Favignana Island ~ Sicily

Current Position On a mooring on south coast of Favignana Island: North 37*55'023 East 012*18'540

Our final stop in Sicily is the Small island of Favignana five miles off the north west tip. Favignana is one of three main islands that make up the Edagi Group and Marine Reserve. For the first time in Sicily we're not anchored off a commercial port which means the water is lovely and clean, perfect for swimming and snorkeling...it feels soo good to be back in the water again! We didn't even have to drop the anchor as we're snugly tied off to one of the free national park moorings.

The main town is just half a mile's walk across the island on the North side and a really popular spot for Italian tourists. A quaint little fishing harbour that was once home to one of Italy's largest Tuna factories. At night they open the old factory, which has been made into a museum, to the public and it's almost haunting to walk around a place that was once the site of so much Killing...the smell must have been unbelievable! These weren't just small tuna like the ones we're used to catching but often bigger and heavier than three men put together.

Over a hundred men would row out in wooden boats then set nets the size of football pitches, they'd wait for the tuna to swim in then slowly pull in the nets by hand. Once the tuna were cornered in a small area it would take five or six men to hook each fish with gaffs and pull them into the boats. Back at the factory they would cut them up, boil and salt the meat then pack it into tins that had also been made on site. A lengthy process that would involve the whole town including the women and children. However, like most industries new and faster ways of doing the job were created which meant the depletion of fish stocks due to over fishing and less work resulting in the factory finally closing down.

Yesterday we decided it was time to get some exercise and followed in the trend of the locals by renting bicycles for €4 each and rode around the whole island. Some of the roads are paved but many are just bumpy dirt and gravel tracks and our bums are definitely paying the price today. We've been here for five days waiting for a window to head north to Sardinia and it looks like we may have our shot this weekend with a window of two days of southerly wind. If the northerly winds slow down enough we may leave tonight and head for the South West coast (200 miles)taking two nights but if not we'll wait until the morning and head instead for the South East corner (150 miles) arriving the following day...watch this space for an update!

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