Monday 13 October 2014 - Modica

We have been off the boat for the last three days and we have discovered that driving in Sicily is more frustrating, worrying and dangerous than sailing has ever been!  But perhaps I better go back to the beginning. 

By last Thursday we got most of the preparation of the boat done.  Richard got the last of the lines off including the lazy jack lines, the main sheet and swapping over main halyard, so the old one is being used to hold up the passerelle.  I got the washing done (though I did leave a few things over, which I shall have to take home) and I cleaned out all the food cupboards, getting rid or all my spare food.  Then we wrapped all the winches and spare lines up in plastic bags and taped them closed to stop sand getting in.

We were now ready to get the car.  The idea to pick up a car at Catania airport turned out to be a big mistake.  Richard had made enquiries locally about hiring one here and returning it to the airport.  They wanted a 75 Euro charge for that and Richard decided that was too much.  He also went to a cheap website to find a car.  He had a terrible time collecting the car.  The two bus rides took over 2 hours with a half hour wait between buses.  Then he had a two hour drive back, making a total trip of nearly 5 hours!  After taking bus fares in to account, 75 Euros would have been well worth it to avoid that journey.  Also when he got there he found that he had hired from rent a wreck.  The car is awful.  There are at least 4-5 bashes in it, it is rusting at the front and the offside wing mirror fell off!  But he said he was just too tired and anxious to get back in daylight to do anything about it.  You live and learn.

We finished off the last jobs on Friday morning, packed up and went on our way.  It was quite a long drive to Taormina, but fairly uneventful.  Driving around Taormina was a bit fraught, with restricted access to the roads, but it was very well sign-posted and the signs took us to the hotel, albeit in the most round about manner to avoid the pedestrian streets!  The hotel is very smart and they took the car away to park, much to our relief.

We had a lovely two days walking all around Taormina, which I really do remember from our last visit over 6 years ago.  We spent both late afternoons by the pool cooling off.  We had our posh two Michelin star dinner on the second night.  We were a bit surprised at the beginning of our meal to be given a menu of their different types of bottles of water – about 15 to 20 different types.

Then we were off to Ragusa.  This was where we discovered our travel plans were not so clever.  The journey from Taormina to Ragusa town was very difficult.  We did not have a proper map and it was much longer than we expected.  It was not helped by a half an hour queue to get through the toll booth just outside Catania!  We did stop for lunch in Noto, a beautiful Baroque town and had a little walk around.  We did not want to eat much because there was to be another 2 Michelin star dinner that night.  We tried to follow the road signs out of Noto to Ragusa, but we were sent off the route by a diversion.  We misunderstood the diversion signs and after an hour wound up back in Noto!

We did finally get to Ragusa, but then we had a terrible time trying to find our way to the old town called Ragusa Ibla.  We had a map, but we didn’t understand it because we did not realise this part of town is all tiny streets, many with stairs!  We tried to use google maps and it took us part way, but then seemed to give up.  We followed signs to the hotel, which were in appropriate places, but that just took us up narrower and narrower streets, where we were sure we should not have been driving (although there were some other cars there).  Eventually we knocked the broken wing mirror and it fell off again and is now in pieces (though Richard says it is not much different than when he last put it together).  Finally in desperation we telephoned the hotel, only to be told they have no parking and we should park on the road we were on and walk up.  It was only around the corner and we realised then that we had driven right past it as we first entered the old town about half an hour earlier!

By this stage both of us were wound up and it a bad mood, so it was just as well that the hotel was nice and the room very attractive.  We finally walked around the city a bit and relaxed and had a drink.  Dinner was excellent.  For a change we didn’t do the tasting menu and had their specialties as set out in the guide.  It also turned out to be really good value at just over 200 Euro including drinks and coffee.

This morning we had a proper walking tour around the town, seeing all the UNESCO registered buildings.  I particularly like one building on the Cathedral Square, not listed, but very pretty that houses the local Conversation Club!  We have a last Coffee Granita and then set off to Modica.

This time we are able to work out what roads we are supposed to drive on and find our way out of town and on the direct road to Modica, with much less hassle.  We get to Modica which is another old city with a lower and upper town.  Richard is sure it is in the upper town and just drives up.  Luckily we find the hotel with little drama and dump the car in front, creating a traffic jam, leaving it to the hotel to park.

After a freshen up we go in to town.  We have another lot of walking to do.  This town, unlike the others has its main sights in the lower town and our hotel (in a lovely palazzo) is in the upper town!  There are said to be over 300 steps between them.  But intrepid as we are we walk down.  Richard thinks we might be able to take a bus back up.  We walk around, have a little bite to eat and find the shop the town is famous for - a confectioners.  There we buy a huge amount of chocolate, though Richard is too chicken to buy their special biscuits filled with chocolate and beef!  Then we make the walk back up to our hotel.  It turns out that there are 420 steps back up!  My Nike band is loving it.

Wednesday 8 October 2014 - Marina di Ragusa

I haven’t written because really there is not much to tell.  The weather has improved and it has been really nice and sunny and not too hot.  We have got a lot of jobs done.  The sails are off and have gone to the sail makers to be cleaned and stored for the winter.  Richard has taken most of the lines off.  We have bought two new mooring lines with special metal springs to make the boat more secure for the winter.

I have done some of the washing.  I will need to do the rest tomorrow so that all the linens are more or less clean when we return.  I may even get around to washing some of the lines.

The marina is large and because of that I have been on the bike regularly.  We cycle into the town most days to buy what we need day by day so there will not be food left over.  I am getting a bit better on the bike, but I still am unwilling to cycle down hill and it still makes me nervous.

I have developed a new obsession.  It is coffee granita with cream.  There is an ice cream parlour on the main square that does a wonderful one.  Much better than iced coffee and very welcome after riding there on the bike.

Today we went to the beach for a swim, having made ourselves very hot cleaning and working on the boat.  There is a lovely beach right around the corner from the marina and there are bike racks to use when you get there.  In fact there are bike racks all over the town and marina, and everyone is riding bikes.  I guess I will have to persist.

We have booked a hire car from Catania airport and Richard will take two long bus rides there to get it tomorrow.  We hope we can get all the remaining tasks done before he goes.  We have booked hotels for the following four nights, so tomorrow is the last night on the boat.

We have found the marina to be really nice and very friendly.  There is a huge community of liveaboards, from all over Europe, who will stay here all winter and then there are those like us who go home.  Lots of Brits, including a second Southerly 105 called Tinkerbell (we met one in Rome owned by Peter and Wendy).  We have met some of the people and they all love it here.  Drinks parties every Monday and happy hour on Friday.  Social events and some practical matters such as filling gas bottles are discussed over the VHF radio each morning.  We have concluded that it is a very good place to winter.  The only problems are that southerly winds blow desert sand from Africa which eventually covers the entire boat and we are told repairs are very expensive.  We will get quotes.  If it is terrible, we might make a first stop next season in Malta, where we are told repairs are much cheaper.

Sunday 5 October 2014 - Marina di Ragusa

The weather forecast for the day was for rain, but when we woke up it was brilliant sunshine and very warm.  We had a leisurely breakfast while we left the mainsail up to dry out after yesterday’s rain.  Then we flaked it and put it in the sail bag.  We will need to have it valetted as it is quite dirty in parts.  That is another thing we shall have to arrange.  While we are at it we want to have new cars sewed on at the same time so it goes up and down the mast more smoothly. 

After we put the sail away we take out the bikes and cycle into town.  I am quite proud of myself for having made it there and back without mishap.  I have managed to learn to ride slowly through crowds of people, much to my surprise.  In the town we found the main square and managed to buy bread and some milk.  We also stop and have a café granita, which I really enjoy.

We get back to the boat and it is still very hot.  I even change in to my bikini and consider whether we should go to the beach this afternoon.  We were beginning to wish that we had sailed from Siracusa today in the bright sun, instead of yesterday’s trip in the rain.  But as I am sitting in the cockpit and Richard is putting away the sail bag I notice a huge black cloud on its way here.  Richard just manages to get all the gear he put out to dry away when it hit.  First there was a huge wind.  It went up to 25 knots in minutes and eventually hit 46 knots!  I’m not sure we have seen winds that strong before and that is here in a protected harbour.  As Richard tries to get everything in the one thing he has no time to rescue is my sailing gloves, left out to dry.  They both get picked up by the wind and blow off the boat!  I am certain that they are in the water and that is the end of them, but no, they have just landed in the cockpit of the next boat, so we can recover them later.  The wind is pushing us back on the pontoon and it is clear that we are too close to it and there is a bollard we are about to hit.  So as the rain starts to come down in torrents, Richard is putting the engine on to move forward, away from the pontoon. The wind is too strong to try to tighten up on the forward lines.  It is all a bit exciting to say the least. But it does prove that we are in a good place and the boat is not moving about as much as we had feared, so that augurs well for the rest of the winter.  After about 15 minutes the wind drops again and Richard is able to switch off the engine.  We are now really glad that we decided to come here yesterday, not today.

After sorting everything out we retreat to the saloon.  It is about 1:30pm, so we have lunch.  The rain keeps on quite heavily until about 4:00pm; as soon as it stops Richard is able to adjust all the mooring lines and is much happier.  This is really the first day of this whole summer when the weather was so bad that we had to stay in the boat all afternoon.  We really can’t complain about that!

We are having Roger and Lynn from the Oyster around for drinks this evening. So I put our dinner together to be ready to stick in the oven after our drinks.  I am making an Eggplant Parmigiana, one of my favourite meals.  We take advantage of a lull in the rain and go for showers and then have a very pleasant evening with our guests.  They say there are 10 or 11 large Oysters here for the winter!  During the high winds their wind gauge, at the top of their very tall mast, read 76 knots.

The weather is iffy again for tomorrow, but we hope it will be OK in the morning to get more sails off.

Saturday 4 October 2014 - Marina di Ragusa

The weather forecast is for rain, but we decide to go anyway.  The Oyster is also going.  For the first few hours it seems the forecast got it wrong.  There are a few light showers but it is mainly bright.  The sea, which started out very choppy turns calm and there is little wind.  So as ever we are motoring.

At about 1:30 the rain starts.  It is fairly heavy and seems well set in.  We can just stay dry under the bimini and spray hood, so no need for wet weather gear yet.

We did not buy any bread for lunch, so we just live on biscuits and Richard has a cuppa soup.  Before we get to the marina the rain seems to have stopped.  We make it to the Ragusa at about three thirty.  A rib comes to meet us.  We first go to the fuel pontoon.  May as well make sure that the tank is topped up for the winter.  For a change we manage not to spill diesel all over the decks!  We have used nearly 100 litres of fuel since we last filled up.

They show us to our berth.  It is tucked away with a lot of small boats.  It is a bit of a way from anything, but it does seem a nice protected spot.  The marina is large and we will need to use the bicycles!  But even I can see that it will be necessary. 

We have a walk around and buy an ice cream.  Then back to the boat.  As it is now dry Richard puts up the mainsail to try to dry it off.  We hope the weather won’t be too bad as we have to take all the sails and ropes off.  I have sussed out the laundry facilities.  They have washers and dryers here, so I will have to start to have a go soon.

Every one here is very friendly.  So we are pleased with the stop.  We finally drink my birthday champagne as a welcome to our new home.  We have dinner aboard and all is fine.  Tomorrow the work begins.

Friday 5 October 2014 - Marzamemi

Richard woke up early at about 6:45 and I followed 15 minutes later.  The idea is to get away by 8:00am to get to Marzamemi before the forecast rain starts.  We manage to leave on time having paid for our really pleasant three days here in Siracusa.  The weather does not look like it will rain.  There are some clouds around, but it is very bright and there is little wind.

We take turns having a little nap in the morning.  I do the second watch. Richard had put up the genoa, but I can’t see that it is doing anything.  The wind (all 4 knots of it) has shifted around a bit and I try taking the sail over to the other side.  But in such light wind, it won’t do anything.  So I take the sail in myself, which is unusual.  But I do a neat job of it.

We get to Marzamemi in very good time.  We arrive just after 12:30.  We have trouble finding a person to show us where to moor.  I have called them up on the radio and although he seems to speak good English, he doesn’t understand that we are already in the harbour and we see him leave the harbour in his rib to find us!  But eventually we get together and are moored up just fine. 

I don’t really have anything much on board for lunch, particularly without any bread, so we go out to eat instead.  We have a Frito Misto (mixed fried fish), which we’ve hardly had at all so far.  It is still very nice weather.  So we walk in to town.  There is very little doing here, although we were warned that they take their siesta time here very seriously!

Back at the harbour we find that the Oyster has arrived.  We finally meet them properly, Roger and Lynn and their son Charles.  We have tea on board, which is fun.  They will leave for Ragusa tomorrow.  We will see what the weather does, but Richard thinks that even if it is raining, we should go if the wind is OK.

We have dinner on board.  I try out a recipe for Steak Piazziola, which isn’t bad, but the meat as expected is not good, but then that is the idea of this dish.  Can’t seem to keep awake, so it is early to bed with the idea of an early start again, and then finally to our destination.

Thursday 2 October 2014 - Siracusa

I did not post yesterday because from a sailing point of view, there is nothing to report.  It was to just be a day for my birthday celebrations.  The only sailing news was that we had coffee on the Southerly 42 boat we saw yesterday and met Adrian and Pennie, the owners.  They are headed to Malta for the winter, but will be going to Greece as we are next season.  As we know two other Southerly boats in the area we might even be able to arrange a mini - rally next year.

The weather has been sunny and hot.  We went out for a very nice dinner for my birthday and had some interesting food.  The only problem was that I tried a cannoli (special Sicilian sweet) at teatime and it so filled me up that I could hardly face eating dinner!  But we managed and enjoyed ourselves.

Today was devoted to domestic matters.  We found the launderette and left two weeks worth of linens with them to do a service wash.  Then we finally went to the market which is wonderful.  I have stocked up on fresh food for at least 4 days!

The afternoon starts very hot and then suddenly the sky clouds over.  The weather has definitely turned.  We walk into town and get rained on quite a lot.  The forecast for the next few days is for rain.  We really cannot decide what to do, but think we will try to move on tomorrow.  If the forecast is correct we might beat the rain into the next port and then it is only one more hop to Ragusa.  We shall see how it looks tomorrow.

After all these weeks of seeing virtually no other English boats, the marina is now full of them.  The Oyster we met earlier is here and an Island Packet all also headed for Ragusa.  We guess we will start regularly meeting the English contingent now.

Tuesday 30 September 2014 - Siracusa

We had an excellent night’s sleep with a steady boat and no noise.  But we have slept in a bit too long, so when we leave, it is nearly 9:30.  At first I don’t think much about that because Richard said at first the Siracusa was only 15 miles away.  However once he started to seriously plot it, the distance went to 25 and finally 30 miles!  It is all a bit difficult because the chip in our plotter does not cover this part of the Sicilian coast.  So he is working from charts downloaded to my I-Pad, and paper charts.  He has even got out his Portland plotter, which only a few days ago he said he hadn’t used in years!

So it is a long day at sea.  We don’t even pretend to sail today.  Richard hasn’t even undone the sail cover!  There is little wind and even when the wind gets up to 6 knots in the afternoon, it is on the nose.  But it is a nice day and we have a pleasant trip.  We stop for some lunch, but that is a bit of an ersatz affair because we are basically out of food.  I had hoped to make some toast and serve it with the last of my long life jar of pate, but the bread has gone mouldy.  I find some toasts that I use for canapés and we have the pate on that.  We will have to find fresh food soon.

So we make it to Siracusa.  Richard’s plotting turns out to be on the spot.  We are a bit shocked to find large rocks in the entrance to the harbour that are not marked at all!  It is clear and we can see the water breaking over them, but what would happen in the dark, or in bad visibility, heaven only knows.  Another Costa Concordia in the making?  We find the marina which has been recommended and it is in a lovely spot right in the heart of the old city on the island.  We get a very nice berth well inside the harbour.  It all looks delightful.  This is a very beautiful city.  When we have settled in our berth we are delighted to see two other Southerlys.  One has no one on it, but the other does and we say hello.  They tell us the bad news.  Southerly has gone bust again and this time it is the end of the marque.  I am very sad about that.

We decide to walk into town to see if we can buy some food and maybe ice to make drinks.  We find a little supermarket, but it does not have much in it.  Richard does manage to buy a bottle of champagne for my birthday tomorrow, and some ice.  We will either have to have pasta again on board or eat out.  Richard says that my birthday making me 68 marks my truly being old.  I already knew that.  The other day when we were mooring up in Lipari, an elderly American on a charter boat was watching us and was heard so say “the little old lady is doing all the work”.  So I think that is definitive proof that I am officially old!

After a walk around the town and a coffee granita, right opposite the Greek Temple to Apollo, I start to feel very tired.  We go back to the boat.  I don’t feel like cooking so in the end we go along the waterfront and have a pizza.  It is pleasant enough.  We meet a Norwegian couple and have a nice chat.  It is fun to be somewhere so international.  

So back to the boat and soon off to bed. 

Monday 29 September 2014 - Catania

There is a lovely Arthur Ransome book called “We didn’t mean to go to Sea”.  Well today we have a variant on it called We didn’t mean to go to Catania, but here we are.

We had a dreadful night on the mooring in Taormina.  Instead of the sea calming down, the swell got worse and worse.  We were woken up by violent swaying of the boat several times.  The suitcase I use as an underwear drawer fell off its shelf twice!  By morning I was really fed up and so was Richard.  So when we woke up we decided to go right away.  We did not wait to wash and brush our teeth or have breakfast.  We threw some clothes on and left.

Richard had identified two little harbours where we could spend the night.  We got to the first one and there was nothing there!  There were supposed to be pontoons, but not a sight of one.  For that matter, it did not look like the charming place referred to in the pilot book.  So on we went.

About 4 miles down the cost was another harbour called Acitrezza, which George, the Cruising Association rep in Taormina, did recommend.  We went in.  Firstly we could not see anywhere we might moor except for one dodgy space on a wall with fishing boats.  We motored round and round and no one came to show us a berth.  Then we tried to speak to someone on a sailboat.  His English was very limited, but we did understand that the best we might get was permission to anchor somewhere.  After last night neither of us was keen on that.

So the next place was Catania and that is why we are here.  We are not in the main harbour, which everyone says is filthy and in the middle of an industrial site.  Richard has identified a little private harbour called Porto Rossi (although it has a different name in the pilot book).  He phoned them up and they said they could give us a berth and quoted a charge of 73 Euros, but what the heck.

We have been motoring all the time today.  There is very little wind.  We did put the genoa up at one point to add a bit of speed, but had to give up on that when the wind dropped to 2 knots.  Despite the lack of wind, the sea is choppy with a nasty swell, so a protected berth would be very welcome.  When we get to Catania, we have to find the entrance to the harbour.  It is not the main harbour, but to the north.  Richard has put in exact waypoints to take us there, but neither of us can see any entrance until we are more or less in it.  It is very narrow and hidden amongst rocks!   In some ways it reminds us of the entrance to Beaucette marina in Guernsey, just looking like you are about to sail straight in to rocks until suddenly there is water in front of you.

There seems to be no one here when we get in, but we do find someone.  We are put in a very peculiar berth.  Well, it isn’t a berth at all, we are in the dock for the hoist which lifts boats out.  It is comfortable enough (being alongside) and it has water and electricity, so no complaints.  Also they now say the charge is 40 Euro.  We can’t make it out but do not complain.

After a bite of lunch we decide to go in to town.  The pilot says this harbour is near the centre of town, but we think that is unlikely. However, we are wrong.  Once out of the marina it is a short walk to a main square and then to Corso Italia, the smartest shopping street in town.  So we do a lot of window shopping, have an ice cream and even find a little supermarket to buy some things.  We are very short of food, but I am not taken with the shop, so only top up on a few essentials.

We do buy Aperol.  This is the new drink we have discovered.  It is an alcoholic aperitif  (rather like cassis, but herbs, not fruit) that you mix with prosecco to make a cocktail called a Spritz.  We are quite taken by the drink and will like making it on board for the next few days.  We may even buy some at the airport to take home if we see it.

After our Aperol Spritz we have dinner on board.  We plan to go to Siracusa (Syracuse in English) tomorrow and hope to stay for at least two days, including my birthday.

Sunday 28 September 2014 - Taormina Bay

We do set out today even though the weather is not much different to yesterday.  As we leave the harbour we have a force 4 wind from behind and so we put up the sails right away and turn off the engine!  We have a long way to go, but we are moving nicely.  The wind builds up to between 17-24 knots.  We are doing 6 knots through the water with the sails goose-winged on a poled out genoa.  This is our first really good sail.

The only problem we have is despite all Richard’s calculations, we have the tide against us.  So for the first three hours we have an adverse tide of nearly 2 knots!  But we do well and keep up sailing until after lunch, when again, without warning the wind just dies. It was blowing a force 6 one minute and quarter of an hour later it is down to 3 knots!  So alas, the engine has to go on again.  As a consolation, Mount Etna appears.

With these fluky winds we are not sure where we should spend the night.  The winds have dropped, but what will they do next?  In the end we go to Taormina Bay.  It is very pretty and there is a rep from the Cruising Association here who runs a mooring buoy concession.  So that is where we have wound up.  On a buoy in Taormina Bay.  Only have two problems.  We cannot be bother to blow up the dinghy so we are stuck on the boat (we visited Taormina a few years ago).  Second problem, the sea is still very rolly and we are rocking about badly, which is not great.  We have been offered the buoy for free tomorrow night, but we shall go on.

Saturday 27 September 2014 - Messina

When we get up the wind is building.   It is blowing 20 knots in the harbour.  Richard has looked at the weather and initially says it will be fine.  The winds are a bit high, but they will be from behind.  But as the morning progresses, he changes his mind.  It isn’t the getting to the next port that is the problem, it is whether we can find a safe and/or comfortable place for the night.  Most of the accessible places need calm conditions. 

So we decide to stay on an extra day as the weather looks more settled tomorrow.  This means a fairly dull day.  I finally get around to polishing the chrome work, but it is a bit late in the season for that!  We book to eat in a recommended restaurant which is the other side of town.  Richard has bought us tickets so we can travel there and back by tram (which runs next to the marina).  The only problem is that the timetable we see shows the trams stop running at 9:30pm, before we will finish dinner.

So the day goes to plan.  We have a pleasant meal out and then try to get back to the boat.  We can see no buses or trams, so we wind up walking.  Back to the boat exhausted and just fall in to bed

Friday 26 September 2014 - Messina

We are pretty sure that we will set off today to the strait of Messina.  The weather forecast looks OK and we have to go some time.  We left a quarter of an hour late, so we have to keep up speed to make sure to get into the strait at the right point of the tide.  So we set out and with a little wind going, we put up the genoa and motor sail for a couple of hours making good progress at nearly 7 knots through the water.  We carry on like this until we nearly get to the entrance to the strait, when the wind goes right behind us and dies.  So Richard took in the enoa and we just motored.  At one point we picked something up around the rudder.  I could see what looked like a long rope dragging behind us.   We slow down and manage to get it up with the boat hook.  It is just a very long piece of nylon string!  Heaven knows how we picked it up, but there is no harm done.

After all the horror stories I have heard about this piece of water, I am rather nervous to enter.  As we enter there is a lot of choppy water, but that only lasts for a few minutes.  We motor on keeping to the coast to stay out of the way of the shipping lanes.  We see a few large boats, but mostly see ferries, which seem to be very numerous.  Richard seems determined that we should find Charybdis.  He has even set a waypoint to it.  Well, that is just a legend, but there were indeed a whole lot of small whirlpools that pulled us about as we went through the area, but never was there any danger.

We originally planned to clear the strait and go to Taormina today, but Richard has decided we will stop in Messina.  He has just realised that the charts we have for the plotter more or less end at the beginning of the straight and we have no proper charts for the rest of Sicily!  The book says there is a chandlery in Messina, so he hopes he can buy charts there.  There was a chandlery in Milazzo, but it never opened!  So we make our way to the marina.  I call up on the radio and this time they answer and speak English.  Not only that but we are given an alongside berth, albeit on the breakwater which is going to be rocky, especially with all the ferries coming and going.

After lunch and registration we go to find the chandlery.  It is there, but looks closed, maybe for good.  We have a bit of a walk around, but there really is nothing very interesting here.  I go back to the boat while Richard tries to find somewhere to buy charts.  He succeeds, finding the first shop has now opened.  So hopefully we are safe for the rest of the trip.

So dinner on board and that is the day.  No great drama in the strait and that is now behind us!

Thursday 25 September 2014 - Milazzo

When we wake up this morning it is pouring with rain.  So that decides it.  We are not going anywhere today.  So it will be a leisure day.  We spend the morning wandering around the town trying to get our bearings.  We work out where the supermarket is and some of the other shops.  Eventually we find the tourist office.  They help us work out what there is to see and recommend an ice cream and pastry shop.  So we take their advice and before going back to the boat for lunch we have delicious coffee granitas with cream! Very evil.

Now that it is lunchtime, the weather has cleared up a lot and it has got very hot.  I can barely endure it.  There is no swimming beach (although there is a beach lounge area in the marina).  So we stay on the boat in bathing costumes and spray ourselves down with the hose on the pontoon from time to time.

But we cannot laze too much because we must climb another steep hill to see another citadel!  It is a long hot walk, and climb, but we make it.  It is an interesting building.  Obviously at some stage it was used as a prison, but there are also a few restored rooms.

We rush back via the supermarket to do the last of the shopping and then to the boat to get ready to go out to dinner.  We have a pleasant meal, but rather boozy.  This is mainly because they keep serving us free Spritzes.  We are also now told how to make this drink.  It is half Apersol (which we have seen in the shops, but do not know if it contains any alcohol) and half prosecco, filled with ice and toped up with soda water!  As we are finishing our dinner in the garden, it starts to rain!  We weren’t expecting this.  I have a small umbrella in my bag left over from this morning.  That is a bit of help, but I am wearing sandals which get soaked and my dress gets quite damp.  But poor Richard has nothing and is pretty wet when we get back to the boat, despite taking shelter in every doorway and under every overhang on the way home.

The boat is rocking a lot and it is very warm, especially as we can’t open the hatches because of the rain, so we just collapse into bed.

Wednesday 24 September 2014 - Milazzo, Sicily

We both had a terrible night.  The motion of the boat kept waking us up.   It was so bad that a suitcase I keep on a shelf as a drawer fell over and dumped its entire contents on the floor in the night.  That has never happened in harbour before!  Not even when everything went mad two days ago at anchor on Stromboli.

So we are eager to get going.  We pop to the nearest shop and buy some bread to make sandwiches for lunch and off we go.  At first the weather forecast seemed correct and there was no wind.  But within minutes we had a nice force 5 on the beam and we were sailing!  But, of course, these things never last and after about an hour and a half it is back on the motor.

We have been on the Aeolian Islands for the last few days which are technically part of Sicily, but now we are going to the main island proper.  Richard has identified a town called Milazzo where there is supposed to be a comfortable marina with all services.  It is really a jumping off point for going through the straights of Messina, the next place we have to negotiate.  We enter the harbour and cannot see anything to tell us about berthing.  There is no answer on the VHF.  So we spot a large alongside berth behind another sail boat and moor there while we go off to the office and see where we can stay.  Despite it being out of season they tell us they cannot give us a berth at all!  I have been dreading this.  We didn’t think there was anywhere else in this town and were facing a night at anchor, without knowing if we would have sufficient shelter.  However the marina directs us to another marina, which is in fact just a couple of pontoons, more in the centre of town.  They do have a berth, so at least we are sorted.  It is however much more exposed to the swell than the first marina, and I suspect it will be another lumpy night.

We have a little walk around the town.  The architecture is interesting, but there really is nothing here.  We have managed to buy some ice cubes, so we have Pimms on board and then dinner.  I am writing this in the cockpit because it is so hot below.  Not sure how I will manage to sleep.

Richard is working hard to figure out when we should go through the Messina Strait.  It has a bad reputation and is to be avoided in strong winds.  There is also a strong tidal flow (very unusual in the Mediterranean) so timing is important.

Tuesday 23 September 2014 - Lipari

We had a comfortable night’s sleep.  The predicted thunderstorms never materialised.  The day has started hot and sunny.  We decide we ought to find out about the town, so we dress in our lightest clothes and start off to walk to town.  The pilot book says there is a bus you can take, but we find no sign of a bus stop.  After a few minutes we realise that the only way in to town is to walk along the main road, which has no pavement.  Neither of us is keen.  So after only 10 minutes we decide to leave the marina and find a berth in the town.  We are told in the pilot book that the main disadvantage of the town berths is that there is a swell coming in which together with the ferries coming and going mean that the boat rocks around a lot and it is not comfortable.  But given the seemingly benign conditions we will give it a go.

Like many other of these ports, the berthing is on individual pontoons run by different people.  We haven’t a clue which one to go to, so when we get to the first and a man waves us in, we go there.  It is a pleasant enough spot.  There are no showers or toilets, but that is par for the course with these single pontoons.  It does have water and electricity and when we arrive there is not too much swell and it seems comfortable enough.  It also has free wifi, but we find that we don’t need it because the signal is still strong from the marina we left!

It is not in the centre of town, but very close and that will mean it will be a bit quieter.  So we dress and go in to sus out the town.  I find plenty of shops to buy food and things we need and indeed there is quite a large well-stocked supermarket in the middle of the town.  It is like many of these towns.  There is the more modern part (say 1700-1800’s) and then there is the ancient bits up a hill. So in the heat of the day (Mad Dogs and Englishman like) we walk up.  There is a large cathedral with a very ancient Norman cloister and some very old Greco /Roman ruins- which are just foundations really.  There are lots of touristy and jewellery shops, but I’m not buying.  We do however find the restaurant recommended in the Red Guide, so we make a booking for this evening. 

Back to the lower town where we have a light lunch and then shop in the supermarket, where I buy much more than I planned.  We note a lot of boats go out just for the day presumably to anchor and swim, but we haven’t done that.  May we should do more like that, but we worry about finding a berth when we get back in the evening.  However, here that is no problem.  Back on the boat we watch the staff trying (without much success) to lure boats to this pontoon.  After such a hot day, it is a disappointment that the sky clouds over and it gets quite cool.  We were going to have another go at washing the boat and spray each other at the same time, but that isn’t so appealing in this weather.

By the time we need to get ready to go to dinner the weather has badly deteriorated.  There is a significant swell coming into the harbour and the boat is moving about most uncomfortably.  Then the thunder and lightening starts and it is raining - 24 hours later than forecast!  Nonetheless we are off to the restaurant where we have an excellent fish dinner.  Then back to the boat, where the motion is really bad.  I have no stomach or desire to do anything, but take a sea sick pill and go to bed, which is just what happened.

Monday 22 September 2014 - Lipari

We did not have a good night.  We fell asleep right away, but were awakened at 4:00pm by loud wind noises.  It has blown up to a gale!  There certainly was no suggestion of this in any of the weather forecasts we have seen.

We are not sure what to do.  The holding here for the anchor is not great.  It is stony.  Some other boats are on the move, presumably having dragged their anchors.  But we do not seem to be dragging ours and there is really nowhere else to go.  Luckily after about half an hour while Richard was up watching the situation, the wind subsides and he says it is OK for us to go back to sleep.

When we wake up all is quiet.  We have a quick breakfast and make our way off to Lipari, the main island in this group.  There is still little wind.  It is blowing 6-9 knots, but it is on the nose, so we are motoring again.  We decide to go around Stromboli again to see the eruption during daylight.  It is not nearly so spectacular, because you can’t see the fast flowing red lava.  What we do see is lots of smoke and steam coming from the flow and at the top occasional puffs of black smoke.

We stop for lunch at another island, Panarea.  We just anchor and have a swim.  I am very short on provisions for lunch, but manage to make us a sandwich with my last bake it yourself baguette.  Then we set off again, motoring to Lipari.  We have been debating where to stop for the night in Lipari.  The pilot says there are a few pontoons in the heart of the town, but they do not give good shelter and thunderstorms (with attendant high winds) are forecast for the night.  So in the end we go into the marina at the far end of town away from anything.  But we are safe and have water and electricity.

When we stop we realise that the whole boat is covered in a thin layer of black sooty like dust.  This must have been from Stromboli, because we washed her only two days ago and she was spotless.  It is amazing how the volcano deposited this stuff on every inch of the boat.  It takes us ages to hose it all off.

We try to find somewhere for a drink here before dinner, but there is nothing.  So it is back to the boat where we open a bottle of red Italian wine and eat a pasta dinner.  We shall decide if we want to move in to the town tomorrow.