HIDDEN ITALY

THE LITTLE-KNOWN EGADI AND PONTINE ISLANDS OF THE TYRRHENIAN SEA OFFERED STUNNING SUMMER CRUISING FOR PHIL AND ROXY JOHNSON

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A shirtless sailor in a roughed up inflatable dinghy approached as we sat in the cockpit at anchor. Along with two friends, my wife Roxy and I had just arrived in Marsala, a working fishing port known for its fortified wine, on the western point of Sicily. “I just came to warn you to be extra careful! Some people tried to steal my dinghy outboard twice today,” the man said as he held onto our teak toerail. “I was onshore for some groceries and fishermen told me they’d scared them off the first time, but when I returned they were in the dinghy again trying to cut the chain off my outboard!”

It was past 5pm and we were ready to spend the evening relaxing. But news of determined thieves in the anchorage had thrown a wrench in those plans. We've had our trusty RIB and its 15hp outboard since we first bought Sonder, our 1986 Cheoy Lee Pedrick 47, in 2018. The thought of a sleepless night worrying about losing it was reason enough to hoist anchor and head west in the waning daylight for the nearest of the five Egadi islands, Favignana, some 10 miles away.