Pylos to Malta

This web page describes a portion of a 7 week trip with S/Y Thetis in 1996 from Greece to Malta, Sardinia, Ustica and Calabria in Italy, and back to Greece. The portion described is from Pylos, Greece to Valletta, Malta. It is illustrated with maps and photographs, also included are some historical and geographical descriptions of the places visited as well as several links to other related web sites.

 Overall Route 

Friday September 20, 1996 Day 8

We were woken up at 4:30 AM by the arrival of a large fishing caique. After they arrived they turned on several very high-intensity lights and started a motor crashing ice with which they packed the fish. All the boats near us were woken up too. We tried to go back to sleep but with the noise and the excitement of the long trip it was impossible. So we decided to leave the harbor.

We departed at 6:10 heading for Malta 348 nmi away with a heading of 260°. We motored out of Navarino bay and raised the main sail shaking all the reefs. There is practically no wind and we motor-sail. I am nervous about consuming fuel at the very beginning of the passage but it is either that or going nowhere. We motor for 1:30 hrs and as the wind picked up some speed from the NW, just as predicted from the forecast we got from Hellas Radio, we reduce RPM and unfurl the genoa. At 8:50 we had enough wind and we turn off the motor. Peace at last!

We sail on and off for several hours. The GPS has an anomaly. It indicates suddenly that we are off course by 12 miles south. This indication is confirmed by the second GPS, but it is impossible to have been teleported 12 nmi in a period of less than 1 min. After a few minutes it shows us back on course and then again off by 12 nmi. This behavior continues on and off for 2 hrs when things revert back to normal. It cannot be the instrument since both units show the same deviation and it cannot be the antenna because the signal strength was normal, so it had to be a satellite anomaly.

After a simple lunch in the cabin we try in vain to raise on the VHF the Contessa, the Swiss ketch belonging to the single handler we met yesterday at the . We had arranged to have radio contact for safety since we would both be heading in the same general direction. Later in the afternoon we see a distant sail some way behind us as we are crossing paths with a cargo ship. On the VHF we hear somebody hailing the cargo ship giving coordinates coinciding with ours. So we assume it had to be the ship near us being hailed by the distant sail. As the ship does not respond, we answer the call. It is the Golden Star a Dutch sailboat with 3 people aboard coming from Crete and heading to Majorca. We arrange to have radio safety contacts every 3 hours.

In the late afternoon we cross course with an enormous Cunard Line cruising ship the Royal Viking Sun. Lewis hails them on the VHF channel 16 and asks for a weather update. A very British voice responds with a weather report of sorts, very vague, and he explains that they do not pay too much attention to the winds.

In the evening the wind speed increases and we reduce the genoa. We are sailing on a southern tack 30° off our course. I cook dinner, another Thetis special: spaghetti with tuna, but no capers since we forgot them. To cook the spaghetti we scoop sea water with a bucket and use 1 part sea water to 2 parts bottled water. While we are eating we listen to good music on the CD player. It is really very nice this first night at sea. Every so often we tack to the north to correct our course and then back on a southern tack. As we are finishing dinner the Golden Star calls us. They seem to have TV on-board and have watched a weather report complete with weather maps and satellite photos. The prediction is that tomorrow will have the same weather as today.

Thetis is sailing beautifully in the night with the reduced genoa illuminated by the half moon. Both of us spend some time sitting in the cockpit admiring the loveliness. We arrange a 3 hour watch system. Lewis goes to sleep and I take the first watch 11:00 to 02:00. As I am left alone I cannot get enough of the majesty of the silent night sailing at better than 6 knots in the relatively calm sea.

Saturday September 21, 1996 Day 9

This is the first night in the open sea. I am a little sleepy since we got up very early in the morning, but it is so beautiful, the boat moving at 6 knots under sail in the moonlight. There are several ships within sight, they all appear much closer than the radar indicates. The radar is proving itself to be a most useful tool, how did we manage without it all these years? It is already 2:00 AM, I wake up Lewis, show him what to do. Thetis has now slowed down to 4-5 knots and is gliding very smoothly after I reduced the genoa in preparation for Lewis. I tell Lewis that I will sleep better if I am sure that he will call me whenever he has the least doubt about what to do. He promises to do so. Reassured, I go to my cabin, change clothes and fall asleep right away. I am woken up a few times by the auto pilot alarm but there is no real problem —just difficulty steering so many degrees off the wind (I had set it in the wind mode). I drift back to sleep.

Lewis is calling for me! "A large ship bearing down on us!" It turns out to be a false alarm. Lewis cannot distinguish very well between the red and the green lights because of his mild color blindness. I am glad, though, that he did not allow what he considered a potentially dangerous situation to develop further but called me. Now I feel much more confident in him. I go back to sleep.

I am woken up by the sound of the engine. The wind has died out completely and Lewis started the engine. He is in a state of great agitation and anxiety caused by the number of visible ships. Most of them quite far but appearing close in the clear night. He goes to sleep while I take the next watch: 5:00 to 8:00. I am having a problem with the alternator that has stopped charging. I have had this problem before in Samos and during the trip from Samos to Glyfada in the summer. I have thought about it a lot. Originally I thought that the regulator is defective but now I think it is caused by the fact that the regulator sensor is connected to the engine battery, which is now fully charged while the service battery of course is powering the instruments, radar, navigation lights, auto pilot etc. I will rewire the sensor at the first opportunity and check my theory.

There is very little wind and I take in the genoa that was flopping and bring the boat to a new course to compensate for the last tack. We are sailing on and off, mostly off. This goes on all morning. By late morning there is no wind at all and we are motoring continuously. Lewis and I have set the beanbag chairs (my Christmas gift from Alice) on deck and are reading and talking. He brings me up to date on mutual old friends, his relatives, and their descendants.

In the afternoon it gets very hot. I want to take a swim. Lewis is afraid that I will get lost in the great sea or a shark will devour me. I reassure him by trailing a length of rope. The swim is very refreshing, I invite Lewis to join me or I will get back on the boat and he can swim, but he will have none of this.

In the early evening we both take nice hot showers as there is plenty of hot water. Lewis prepares dinner: "tortelini" with cheese and thinly sliced onions. After dinner and some music we clean the dishes and Lewis takes the first watch and I go to my cabin for a very sound sleep despite the noise from the engine.

Sunday September 22, 1996 Day 10

Lewis wakes me up at 02:00, the wind has picked up to 10-15 knots SW and there is no reason to motor. I turn off the engine and open the genoa. We are now sailing at 6.5 knots and making good time. The waves are getting stronger and the boat is pitching.

During the early hours, still very dark, the radar reflector broke from its holder and came crashing down on the deck. I managed to retrieve it and gerry-rig it and hoist it back the with the signal line since there can be ship traffic as we are approaching Sicily. The reflector was held by a steel bolt ending in a ball joint which was held in a bracket screwed on the first spreader. This bolt has sheared.

By 8:00 AM the wind increases and changes direction to SE and we reduce the genoa and reef the main to the first reef. There are many steamers nears us. Thetis is sailing beautifully at over 6.5 knots. The morning goes by very quickly and we are both enjoying the fast sail.

In the afternoon the wind strengthens and changes direction again, this time to S. We definitely have too much sail and we are heeling a lot. We reduce the main to the third reef, roll in the genoa, and raise the storm jib. This is maybe an overkill but with the evening approaching it will be much safer. The waves now are very large, Lewis again declares that these are the largest he has ever seen, they are large indeed. But since they are coming from our quarter they do not affect us that much and we are still sailing fast.

By evening we are tired. We have been adjusting the sails continuously. The wind once more changes direction, now it comes from the West. This is much less conformable since the waves are still large and coming from our left while the wind is now against us. There are two options: to tack or to motor. Since we are exhausted and hungry having only some bread and cheese for lunch, we start the engine. Thetis is pitching and yawing wildly and there is some spray. Every time we go to the cockpit we must put on the foul weather gear.

Lewis wants to open a pâté and eat bread and cheese again. I insist on proper eating and a warm meal because the weather could deteriorate further and we may need more strength to deal with it. We start our meal with pâté and bread and I warm the left over pasta with tuna from two nights ago. I also make a cheese omelet. Even with food in our stomachs we are both very edgy. Lewis is very uncomfortable and a little scared. In his way of always exaggerating he predicts our drowning, etc. I must be very fatigued because his extreme pessimism which usually amuses me now is annoying me.

I clean the dishes and take the first watch. Lewis cannot use the front cabin, which is very uncomfortable with the pitching motion, and lies down on the main cabin. I do not like spending more fuel, so since we have eaten, cleaned up, and Lewis is in bed, I turn off the engine and tack. The third reef is too much, so I shake it and set the second reef. Also I replace the storm jib with a very reduced genoa. We are sailing fast again, off course, but sailing. I am very sleepy and have a hard time keeping my eyes open.

Monday September 23, 1996 Day 11

Lewis gets up before the beginning of his his watch at 02:00. I start the engine so that he will not have to deal with the sails and tacking, set a new course that will compensate for the last tack, and I go to sleep without any further ceremony.

I wake up at 04:00, the wind is strong from the West 15-25 knots with higher gusts. The sea is still very rough. I turn off the engine and start sailing on a southern tack, we are making at least 6 knots. Lewis is very tired and uncomfortable. I am convinced that when we reach Malta he will abandon this cruise. The fuel tank is very low, the fuel gage is almost at zero but I do not want to venture a fuel transfer from the reserve jerry cans with such high seas. I hope to get a relative calm near Malta. We cross the 3/4 point of the distance between Pylos and Valletta.

By late morning we are only 50 nmi from Valletta, but we are also 5 nmi South from our course. If we continue on our current southern tack we will miss the island. I reluctantly start the engine but I do not want to enter the unknown Valletta harbor with an almost empty fuel tank. I set a northerly tack moving very slowly as to minimize the pitching. With a combined effort we manage to siphon one jerry can of fuel into the tank without spilling one drop despite the high seas. Now there is plenty of fuel margin. We increase speed and continue on this tack until all the cross tack error is corrected, we then head directly for Valletta now 30 nmi away. We are moving against both the wind and the waves.

Following the instruction of Heikell's Italian Waters Pilot we contact Valletta Harbor Control on channel 16 when we are 20 nmi away. After assigning us a working channel they ask us the specifics about our boat, nationality, people on board etc. and tell us "Proceed. Contact Valletta Control when you are 10 miles from the harbor." We do so, and again we are told "Proceed. Contact Valletta Control when you are at the harbor entrance," it feels like there is the distant unseen large spider drawing us to her net. There are many very large ships anchored about 10 nmi from the entrance of Valletta harbor. It is very hard to decide whether they are moving and possibly are on a collision course or whether they are stationary and anchored. Lewis is getting more and more nervous and uncomfortable. As we are getting closer, we hear something on the VHF that sounds like Thetis. We turn on the volume, and we hear a feminine voice calling "Greek yacht Thetis. Greek yacht Thetis." We respond, and we are asked if we will need a berth. We answer "yes, please", and we told the inevitable "Proceed."

We reach the Valletta harbor at 5:30 PM. We are directed by the Valletta Control via the VHF to anchor off-shore in front of the customs house and to go ashore with our papers for the formalities. The harbor is very large but thanks to Heikell's sketches we have no problem locating the customs house. As soon as we are in the harbor, the water becomes flat of course, and Lewis, who up until now was totally downcast, begins to perk up. He actually becomes ebullient, smiling and congratulating both me and himself for actually making it. We have some problem with the anchor because due to the motion of the last few days our chain is tangled and does not come out freely. Nothing but untangling it, raising the anchor, and anchoring again, properly this time. We start assembling the zodiac so that we can go out with the papers. While we doing this a large boat (almost like a barge) that is anchored stern-to informs us:

1. We are over their anchor (true), and
2. They want to move shortly and could we please re-anchor.

I asked them if they could please wait for a few minutes so that we can finish assembling the zodiac and they readily agree. We start pumping frantically. In the mean time a man from a large catamaran with a British flag anchored nearby (who had been watching us while having his evening cocktail) gets into his large inflatable, cocktail glass at hand, and comes our way. He informs us, with a strong southern American accent that the customs will close in a few minutes and if we do not want to miss it and have to stay on board until they open again tomorrow we had better hurry. He offers to take me ashore. I accept his kind offer and leave poor Lewis assembling the zodiac. I feel very uneasy because we are preventing the other boat from leaving, but the customs will not wait.

As I step ashore I am accosted by a short, bearded Maltese gentleman who was standing by a large BMW. He politely asks me if I am Mr. Riginos from the Thetis. I am floored! How does he know my name? We gave no names other than the boat's to the harbor control. He introduces himself as Nikos' friend Johna Gauci-Maistre. It turns out that he is the owner-director of one of the largest shipping agencies in Malta. He took me by the hand to the authorities and while waiting for them to finish processing another yacht, he hands me a cellular phone, after dialing it, and says "Please talk to your brother. He is very anxious to hear that you are safe." When our turn comes, he hands the papers to the official who does not even bother to look at our passports. Mr. Johna also tells me that he has arranged for a temporary berth and we will have a permanent one tomorrow for as long as we wished to stay in Malta, also because he has to fly to London he will not see us, as he would like, later today. But one of his assistants will come and take care of anything we may need. This is the red carpet treatment indeed! Nevertheless, it still took some time, and I am nervous about blocking the other boat. So I rush out of the customs house and go to the boat to offer my apologies. Well, it turns out they have changed their mind and will not leave tonight after all. Poor Lewis! Although already exhausted, he had assembled the zodiac all by himself, in vain. I say good evening and thank Mr. Johna, and get back on Thetis.

Our anchor had caught a rope, Heikell had warned on this! After unfouling the anchor, we move to the new berth, anchor, and tie down. We made it!

As soon as we are secure, Mr. Mizzi, Johna's assistant, comes and introduces himself. Well, we offer him an ouzo, and he tells us some useful information about the lay of the land and departs promising to come by first thing in the morning and offer any assistance we may desire. Lewis is very impressed by Nikos' long arm.

A young fellow comes and introduces himself as Peter. He is a medical worker but he is also a machinist in his spare time. Do we have any work for him? I talk to him about the radar reflector and he promises to come back tomorrow evening when I will have lowered the reflector. Maybe he can machine us a new bolt. Another fellow comes, he is a carpenter, no, we do not need a carpenter. The people here seem to be very enterprising.

We take showers, change clothes and go ashore. We get some money from a bank machine and find a kiosk with a telephone that accepts money. I tried to call Alice but she was out, so I left a voice message. Lewis calls Inga and uses his AT&T card. The lady of the kiosk, for some reason, is convinced that Lewis is cheating her and accuses him of stealing. Lewis, of course, denies it and attempts to explain the intricacies of an AT&T card. She will have none of this. Volumes get raised. People gather, they take sides. Half are for Lewis, the polite foreigner. The other half are for the lady, the hard-working local woman. It is a wonderful scene (" "). Eventually we disentangle and walk along the esplanade looking for a restaurant.

We enter the first one we see, as we are very hungry and tired. It turns out to be strongly Italian flavored with marvelous food. There is very strong Italian influence in Malta. After some strong Maltese red wine, I dare ask Lewis about his intentions. He looks surprised and mildly hurt that I would even question his continuing the journey to Sardinia. "After one makes it, all the difficulties are forgotten" he explains. The food was wonderful.

We walk back to the boat, in a kind of daze, and hit the sack.