Many days already passed since I have finished my circumnavigation of Sicily. I took my time to relax and reflect on my trip and it’s seems there is still a lot to process!
What I would like to do is to describe to you the last phase of my circumnavigation, the time when I thought I might actually not be able to finish, despite the fact I was so close to closing the loop.
My last “civilized” break was in the south coast where I stopped at probably the only opened campsite. At that stage the corona virus fever has been forcing people to stay at home, the restaurants had been already closed down, police was patroling the streets for any unwanted activities that could affect the social distancing and self-isolation guidelines. Every day would bring new bans and restrictions so I was really happy when Francesco confirmed that I will be able to stay a night or two at the campsite.
The weather was a little bit questionable in upcoming days (strong headwinds) so I decided to take full 2 days of rest before the final straight. Francesco was kind enough to invite me to his home for the last night before heading out. When he heard that I decided to stay one more day, he said: I’m picking you up, today you will sleep in a real bed!’. I am not going to lie, it made me really excited 😄. Especially that apart from proper rest and sleep, I also was going to meet his family!
Between me and my final destination there was still about 190km left which I planned to paddle within next 5 days. The south coast has the convenience of tail winds when going eastward so I was secretly hoping to get a bit of a push from the prevailing winds. East coast on the other hand is said to be the easiest part of the coastline since it’s protected and northeasterly winds are rather rare. ‘Great!’, I thought, and then I checked the forecast… Headwinds until I reach the southeastern corner of the island and then…more headwinds, Of course! I just decided to put that information away into my “denial box” for the time being.
I set off into the headwinds the following day. My boat was probably the heaviest it’d been since the beginning of the trip. I packed food and water that was supposed to last for 6 days. The progress was slow, maybe because of the weight or maybe because of me not fully feeling it: I knew that inevitebly I was getting closer to the end of my circumnavigation and I wasn’t sure if I want it to be done. I loved how simple my life was and how simple my everyday problems were. It was all very down to earth and back to basics kind of existence. And then all of those problems and challenges were waiting for me to close the loop: making decisions on where to fly to, finding the way of getting there, facing all of this Corona madness with all of its consequences… I knew, that whatever it is, I’m happier on the water.
Tension in the air was getting thicker. On the second day (out of 5 remaining), as I finally paddled around the most southern tip of Sicily, I got news from Francesco: due to pandemic they banned outdoor activities in Sicily. Shit. I was officially going against the restrictions.
I was so close…there were three days and three big ports ahead of me: Siracusa, Augusta and Catania. It became very clear I had to avoid being seen by people and that I had to hide from the Coastguard.
So that’s what I did. My mind was counting kilometres as I was whispering swearwords at the wind and swell that were slowing me down. I stayed well offshore to make sure noone can spot me from land nor from a boat when I paddle between the waves.
I wish the situation was different. I wish I was not in such a hurry and that I could enjoy the beautiful coastline bit by bit. I had to push forward though and Siracusa was ahead of me. The swell was in my favour – big enough to hide me in between the peaks of the waves to the degree where I couldn’t see anything else but water around me: no horizon, no buildings, no cliffs.
The bay and the port of Siracusa were surprisingly empty which made me quite relaxed when I paddled across it. As I was approaching the corner of the cliff (after which it was jus home run left to my camping spot) a bright orange vessel emerged. SAR? Coastguard? A pilot for big ships? Whatever it was, I didn’t like the colour. I sprinted as fast as I could towards the cliffs where I could hide in their shade. I managed to find a bouncy gully to stop in, so I waited until the boat was closer to the harbour’s entrance. They didn’t spot me.
A bit more relaxed I continued along the wall towards that corner, thinking ‘that was a close one!’, just to see another orange vessel emerging in front of me, this time much closer. Fuck. I’m already too far from the gully to go back and it’s quite bouncy closer to the cliff. The only thing I could think of is to stretch myself flat on the front deck of my kayak, like in a yogic asana where you try to touch your knees with your forehead – trying to reduce my hight so I would be less visible in the decreasing swell. ‘This is ridiculous’ became my mantra as I was paddling in this position, in clepotis underneath the cliffs with my heart pounding like crazy.
Honestly I thought this was it. If the crew was looking around they would have spotted me. At the same time I was hoping that everyone on board is focused on getting back home after a day of work then looking for a random kayaker in the bay. Again, noone saw me so I could finally continue towards my camp.
Overall, this made the end of the day very exciting and I can easily say it was the highlight of the day. I continued along the eroded cliff face, called “the Swiss cheese” by the locals, with some adrenaline still circulating in my vains. I was just loving it, what an awesome adventure.
I land close to an old tuna factory that faces a massive bay of Augusta and it’s enormous rafinery with a dozen of tankers anchored around it. As much as I wished that to be the end of the day for me, I still needed to make some difficult decisions. Some bad weather was coming in, giving me only one day worth of paddling before I had to stop again and wait for it to pass. The more time I had to spend on the water and on land, the bigger the chances someone would stop me….
…To be continued 🙂