Porto Empedocle - Denied Entry!?

multihullsailor6

multihullsailor6

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0n 0ctober 15th 2014 at 2320hrs we were attempting to enter Porto Empedocle and were hailed on VHF and told "You are not authorized to enter the harbour". When we explained that we were heading for the marina we received the same "You are not authorized to enter the harbour" reply.

Has this happened to other sailors? What's going on there? - my pilot book gives no warning or procedure to follow.
 
This, somewhat relevant, from Noonsite:
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 Silicy. 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 harbor 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 harbor 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 harbor - 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 harbor or don't radio in before entering the port or don't enter the port in the middle not starboard - Revenue generation.

There was a thread a few weeks back about a fine such as this: perhaps the same guy.
 
macd said:
This, somewhat relevant, from Noonsite:
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 Silicy. 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 harbor 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 harbor 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 harbor - 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 harbor or don't radio in before entering the port or don't enter the port in the middle not starboard - Revenue generation.

There was a thread a few weeks back about a fine such as this: perhaps the same guy.
Click to expand...

There was a posting on here a few months back , the cruisers nerve paid the fine so I understand
 
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