Corfu Adventure

Having spent just over a week on hard standing we are now
back on the move having left Crotone to sail around the Ionian Islands. We
enjoyed our time in Crotone and met up with some friends from Ragusa, Mark and
Marta on Por Dos and Marjolein and Maarten of Mobilae, who very kindly donated us
a washing machine, which is great.

We were also very pleased with the work undertaken by Elio
and his team, and will certainly be looking to go back next year for our annual
Haul out. Elio certainly knows how to handle a mobile crane, we were packed
quite tightly in the yard and when it came to being hoisted up to be put back
in the water I haven’t seen a boat lifted so high.

Our first stop after leaving Crotone was Othoni, a small
island just north of Corfu, and anchored in the bay Ormos Ammou, we arrived
around 0600, dropped anchor and headed to bed to catch up on some well-deserved
sleep, it had taken us 22 hours to sail the 123 miles across from Italy. The
bottom in the bay is mainly rock and so when we woke up we decided to move over
to  the next island of Erikoussa,
unfortunately as we lifted the anchor our chain had wrapped itself around a
rock, it took an awful lot of manoeuvring and brute force to untangle ourselves
before we could set off.

On arrival in Erikoussa I instantly fell in love with the
place, we anchored in Port Erikoussa, here the bottom was sand, so no problems
with the anchor, and we had good shelter from the prevailing North Westerly
winds. The place itself can get quite busy during the day with day trippers but
by night it is peaceful. We stayed there for three nights, I could have stayed
longer, on our last day we had a walk round the island which took us
approximately two hours, the people of the island were really friendly and made
us feel very welcome, it is a place we will go back to.

Our next stop was a bay just south of Ak Vavaro, and only
accessible by boat, another beautiful place, there was only one other boat in
the bay so when they left we had it all to ourselves. The water was lovely and
clear and so inviting that I couldn’t resist and although a little cold at
first it was great to have a leisurely swim across the bay and back.

Again we spent three nights here, on the second day we took
a trip into Kassiopi by dingy which is about a mile up the coast. The village
is small and quite charming, but apparently gets very busy in the high
season,  I visited the place in the
nineties and can vouch for that, so at first I wasn’t that bothered about going
but I am glad I did as I saw a different side to the village from my memory of
it.

It was then onto Gouvia, where we anchored in Ormos Kammeno,
we anchored over mud and so had good holding and shelter from the prevailing
winds. Another yacht was already there which turned out to be Michel and
Danielle’s boat Nyctea, another set of friends we had made in Ragusa, so Kevin
invited them over for drinks, it was great to see them again especially as it
was so unexpected.

The following day we visited the Marina and the Port Police to
register our entry into Greece, we had heard so many stories about how
difficult and long winded the process could be, but we found it extremely
efficient even though it’s not computerised. It was then off to Corfu town to
try and arrange internet access, we caught the number 7 bus which dropped us in
the square just opposite the Vodafone store, which meant we didn’t have to
wander about looking for the place as has often happened.

Internet sorted we then set of for a tour of the town, the
place was heaving, and again it was a somewhere I was not to bothered about
visiting, as I had heard so many negative things about the place, but once
again I was glad I did. It just goes to show you shouldn’t always go on other
people’s opinions of a place, the old town although touristy was lovely, it
even has a Marks and Spencer’s although we didn’t go in, but on our next visit
there Kevin won’t be able to keep me out.

From Gouvia we motored round to anchor on the south side of
Corfu Town, again the holding was good, along with the shelter from the
prevailing winds, we only stayed here one night as we wanted to check the
anchorage in readiness for picking our friends Rachel and Matt who will be
staying with us early July.

The next day we headed north for Stefanos, on arrival there
were several other yachts there including Por Dos,and  Mobilae who were just leaving. We anchored
slightly out of the bay and had lunch, but Kevin was not happy with our
anchorage position and so we tried to move further into the bay. Por Dos was
also moving further in along with another boat, which was tearing around at top
speed coming close to us on several occasions, I think the skipper was making
damned sure we didn’t anchor before him thus getting a better spot, in the end
we decided to give up and move further down the coast to another bay.

This time we tried Kalami, but once again we were foiled,
just as we were entering the bay a French boat came in at great speed, sped
past us dropped his anchor, thus preventing us getting in. so it was off to the
bay we had first gone to on Corfu, and once again we had it all to ourselves.

The following day we set of for Palaiokastrita on the west
coast of Corfu, at first we tried anchoring in the bay, but there were so many
low lying rocks we decided to go and moor up stern too in the town harbour. No
sooner had we got settled when a charter boat with an English crew came tearing
into the harbour, by now the wind had picked up, the skipper lost control
almost collided with two other boats. The skipper kept seated the whole time
and just shouted at his crew in a very posh southern accent to “fender off,
fender off” it was obvious that most of the crew had very little experience,
they certainly kept us entertained whilst they tried to get the boat under
control and moor up. I have to say though I am glad it wasn’t us trying to moor
up in the strong winds.

Along the harbour wall it looked as though at some point
electricity was being installed, but as with a lot of things in Greece it never
got finished, well we don’t think it was finished.

Palaiokastrita is a beautiful place, and due to the
predicted strong winds which were forecast to last three days we stayed here
for three nights, on one of the days we visited the monastery at the top of the
hill which we had been told was not to be missed. As I had only shorts and a vest
top on I was not allowed to enter until I had donned the skirt and shawl loaned
to me, must say I looked a right sight.

It was in Palaiokastrita that we had our first meal out in
Greece and neither of us thought it up to much, and the wine was awful.

On the fourth day we decided to head south for Paxos and
Lakka Bay. Kevin didn’t think we would get in but on arrival the bay was much
bigger than we thought it would be, we found a nice spot over sand and dropped
the anchor. There were several charter yachts in the bay including a Flotilla
from Neilsons, but we seemed to have plenty of room, that was until a charter
boat with several Latvian chaps anchored just in front of us. That night we
kept a careful watch and at one time had to get up to fend off from the Latvian
boat, however our biggest problem was a Hanse 57 which at first appeared to be
anchored far away from us but as the winds picked up and the boats all swung in
different directions it was soon clear that they had masses of chain out, which
meant at times they were swinging close to us. At 0500 we were woken by the
women on the Hanse shouting at us to get up, she was still shouting for us to
get up once we were up, it did cross my mind to ask her if she was blind but
thought better of it.

Kevin stayed on deck whilst I went back to bed, we didn’t
have any further problems, although we did move position later in the morning,
however once again we were surrounded by charter boats many of whom seem to
drop anchor and just hope for the best.

The small town of Lakka however is very pretty with several taverna’s
along the water front, and a place where we plan to bring our friends Rachel
and Matt.

From Lakka it was onto Gaios a few miles down the coast, it
was here that we had arranged to take our PADI Open Water Diving Certificate,
we anchored in the North Canal taking a stern line ashore onto the small
island. We appeared to have good holding, but needed to put out rat guards onto
the stern line as we had heard they were a problem here.

On our first day in Gaios we took a walk along the coast to
Mongonisi, a very picturesque place but the holding did not look good and so
not a place we will visit by boat.

On the way back we bumped into Brett and Jane of Amble some
more friends from Ragusa and again very unexpected, that night we met them for
drinks, and  Brett and I sampled the
Chocolate Soup, yes really Chocolate Soup.

On the Monday we were woken at 0700 by a charter boat trying
to moor up next to us, somehow they had lost control of the back end of their
boat and were heading into us, Kevin got up and lent a hand for which they
supplied us with a bottle of red wine, the going currency for yachties.

That morning we started our scuba diving course with Babis
at Water Planet, at first I was apprehensive which surprised me as out of the
two of us I am the better swimmer, but Kevin took to it like a duck to water.

Later in the afternoon the skies darkened, the winds picked
up and a thunderstorm blew in, to the point that it was pushing us up against
the charter boat, so Kevin put the kedge anchor out to try and keep us off,
then took up some anchor chain to move us further forward the plan was to take
it up and reposition but it was caught on some chain which was lying across the
sea bed, so he had to dive down to secure a rope on the anchor so that we could
free ourselves. This achieved we pulled in the kedge anchor and moved further up
the channel and re-anchored. It had been our turn to provide the evening’s
entertainment.

After a few days of scuba training we were ready for our
first proper dive, unfortunately I had problems with my ears and so the dive
was ended, we had only made it to five meters, I think Kevin was a little
miffed.

Our second dive went much better and we achieved eight
meters and the dive lasted forty minutes, at one point I held a beautiful
brightly coloured star fish it was great. Our last dive was to have taken place
on the west coast of the island where we were to swim out and dive to ten
metres and look over what is called the wall where the depth drops suddenly to
sixty meters, but the winds were strong and we ended up back at the previous
days dive site. During this dive we had to take of our BCD’s which is the
jacket that the cylinder, weights and regulators are attached to, once again
Kevin managed this brilliantly however for me as soon as I took the jacket of
my legs shot upwards whilst I hung on to the jacket and Babis was trying to
hold me down. I did manage it though and both of us successfully completed the
course, that evening we met Babis for our final theory lesson.

For anyone considering diving we can recommend Babis at
Water Planet: www.waterplanet.gr

Whilst in Gaios we met we met up with Julie and Dave off
Carla Christina, and as usual when we have an evening with them we drink
copious amounts of wine and stay up to all hours. On the Tuesday we waved them
goodbye as we went our separate ways and we headed off to Praga over on the
mainland.

We had a great sail across and I took the helm for a change,
on arrival in the bay we noticed Brett and Jane’s boat Amble and so anchored alongside
them over sand, the place was supposed to be very touristy but we liked the
look of it and planned to spend a few days there. Once again it was pre dinner
drinks on Amble but by the time we left it had started to rain, this time there
was no wind. That night we were once again woken by a charter boat who had
dragged and was getting very close to us, the biggest problem though was the
swell coming into the bay, the boat was rocking and rolling all over the place
and by 0500 we decided we had had enough, raised the anchor and set off for
Sivota further up the coast and so missed watching Australia V Holland football
match with Brett, Jane, Maarten and Marjolein.

We arrived at 0800, dropped the anchor and went to catch up
on some well-earned sleep, at 1000 we decided we didn’t like where we were,
next to a night club and in shallow water so headed back over to Corfu and a
place called Pitriti.

We really liked the bay and decided to stay for a few days,
the following day we went for a walk along the coast to the next anchorage site
and stopped off for a drink the view was lovely.

On the way back we called in to another watering hole just
by the beach and were undecided whether to just have a drink or stay and have a
meal. The weather decided it for us, the sky got blacker and blacker so we
headed back to the boat, but on route the rain started, we could hear thunder
in the distance but after a time it looked as if we would miss it. This was not
to be the case, in the early hours of the morning we were treated to a pyro-technique
show curtsey of nature itself. Not only that we had to keep a vigil through the
night as once again we had a charter boat dragging its way towards us, after
some persuasion we convinced them to move.

From Petriti we headed back to Govia to get some provisions,
this time round the bay was really busy, but we managed to find the same spot
as last time and dropped anchor. En route Bev manages some chill-put time.

The next day we headed off to Stefanos, hoping that as it
was charter change over day there might not be so many boats there, as we
entered the bay there was only one boat but this was leaving so we had it all
to ourselves, our theory had paid off. However by the end of the day there were
eleven boats in the bay, that evening we went ashore and treated ourselves to a
lovely Greek meal, and decided to spend a few days here.

Whilst we have been here we have a regular visitor to the
boat, he chats away constantly but we can’t understand a word he is saying, but
he is entertaining, however not so this morning when he arrived at 0500 and
kept chirping for a good half hour before flying off.

Total miles this season: 559 Nm

Cumulative miles: 3098 Nm

Our present position:

Links:  

www.waterplanet.gr

Our third season bigins

Well we are back on the move having
spent winter back in the UK house sitting for our friends Linda and Dave whilst
they toured Australia and New Zealand for three months. We had a great time
back home meeting up with friends and family, and I got to spend some quality
time with my daughter and grandson Isaac. One of our fun things to do after I
picked Isaac up from school was to do some baking which he enjoys, on one
occasion we made chocolate cakes after which he was allowed to lick the bowel,
when asked if he had been eating chocolate his reply was “no”.

Christmas was spent with  Kevin’s brothers family, but before heading
off to their house we called into see Kevin’s daughter Rachel and the two
granddaughters Summer and Taylor, they couldn’t wait to show us what Santa had
bought them, and were even more excited when we gave them our presents they
couldn’t get the paper off fast enough. Although we were not able to spend
Christmas day with them we did manage to spend more time with them whilst back
home.

Whilst back in the UK Kevin
undertook some work for his old boss Trevor and so had to spend weekdays in
Swindon, only getting home for the weekends, one of which we spent walking
around Carsington Reservoir, which is eight miles, and had to be achieved in 2
hours as Kevin didn’t think we would need longer, on getting back to the car I
told him “never again” my legs ached for days after as I had done the whole
walk in wellingtons having left my walking boots on the boat.

Prior to heading back to Marina di
Ragusa (MdR) we managed to get a week’s skiing in Italy, Kevin was in his
element back in the mountains, the snow was great and we did manage a little
off piste skiing, nothing too grand though, however Kevin did take a
spectacular fall when he decided to take a short cut back onto the piste after
our usual coffee stop, he ducked under the piste netting and set of down the
hill, unfortunately he was attached to the netting by his ski pole and wasn’t
going anywhere, other than on his backside. Next minute along comes another
skier who shows him how it should be done.

On the 9^th March we
headed back to Marina di Ragusa, it was great to get back to the boat, however
when we got there Miss Lilly was covered in red sand which had been brought
over from the Sahara desert when it had rained, so one of Kevin’s firsts tasks
was to  wash down the boat.

It was great meeting with old
friends and we also made some new ones, there was plenty to do on our return,
as well as preparing the boat for sailing we had several social events to
attend, first of was Helens birthday bash at the Pizzeria, then Barbara’s 60^th
where we had a beach barbecue, and there were also a couple of concert nights
put on by the Sailing Nomads, a group made up of several live a boards, along
with all the other usual social activities.

One of the talking points in the
Marina was of a Russian guy berthed next to us who was trying to turn a mono
hull in to a trimaran using channel section aluminium, nuts and bolts and two
big fenders for floats, several people came to look and shake their heads, it
was not going to work was the general consensus. Sure enough after an overnight
sea trial the converted trimaran returned a mono hull much to everyone’s
amusement and comments of I told you so.  
The 100mm+ aluminium section had just sheared off.

Prior to setting off we had friends
Andrew and Karen Henshaw visit us for 10 days, we hired a car for the time they
were with us and set off to visit various places, mount Etna being one of them,
unfortunately it was cloudy and you couldn’t see a thing and so we didn’t make
it all the way to the top, much to Andrews disappointment, not sure about Karen
though, I think she was relieved she didn’t have to go in the cable car. Andrew
even managed a sail, he is normally feeding the fish but this time he managed
without and even seemed to enjoy sailing. It was great to see them again, the
time flew by and they had no sooner arrived than they had to leave again.

On the 11^th May we set
off, first port of call was Siracusa, all though I was ready to set off I was
sorry to leave Marina di Ragusa, we had met so many great people there and had
a great time, hopefully we will get to see many off them back in MdR next
winter when we return later this year.

We did manage to sail the majority
of the way to Siarcusa, although the wind was not in the best direction for a
direct sail, however we did get to see two pods of Dolphins and one lone
dolphin who stayed with the boat for a good forty minutes much to our delight
as it was the first time we had seen dolphins in ages. We arrived in Siracusa twelve
and a half hours after leaving MdR, longer than we had thought it would take,
and we put this down to having a foul bottom as we rarely managed to get above
5 knots. On entering the anchorage the wind dropped completely we found our
anchorage  spot, I was given the ok to
drop the anchor, nothing happened, the windless was not working in the downward
motion, so Kevin had to drop the anchor manually, this was the only thing we
had not checked before leaving the marina.

That evening was the first time we
had been able to spend the entire evening sitting above deck without getting
cold, it was a lovely calm evening and a very enjoyable one to finally have
some solitude.

The next morning we were up for an
early start to Crotone where Miss Lilly was to be hauled out of the water for
anti fouling. On lifting the anchor the windless did not sound too healthy and
so Kevin left the wheel to check how things were going, normally as the anchor
comes up I would ensure the chain was lying evenly in the locker to prevent the
windless getting jammed. However my mind was on getting the anchor up and not
the chain, so at the ten meter mark the chain caught around the windless, and
as the downward motion did not work it was pretty well stuck. With some brute
strength Kevin managed to free the chain, with a few expletives, I made myself
scarce at the stern end of the boat. By 0520 we were on our way, twenty minutes
later than planned. This time there was either no wind or it was all mixed up,
one minute the sails were up, and then they were down, we ended up having to
motor most of the 160 miles to Crotone. One of the highlights though was
watching the sun set on our first day, and for Kevin seeing it rise again the
following day as he was on watch, and the best highlight was capturing a shot
of a dolphin as it tried to get in the frame whilst Kevin was taking a picture
of the sunrise.

We arrived at Crotone at 1215 on
the 13^th May, exactly two years after leaving the UK to start our
sailing adventure, that night we went out for a celebratory meal at a restaurant
on the waterfront, before completing the necessary preparatory work to ensure
Miss Lilly is ready for this seasons sailing by ensuring she has a nice clean
bottom and shinny hull.

Log 238.4

Cumulative Miles 2699

Engine hours 39.27

Ragusa

We have now returned home to the UK where we will be until the end of February, I have sent Kevin back to work while I spend a few weeks at my daughters house and then move back up to Derby where I will be house sitting for a friend.

When the time came to leave ragusa we were really sad to go, for one the weather had been great, enabling us to continue swimming in the sea right up to the week we left, we had also got into doing Sabashi a form of Ti Chi on the beach in the morning after our morning walk and hope to continue doing this on our return.

The day after we arrived in Ragusa the wind and rain forecasted eventually hit, unfortunately for us we had gone out to get a few essential provisions, mainly beer and wine. The rain came down in torrents, it was like someone just kept throwing bucket after bucket of water over us we were drenched. The rain was so bad that the roads became rivers and steps turned into water falls, and we were walking ankle deep in water.

When we got back to the boat we had left the front hatch open to the bow cabin and on inspection the mattress was soaking so there was no sleeping in there that night or the next, we had to make do with the couches in the saloon area, mind you Kevin said he had the best night sleep in ages.

During the first week we started to tackle the many chores we had to do before going home, so both sails were taken down, as we are planning on having a new headsail we stored the old one and sent the main for cleaning and some maintenance work.

After a week in Ragusa we had an email from Helen and Marcel on Dakini asking if we would like to join them for a few days in Malta and then sail back with them, we quickly checked out ferry times and replied saying yes thank you.

We set of for Malta on 16^th October, when we left the marina it was early but warm and not a ripple on the water, by the time we got to Pazollo where we were to catch the ferry it was blowing force 7/8 creating quite a good sea swell, I was just glad we were not making the crossing on Miss Lilly. Whilst boarding the ferry we notice a large coast guard vessel with a very large number of refugees aboard, all being taken off one by one, searched, photographed and then loaded onto a waiting bus. Whilst we had heard news reports relating to the numbers of asylum seekers trying to enter Sicily, some of which died in the process I don’t think we fully recognised the enormity of the problem until we saw it with our own eyes.

The crossing to Malta was uneventful if slightly rocky at times, some people looked as if they had had one to many as they moved around the first level deck. We managed to get a couple of seats right at the front of the boat ensuring we would have a great view as we entered Malta Grand harbour, and we certainly weren’t disappointed.

Malta Grand Harbour

Once we arrived in Malta we had to find in which marina Helen and Marcel were moored in and then find our way there, thank goodness for the iPad and GPS. When we arrived at the marina, all the boats were swaying and rolling nicely whilst attached to the pontoon, I don’t think I have been on a boat that has moved about so much whilst being moored up, I certainly would not like to winter there.

The following day we set of in the hire care to explore a bit of the island, much of Malta feels like a concrete jungle and we had to drive a good way before we came to any open spaces, however we did come across some lovely old buildings and churches.

Later that day we were joined by Helens boss Adrian and his partner Caroline, who were staying until the Sunday. On the Saturday the Rolex Middle Sea race was due to take place, and so on the Friday Kevin and I spent our time trying to identify the best vantage spot, even taking advice from the race organisers. With best vantage spot identified (lower Baroque Gardens as we could see the start and the boats exiting the harbour) we were determined to be there early to ensure we got the best view, after arriving in Valletta we found a nice spot to have breakfast and then headed over to the lower Baroque gardens only to be told we needed an invitation to get in, so all our endeavours the day before had been for nothing. Undeterred we made our way along the city wall and found another vantage spot where we could see the start of the race but not the boats leaving the harbour.

I have to say I was like a big kid in a sweetie shop, Alex Thompson was taking part on Hugo Boss and having seen pictures of the boats I couldn’t wait to see it for real. There were several categories and so several starts, just before each start the yachts taking part edged their way to the start line trying hard not to go over it before the cannon went off, it was all very exciting and nail biting at times.

Rolex Middle Sea Race

Eventually it was time for the last category and there was Hugo Boss in all its glory, it made my day.

Alex Thompson in Hugo Boss

For lunch we went to a small restaurant in a side street called Ambrosia and had one of the best meals ever, it was a good job Adrian had booked a table otherwise we would not have got in it was that popular people were being turned away.

In the evening we all went out for dinner to a restaurant in the old town of Medina, the old capital of Malta, and the view from the top was spectacular you could see for miles.

The restaurant turned out to be another great find, and although not cheap, surpassed the meal we had at lunch time, the waiters were very attentive and every course was great.

Our time eventually over in Malta we set sail for Ragusa on Dakini our first time sailing on a catamaran, which we managed to sail a good part of the journey with the cruising chute up, we eventually arrived in ragusa at around 1800, a journey of 12 hours.

Our last remaining weeks were earmarked for completing our jobs on Miss Lilly, one of which was to get the water out of one of the back holds, Kevin insisted it was my job as I was the one that had managed to get the water there in the first place, however the size of the hold is quite narrow but deep and having long legs made it impossible for me to bend down far enough for me to complete the task so Kevin had to take over, (the excuses I come up with).

 Bev in a tight spot!

It wasn’t all hard work that last week we still managed to find time for swimming and socialising, and visiting Ragusa itself, which we were not that enamoured with, the town of Ibla is worth visiting though. To get there requires a good walk down numerous steps, too many to count, however you can catch a bus back up but they only run every hour. The town is made up of very narrow streets and has a beautiful cathedral unfortunately we arrived too late to go inside as it shuts for the afternoon, Marcel was very disappointed.

Ibla

With sightseeing over we headed back to the bus stop and Marina Di Ragusa, we were glad we had been to Ragusa and Ibla but didn’t think we would bother again. That night in the marina a Halloween party had been organised, we had already decided we wouldn’t attend, party poopers that we are, but at 17:30 we sat on deck and waited for the children to come round Trick or Treating. We had made sure we had plenty of goodies as we had been told there were up to 15 children in the marina, as it was only seven turned up.

 Not sure who is more frightened?

All too soon it was time to head back home, we made a tearful farewell with Helen and Marcel, and headed off for Comiso airport, it was a good job the marina laid on transport otherwise I don’t think we would ever have found it ourselves. The airport is an old military base on which a new terminal building has been built and though adequate is very sparse in relation to obtaining refreshments, it’s all vending machines, and not a lot of choice, even when it is working.

After arriving in the UK at Stansted airport we were met by my daughter Claire, with whom we are staying with for a short time. February seems a long way off but I am sure the time will fly by and it won’t be long before we are saying goodbye again, this time to our families.

Looking back over the year we still managed to clock up lots of miles even though we had said we would not do so many this year, however I don’t think we would change any of it, all right maybe the storms we got caught out in. We enjoyed the Balearics but I think so far our favourite place is Sardinia, there are so many anchorages to choose from and the ability to get shelter from the wind in any direction is so easy and can be achieved in about an hour. The scenery is great and the locals very friendly it is a place we will certainly visit again and would recommend that thus beautiful island is on any live-a-boards itinery.

Our Present Location: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=36.782755,14.545542&hl=en&sll=36.780967,14.565725&sspn=0.057127,0.117159&doflg=ptk&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=14&t=m&z=14

Last Voyage of the Year

Our journey for this year is nearly over, we spent one day/night in Taormina on the east coast of Sicily due to the inclement weather forecast to descend on us in a few day’s time. We therefore took the opportunity to take the bus up to the village of Taormina high on the hillside.

The village is very touristy without being tacky, the views from the top are spectacular and the narrow streets a hive of activity.

Taormina bay

 In one of the plaza's there were some street musicians and thee seemed to be a party atmosphere all around us. We decided to have a meal out, but as it was early it was difficult to find a restaurant that was open, eventually we found one which looked quite quaint, unfortunately the food wasn't and so we were a little disappointed. We caught the bus back down to the small town at the foot of the cliff and had intended to stop off and have a drink before taking the dingy back to the boat, unfortunately nowhere was open and so we just headed back to the boat.

The following day we set off early for Siracusa which is approximately 30 miles further down the coast. As we left we could clearly see Mount Etna surrounded in a red haze it looked spectacular.

Mount Etna

It was obviously getting to the end of the season as we hardly saw any other sail boats the entire journey.

On arrival in Siracusa we set anchor in the south anchorage and initially decided to stay there for four nights, and take shelter from the storm expected in a couple of days. The anchorage was fairly sheltered but the water was not very clear and so not fit for swimming in. The following day we headed ashore in the dingy which we secured just by the marina, then walked into the centre of the town to get some provisions, the weather was not very good and at one point it started raining and so we decided to head back to the boat and tour the old part of the town the following day.

Back on board we shut all the hatches and spent a leisurely afternoon below decks. The next day we set off back to shore, this time we secured the dingy in the town harbour just under the bridge, however there had been reports of dinghies being stolen from around there and so we just hopped it would still be there when we got back. First task was to deposit the laundry and the laundrette before heading off to the old town.

The old town of Siracusa is again filled with impressive old buildings, very narrow streets, some of which no cars could possibly navigate.

 Old Town of Siracusa

Earlier in the day we had passed a very nice looking pub which we decide we would have lunch at, on arrival we took a table outside, within seconds we were inundated with flies which were driving us mad and so we decided to find somewhere else. We ended up in a small plaza just off the main one by the cathedral and had a pizza, I have to say it was one of the best we had had this year and the price was good to.

Before heading back to the boat we had to wait for the laundry service to open and so we took the opportunity to sit and watch what looked like a game of water polo in canoes commencing but after forty five minutes we came to the conclusion it was just a practice session. The other fascinating thing was watching the small tourist boats navigate under the bridge, passengers had to more or less lie down in the bottom of the boat in order to get under it

After a bit more sight-seeing we headed back to the boat, we decided to head off early in the morning for Ragusa as we felt there was not really any point in staying in Siracusa any longer, this meant another full day as it was 60 miles around the coast. We did however have the option of stopping of at Porto Pollo on route if we wanted.

During our stay in Siracusa we were entertained by a large fish which constantly jumped out of the water, Kevin nicknamed him “Jumping Jack Flash”, we were not sure what type of fish it was but if we were in Scotland we would have said it was a salmon, unfortunately we were not able to get a photo of our energetic fish.

The following day we set off at 04:00, it was still dark and Kevin had to navigate around the shallows and rocks, along with the small fishing boats in order to get out of the bay.

When daylight broke we found we had two stowaways on board in the guise of flying fish, unfortunately they didn’t survive, and so we initiated our first and hopefully the last burial at sea with Kevin as the skipper doing the honours.

The overall journey was quite uneventful, and we did manage to sail about 50 percent of it which was great as this was to be our last sail this year. We arrived in Ragusa mid-afternoon, the entrance to the marina is quite silted up in places and so we had to follow the direct line of the marianaro into our berth, as we entered the channel for our pontoon Kevin informed me that we had nothing under the keel which was a bit scary, however we  managed to secure up without a hitch and were met at our berth by Julie and Dave from Carla Christina, it was great to meet up with them again.

Berthed next to us was a large catamaran owned by an American couple named Rick and Barbara and the berth the other side was empty in readiness for the arrival of Marcel and Helen on Dakini due to arrive in a couple of weeks.

Marina Di Ragusa is situated on the south west coast of Sicily and I have to say is far better than we had been led to believe. The marina is clean and well run and the staff are very friendly, the toilet block is not the twenty minute walk away we had been led to believe, it's more like five minutes. The small village is a short walk and there are sufficient shops to get all you need, the locals are lovely and again very friendly, there is also a lovely beach which is also a short walk away, so all in all we are very pleased with our winter mooring.

Stormy clouds at Marina Di Ragusa

There appears to be a lot going off here, and there is quite a large live-a-board community of varying nationalities and so we are looking forward to meeting up with people, making new friends and attending the various activities before we head back to the UK on the 7th November.

Our Present Position: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=37.062574,15.29151&hl=en&ll=37.057232,15.317602&spn=0.05692,0.117159&sll=37.057232,15.301208&sspn=0.05692,0.149775&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=14&t=m&z=14

Through the Messina Straits

On our way South along the West coast of Italy we ended up staying in Marina Carmelo for five nights until the weather conditions improved so that we could sail across to Stromboli, we needed good weather conditions for our sail around the Aeolian Islands of which Stromboli is just one.

During our stay in the marina we took a train one day with Helen and Marcel to Tropea, which is approximately 20 miles further along the coast and is supposed to have a really lovely old town sitting on the cliffs above the marina there. The reason we didn’t sail there was the cost per night in the marina would have been very expensive compared to Marin Carmello, and actually when we saw it we were not that impressed.

The old town of Tropea is very nice with its very narrow streets and old buildings many of which need a great deal of TLC, some really good renovation projects around if anyone was interested.

The town itself is very touristy with lots of shops selling tacky souvenirs which in a way took the shine of the place, there are also lots of restaurants to choose from which are very reasonably priced, along with coffee bars and Gelateria’s. We stopped off at one and decided to treat ourselves to iced coffees, when they arrived they looked great and we couldn’t wait to tuck in, unfortunately they were not as nice as they looked and we ended up leaving most of it.

After spending a couple of hours walking around Tropea we decided to head back to the station, and all agreed that although the buildings in the town were nice to look at, on the whole we were not as impressed with the place as we thought we would have been.

On our final day in the marina we decided to get some jobs done, one was the washing and the other was someone needed to go up the mast to get the measurements for the new head sail, as it was a calm day I volunteered.

So with all safety gear on Kevin winched me up, at the top I worked with Kevin to take the measurements form where he indicated (or I thought so) and then took the necessary pictures. It seemed to take Kevin ages to write down the measurements and by the time we had finished my groins were killing me where the straps from the harness were digging in to the point I was begging Kevin to get me down. Helen stood on the side lines shouting encouragement and once I was back on the ground indicated she wouldn’t mind having a go and so Kevin assisted her into the climbing harness and hoisted her up.

Unfortunately I hadn’t taken the measurements correctly so it then meant I had to hoist Kevin up the mast so he could do it properly, I am not sure what the marina staff made of all this tooing and frowing up and down the mast.

Miss Lilly and Dakini left Marina Carmello early the next day and we said our farewells to the very helpful marina staff, it was a shame that there was not a little more to the town Vibo Valenta.

As we crossed over to the Aeolian Islands we could see Stromboli in the distance, and approximately every twenty minutes you could see smoke rising from the crater as it let off mini eruptions. When we arrived at one off the anchorage sites we did not expect to see the second as in the pilot book they look to be two very separate anchorages when in fact they are just a few meters apart.

At first we dropped the anchor with the trip line attached, but somehow it got caught around the rudder and so we had to release it and set the anchor again, on the second attempt Kevin decided not to bother with the trip line. By the time we were sorted Dakini who had been a good thirty minutes behind us were anchored and ready to go ashore.

Once ashore we climbed the hill to the town at the top, very narrow streets which only three wheeler electric cars and trucks can get through. Again the town was very touristy, which spoilt its potential charm and neither Helen nor I were particularly impressed with it. We found a restaurant with a good view over the bay to have our evening meal before going back to our respective boats, we needed an early night in readiness for our early start to see the volcano irrupting in the dark.

The alarm was set for 0400 and we were up prompt, made our preparations and then started to lift the anchor at the same time Helen was lifting Dakini’s. However at the ten metre point our anchor got stuck and we weren’t going anywhere so we sat down had a coffee and watched as Dakini sailed out of the bay. We did try to radio them to inform them of our predicament but as it turned out their radio was not on. Eventually they realised that we weren’t following us and radioed us, after a few brief discussions they turned around and picked us up and we sailed with them to view the volcano.

Unfortunately it was quite cloudy and our view was obscured, and then when it did erupt we were unable to get a really good picture of it, we did however get a great photo of the spectacular sunrise.

After our sail to see the volcano it was back to the bay where Miss Lilly was caught fast on something, in daylight we could see that the anchor was caught under either a cable or chain. Helen and Marcel prepared to get ready to dive to release it for us when with a little amount of maneuvering we were able to release it ourselves, with that sorted we set of for Vulcano another volcanic island as its name suggests. We have now however set an objective to learn to dive for ourselves in case we ever get in this situation again as it can cost anything up to 400 Euros to get a diver to release you.

On arriving at the anchorage on the east side of Vulcano the heavens opened and we were in the middle of a thunder storm with lightening all around us, fortunately it was short lived and so we didn’t get too wet setting the anchor.

The bay in which we anchored was lovely and you could see the steam rising from the crater of the volcano and so we decide we would all climb it the following day.

So it was another early start, not as early as the previous day though, we picked up Helen and Marcel and headed for shore, there was a slight breeze and much of the climb was in the shade and so was quite pleasant.

At the top you could smell the sulphur fumes and the smell was disgusting, we walked around the rim of the crater trying to avoid inhaling the fumes where possible, having never climbed a volcano before and always being fascinated by them I truly thought it was a great experience so good that Kevin and I climbed it again a few days later.

On the way down we passed the mud baths again the smell was awful and so we decided we would give them a miss, even though they are supposed to be good for you, from where I was standing they did not appear so.

The following day Marcel and Helen took us in their RIB across to Lapari another island just a short distance from Vulcano, again a very picturesque town with narrow streets but not so touristy this time, even though there were a large number of tourists arriving by the ferries off the mainland every few minutes or so it seemed.

The bay off the town though is not a very good place to anchor and the marina prices extortionate and one day was all that was needed to see the town.

Our next sail was to Salina and an anchorage on the North West coast although, this one is not mentioned in the pilot book. The anchorage is over rocks and so this time we did set the trip line when we dropped anchor. There was not much of a village at the top off the cliff as Kevin had expected and we were surrounded by cliffs which were made up off various rock formations, enabling you to see the lava flows from previous eruptions, it was quite fascinating.

As I was not that impressed with the anchorage enough to stay longer we made a decision to head back to Vulcano and then west to Milazzo to take shelter from the storms forecasted before sailing down the Messina Straits.

We informed Helen and Marcel of our decision, they too had changed their minds about sailing to the other two islands and had decided to head for Cefalu 50 miles west on the mainland as they needed to get over to Tunisa to get their papers stamped outside off an EU country. We said our goodbyes wished each other a safe passage and would see them again in Ragusa, by the way the score in Brandi Dog stands at five four to the girls.

We waved them off and gingerly raised the anchor to ensure it wasn’t wrapped around a rock and set off back to Vulcano. We anchored in the same bay as previously as this afforded us the best shelter, our intention was to stay there for two nights before heading to Mizallo. In fact we only stayed the one night, we got up early to climb the volcano again, and then back on board Miss Lilly we checked the weather again, the predicted storms seemed to be approaching sooner than originally forecasted and so we decided to lift anchor and set off for Milazzo that afternoon.

We managed to sail all the way there even though no winds had been forecasted which made a nice change from having to motor, which seemed to have been the case most days recently. We arrived in Milazzo early evening and although the sun was shining it still looked a grimy place with its oil refinery taking up much of the east side of the coastline. However the anchorage had good holding if not a little noisy at times due to the ferries with the associated swell as they passed by. This all stopped after about 2000 and so we did manage to get a peaceful night, although a little smelly at times due to the oil refinery.

The following day we went ashore leaving our dingy in the marina, the staff there again very helpful, they said we could leave our dingy where we wanted no problem a very rare occurrence indeed. Ashore the town did not change our initial impression, there is an old castle at the top of the hill but we chose not to visit it, we are starting to get castle and church fatigue.

As Milazzo is the last anchorage site on the north east coast of Sicily before the straits it’s a good place to stop, but we didn’t find anywhere where we could stock up on provisions, maybe because we went ashore on a Sunday, and although there were several shops open selling bread we could not find a big supermarket.

On our last day in Milazzo the storms predicated did not arrive although it did become overcast, our intention was to set off the following day at 0400 hours so that we could start to head down the Messina straits at 0800 and get the best out of the south going current. At 0100 the thunder storms and the rain hit, we got up and put all the portable communication equipment in the oven with the intention of going back to bed for another three hours, however the rain had come in through the small vented window and the bed was soaking and so I had to strip and remake the bed before we could get back in. the storms kept me awake for most of the night and managed to just nod off when the alarm went.

Although you could still see the lightening around us the sky above was clear and so we decided to stick to our original plan and head for the straits. We arrived at the planned time, Kevin radioed Messina VTS to inform them of our intention to sail down them, apparently if you do not do this then you can be fined 2000 euros on the spot.

 As we rounded the headland we had our first good view of the Straits, they didn’t look as scary as we had heard, the rain had stopped and the sea was calm.

As we motor sailed down the straits there were not as many ships as we expected, we did wonder how the Italians would manage if they had to monitor the shipping lanes in the English Channel. We timed our passage well and had 2 knots of current in our favour and at one point we got a top speed of 9.2 knots. Our passage went smoothly and we did not encounter any of the whirlpools or swirling currents other yachtsmen have told us about.

We reached our destination Taormarina at 1315 hours. We picked up one of the buoys for 30 Euros only because by now the winds were gusting to 26knts as we wanted to go ashore and were not sure what the holding was like if we anchored, when anchoring we normally stay on board for at least an hour to make sure things are secure before leaving the boat.

First impressions of Taormarina are good although the plan is to only stay one night here before heading south to Siracusa where we plan to spend a few days chilling out before we decide to head to Ragusa or make a detour to Malta for a few days.

Distance Travelled 2012: 2471Nm

Distance Travelled 2413: 2311Nm

Total Distance: 5182Nm

Our Present Position: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=36.782617,14.545186&hl=en&sll=36.793065,14.563751&sspn=0.114373,0.234318&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=13&t=m&z=13