailing, particularly longer passages (more than 12 hours) is the lack of accurate weather forecasting.  We have experimented with so many different weather computer programs but the bottom line is that you get what you get.  Generally-speaking, the programs are correct, but the changes in wind speed and direction are rarely when and what the programs predict.  This means that you might think you have a 48 hour weather window before the wind picks up speed or changes direction and then it either does so in less than 48 hours or longer.  Robin has practiced ‘reading’ the clouds and listening to the Italian gale warnings on the radio but it’s still a bit of a hit-and-miss exercise.  It’s also important to have an idea of the winds when choosing an anchorage for the night – when the change might occur and what kind of speeds to expect.  So far we have been pretty spot-on even though the timing is not always right.

Our crossing was fairly uneventful.  The night was dark and difficult to see (the moon set before midnight and it was a partly cloudy sky.  The most dangerous part of the crossing would be at night with the illegal migrant boats being unlit and generally invisible to radar so whomever was on watch had to keep a good lookout.  Luck was once again on our side as we encountered only fishing vessels,  a few cargo ships and not much else.  Robin took the first watch from 8pm to 1am and Tad watched until dawn at about 5am.  We mostly motor-sailed as the wind was not particularly strong and mostly at our tail (which we knew and expected), but the swell towards the end was large and messy due to a larger disturbance in western Sicily.  We were all very happy to spot the coast of Gozo about 27 hours after our departure from Tunisia but it was another three hours before we were safely anchored in a small bay on the north side of the tiny island of Comino, situated in between Gozo and Malta.  Deciding that we would wait until the next day to check in formally with Customs and Immigration, we settled down to enjoy the afternoon and relax in the sunshine.  The weather still being somewhat cool (low 20s Celcius) and the water still ‘fresh’ no one was tempted to jump in for a swim.

Sunsets and sunrises are always an event on crossings

                                                        Mgarr Harbour on Gozo