4th August – Mazaro del Vallo

Soundtrack: Church bells strike the hour in a handsome baroque church tower ashore. A little later, we hear the muezzin from the nearby mosque calling the muslim faithful to prayer. Can it be that some of the tolerance of different faiths and cultures that began in Sicily in the Middle Ages still lingers here?

High Point: Finding out that Leighton’s foot isn’t broken after all. After 5 days his foot was still painfully swollen, and he was finding even a few steps difficult to take, so we thought we’d better go to the local hospital to get it x-rayed.

Low Point: The casualty department at Marsala hospital. The resigned expressions of the sick and injured waiting to be treated say it all. It’s clear everyone accepts that public services don’t deliver, and you just have to sit and wait. There’s no point making a fuss about it. The hospital staff and other patients are incredibly kind and despite our broken Italian understand how to help us. Leighton gets his x-ray without too much delay, but we can’t face waiting to see the doctor (there’s only one on duty in the whole of casualty) and we leave without treatment.
We have come to Lilibeo marina in Marsala after spending three days at anchor in Cala Azzura in Favignana, ghosting down the 8 miles in a light northerly breeze. It isn’t a bad place to sit and rest Leighton’s foot for a few days. Fresh fruit and veg is available from a market stall nearby. We stroll – taking it slowly as Leighton hobbles along – through the old town. We go through the Porta di Garibaldi, following in the footsteps of the famous revolutionary who entered Marsala in triumph to lead the risorgimento. The historic centre has pleasantly shaded streets of small boutiques; piazzas, a cathedral with a fine turquoise cupola and a cinema with a classic 1920’s façade.

Now we know Leighton’s foot will recover on its own, we’re ready to leave Marsala and sail down to Mazaro, a large trawler port some 12 miles to the south. The southerly wind of the last few days has now obligingly gone round westerly, and the forecast is for northwesterly. It is F4, so you’d think it would be a delightful sail. But there’s quite a swell running which makes it a bit of a rough ride. The jib furling line causes a problem by wrapping itself around the outside of the drum, so it has to be re-rove at the bow before we can get the sail in. By mid-afternoon we anchor under Mazaro’s substantial east harbour wall and get out of the swell. So far the wash from the trawlers coming and going hasn’t affected us either.