Porto Empedocle - Diving & Fishing
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Related to following destinations: Italy, Porto Empedocle, Sicily
Port Navigation
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S/V Korsar, August 20, 2014
We entered Porto Empedocle, proceeded to the inner harbour in late afternoon looking for a spot in the marina. It was completely full, it’s a small marina, it’s August, so we were not surprised. We did try to raft off from the end of one of the fingers to a couple of charter boats, but it was a bad fit for us, so we proceeded to the outer harbour, north end, to anchor in front of the small local boats on moorings. We anchored completely clear of the traffic area and turning basin about 6 pm and started to make dinner. An official small boat with red and blue flashing lights comes alongside and tells us we must move and we will be fined.
I had sprained my ankle jumping around our boat earlier trying to raft off in the inner harbour. The three uniformed men were very serious about us leaving and stated the fine for anchoring in this spot is 2600 Euro. My wife and I started laughing incredulously and told them no way, that a storm was approaching early the next morning, and with an injured foot, I could not, and would not leave, as it would be a safety issue for my wife and myself and for that reason we had to stay the night at anchor.
Three hours later with the small vessel along our port side and not leaving us, we then had an Italian Coast Guard 45′ vessel on our starboard side wanting me on their vessel. My wife told them absolutely not and additionally not to board us.
Well by 10:30 pm they informed us a police vessel from the port would arrive and confiscate our vessel. So, I hobbled forward, pulled the anchor, and we headed out going north. It blew 30 to 40 knots from 3 am to arrival at Marsala at 9 am, where we entered the harbour and found a safe haven.
This ordinance is Port Empedocle’s way of saying yachts are not welcome. Beware!
Posted on behalf of Sail Abroad, 21 August 2014:
This afternoon we received notice at anchor from the coastguard that we would be fined 2000 Euro for anchoring in the port of Empedocle – Southern Sicily. Apparently, it’s a new law from 2013 (Ordinance 32 – well we’re not sure as we refused to sign anything, not in English – so we didn’t get a copy of the fine)
Before anchoring I emailed the coast guard and did as much research as possible. I also checked the harbour masters website but as there are hundreds of ordinances in a scanned pdf format it’s extremely difficult to translate to English – and the ordinances aren’t easy to understand once translated.
Noonsite and the cruiserwiki also note this harbour as an anchorage – and I read several sailing blogs of people who anchored here so I did my research!
We have translated this “ordinance 32” and from what we can work out it refers to merchant ships anchored in the harbour – not specifically to pleasure boats but the coast guard is using it as justification to levy very hefty fines –
It also seems the coast guard is writing out fines for boats that don’t have the “proper safety equipment” or anchor in the outer harbour or don’t radio in before entering the port or don’t enter the port in the middle, not starboard – Revenue generation.