Fram's Voyages

3 April 2026 Licata Weather - Chilly, stormy, wet Temps between 10-16C On a good day with sun and light winds, the temperatures hover around 18C. We strip to shorts and t-shirts during the warmest part of the day; early afternoon. As soon as the sun starts to set, the chill sets in and we are back to trousers and sweaters. We have had a lot of rain which shows in the landscape here; very lush and green with grass and flowers growing to profusion. The Sicilians say that this has been the worst winter they can remember and Spring looks to be heading the same way. On FRAM all is good; we have heating, good food, good drink and plenty of GB for watching sports like Curling and movies at night. FRAM is now dressed in her Genoa and mainsail, the deck has been cleared of the mould and algae that set in during the wet winter, and Dan has sanded down the two teak shelves on either side of the companionway in the cockpit, and is just waiting for warmer temperatures and lighter wind to start varnishing them. I have been doing an inventory on our stores onboard FRAM and frequenting the Sicilian markets where Italian artichokes, oranges, lemons and fennel are in season. The pistachios of Sicily are the best we’ve ever had and we eat them every day. Almonds are good too. We have a fabulous butcher at our local supermarket Conad where I have learned the Italian ways of cutting meat, so now know what to ask for. The deli is also superb and we are enjoying Sicilian prosciutto salamis and cheeses. We have our exercise routines that we adhere to religiously (in order to eat all the good Sicilian food!); Dan runs 10 km every other day and muscle building exercises on the odd days. I do my yoga training every day and try to power walk up the steep hills around Licata every other day when my knee permits. The Licata cliff cemetery has a series of steps up the side of the mountain where all the mausoleums are kept immaculately clean and decorated with flowers and photos of the one inside. I get a good cardio workout climbing up to the top and taking the downhill road back to town and the boat. Sicilians like to walk as we have noticed while staying here. The harbour walk is very popular with all kinds of people running/walking out to the end of the pier on the east side and back then round the whole marina, stopping for a coffee at one of the cafés that line the marina waterfront. They are out there from early morning to late evening, elderly coupes often taking a short stroll past the boats after a dinner out at one of the restaurants nearby. Marina Cala del Sole is a really beautiful marina; palm trees and rosemary bushes lining the walkways, nicely tiled walkways and several shops cafés and restaurants to sit down for a meal or a coffee. I just discovered a new coffee called Cafe Crema. It’s very creamy and thick, cold and delicious. We have a variety of plans for our spring/summer sailing, none of which have been decided yet. One is to go to Montenegro and then down the Ionion islands to southern Peleponnesos as far as Kalamata. Another is to go round Sicily past Siracusa, Catania, the Liparian islands and then cross over to Sardinia. We are letting the weather decide. So more on that later. Our cockpit tent is at the sailmaker’s in Ragusa for cleaning and waterproofing. We miss it sorely as it acts as a sun room when it’s cold and rainy outside. Dan still has to de-winterise the engine and get that up to speed. We had a glitch with it in November when we had trouble starting it. The local expert Matthew who is actually Australian, looked at it and found that our electric switch needed replacing which he duly did. Now we need to see if that has solved the problem. Other than that, we are enjoying being back on FRAM again and looking forward to a new sailing season.