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.

Sunday 21 September 2014 - Stromboli

Our plan was to rise early and get a good start on a trip to Stromboli.  But plans don’t always work out and ours didn’t.  Firstly I had a terrible night and hardly got any sleep, so waking up early was difficult.  Then, although we got out of the berth with no trouble, we had a further delay.  We decided that with all the motoring we have been doing we ought to fill up with fuel and this being a very busy marina, would have a high turnover and hence a good place to fill up.  But when we got to the fuel pontoon just before 9:00am we found they didn’t open until 9:30.  So we hung around.  Made good use of the wifi, downloading the Sunday Times and finally got our fuel.  It was just as well, because we needed over 80 litres.  Unfortunately, however, the fuel overfilled and we have a rather smelly boat despite trying to clean the spill up.

So we set off, but only just get off the pontoon when Richard says we must stop urgently because the water is not circulating through the engine.  He is pretty sure it is because he did not properly fit the water filter when he put it back after cleaning it out.  So back to the fuel pontoon. Luckily, the problem was as Richard thought and we were off within 10 minutes.

The day is bright, but with a lot of thin cloud making it all rather hazy.  There is little or no wind, so other than an hour trying to motor sail, we are motoring again.  Just as well we filled up.  I am tired so try to get some more sleep in the cockpit.  We don’t really have lunch, just a snack of mushroom pate on readymade toasts.  The sea is very flat and glassy, so when I look out and see something on the horizon; it does not take us long to realise that it is a pod of 6-8 dolphins!  They are heading towards us and are lovely and graceful.  We turn off the engine, but regrettably they do not come and play.  They just dive under the boat and then emerge yards behind us.  But it is lovely to see them.  They do lift the spirits so.

We make it to Stromboli and find a reasonable place to anchor.  We have decided to stay here for the afternoon and evening and then after dinner when it is dark we will go around the other side of the Island to see the eruption.  

For those who don’t know Stromboli is a large active volcano in the sea.  It is three thousand meters high of which two thousand are under the sea and the last one thousand is above the water forming an island.  It has been constantly erupting for centuries and is referred to in the Odyssey.  It is a place we have always wanted to visit.

So we are at anchor.  There are a lot of other boats, particularly charter yachts.  It isn’t the most comfortable spots because of all the sea traffic.  Ferries come here continuously and create a huge wash which rocks to boat around badly.  This is made worse by local motor boats who seem to delight in going through the anchored sail boats at great speed creating even more wash.  But we stay to see the eruption.  We have a nice swim and relax.  It gets dark at 8:00pm, so the plan is to eat supper and go off around the island.  So I start to cook some dinner.  I am below making pork steaks with pasta when all hell breaks loose.  The swell from the large boats and a small motor boat have made the boat rock like I have never felt before.  All the cooking things are flying around the cabin.  I am certain that the boiling pan of pasta will pour all over me any second.  I shout for help and then Richard shouts out in pain.  In an attempt to come and help me he got up and was thrown across the cockpit landing on his elbow on the cockpit table which broke off its hinges with the force of his fall.  He is in a worse state than me.  I have got the cooker on gimbels so it rocks with the motion of the boat and the pans stay even and won’t fall off.  I am collecting all the other stuff from the galley and finally just about have got it sorted.  Richard gets down and his elbow has swollen up to twice its size.  We don’t think he has broken anything, but he is in a state and covers himself in arnica cream to see if that will help with bruising.  Unfortunately we have no ice, which is what he really needs for the swelling.

The loss of the cockpit table is a bit of a problem.  It is very warm below decks and we have been eating up in the cockpit most of the time.  Parts of it have splintered, so we don’t know if we will be able to do any repair.  We manage dinner below.  While I clear up Richard plots a route around the island to see the lava flow.

It is pitch dark and off we set.  It is almost impossible to see where we are going.  We see the lights of a lot of other boats, but some are quite difficult to interpret.  What does a flashing red and green light on a boat mean?  They never taught either of us about such lighting!  I guess it is peculiarly Italian!  But we make it to the other side of the island and it is spectacular.  There is a long wide lava flow going from the very top of the mountain all the way down the side and stopping at the sea.  It glows bright red and orange.  Occasionally there are small eruptions at the top where red and orange sparks fly up into the night sky.  Although it has been a bit scary getting here it has really been worth it. 

So after about an hour we decide to turn back.  We don’t go all around the island, as it is better to spend our time going back the way we came and seeing more of the eruption. 

We have been out for two hours when we arrive back at the anchorage.  We haven’t done any night sailing for over two years now and we are finding it difficult.  We do eventually find a place to anchor and we collapse into bed exhausted.

Saturday 20 September 2014 - Tropea

Despite having all the time in the world we were up fairly early.  We had breakfast on board and then get ready to go up to the town.  The idea is to do the walking around this morning before it gets too hot.  Richard has found that there is a Vodafone shop in town and we may need it to top up our internet device.  Before we do that we check the thing and it works!  So Richard must have got really clever and managed to top it up on line (in Italian).   

Having solved the internet problem we don’t really need to go up to the town.  We really saw much of it last night.  But we have paid for two nights and may as well do a thorough job.  So we make our way back up the 200 steps to the town.  The only thing we really missed yesterday was the Cathedral.  It is very ancient and apparently interesting.  It is very plain, but curious.  It is in two styles, one older than another.  After that we wander around some of the newer parts of town we haven’t seen before.   It is getting very hot, so we stop for a drink and decide to have coffee granita - quite good for a hot morning.  We try to find a supermarket, but see nothing very big and nothing that sells fresh semi-skimmed milk.  We go in to the tourist office, but they don’t help much with information about Stromboli.  However we find a lady on one of the computers and she is much more helpful.  The volcano is always active and always pours lava into the sea.  You have to go to the opposite side of the island from the anchorages to see it.  So we shall see how we get on.

We finally find a shop and indeed it sells fresh milk.  So we buy that and some of the local famous red onions.  We still can’t find any salted butter, so we will have to use the sweet butter I bought the other day.

It is still fairly early and we want to get to the beach so we go for lunch.  We decide it is time to have a pizza.  The restaurant are very nice and put our milk in their cold drinks fridge, so it won’t go off before we get it back to the boat.  Well, it was too much to eat.  Between that and the heat I begin to feel rather odd.  So we make our way back down the stairway to the harbour.  On the way back I feel so bad I don’t want to walk all the way back to the boat and then to the beach.  So I go on to the beach and Richard goes back to the  boat to put away the shopping and to get our bathing suits.  I cannot get us beach chairs because I have no money on me!  So instead I sit in the café in the shade and feel quite comfortable.  Richard arrives and gets us chairs and we have a nice few hours on the beach regularly going into the water to cool off.  By the middle of the afternoon it has clouded over, but it is still very warm so we stay on the beach until nearly 5:00pm.

While we are in this marina I decide to use their laundry facilities to get a bit ahead with the washing.  So we spend the early evening doing laundry, having showers and reading our books while waiting for the washing to get done.  But it feels good to have got that out of the way.  We also go to the café and have a couple of drinks and then back to the boat.

We had thought of going back in to the town where there a more free concerts, but we are feeling lazy and decide not to.  We shall have an early night instead.  I am still not hungry and it is too hot to cook much.  So I just make us cheese omelette with tomato salad for supper and that is enough.  While we are eating dinner there is great excitement on the pontoon.  Someone has fallen off their passerelle into the water.  We don’t go to find out the details because there are frankly plenty of people there helping.  However it seems suspiciously like what happened to me the other night.  It still can’t believe I didn’t go into the water on that occasion.

A 50 foot Dufour from Prague has just moored next to us.  It is a very tight fit.  Hope we can get out without trouble tomorrow.

Friday 19 September 2014 - Tropea

It has been a funny old day.  Woke up and was very anxious to hear the outcome of the Scottish referendum.  So we tried to turn on our internet machine only to find that it had run out of credit.  What a day to do that.  We also really needed a weather forecast, so Richard used his UK phone and spent the £2 a day for internet access abroad.

Having been relieved over the outcome of the vote, we were also pleasantly surprised by the weather forecast.  It is supposed to be a Force 4 wind all day, on the beam.  We could actually sail!

So we set out.  When we leave the marina the wind is blowing at 9 knots and we decide to put up the sails.  We are not going very far, so we don’t have to maintain a good speed to get there in time.  We sail for maybe half an hour in winds from 10 to 15 knots when the wind dies altogether.  It is down to 2 knots and has moved around and is on the nose.  So with regret Richard takes in the genoa and we start the engine.  Within 10 minutes the wind starts to build again and is up of 14 knots.  Richard puts up the genoa again and by the time he does it is blowing 24-25 knots!  It is just enough off the nose to make it possible for us to sail, but it is hard work.  The sea is coming at us from the side and we are rolling a lot.  We put on life jackets and harnesses and Richard takes in a reef.  All of this has happened within the first 75 minutes of being at sea!  With the reef in and the sails set we are screaming along at 7-8 knots.  Now this is really sailing.

We are expecting the wind to die as quickly as it came up, but no, it stays blowing a 5 gusting 6 for the next two hours.  Even better it has gone around a bit so we are on a reach, which is nearly ideal.  As the wind goes around the sea also seems better and we are pressing forward very smoothly.

We get within half an hour of Tropea port when the wind finally dies.  So we have to motor the last bit, but this really has been our first good sail of this leg of the journey.

We enter Tropea harbour and call them up.  They give us a nice berth with no trouble.  We will stay here a couple of days because it is supposed to be a very nice town worth exploring.  We also need to get to a Vodafone shop to top up our internet device.  Richard has tried to do it online, but has not received confirmation that it has been credited.

The weather has turned very hot and sultry.  We can barely cope.  We spray down the boat to get all the salt off it after our sail.  A French couple come in and moor beside us.  They have just come from the Straits of Messina (where we will wind up) and had a terrible time with a force 7 gusting up to 65 knots!  I am rather put off by that, but at least they are here safe and sound to tell the tale.

We are here to go to the ancient town which is up a very steep cliff.  There is a walking way in which involves 200 steps.  It is too hot to contemplate that this afternoon, so we will leave it until evening. We look around the marina first and then find the beach, just outside.  We decide we have to have a swim, so we go to the beach and spend perhaps 30 minutes in the water cooling down.  The water is warm, but still a relief from the heat of the day.  After that we go directly and have showers.  We want to go somewhere to get the marina internet, which is a bit hit and miss.  So after a cold drink at the local bar we manage some internet access. 

Now it is after 6pm and is cooling a little.  So we walk up in to the town.  There is a jazz festival on, but we cannot work out what time the music starts.  In the end we just a have little walk around, have a cocktail and then a rather pedestrian dinner.  But it really is too hot to cook on board.

We are now in the cockpit hoping the boat is cooling down before we have to go to bed.  At least there is no specific time we need to get up tomorrow!

Thursday 18 September 2014 - Amantea

We do not get up as early as we had hoped and only get away at about 8:45.  Richard has looked up the weather and says there will be no wind and it will be sunny.  I am unsure about this as the sky is very overcast.  When we get out of the marina we find that there is a bit of wind, about 10 knots and it built to about 15knots.  So we put the sails up straight away and hoped for a good sailing day.  We probably sailed for just under an hour when the wind disappeared completely.  Richard blames it on his going below to put on sun cream!  I think that is unlikely.  But the end result is that we are motoring again.  But we have to keep up speed because of the long journey.  According to the pilot book there is no harbour between here and Tropea, our next destination.  There is one exception, but the pilot book says that the harbour is very small, filled with local boats and is not likely to have a place to stay.

So we motor on and for a time it seems like we should be able to make it to Tropea in daylight hours.  But then just after lunch the wind gets up.  That would be fine, but it is on the nose, as ever.  The wind builds and is up to 15 knots and the sea is getting lumpy.  Motoring in to this is no fun and it is slowing us down, so even if we can bear to go on like this, we will probably arrive after dark; not good.

So Richard decides to turn around and try the only other harbour at Amantea.  He has rung them on the phone twice and had no reply.  He as also tried to get them on the radio, but again without luck.  We turn towards the marina and would you believe it, the wind goes around so it is still on the nose!  We’ve had enough of this, so we alter course to just be able to sail upwind.  The wind gets up to 17 knots and we have a good sail for about an hour, but we are too far north for the port, so for the last hour we have to motor again into the wind.  This is all a bit of a gamble.  We have no idea if we will be able to get a berth.  The only alternative will be to anchor off and hope we can get some shelter.  I am expecting a very uncomfortable night.

But we have a delightful surprise.  As we enter the harbour (which is much as described in the pilot) a man directs us to an alongside berth.  He doesn’t speak English, but he does speak French so we are able to communicate and find that it is fine for us to remain for the night.  The electricity and water are a long way away from the berth, but he gets us connected with their own very long line and long hose!  It is all very friendly and we shall have a safe and comfortable night.  The office doesn’t open until 6:00pm (which may be why we could get no reply).  The man there also speaks French, so we can register without difficulty.  There are no facilities really, but it is very cheap and we are quite content. 

Drinks and dinner on board after we have given the boat a good clean.  Now we only have about a 20 mile trip to either Tropea, or perhaps Vibo Valentia, where there is a rosette restaurant.

Wednesday 17 September 2014 - Cetraro

Got up fairly early and went in to town to do a bit of shopping.  There is only one tiny shop which sells everything at fairly high prices, but we think we ought to have the basics on board in case we can’t get into ports with any facilities.  In town see our neighbour with the Oyster and find we might meet him again as he too is wintering in Ragusa.

As usual there is no wind, so we are motoring again.  We stopped for lunch just south of a harbour that was ruined some years ago when its outer breakwater was smashed in a storm and has not been rebuilt.   We had a nice break for lunch, but had no swim because it was cloudy and rather cool.

For the night we make it to Cetraro.  This is a rather large marina, well appointed and we are directed to a berth without trouble.  We register and pay and find that the fees are well down now that we are in Calabria.  We ask about a supermarket.  Again, we are not sure where we will be in the next few days and we need provisions on board.  We are told that there is one 600 meters away, which sounds OK.  We set out on foot and find that it is much further away than they said.  We estimate about one mile.  Also it is a Lidl, which I really dislike.  They have very limited lines, but we do manage to get most of what we need to keep us going for a few days.  Then we have to lug the shopping all the way back to the boat.

On the plus side the marina has free WIFI and excellent showers.  So we now feel clean and in touch with the world.  We eat dinner on board and decide to try to have an early night because the next port is 50 miles away and we should have an early start.