Malta/Sicily Day 4: At Sea

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Our first full day aboard the Sea Cloud II is an “At Sea” day as we sail from Malta to southwestern Sicily. It was also the first opportunity to deploy the sails and actually sail without benefit of the ship’s engines.

We began with a detailed description of the sail deployment process from the ship’s First Officer. With three masts and 23 sails, a great deal of crew action is required to climb the masts to unfurl the sails and then to operate the many ropes involved in furling and securing the sails. The well-trained and experienced crew performed this operation expertly.

In order to have favorable winds for the sails, we took an indirect route to our next stop, Port Empedolce. We spent much of the day admiring the ship with its sails, and were given an opportunity to board Zodiac boats to take pictures from a short distance.

Later in the day, the crew furled the sails, and we had another opportunity to admire their skill and the choreography that goes into operating a ship like this.

This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Malta and Sicily. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.