WEATHER-BY STEVE
STEVE WRITES TODAY'S ENTRY-stay tuned for details of American tourists in Sicily!
We have just had almost a week solid of strange, mid-winter weather at what seemed like the beginning of spring. The Sirocco winds, usually warm from the south-west, carrying bits of the Sahara desert over eastern Algeria and Tunisia, then dropping the sand on our terrace and on our cars, obscuring the crystal clear view of the sea our windows afford us, have switched back and forth with the colder, more brutal mistrals, that come off the Atlantic, cross southern France, and then race across the western Mediterranean Sea to drop cold rain on us. It is the mistrals that could be used as a defence for murder in the Napoleonic Code, as they were considered enough to drive a person crazy. The papers reported that over 100,000 Italians were sick in bed with the early spring colds they came down with, and more rain has fallen in Agrigento Province that ever recorded for a thirty day period.
Today, the weather seems to be breaking. Perhaps the warmer spring weather is finally coming back to stay. And what a glorious day! The cumulous clouds act confused, blowing down off the mountains of Caltabellota toward the sea, and then heading back up the Platani valley between here and Ribera. Wisps of rain occasionally fall from the clear blue sky, and the sea is by turns the wine dark color of Homer (the poet, not the cartoon character), light blue, and the blue-brown from the outlets of the Belice River near Porto Paolo, the Carboy River just on the other side of Capo San Marco, and the Platani and Verdura Rivers to the east, where they hope to build a golf course soon.
The bands of blue and blue and blue stretch to the horizon, where we can again see the large container vessels, and the occasional ferries plying their trade between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, as well as those making their way through this sea after coming through the Suez Canal or the Pillars of Hercules at the other end of the sea. I had read that at the Pillars of Hercules, or the Straits of Gibraltar, if you prefer, the sea runs in both directions at the same time. On top is the water, driven by wind and ocean currents, that flows east into the Med. However, at the depths, the water flows swiftly to the west, making its final dash from Caspian, or the Adriatic, or all of the lands and the water sheds that bound the Mediterranean to the freedom of the Atlantic Ocean.
It was hard to believe water could run against itself constantly, however when Fran and I took a walk yesterday just to the end of the road, we were able to look down on the beach and see the waves coming in from the south east and the south west, together, at the same time. The clash of the waters created small whitecaps on a wind free day, and added to the beauty of the blues of the sea. It also created the opportunity for the erosion driven soil of valleys to both the east and the west to mix in the sea, in their bands of blue-brown.
This afternoon, I looked out and watched two small fishing boats coming out of port. They were running at what looked like top speed in a direction opposite all of the other boats that I could see, that were just returning with their days catch. The calming sea still had enough action to bounce the boats as they raced toward Capo San Marco, with every third bounce dipping their bows into the water. I am not sure if they were testing the metal of the boats, or the mettle of the crew. I know that if I had been on them, the fish below could have expected my lunch for their dinner.
I am not sure why they were rushing out of port. I am pretty sure that they had already finished one day of commercial fishing, and already gone into port and delivered their load both to the pre sold buyers, and then the leftovers to the fish auction, and the cast of characters that are always there to greet the fleet as it comes in. Perhaps they were getting out to claim what they thought might be the best place to lay netting for lobster and calamari and other shellfish, and then would return at first light to pull their nets and process their catch before leaving for other parts of the sea for fishing. If so, they would need the seas to remain calm in order to be successful.
Perhaps they were trying to catch some of the time they had lost over the last week. The weather had been so bad that the fishing boats remained in port for the week. The Mediterranean is a small sea, but winds can blow up huge waves, and it sometimes acts like a bowl of water, when someone starts a ripple, it goes against the sides and comes back with equal or more force. So the boats may have already returned from one day of fishing, with their holds full, and now they were going out again, with the fishermen grabbing what sleep they could with the movement of the boat on the swells, and the roar and smell of the diesel engines. A fisherman I met once said it was almost impossible to sleep, and he was a crew member on one of the larger boats, that would stay out for 36 hours, then spend twelve hours in port before going out again.
At any rate, it was fun to speculate on what the boats were doing going out from the port at such a fast rate in such heavy seas. Later on, I saw some of the larger fishing boats, apparently going out for their second run. They usually leave port about 2 or 3 in the morning, getting back at 2 or 3 the following afternoon. These boats had almost certainly made a short run, unloaded whatever they caught (and Paolo has told me that fishing is easy for them after a storm, the fish are blinded by the roiled up waters, and can not avoid the nets. I think that is suspect, but that is what he told me, and he is Paolo!), and were headed out again. An opportunity to collect lost wages and boat payments from the week of bad weather!
In a few days, we will be inundated by guests from the United States. We truly hope that the good weather holds for them, and that we do not need to take advantage of breaks in the weather to double trip them to the various sites and flavours of Sicily, as the fishermen have had to double trip their forays to their fishing spots.
Hoping that your weather is taking a turn for the better, no matter how good it is. . . .
S
We have just had almost a week solid of strange, mid-winter weather at what seemed like the beginning of spring. The Sirocco winds, usually warm from the south-west, carrying bits of the Sahara desert over eastern Algeria and Tunisia, then dropping the sand on our terrace and on our cars, obscuring the crystal clear view of the sea our windows afford us, have switched back and forth with the colder, more brutal mistrals, that come off the Atlantic, cross southern France, and then race across the western Mediterranean Sea to drop cold rain on us. It is the mistrals that could be used as a defence for murder in the Napoleonic Code, as they were considered enough to drive a person crazy. The papers reported that over 100,000 Italians were sick in bed with the early spring colds they came down with, and more rain has fallen in Agrigento Province that ever recorded for a thirty day period.
Today, the weather seems to be breaking. Perhaps the warmer spring weather is finally coming back to stay. And what a glorious day! The cumulous clouds act confused, blowing down off the mountains of Caltabellota toward the sea, and then heading back up the Platani valley between here and Ribera. Wisps of rain occasionally fall from the clear blue sky, and the sea is by turns the wine dark color of Homer (the poet, not the cartoon character), light blue, and the blue-brown from the outlets of the Belice River near Porto Paolo, the Carboy River just on the other side of Capo San Marco, and the Platani and Verdura Rivers to the east, where they hope to build a golf course soon.
The bands of blue and blue and blue stretch to the horizon, where we can again see the large container vessels, and the occasional ferries plying their trade between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, as well as those making their way through this sea after coming through the Suez Canal or the Pillars of Hercules at the other end of the sea. I had read that at the Pillars of Hercules, or the Straits of Gibraltar, if you prefer, the sea runs in both directions at the same time. On top is the water, driven by wind and ocean currents, that flows east into the Med. However, at the depths, the water flows swiftly to the west, making its final dash from Caspian, or the Adriatic, or all of the lands and the water sheds that bound the Mediterranean to the freedom of the Atlantic Ocean.
It was hard to believe water could run against itself constantly, however when Fran and I took a walk yesterday just to the end of the road, we were able to look down on the beach and see the waves coming in from the south east and the south west, together, at the same time. The clash of the waters created small whitecaps on a wind free day, and added to the beauty of the blues of the sea. It also created the opportunity for the erosion driven soil of valleys to both the east and the west to mix in the sea, in their bands of blue-brown.
This afternoon, I looked out and watched two small fishing boats coming out of port. They were running at what looked like top speed in a direction opposite all of the other boats that I could see, that were just returning with their days catch. The calming sea still had enough action to bounce the boats as they raced toward Capo San Marco, with every third bounce dipping their bows into the water. I am not sure if they were testing the metal of the boats, or the mettle of the crew. I know that if I had been on them, the fish below could have expected my lunch for their dinner.
I am not sure why they were rushing out of port. I am pretty sure that they had already finished one day of commercial fishing, and already gone into port and delivered their load both to the pre sold buyers, and then the leftovers to the fish auction, and the cast of characters that are always there to greet the fleet as it comes in. Perhaps they were getting out to claim what they thought might be the best place to lay netting for lobster and calamari and other shellfish, and then would return at first light to pull their nets and process their catch before leaving for other parts of the sea for fishing. If so, they would need the seas to remain calm in order to be successful.
Perhaps they were trying to catch some of the time they had lost over the last week. The weather had been so bad that the fishing boats remained in port for the week. The Mediterranean is a small sea, but winds can blow up huge waves, and it sometimes acts like a bowl of water, when someone starts a ripple, it goes against the sides and comes back with equal or more force. So the boats may have already returned from one day of fishing, with their holds full, and now they were going out again, with the fishermen grabbing what sleep they could with the movement of the boat on the swells, and the roar and smell of the diesel engines. A fisherman I met once said it was almost impossible to sleep, and he was a crew member on one of the larger boats, that would stay out for 36 hours, then spend twelve hours in port before going out again.
At any rate, it was fun to speculate on what the boats were doing going out from the port at such a fast rate in such heavy seas. Later on, I saw some of the larger fishing boats, apparently going out for their second run. They usually leave port about 2 or 3 in the morning, getting back at 2 or 3 the following afternoon. These boats had almost certainly made a short run, unloaded whatever they caught (and Paolo has told me that fishing is easy for them after a storm, the fish are blinded by the roiled up waters, and can not avoid the nets. I think that is suspect, but that is what he told me, and he is Paolo!), and were headed out again. An opportunity to collect lost wages and boat payments from the week of bad weather!
In a few days, we will be inundated by guests from the United States. We truly hope that the good weather holds for them, and that we do not need to take advantage of breaks in the weather to double trip them to the various sites and flavours of Sicily, as the fishermen have had to double trip their forays to their fishing spots.
Hoping that your weather is taking a turn for the better, no matter how good it is. . . .
S
posted by Sicilian Mama at 7:55 AM
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