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.
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