The first two days we had a beautiful sail, enjoying slight seas with winds NW 10 to 15 knots. Early Saturday morning our winds changed. Although light, they came from the WNW, exactly the direction we wished to go, and so we started motoring. On Friday while still under sail, we started smelling diesel again. The thought of having another problem with our fuel tank was not pleasant. With calm seas Saturday morning, Phil siphoned off six gallons of diesel to an extra fuel can, alleviating the problem until we could investigate further once in Malta.
At 8 am, Sunday, August 3, we arrived in Malta, having sailed 357 nautical miles. We took a berth at Msida Marina, cleared customs, moved our clocks back one hour due to our arrival in a new time zone, and then went to bed as we were both very tired. It certainly felt good to finally be in Malta as this country marked the dividing point between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean. |
