Category: Italy

We left the island of Favignana bright and early (6:45 a.m.) for our 33 hour passage across the Tyrrhenian Sea to the island of Sardegna (Sardinia).  We had our perfect weather window to cross safely and be able to sail a decent amount of the passage.  We sailed through the day and night and into the next day.  The passage wasn’t too bad during the night.  Most of the fishing vessels and cargo ships were pretty far away from us.  Since there was barely a sliver of a moon which did not rise until almost dawn, we had a spectacular view of the stars, the Milky Way, and Starlink.  If you haven’t seen Starlink in the sky, it’s quite crazy.  It appears as a long line of large, bright dots streaking across the sky.  Thanks to favorable winds, and motor sailing when they died, we managed to average 6.1 knots of speed and arrived on the southern coast of Sardegna earlier than expected.  The first few anchorages we checked out were packed with boats!  Ugh….no thanks.  Eventually, we found a HUGE, wide open sandy bay with Turquoise blue water.  Now we are talking!  We were anchored down and ready for a nap by 2:30 p.m. (32 hours later).

After 2 relaxing days at anchor, it was time to start making our way north.  Our goal was to cruise the western side of Sardegna.  It is considered the more wild side of the island with far less boat traffic than the eastern side.  Part of the reason for this is that the western side becomes very untenable unless you have just the right forecast of winds.  We did!  The prevailing winds here come from the northwest which is why the western side is very exposed.  The winds for the next week were coming from the NE and SE.  When we did get WNW winds, they were very light.

We departed the anchorage early again to make our way to Isola Di San Pietro and the city of Carloforte.  We were offered a great marina price right in the heart of the city, so we eagerly accepted it.  Carloforte is a popular resort tourist destination, and we arrived the day before Ferragosto (a national holiday in August in which many Italians take the entire month off).  We wandered the beautiful streets and attempted to make a reservation for dinner.  One highly rated restaurant had nothing for the next several days.  We found another highly rated one which said they could get us in at 10:00 p.m.  Seriously?  I don’t eat dinner at 10:00….I’m getting ready for bed!  Well, we decided we needed to try it since Carloforte is notorious for their tuna.  Long story short, the food was tasty but overpriced, and the service was not very good.  All in all, we were pretty disappointed given the cost of dinner and the lost night.  The next night, we went to a very highly reviewed pizza place on the waterfront.  They were able to squeeze us in at 7:00 (when they opened), and it was one of the best meals we’ve had (and 1/2 the price)!  We spent both our afternoons here going for bike rides around the salt ponds and taking long walks.  We even got to see the wild flamingoes that hang out in the salt ponds.  We left relatively early once again since we had a 45 mile passage to our next point of interest.  

Our next stop was Tharros, “The ancient city kissed by the sea.”  As we made our way toward the anchorage, I noticed a shadow gliding beside the boat.  It wasn’t long before we were greeted by a very large, solitary dolphin who decided to play in our bow spray and follow along beside us.  After our brief encounter, he disappeared.  We entered the bay and grabbed a mooring ball just beneath the watch tower.  In the morning, we took the dinghy in to go explore the ancient ruins.  We walked the ancient basalt roads that meandered above and along the sea.  Tharros is said to be one of the most important cities founded by the Carthaginians in Sardegna in the 7th century BCE.  Some centuries earlier, this area was settled because it was known for an abundance of natural resources, and the presence of a safe harbor offering protection from the strong Mistral winds (those NW winds I was telling you about).  Because of this, it made for an ideal place to engage in trade and cultural exchanges with the rest of the Med.  The ruins are scattered over a large stretch of the peninsula.  Here you can see several thermal buildings, columns, several temples, a water reservoir, and sewage structures from ancient times.  We also climbed to the top of the Spanish watch tower (added during the kingdom of Arregon) for some spectacular views.  From there, we walked to the very end of the peninsula, did a little bushwhacking down to the sea and then back up to the old lighthouse before heading back to Zoe to get underway.  We made a brief overnight stop in another large, wide open bay before making our way to the city of Bosa the following morning.

Bosa is a beautiful and colorful little town that lies along a river bank.  At the mouth of the river, there is a wall that the Coast Guard allows you to tie up to for free for 24 hours.  Since the anchorage looked pretty crowded, we opted for the free wall tie.   The town itself was about a 30 minute walk, or you could take your dinghy up the river.  Having never been there and unsure what the river navigation and tie up options were, we chose to do the walk (we needed the exercise anyway).  Thankfully, they did an excellent job with sidewalks (meaning they actually had them!), so we had an easy walk to the town.  As promised, it was a really special little town that ran along a wide riverbank.  I was kicking myself later for not taking the dinghy with some wine and cheese for a sunset cruise up the river before tying up for a dinner along the river’s edge.  It is definitely on my list for next time (as well as staying for more than one day).  We stumbled upon a quaint little wine bar serving local wines.  The owner/server explained to us that these were wines from his vineyard, so we happily tried a couple he recommended (glasses, not bottles….in case, you were worried).  He also served us an amazing plate of locally produced meats and cheeses to enjoy with our wine.  He was incredibly welcoming and seemed to enjoy the oddity of these Americans off the beaten path.  Of course, we purchased two bottles to take back to the boat for future enjoyment.  This was definitely one of my favorite stops in Sardegna.

From Bosa we headed to Alghero which is a rather good sized city on the island.  Here we would be picking up our first guests of the season (Dan’s nephew Terry, and his fiance Fran).  Our marina for the next two nights was right outside the castle walls.  Sardegna definitely has some of the most amazing walled cities that we have seen on this trip.  We enjoyed two nights exploring the town and enjoying the local cuisine.  Dan ordered horse one night, much to my dismay.  He said it was amazing!  I refused to try it.  Doesn’t matter if they are bred here for the sole purpose of consumption….I just cannot unsee that image.  The next night, we had suckling pig (a specialty of the area).  I know, I know!  How on earth can you eat THAT?  Maybe if I had owned a baby pig, I would not have been able to order it….but I haven’t, so I did.  It was delish!

We set sail 2 days later (and yes!  We actually got to sail) for an anchorage known as Porto Ferro.  We chose a short 3 hour passage, since this was the first time our guests had been on a sailboat.  We arrived in a big, beautiful bay with very few boats and dropped anchor.  We explored a little bit of the the land and some very interesting ruins right above the beach.  Since we wanted to show our guests as much of the island as we could in the one week they were with us, we were off and running the very next day.  From here, we headed to a bay known for its turquoise blue waters (Della Pelosa).  On our way, we had several dolphin sightings off in the distance.  Prior to reaching the bay, we had to navigate through a very narrow and shallow channel surrounded by rock reefs.  Here you had to keep a careful watch out and follow the navigation markers very closely.  This is made more fun by the number of boats coming and going.  While Dan drove, the 3 of us positioned ourselves at the front of the boat as spotters for any sort of trouble.  Once through, we headed to the bay which was quite full of boats.  The thing that stinks most about these bays this time of year is that they are packed with boats of every size and kind imaginable, but once the sun starts to drop, many of them leave creating lots of room (but we don’t come into anchorages at night, so we have to squeeze in where we can).  We carefully picked a nice spot leaving ample space to others.  You know how that goes, we were quickly surrounded by very large power boats.  Then it go worse!  A 90 foot mega yacht chose to anchor near his friend (one of our powerboat neighbors) leaving him only 20 meters away from us!  They were close enough we could hear the pop of the champagne cork they were serving up.  I was not a happy camper.  We all watched anxiously every time they pivoted to make sure their stern deck and staircase (yes, they had a staircase into the water) didn’t bump us.  Fortunately, they left before sunset, and the remainder of our night was uneventful.

We departed the next morning for the town of Castelsardo….another hilltop castle fortress.  Here we had our first new experience of 6 years sailing in the med….fog.  A dense, wet fog that enveloped us in invisibility.  Well, isn’t that just great!  If I thought night sailing was a little unsettling from a visibility perspective, this was far worse.  Off in the distance, a deep horn sounded off…..a sign that something very large was out there hidden in the mist.  Luckily, these big guys are on AIS which allows us to see them and track them on our screen.  It also tells us how far away they are, what our closest point of interception will be and at what time.  Fortunately, he was well behind us and would not cross our path.  The down side of this set up is that not all private boats (including those most dreaded fishing boats) have AIS, so you are flying blind when it comes to them.  For this we fired up our radar and hoped it worked well at marking them.  As we were finally within sight of our destination, the sun managed to burn off the fog giving us clear sight into the bay.  We were also treated to a pair of dolphins that surfaced and came and played in our bow spray.  Once we were tied up, we rented a couple of scooters and headed up to the castle to check it out.  It provided some spectacular views of the surrounding area, and housed a lot of very cool artifacts. We cruised around on the scooters and checked out some ruins from the Bronze Age as well as other views over the island and sea.  This was definitely another favorite stop of mine, and I hope to return for a longer stay in the future.

Our next passage would be our longest one yet with our guests, over 40 miles.  Dan and I were up before the sun to get underway.  Watching the sun come up over the hilltop castle was quite beautiful.  From here, we were headed to the famous Maddalena Islands.  That can’t be crazy in August, right?  La Maddalena is an archipelago and a National Park.  The islands are all composed of red granite and have very little vegetation.  All of the islands are surrounded by both above and below water rock outcroppings requiring very careful navigation.  While they are a very spectacular sight, they can be disastrous to your boat.  Well pulled into the very crowded anchorage of Cala Giorgio Marino (I know, you’re shocked it was crowded!).  With boats coming and going at regular intervals, we actually lucked out and grabbed one of the two mooring balls still open.  We spent a glorious day swimming despite the power yachts racing in and out of the anchorage creating 2 foot swells in the water.  Terry and Fran took a couple of excursions on our kayak to some beautiful pink sand beaches to explore.  There is a great deal of red coral in Sardegna which creates the beautiful pink sand beaches throughout the area.  Unfortunately, most of these beaches/islands are forbidden to explore in order to reduce the impact and destruction of them.

Our last stop in the Maddalena’s was Cala Stagnali.  This was a beautiful little bay with a very tricky entrance.  The inlet is very narrow, surrounded by rock reefs, and gets very shallow quickly (2 meters….we draw 1.3)  You have to line up with a series of markers to safely guide you into the bay.  The best part of this bay is that there are very few boats.  We easily found a nice spot in 2 meters of water and dropped anchor.  Because of all the rock outcroppings, it made for great snorkeling.  Later in the day, we headed in to explore the geological and maritime museums.  From there, we headed off on foot to explore through beautiful pine forests and sandy beaches.  This was another place that met my criteria for “must come back” (not crowded and great swimming/snorkeling). That night we had an extra treat when we saw the water sparkle with bioluminescent plankton. Dan and Terry jumped in the dark water and witnessed the magic of dancing lights with every motion as they swam.

We had now arrived at the end of our journey with Terry and Fran.  We made our way to the city of Olbia where they would fly out later that day.  We had also booked into a marina to ride out a very nasty storm on its way.  Luckily Dan booked us early as many of the marinas were already full and could not take us.  Unfortunately, the one that could take us was basically a floating pontoon that is only in place for summer.  Not only did they jack up their rates for the storm, but there is no breakwater, and the pontoons are pitching around.  As I finish up this tale, we are seeing 35 knot winds, gray skies, and impending rain (and this isn’t even the worst of the storm).  I will let you know how we faired in our next blog post!  Until then, wish us luck!

Gotcha!  No, we really did see dead people, but it’s too early in the story.  Be patient, it’s coming!

After 8 days rockin’ and rollin’ on mooring balls in the Aeolian Islands, we decided it was time to head back to the big island of Sicily.  We had a fairly long passage on the open sea to our first destination, Cefalu.  There was quite a bit of swell (4-6 feet/1.6 meters) but the periods were long and slow making for a fairly gentle ride of gliding up and down each one.  We threw out a couple of lines to troll for fish since it was a long passage, and hey, why not?  As I sat at the helm in the blazing sun, I found myself lamenting the fact that we were having no luck this season catching anything.  When we were about 12 nm out from the anchorage, I started thinking maybe I should just pull up the lines and call it a day.  As I looked back, I was shocked to see the elastic band on our hand line pulled tight!  I quickly woke Dan up from his very deep sleep, and the commotion ensued.  Engines in neutral, Dan pulling the line up, me running below deck to grab the hammer, running to grab the net (yes, I do a lot of running around on this boat).  As he got the tuna closer, there were two more in the fray.  I’m not sure if they were trying to rescue their buddy or cannibalize our catch.  Too bad we had a crappy, useless net (came with the boat), or we might have had 3 nice sized tuna!  Dan got him up on deck, and the murderous scene commenced.  I took the wheel and got us underway once again (I prefer to not watch the death scene).  Dan made quick work of dispatching him, bleeding him out, and then filleting him.  After that came the fun of cleaning all the blood off the deck, swim steps and cockpit table.  Woo hoo….sashimi and poke bowls finally on the menu!

As we pulled into the anchorage, there were only two other boats already anchored.  We carefully chose our spot, leaving a respectable amount of distance between us and our neighbors.  Anchor dug right in, and we enjoyed our new scenery.  Cefalu is yet another beautiful, ancient city on the island of Sicily.  This also meant it was an extremely busy tourist destination.  Our anchorage was on the outskirts of town which provided us with some peace and solitude, along with some very picturesque views of the rocky promontory.  After a 20 minute uphill walk, we were immediately thrust into the bustling tourist scene.  It is considered one of the major tourist attractions in the region (and we had never heard of it)!  Cefalu is a member of “The most beautiful villages of Italy” association (did not know that either), and it certainly lived up to it’s title.  Our first stop on our exploration was to the summit of the promontory.  We were still under an intense heat wave, and the climb was quite high so our goal was to get it done fairly early (something we regularly fail at and just about kill ourselves in the heat).  At the top are the extensive remains of a Norman castle.  It was a long trek up, but the views were spectacular and the remains of the castle a treasure to explore.  By early afternoon, we were headed back down to the bustle of town.  In the heart of the town is the cathedral which was built in 1131 in a style of Norman architecture (also known as Sicilian Romanesque).  As are most cathedrals and churches in this part of the world, it was stunning.  Throughout the town are cobblestones roads, tiny alleyways lined with plants and flowers, and many shops and restaurants.  I can honestly say that this was one of my favorite stops this year (except for the crowds, of course).  I’d really like to revisit here in the shoulder season when it is far less crowded and hard to move around and see things.  On a side note, if your are into the HBO show The White Lotus, some scenes from the second season were filmed here in Cefalu.

After a long, intensive heat wave, comes the typical fun of strong winds and thunderstorms before ushering in much nicer temperatures.  We had been watching a weather system for a week in the hopes it would moderate.  We prefer to be in a marina when bad weather hits, and unfortunately the storms always seem to come at the worst possible time.  In this case, it was arriving for the weekend.  The problem with weekends is that this is when charter boats get turned over (returned on Friday and new charterers pick up late Saturday for a Sunday departure).  This meant that almost all of the marinas Dan called on said they had no room for us.  The other problem is they are at peak summer rates which means rates ran anywhere from $150-$300 per night!  Yikes!  As we continued to watch the forecast, the predicted forecast only got worse.  Luckily, Dan finally found a marina in Palermo that said they could squeeze us in.  We quickly booked 2 days and continued to anxiously watch the forecast (really hoping it would tamp down to a minimal disruption).  We decided to get some miles on so that we would be staged near Palermo in order to arrive before the afternoon winds kicked up making docking extra “fun.”  Our first potential anchorage was still about 2 1/2 hours out of Palermo, so we nixed that one and pressed on to our next choice.  Arenella was only about 20-30 minutes outside of Palermo harbor and known for good holding.  It’s not a very big anchorage (by my standards) so finding a spot amongst those already anchored and the small rental boats out for the day was a bit of a challenge.  This is pretty much the only time that Dan and I get into it….he feels a lot more comfortable being closer to other boats than I do.  We finally settled into our spot which unfortunately still wasn’t great.  Because of the depths of where we needed to anchor and the amount of chain we needed to put out, we were now only 35 meters from a beautiful rock cliff.  Sounds lovely….it was lovely….but by evening, we were on a lee shore (stern to the rocks so if the anchor let go, Zoe would be rammed into the cliffs).  Unfortunately, we did not plan for the fact that the wind had been blowing hard from an unusual direction (East), and while we did not have strong winds, the swell in the small bay was insane!  As the 2-3 foot rollers smashed into the cliff wall and caves behind us, they projected back out causing a washing machine effect.  We all pitched around in the anchorage quite violently.  Dan and I decided that we needed to do an anchor watch through the night due to our proximity to the rock and limited amount of reaction time if something went wrong.  We each took several hour shifts throughout the night.  I spent most of my time running to the back of the boat to try and see if we were closer to the rocks.  It’s amazing how much closer things look in the dark of night!  Eesh!  By 4:30 a.m., Dan came to bed and said the worst of it was over (oh sure, short watch for Dan again).

The next morning all was calm, and we made our way into the harbor of Palermo.  This is an incredibly busy harbor with huge ferries and even bigger cruise ships coming and going all day and night.  We quickly skirted our way in, and headed to our designated spot.  Before long, we had two marineros on board scampering around adding to our lines and tying us off to our neighbor’s boat.  With the upcoming wind, they made sure we were quite snug in our spot.  That evening, we headed into the heart of the old city for dinner at a highly rated pizza place with craft beers.  The place was packed, but we managed to snag a small table for two between 2 umbrellas.  That may seem like an odd detail to include, but as I mentioned earlier, thunderstorms were expected.  Yep, they arrived about half way through our dinner.  We were the only table in the gap of the two umbrellas, so of course we got rained on.  We quickly finished our dinner and made our way back to the boat.  We were soaked by the time we got back on board.  The winds had kicked up too which made walking the floating docks to the boat quite a bit of fun as well!

The following day, we decided to explore some of the sights of Palermo (the city is over 2700 years old).  We wandered through the crowded and quaint little streets before spilling out at the Palermo Cathedral.  The long history of this cathedral has led to an accumulation of different architectural styles.  From there, we headed to the Catacombe Frati Cappuccini Di Palermo (the catacombs).  Here come the dead bodies I promised you!  We’ve been to the catacombs in Paris which were pretty cool in their own right, but nothing prepared us for what we were about to see here in Palermo. To say it was a bit of a horror show would be an understatement.  As you walked down the tunnels, you were soon greeted by walls of bodies, each hung neatly into carved archways.  Each mummified body was fully dressed in the clothing of their period and varied in their degree of preservation.  Some hung on the walls as entire families.  There were sections for men, women, children, and professionals.  Further in, many bodies were just laid on shelves.  These were the bodies whose families no longer paid for their upkeep and the prestigious location on the wall (they got a downgrade).  I found it all fascinating (Dan got the heebie-jeebies….creeps).  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), we were not allowed to take pictures inside the catacombs.  We have however included some from the website along with it’s link for those of you with a morbid curiousity, like me!

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/capuchin-monastery

From the catacombs, we walked through the Palace grounds (the palace itself was closed) and then over to the Teatro Massimo (“Greatest Theater”).  Palermo was very rich in beautiful architectural buildings around every corner.  We also visited an amazing fresh fruit and vegetable market that was host to all kinds of local products and “street food.”  It was also teeming with people and hard to get around but fascinating to see none the less.

In the end, we spent 4 nights in Palermo waiting the for the wind and seas to die down.  The seas were more of the problem, since they would be on our nose to our next destination and were running 3-4 meters high (10-13 feet).  NO THANK YOU!  We still ended up with 5-7 foot seas somewhat on our nose which was not much fun.  Eventually as we rounded the island, they began to come more from behind which gave us a nice burst of speed for the 9 hour journey to Trapani (our last city on Sicily).  We called on the radio for permission to enter the harbor (apparently they fine you if you don’t) and were told we had 24 hours to stay.  Seriously?  What the hell?  We also had a visit from the Guardia di Finanza (our first ever).  These guys thoroughly check all your paperwork for you and your boat and are known to strike terror in the hearts of boaters.  Lucky for us, Dan is very meticulous and organized with our paperwork, the guys were very kind and friendly, and actually thanked him for being so well prepared.  At this point, we really didn’t feel like spending any time here, so we got up early the next morning for the short hop to the island of Favignana.  We will be here for a couple of days as we await our weather window to make the 33 hour crossing to the island of Sardinia. Stay tuned for adventures in Sardinia!

It is said that the Aeolian are a living myth where fire, water and wind along with the mix of cultures from the numerous civilizations have made these islands a true inspiration.  In 2000, they were named an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Our first stop in this archipelago, was the island of Vulcano.  We had arranged for a mooring buoy for the next 3 days after seeing some strong winds headed our way over a two day period.  Not only was it a good thing we came in early, it was also good that we reserved a buoy ahead of time.  When we first pulled in and told the marinero we would be staying 3 days, he informed us we could not because they were booked full.  We told him that we had made a reservation and were told 3 days would be okay.  He said we were good and all was well.  Whew!  From our mooring, we had a spectacular view of the volcano.  The island has black sand beaches, mud baths and thermal springs.  Some of the beaches have underwater fumeroles that bubble up to the surface.  If you are not careful, it is very easy to burn yourself.  One in particular was extremely bubbly and had been buoyed off to keep swimmers out.  Dan got as close as he dared and shot some video.  The mud baths were also shut down, and it was very evident as to why (the mud was a bubbly cauldron that looked ready to boil you alive).  Unfortunately, all this geothermal activity makes the island smell horrid.  You cannot escape the overpowering sulfur smell that burrows so deep into your nostrils you can actually taste it!  Gag!

The next day, we headed through town to the volcano in order to hike to the top. We arrived at the entrance at 11:00 and were greeted by a big red light.  The sign very clearly stated that hiking was prohibited after 10:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  Dan was not happy, and stated that we were going anyway.  Now I was not happy.  It’s pretty clear who is the rebel, and who is the religious rule follower.  He stated he was going anyway and would meet up with me later.  Fine by me.  Did I mention that it was already really hot?  He ended up changing his mind while bemoaning the stupidity of arbitrary times the whole way back to town.  We decided that we would try again at 4:00 p.m.  Instead, we opted to rent a scooter and explore the island.  We spent a few hours driving the island, doing some hiking, and taking in all the beautiful sights.  We returned the scooter and started back up toward the volcano.  I know this is going to come as a great shock…..it was even hotter than it had been at 11:00!  We decided it was just too hot, and thought we would try one more time early in the morning.  We headed back to Zoe to relax before dinner.

At this point, we have spent the last few days pitching around in 2 foot rollers that come into the anchorage from the non-stop flow of huge, high speed ferries.  It has also been very windy, and Zoe has been bouncing around on her mooring ball.  As I began to prepare dinner, Dan kept hearing some odd banging noises.  We checked, nothing looked amiss. He decided to go below deck to get cleaned up since he had a 7:00 p.m. business call.  All of a sudden, I noticed we had made a very odd pivot.  We were now 90 degrees different than everyone else on mooring balls or anchored…..so weird.  I still hadn’t wrapped my head around the fact that something odd was happening.  By this point, Dan is below and completely naked (of course, or the story wouldn’t be near as entertaining)!  All of a sudden, Dan’s anchor alarm starts blaring.  We don’t usually set an anchor alarm on a mooring ball, but with the earlier high winds Dan thought it would be a good idea.  He’s yelling up to me to turn it off, but I can’t get into his iPad.  I run down below and he gives me the code to open it and turn it off.  Hmmmm, why do we look so far away from our original position?  The winds had calmed down by this point. Sometimes we get a GPS error, so maybe that’s it.  I head back up and notice we are oddly close to a pocket cruiser that was off to our side.  Uh oh.  I assume we have broken free from our mooring and run to the bow.  Everything looks normal!  The floats are below the water line at the center of the boat, our lines are still tied to them and creaking against the hulls (under strain).  Next thing I know, the marinero is racing out to us on his dinghy telling me to start the motors.  I run back and fire up the engines.  No time to call for Dan, but I know the engines firing up is going to signal to him that something is very wrong!  The marinero has me throttle forward, but Zoe barely moves.  I give her a lot more gas, and we slowly lumber forward.  Dan has hastily dressed and is back on deck and I tell him what little I know.  Now, we have 2 high powered tenders helping to push us all over the mooring field.  Of course, everyone is out on their decks watching the spectacle that we are (my favorite thing).  Between our engines and their powerful tenders we are moving forward and backward.  When we finally stop, they explained to us that the entire concrete block moved with us and when it hit deeper water, it was no longer holding us in place.  Seriously?!  The wind and our weight moved the entire mooring block?  We sat for a bit feeling very uneasy.  Before long, the marineros were back.  They told us they were moving us to a different buoy.  Of course, the winds were up, and we were being moved into a very tight spot surrounded by other boats that required us to be bow and stern tied.  We were finally settled in for the night, Dan took his call late, and dinner was horribly overcooked.  Needless to say, I did not sleep well that night.

The next morning, we headed for the island of Lipari.  We grabbed a mooring buoy here as well (hoping the last incident was a “one and done”), since the anchorages are quite deep and very busy.  3 marineros met us on their tender, one boarded us, and they proceeded to bow and stern tie us.  We had two lines to our bow and two to our stern, tightly locking us in place.  They handled everything!  Boy, I could get use to being spoiled like this.  We were tucked into this little cove surrounded by stunning rock cliffs.  Off in the distance, we had a great view of the castle.  We had planned to only spend 1 night here, but I talked Dan in to staying two.  Once we were settled in, Dan and I headed into the main part of town and wandered the quaint little streets lined with restaurants, shops, and boutiques.  The main street is lined with a variety of tiny, cobblestoned alleys where the locals live.  From there, we headed down to the waterfront to rent a scooter.  We spent 3 hours exploring mountain top views, cute little villages, rugged cliff top trails through interesting rock formations, and beautiful churches perched high on the hills.  We returned to Zoe in the heat of the day and relaxed until we headed back into town for an amazing seafood dinner.  I have never had any interest in sardines and anchovies at home, but in this part of the world, they are quite yummy and becoming a frequent part of our diet.  Lipari is the largest island in the archipelago and the most populated.  In the town and close by there are numerous excavations uncovering a multitude of human civilizations.  There are ruins and remains spanning dozens of ages of man from prehistoric through Phoenician, Greek, Carthaginian, Roman, Byzantine, Norman, and the Spanish.  Within the grounds of the castle walls are numerous museums housing these incredible archeological finds.  Our second day here, we spent several hours exploring the castle walls, numerous churches, archeological sites, and several of the museums housing incredible artifacts from many civilizations and time periods.  Unfortunately, as beautiful as our little mooring field was, it was also inside the main “highway” of large ferries and tour boats which means we spent 24 hours a day bouncing around in 2 foot swells.  It’s probably a good thing we don’t have guests yet since this would likely make someone seasick.

From Lipari, we headed to the island of Stromboli, but first we made a short stop at the small island of Bottaro.  The sole purpose of this stop was to swim the many bubbling fumeroles coming up from the sea floor.  Needless to say, it was very crowded.  We finally found a small patch of sand amongst the many boats and anchored Zoe.  We jumped in the water and swam over to the area of the most active bubbling springs.  They were definitely quite impressive to see.  Once we had our fill, we picked up anchor and continued on our way to Stromboli.  This island is known as the world’s oldest lighthouse as it has a continuous eruptions every 15-20 minutes.  Stromboli is the furthest most island in the archipelago and only inhabited by about 500 people in the summer.  Many do not stay in the winter due to the isolation.  Between sunset at 2:00 p.m., nasty winds and high seas, they become somewhat trapped here with the inability to safely get boats in and out.  There is no water here on the island, so it is brought in by a huge tanker.  Talk about your island fever!  

We had made arrangements to hike up the volcano to a viewing spot with a guided tour group a few hours after we arrived.  Needless to say, I was very apprehensive about this endeavor.  Not for fear of the volcano but for the 400 m (1300+ ft) ascent in 2.1 miles.  It’s been a long time since we’ve been hiking and even longer since we’ve done that kind of elevation.  We met at the top of the hill in front of a beautiful church.  Coming from Zoe, it was a 150 m (almost 500 ft) to the meeting point.  Hmmmm…..was that included in the 400 m climb?  I might be okay (although I was already hot and tired).  Of course it didn’t!  Up, up, up we went. Our first water break was in a very old cemetery high on the cliffs.  Apparently there had been a cholera outbreak in 1884, and this was where many of the bodies were buried….far from town.  As we continued on, there were steep climbs in slippery volcanic ash and winding switchbacks through dense forests of sugar cane and caper bushes.  It was still quite hot despite a 5:30 p.m. departure and by the time we arrived at the viewing area, we were drenched in sweat.  The hike was timed to arrive just before sunset in order to get the best viewing once the sun went down.  Not long before we reached our final destination, you could hear the rumbling of the volcano.  Once we reached the viewing area, we settled in to watch the show.  We were treated to an amazing view of the sunset over the islands, and then the mighty power of this active volcano.  Every 15-20 minutes fire and spark spewed into the air with flying boulders of fire and a rumbling that shook you to  your core.  Wow!  It was amazing!  We spent several hours making our way back down in the dark, arriving back in town at 11:00 p.m.  We were both sore and exhausted, but it was so worth the experience.  We dragged the dinghy off the beach and into the water to make our way back to Zoe.  I was quite shocked when I opened up the boat.  Platters were strewn about the floor, a bottle of wine was toppled over, my spice rounder was toppled with jars of spices scattered all over the counter top.  What the hell had happened while we were gone?!?  Had we been broken into?  Nothing appeared to be missing.  So the next question was…..what the hell had come through to make a wake big enough to trash our galley area?  We’ve been in plenty of rough seas and nothing had ever caused that much chaos inside the boat.  Despite the late hour of the night, we cracked open an ice cold beer to enjoy before heading to bed.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get a whole lot of sleep since the mooring field had us rocking pretty violently through the night.  There really wasn’t any wind, so we are still not sure what caused all these rollers.  Unfortunately, Dan’s anchor alarm went off several times, and after our incident in Vulcano, we did not ignore it which meant we were up repeatedly making sure everything was normal.  It was.

We had mixed emotions about leaving Stromboli after only one day but decided that another night of violent pitching around did not sound like much fun.  We left fairly early the next morning and cruised the west side of Stromboli where the activity is most visible.  Although we could not see the fire and sparks in the brightness of day, we were treated to the rumbling and spewing smoke (and an occasional boulder plummeting to the sea).  Still, quite an impressive sight.  Our next destination was the island of Salina.  This was another quaint little seaside village.  In the evening, we headed in to explore the village.  We tied our dinghy in the marina and threw out a stern anchor which we had just replaced in Lipari.

  You put a stern anchor out to help keep the boat from surging into the dock or rock wall that you are tied to.  After wandering the very expensive little town, we headed back to our dinghy.  Dan pulled up the line to the stern anchor, and the anchor was missing.  Are you kidding me?  The bowline he had secured it with was still in tact. That doesn’t make any sense.  The only thing we can figure is that the shackle came loose freeing the line.  Sure enough, below our dinghy in about 2 meters of water lay our anchor.  The sun was already down, so it was getting harder to see.  Dan decided we’d go back to the boat so he could get his swimsuit on and then come back.  Ummmm, why?  By the time we get back, it will be dark and impossible to see.  Plus, someone else might spot the anchor and take it themselves.  My suggestion…..strip to your skivvies.  They are black and look like a swimsuit from a distance.  So, off came the clothes, over the side he went, and anchor retrieved.  Yes, we had a good laugh about that one.

We decided to make one final stop in the Aeolian islands before heading to the northern side of Sicily.  We headed out to the island furthest west in the archipelago, Alicudi.  This island is the least developed for tourism (definitely my kind of place).  Since Alicudi is so exposed to wind and swell from all directions, and lacks any safe shelter, you should only go there in very calm conditions.  Since it is the top of a volcano, the depths drop extremely fast, and there are not a lot of secure anchorages.  Because of this, we decided to take a mooring ball once again.  This island is a very picturesque mountain soaring steeply into the sky.  The island only has about 150 inhabitants living on the terraced slopes of the mountain.  There is only one road that is 200 meters long running from the small pier to the helicopter pad.  Everything up the hill is transported along cobblestoned paths by donkeys.  It is quite a sight to see.  Dan and I hoofed it up some of the hill to explore an old church and were exhausted.  I can’t imagine having to hoof it up to some of the beautiful houses that were perched much, much higher than where we were standing.  There really was nothing much to this island other than it’s natural beauty.  By the end of the evening, we were joined by many boats.  It was another unrestful night.  For some reason, the mooring lines had been made extremely long which allowed all of us to stretch way further than necessary.  By morning, our neighbor’s dinghy was banging on our hull as I watched the stern of his boat pass within a couple feet of the side of our boat.  Time to go!  Dan and I dropped lines and headed out.

In 8 days, we had explored 5 of the 7 Aeolian islands.  The next time we see you, we will be on the north coast of Sicily.  Stay tuned for some exciting new sights and adventures!

After a peaceful night at anchor (despite dropping anchor in a new place in the dark), we topped up our fuel tanks before heading to the northern end of Crotone.  We tied up in our favorite little marina only to discover that the price had doubled (we were in the high season of July)!  We fell in love with this marina last year as the price was very reasonable, the people were awesome, we were given a nice bottle of wine on arrival, and fresh pistachio croissants every morning.  While the marina people were still amazing, we paid twice as much and did not get any of the special treats like last year.  Yes, I know….spoiled whiners.  By late afternoon, we were contacted by some American friends we had met last year who had just come in to the anchorage right outside the port.  Since they were making a very early morning departure, we made arrangements to meet them on shore for a drink.  We also were contacted by the Italian friends we met last year telling us they would be coming to town to meet us for dinner.  You may recall that we met the Italian fisherman last year when we were in search of the ammunition ship that was blown up in WWII with Dan’s grandfather onboard.  He brought us to his house where we met his wife, took us to special restaurants, cooked for us, and showed us around the area.  We were happy to be able to reconnect with them a year later.

We met our friends, Steve and Emily, swapping some stories and catching up from our year apart.  We were very sad that we didn’t get more time to hang out with them this year.  We were quite literally “two ships passing in the night.”  Hopefully next season, we will find each other again.  Before long, Vincenzo and Chiara showed up and off we went in search of a dinner spot.  We landed in a pizzeria.  Out came the phones and google translate as we navigated through our conversations.  We are beginning to understand more of what is said to us, and Dan does a pretty good job attempting to speak Italian.  We figure if we spend a few seasons here, we will definitely learn Italian because no one wants to speak English.  We are able to be lazy in many of the other countries we’ve visited because everyone else wants to improve their English, so they speak to us in English (therefore, we are never able to learn and practice their languages).  Here, we are forced to learn it!  I found a pizza that sounded interesting (completely forgetting that the word fritti means fried).  Our friends seemed a little taken aback at what Dan and I ordered, and Vincenzo worked really hard to dissuade Dan from his choice.  In the end, Dan ended up with a steak dinner (which wasn’t even on the menu but was delicious nonetheless) and my fried pizza looked more like a calzone with a crust more like Indian fry bread.  Chiara ordered the same, and we both concluded we would not order that ever again.  It wasn’t bad.  It just wasn’t the awesome pizza you typically get in Italy.

Before we parted company, we made plans to sail back north to the town of Strongoli where their house was located.  We would anchor off the beach and go to their house for lunch then a tour of the area.  It would take us about an hour and a half to two hours to make our way north again.  As we departed the marina and rounded the corner of the breakwater, we were suddenly hit with 15-20 knot winds on the nose.  THAT was not in the forecast!  We also had 3-5 foot (1-1.5 m)swell and waves.  So here we were, yet again, bashing into the wind and waves, things falling off the shelves.  We hoped it would get better when we got to Strongoli, but our gut told us that would not be the case.  Strongoli has beautiful sand and crystal clear water, but not a lot of protection from the wind and waves.  It took us 3 hours to arrive, and as expected, it did not get better.  We sat on the boat (pitching around and discussing the safety of Zoe being anchored here), tried another area that Vincenzo suggested (he was watching us from the beach).  In the end, neither of us felt comfortable leaving the boat at anchor to go into shore for several hours out of sight of the boat.  We felt terrible knowing that our friends had prepared a special lunch for us.  We apologized and told them, we had to go back, but we would be willing to take a cab to come to them if they wanted to delay lunch by a few hours.  We quickly hoisted sails and before long, we were flying south.  We made it back to Crotone in an hour and a half!  This time we anchored outside of the marina breakwater in a prime location.  Our friends told us they would pick us up at 7:00 to come have dinner at their house.  Similar to last year, we were treated to an amazing multi course meal of seafood caught by Vincenzo.  We started with anchovies crudo (raw but marinated in lemon so more like ceviche style) and Sardella with bread (a very spicy fish paste), then pasta with mussels, tuna steak and salad, watermelon, and lemon sorbet.  They stuffed us full!  After dinner, they drove us down to meet Chiara’s parents and nephew.  We sat visiting with them for an hour or so before finally heading home around 11:30.  We were exhausted.  It’s funny how tiring it is when you don’t speak the language.  You have to spend all your time in heavy concentration to try and understand what is being said and how to reply.  They also gifted us with Chiara’s homemade Sardella and local olive oil.  It was so nice spending time with them again.  We are really hoping to have them on Zoe in August when Chiara has her vacation time.

We departed Crotone very early for our 64 mile passage to Roccella.  This would require us to cross the Gulf of Squillace which is notorious for nasty winds.  Forecasts showed the gulf would not be blowing until late in the afternoon.  Wrong!  The winds hit 18-26 knots with 1-1.8 m (3-6 foot) choppy seas.  We were able to sail most of it on a reefed main and genoa.  Since we were taking the seas on the side, things were flying off the shelves again.  I know….why haven’t they learned?!  Well, we keep trusting the forecasts!  When we know what’s coming, we do stow everything we can that might move.  I guess we just need to do this regardless of what the forecast says.  Eleven hours later, we were pulling into the marina in Roccella.  After days of pushing really hard, we decided this would be a reset.  We would get Zoe cleaned up, rent a car for a few days and do some exploring inland.

Similar to home, Italy is under an intense heatwave, so we decided to get off the boat and head into the mountains to do some hiking and get some relief.  Up, up, up we went.  The higher we went, the more stressed I got.  We were in an itty bitty 2 door Fiat 500 (comically small….and gratefully so).  We traversed hairpin turns up, up, up.  No big deal.  A little stressful was the fact that we were on a road sized for one car, but it was two lane.  Still not a huge deal.  The huge deal was the 1000+ foot (305+ meter) sheer drop off over the side with no guard rails!  I was practically sitting in Dan’s lap (like that would’ve kept us from going over the edge).  The road turned very rough making it even more challenging.  Back home, this would’ve been considered a 4 x 4 road.  We found a place to park off the side of the road and took a beautiful hike through a forested area.  Surprisingly, it was not significantly cooler like we had hoped, but amazing sights and smells (pine)nonetheless.  We completed a loop and then headed further up the mountain in search of a waterfall we had read about.  Once again, we parked off the side of the road and headed off.  This trail went down, down, down.  It was a winding, slick trail with many steps carved out of the rock.  We eventually came out at the river’s edge.  There was a sign for two different waterfalls.  One that went straight up a steep looking goat path, and one that went down.  We opted for the path that went down as we were a little leary about the footing coming back down the really steep uphill path.  Turns out the downhill wasn’t a whole lot better.  It had very narrow, rock cut steps, many of which required handholds due to the unusual height of the steps.  We got most of the way down to the bottom of the waterfall and decided to head back up.  We were already hot and tired from our first hike, and the return to the car was going to be all uphill.  We meandered our way back down the mountain, checking out all the quaint little villages perched precariously on the sides of the gorge.

The next day we opted for a shorter drive to another set of mountains and another waterfall hike.  This drive was every bit has hairball as the last one!  At one point, we came to a complete standstill behind a huge herd of sheep blocking the road.  Dan honked and honked (they were in no hurry to move) and slowly parted the sea of sheep with the car.  We drove and drove seeing no signs of any type of hiking or waterfall.  Eventually we parked the car in one of the few spots big enough to turn around and go back and decided to follow the road on foot for a bit just to see what was ahead.  Unfortunately, the road was in the blazing sun, and it was blistering hot.  As we trudged down, down, down, we finally stumbled on a bridge and signage indicating a trail to the waterfall.  Yeah!  Off we went.  As soon as we hit the water’s edge, the temperatures dropped and we were cooled.  We crisscrossed the river over these rickety, log bridges with smaller waterfalls crashing below us.  The forest was dense and tropical.  It was a welcome hike through very peaceful terrain, and we had it all to ourselves.  We were treated to several different waterfalls, and it appeared the trail went on and on.  The problem was we didn’t know how far it went or where it ended.  In the end, we were getting eaten by mosquitos and decided an hour was long enough since we still had to come back UP the hot, dirt road we had come down.  It felt good to be out hiking again.

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped at this little restaurant hidden in the forest.  The owners welcomed us in, and we were the only ones there.  We muddled our way through the language barrier and settled on a multi-course of their local specialties.  Dan had ordered the lamb chops and not long after, we heard the tinkling of “cow” bells.  “I hope that’s not your lunch arriving,” I said to Dan.  We both kind of chuckled.  We had an amazing lunch and a special experience, all alone in the garden of this little gem.  As we headed out, we ran into our second “traffic jam” of the trip.  A big herd of horned cows and babies coming down the road, and what was hanging around their necks?  The tinkling cow bells we had heard earlier.

Our final day with the car, we decided to go explore some of the hilltop villages.  These were quite a sight to see perched high on the cliffs.  We briefly wandered in and out of the sleepy little villages, but in the end, it was just too hot.  Dan found a highly reviewed little winery that we decided to check out, but they didn’t open until 3:00.  He contacted them about coming to visit and before we knew it, the winemaker himself came and opened up early just for us.  It turned out this was really more of their local tasting room, and the actual winery was 20 minutes away in the valley of the gorge.  The winemaker began explaining the wine making classifications of Italy (in Italian, of course), and we were actually able to follow along pretty well.  Before long, his English speaking daughter arrived.  She had come in from the vineyard to help translate for us.  Both had graciously opened up for us despite a big winery event they were hosting that evening!  Had it not already been sold out, we would have loved to have gone to that.  I have to give a big shout out to the wonderful family of Azienda Agricola Cosimo Murace located in Bivongi!  We tasted a variety of amazing wines, which we then of course purchased.  We bid farewell with a promise to return to the actual vineyard when we come back through.  As we headed back to the marina for our final night in Roccella, we stopped at a little specialty market and bought up a bunch of typical local products made right there on sight.  We also hit a market where we stocked our boat with a ton of Calabrian specialties that had become some of our all time favorites.  After all, we would be leaving Calabria very soon.

The next morning, we departed before 6 a.m for the 59 mile passage to Reggio Calabria.  This would be a “staging” stop for our departure through the Straits of Messina the following morning.  Along the way, we were treated to a large pod of small dolphins frolicking in the water.  As we began to approach the tip of mainland Italy, we noticed large tanker planes landing on the water.  Unfortunately, a large part of Southern Italy was on fire in the mountain regions.  For several hours, we were treated to the spectacle of these planes and helicopters coming down to the water (sometimes uncomfortably close to us), scooping up massive amounts of sea water, before banking sharply around us and heading into the hills to dump it.  The rumble of the engines as they flew over us was so loud it gave you chills.  We’ve included some video (which still doesn’t do it justice), but you will get a feel for just how spectacular their piloting skills were.  

We spent one night on a mooring ball in Reggio Calabria and hit the water to cool off.  Astonishingly, our mooring was in 50 meters of water (164 feet)!  I will admit, it made me a tiny bit uncomfortable swimming in that depth of water (yeah, I know….silly).  The currents were pretty strong as well, so we didn’t stray too far from the boat.  Unfortunately, we made the decision to eat on board so when Dan went in to pay for the mooring, the owner was disappointed we didn’t come in for dinner.  Ironically, his restaurant had good reviews, was right on the waterfront, and I had been eyeing it online as a place to eat if we went in to town.  When Dan got back, he told me what a cute restaurant it was and how disappointed they were that we didn’t come in.   Now, I was sad and disappointed too!  We just had stupid grilled chicken and salad instead of delectable, local seafood.  Shout out to Ristorante la Capanna….we will be back, and we will be joining you for dinner!  The owner’s daughter walked Dan to a local dessert shop that was very highly reviewed (also evidenced by the flock of people).  He returned to the boat with his treats which we enjoyed later.  The few times we’ve splurged on desserts, we have been very disappointed, so we weren’t really hopeful this time as well.  Boy, were we wrong!  We shared two different kind of desserts that were some of the best treats we have ever had!  Mirco Gelateria for the win!!!

As I mentioned, we only planned to be here one night in order to time our crossing of the Straits of Messina.  This passage can be extremely dangerous if not timed correctly.  We spent days looking at wind patterns and tides to determine our safest time to pass through.  In addition to the winds (which get funneled down from mainland Italy and Sicily), there can be very strong currents that you can either ride or fight your way through.  On top of this, there are eddies and whirlpools that rise up creating challenges.  At the narrowest part of the strait, is a “freeway” of giant car ferries crossing from one side to the next (more games of frogger with giant ships).  The last bit of fun is the result of wind and tide running in opposition which creates short, high breaking seas in the center of the strait.  We saw moderate levels of all (except for the giant ferries which came out 6 ferries in a row as we approached).  In seafaring times, before all our awesome technology, many boats were claimed in the Straits of Messina.  It was a pretty easy passage but definitely a little nerve wracking not knowing what we might encounter.  Once through the strait, we made our way to the island of Vulcano in the Aeolian Islands where we will wait out some nasty winds headed our way.  In our next post, we will bring you the sights and adventures of these interesting volcanic (some still active)islands!

Oh where, oh where, do I begin?  You may recall from our last post that we had pulled up a big, nasty fish trap that had been laid over top of our anchor and bridle.  We spent an extra 20 minutes freeing ourselves without cutting the trap free.  You would think that would’ve bought us some good fishermen karma.  Unfortunately, it seemed to have cursed us.  We were underway from Gallipoli to Taranto across the Gulf of Taranto.  This was going to be an 8 1/2 hour passage.  The winds were already at 9 knots when we got started, so we put up the main sail and gennaker.  The winds continued to grow and before long we were crackin’ along at 6-7 knots under full sail.  Finally!  About half way into our journey, we began to encounter a few commercial fishing boats.  Most were moving slowly and not very close to us.  I noticed a new one tucked up into the Gulf.  He was basically cruising parallel to us but quite a distance away.  I kept a close eye on him because he was frequently hidden behind our gennaker, so I wanted to know where he was at any given point.  Before long, I noticed that he was coming closer and closer to us.  In response, I kept adjusting our course to fall away from him.  Next thing I know, he is at a high rate of speed and heading straight at us!  We are under full sail, so any adjustments we make are going to be painfully slow compared to his speed.  Dan ran to the bow and started yelling to get their attention.  How can he possibly be on this course if he sees us?  As I watch him barreling toward us midship, I freeze in absolute terror.  This is it.  He is going to hit us, and we are going to be blasted into a million pieces.  All I can do is brace myself, hands over my mouth, and eyes the size of saucers.  Dan fires up the engine and does what little he can to try and get our slow boat out of the way with the least amount of damage.  His big, steel hulled boat passed within a foot or two (.5-.7 meters)of our stern!  I was shaking so violently, I could  no longer stand up.  I spent an hour in total silence, still shaking.  Then, the anger came.  That f-ing asshat!  I can only think that he did that on purpose. He changed his course.  He changed his speed.  Falling off a few degrees = no problem.  Slowing down a few knots = no problem.  This had to be intentional to mess with us.  This captain (if in fact he was one) should be stripped of his license for reckless endangerment.  I was going to document all of this right then, but it’s probably better that I didn’t.  It’s been a few days, and I am a little bit calmer (although I still relive it on a regular basis and get angry all over again)!

The passage took us 8 hours, mostly under sail, until we finally arrived in the bay of Taranto.  Because this is a major shipping port, the port captain requires you to call for permission to enter.  Dan tried to radio them 8 different times with no response, so in we went.  There were probably 15-20 behemoth cargo ships anchored all around us as we made our way up into the bay.  It was quite a sight to see.  As we approached the marina, Dan radioed our arrival to the marina several times as well.  Once again, we got no response.  Finally we spotted the marinero waving us to our spot.  We proceeded to get ourselves tied up with his instruction (all in Italian).  It continues to crack me up that even when you tell them you don’t speak Italian, they continue to repeat themselves as if you will eventually get it.  It is quite hysterical.  Once we were comfortably settled in, we collapsed in the air conditioned salon and cracked open an ice cold beer.  Ahhhhh.  Before long, the marinero arrived again and very apologetically informed us that we needed to move to a different spot.  He said the port captain felt that we stuck out to far in the fairway and wanted us moved.  Awwww man!  For me, the most stressful part of sailing (aside from bad weather and nasty commercial captains) is docking and undocking…..and now I had to do it twice in less than a couple of hours.  The poor marinero felt so bad.  So off we went to a spot alongside the concrete wall.  It became quite the jigsaw puzzle with the marinero trying to bring up sand lines that were far too short in order to keep us from smashing against the concrete wall (the direction of the wind and swell come from).

With Zoe comfortably tied up and secure in the marina, Dan and I rented a car and headed inland for some sightseeing.  We had been pushing really hard making very long passages with very little down time, so we both felt the need to take a break.   We drove through the beautiful countryside of the region of Puglia.  Our first stop was Ostuni, Citta Bianca (the white city).  This beautiful place is perched high on the hills and is quite a sight to see.  Although, I think I would name it 50 shades of beige (not a lot of real white remains).  We wandered around for bit and then headed off to our next destination, Alberobello which means beautiful tree.  This town is famous for their unique buildings which they call trulli.  Because of the unique style of the Trulli, they have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  I had heard of the town referred to (not by Italians) as the Smurf village.  From the pictures, it is easy to see why (if you have ever watched the show “The Smurfs”).  It was beyond adorable and definitely a worthwhile stop.  Unfortunately, we were in the heat of the day, and it was blistering hot.  We decided to have a light bite and drink inside one of the Trulli’s.  Probably not our best idea other than the experience.  We paid a hefty tab for a very small plate of local meat and cheese and 1 drink each (about $60 ….ouch).

Did I mention that we had been pushing really hard in moving the boat and this was our downtime for some rest and relaxation?  HA!  For those of you that know Dan well, he doesn’t really know how to do slow and leisurely….everything is done at warp speed.  This trip was no different.  Our third and final stop for the night was the city of Matera.  This city is renowned for its rock-cut core.  It has twin cliff side zones known as the Sassi.  The city began as a complex of cave homes banking a breath-taking gorge.  The Sassi has 12 levels that climb 380 meters (1247 feet) and are connected by a series of pathways and stairs.  You will definitely get your steps and elevation walking around this city!  This medieval city clings to the edge of the canyon and is remarkably well preserved.  We had rented a room here that was located inside one of the caves at the very bottom of the city.  Just finding it was quite the adventure.  The hotel was also a winery, so upon our arrival we were treated to a lovely glass of wine in the cool shelter of the cave lobby.  Once again, the outside was blistering hot.  We enjoyed the cool sanctuary of our cave room before heading out for a dinner overlooking the gorge and then heading up the gazillion steps to the top of the city.  The sights were spectacular.  This was definitely one of my favorite stops, so I was sad we were only going to be here for about 15 hours.  This spot is high on our “must revisit and spend more time” list (which seems to be growing by the day).  We had hit 3 different cities on our loop in less than 24 hours!  Sound relaxing?  Not so much.

It was a several hour drive back through beautiful countryside.  We were somewhat forced to leave early as the rental car place closed at 11:00 (Saturday) and would not reopen until Monday.  We were already checked out with the Coast Guard and expected to depart on Sunday.  We dropped the car and took a 20 minute cab ride back to the boat (yep, that was the closest available car rental we could find….so two 20 minute cab rides made it a bit more pricey than normal).  We returned to the cool comfort of our boat to plot our next move.  We headed out into the old city of Taranto on a mission to buy some goodies specific to the region of Puglia.  We stumbled on this little market where one of the guys working there spoke some English.  He showed us which of the meats and cheeses were specific to Puglia and their city, allowed us to taste them, and we promptly stocked up.  He then threw in some extra treats for us for free.  

We decided to have a seafood dinner (something they are known for)in the old city of Taranto, so we headed out in search of a restaurant.  Unfortunately, most restaurants don’t open until 8:30, and we are just not accustomed to eating that late at night.  Even the ones on Google that claimed to be open were not open.  We checked with several different places only to be turned away and told they would be full from reservations.  We were rapidly becoming very disheartened.  We wandered across the bridge to the other side of the marina to check another place we found on Google.  Dan: “It’s suppose to be right here.  We are standing right in front of it!”  There was nothing there….just a very closed up, dilapidated building.  Dan:  “ I‘ve found one more place with really good reviews.  If it’s not there, we are done.  We are going back to the boat and calling it a day.”  So, we wandered down this very sketch alley.  Sketchy enough that Dan growled at me for being 10 feet behind him instead of right beside him to ensure my safety.  We spotted the restaurant sign and approached.  It was most definitely not open despite Google saying it was open.  As we stood staring at the door in complete and total dejection, a woman stepped out of an open kitchen door to check on us.  We asked if they were open for dinner.  She scampered inside and another woman emerged.  We repeated our question, and she signaled us to wait.  She went in and spoke to the chef, and before we knew it, she was opening the door to the restaurant and escorting us in.  Holy cow!  They opened up their restaurant 45 minutes early just for us!  With almost no English spoken and the use of some Google translate, we managed to understand that it was a set menu.  She explained to us that it was $25 Euro a person.  Sounds reasonable (of course we have no idea what we will be eating).  Before long, the starter arrives.  Out comes 7 or 8 different small plates of seafood (mussels, octopus salad, sauced squid, marinated anchovies, and on and on).  Each dish was amazing.  The first course arrived which was a large pasta noodle with clams and mussels.  The second course consisted of fried calamari, shrimp and fish.  We finished with a tangy lemon sorbet.  The food was amazing, and the hospitality and kindness even more so.  The chef came out several times to make sure we liked everything.  Thank you Mary and Pasquale for rescuing our spirits!

We left the dock bright and early for our 15 hour passage to Crotone (on the ball of the foot).  There are two areas along the southern part of Italy that require careful consideration, the Gulf of Taranto and the Gulf of Squillace.  Both of these gulfs can have some very wicked winds and big seas, so finding the right weather window to cross them is very important.  We were headed out of the Gulf of Taranto and our window was clear.  Our biggest challenge would be arriving in Crotone after dark and dropping anchor.  We have never dropped anchor in the pitch dark of night, so this would be interesting.  Everything we had read said it was wide open sand (an anchor’s best friend).  We had an uneventful passage, arrived in Crotone and dropped anchor at 10:45 p.m.  By 11:00, we were well dug in and ready for a good nights sleep.  We plan to spend a few days in Crotone and meet up with a few friends, so I will leave this story here for now.  Stay tuned for more adventures on and off Zoe!

It’s hard to believe we finally made it back! The trip back to the US was as painful as we expected, but luckily we gave ourselves plenty of days to get home. To briefly recap, we made the journey home back in mid July for my son’s wedding and to finally close on our new home. The wedding was held about 2 hours north of where we live (Phoenix) in a mountain town called Flagstaff. This is a great place for a July wedding in Arizona since it is about 20 degrees cooler (-11.1 degrees Celsius cooler) than where we live. The ceremony took place in the forest among the pine trees and was absolutely beautiful. It was a spectacular weekend of fun with family and friends. About 10 days later, we took possession of our new home. We ended up staying in Arizona a few weeks longer than we initially had planned in order to try and get somewhat moved into our home. In the end, we managed to get most of the way moved in, but there is still a lot more to do when we finally return for the winter (ugh).

August 27th arrived, and it was time to make our way back to Zoe.  The chaos of summer travel in a post pandemic era had not let up, and I was dreading making this trip yet again.  We ended up flying from Phoenix to Chicago (arriving at midnight) and spending the night before catching an early morning flight to London Heathrow.  We arrived in London around 11:00 pm and then had to take an hour long Uber ride to Gatwick Airport, where we spent another night.  Bright and early the next morning, we caught our flight to Catania, Sicily.  We made it out of the airport only to discover that we had missed the bus to Licata by 5 minutes.  To make matters worse, they had cancelled the next bus which meant we had to sit at the airport (on a concrete bench) for 2 hours before the next bus.  Since this now put us in rush hour, our 2 hour bus ride took closer to 2 hours and 45 minutes.  We left the US Saturday afternoon and did not arrive to Zoe until Monday evening.  Needless to say, I was not a very happy person when we finally made it back to Zoe.  Hopefully, the journey home at the end of October will be far less painful  🤞.

Well, now that you are all caught up, let’s resume our journey in Sicily.  Since we arrived in Licata with little time before our departure, we decided to spend some extra time here and do a little exploring (plus we had our spot in the marina paid until September 6th…..why let that go to waste?).  The marina here is quite nice.  There are a couple of restaurants onsite, a supermarket within walking distance, and the breakwater is constructed in a way that provides an excellent (and very popular) exercise route.  About halfway down the breakwater, you will encounter about 20 cats and a cat condominium (I kid you not!).  Okay, so I don’t really think the little trailer is strictly for the cats, but we aren’t entirely sure who the little trailer belongs to.  The cats are definitely inhabitants, but I’m pretty sure they are not the ones responsible for the empty beer bottles.  Since it sits perched over a fish farm below, we theorize that it’s more of a watch station for someone (I can only imagine the way it looks inside with all those cats running around 🤢).  If you walk in the opposite direction, you will find one of the tallest lighthouses in Europe and a beautiful monument to the fallen and missing Italian sailors at the port entrance.  Just beyond the port, there is a huge expanse of beautiful, sand beach and a large swimming area nestled inside a reef.  Unlike cat alley, this area was home to lots and lots of stray dogs.  One in particular decided to befriend us for our entire beach walk.  Ironically, when a couple of barking dogs charged towards us, our little buddy barked back, and they turned around a left us alone.  I guess he advised them that we were okay people…..haha.

A few fun facts about Sicily in general…..it is the biggest and most highly populated island in the Mediterranean.  It is also one of the hilliest and most mountainous parts of Italy.  Interestingly, you will find a tremendous amount of Greek influence here in Sicily as they founded many of the coastal cities which still exist today.  As a result, there are some incredible, well preserved ruins of temples, theaters and monuments left behind from ancient times.  Okay, enough of the history lesson.  There is a method to my madness.  I tell you all of this as a precursor to our latest excursion off the boat.

A 45 minute drive outside of Licata brought us to the hilltop city of Agrigento, home to the Valley of the Temples.  We spent several hours wandering the vast archaeological site which is home to many well preserved Greek temples.  In an effort to not bore you with too much of a history lesson, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

After thoroughly exploring the grounds in the blazing, hot sun, we headed off to our next excursion.  We drove through the town of Naro where a castle sits upon the highest point.  Here, we found breathtaking views of the valley below and the sea just beyond.  We did not spend a lot of time here since we had an appointment at a local winery for a tasting and lunch.  We arrived at Bonsignore Vineyard where we were greeted by the owner.  He and his wife had basically sold up everything to buy the vineyard and accompanying villa.  They had renovated the villa as their home and over time, have plans to create rooms for guests to spend time in the vineyards.  We began our adventure in their courtyard where we were treated to a tasting of 3 of their wines.  Each one was quite delicious (and award winning).  We were then able to choose a bottle to accompany our luncheon.  The lunch was also spectacular.  We experienced 4 or 5 different courses made of local, organic ingredients specific to the region.  After our extremely filling lunch, we wandered out to the vines where we learned a little about the grapes, their progression from vine to wine, and had a little taste straight off the vine.  Since we were the only 2 at the vineyard, it was really a unique and special experience.  In case you were wondering…..yes, of course we bought some bottles of wine to bring back to the boat (and they gave us a couple of bottles of their house made olive oil)! YUM!

It was an amazing day.  We love our time on the sea, but the best part of being in this part of the world is exploring the past and immersing ourselves in the culture, people and places.  We plan to spend a few more weeks in Sicily before making our way back to Greece.  While we won’t have time to see all the places we had hoped to, we do plan on returning soon.  This year our focus will be exploring the southern and eastern portions of Sicily itself.  When we return, we will focus on the remaining coastline and the surrounding islands.  Before I leave you here in Licata, one more fun fact about this area….Licata was one of the first cities liberated during WWII by American and British forces in 1943…..how cool is that?  Anyway, we are thrilled to be back on Zoe and will be getting underway soon.  Our plan is to get set sail tomorrow morning and make our way 6 hours east to the town of Ragusa.  Standby for more adventures from the beautiful island of Sicily!

Sadly, our time in Crotone had come to an end.  This place definitely holds a special place in our heart after spending time here, and I would have loved to stay longer, but it was time to get some miles on.  We had our weather window, so we bid farewell to Crotone at 12:30 in the afternoon for our 23 hour passage to Sicily.  I’m always scheming to try and minimize my time on shift in the dark, but somehow I always manage to screw myself.  This time was no different.  I managed to have the shift leading up to and well past sunset and then again several hours up until sunrise.  Dan gets one shift in darkness, and I seem to always end up with two.  Like I said, I do this to myself…..EVERY TIME!

The passage was pretty uneventful with very few cargo ships and fishing boats around to give me grief.  Once dawn approached, Dan decided to throw out a couple of fishing lines and try our luck.  About an hour out from our destination, he managed to snag a tuna and spent the next half hour bludgeoning it to death and bleeding it out.  We now had a beautiful 10 pound bluefin tuna…..yum!  Of course, the back of our boat now looked like a murder scene…..who knew tuna had so much blood!  We pulled into the anchorage of Naxos below the beautiful, hilltop town of Taormina and the smoking beauty of the volcano Mt. Etna.  Before long, another catamaran came in and dropped anchor near us, and much to our surprise, they were flying an American flag!  When the back of their boat became visible, we saw that they were registered in Dallas, Texas.  It’s not often we run into Americans on our journey, so of course we had to invite them over for drinks and stories that night.  This very young couple had taken a sabbatical from work, bought a boat, were logging some serious miles throughout Europe before sailing the boat back to America this winter.  We were seriously impressed!

We planned to spend two days at anchor before moving over to the mooring balls at the other end of the bay to pick up our guests and explore the sites.  I awoke the next morning at 5:00 a.m. to the boat pitching around wildly.  Apparently the Straits of Messina were blowing strong again which sent 3-4 foot rollers into the bay and directly into the side of our boat.  We rode it out for a few hours hoping it would die down, but it only got worse.  When things started crashing to the floor and toppling INSIDE the cabinets, we decided it was time to go.  Luckily, the mooring ball field was very sheltered from the swell and could take us earlier than we had originally planned.  As we made our way across the bay, I went to the front to get our lines ready.  Not my brightest move.  A roller came, and I felt the deck drop out from under my feet….oh this was not going to end well.  As it flew back up and crashed back under my feet, I tossed my body onto the deck top and held on.  I decided to finish the lines in calmer water.

Before long, our friend Tim and his son joined us on Zoe.  We had big plans the following day.  We would take the bus up to the beautiful city of Taormina and explore for a few hours before meeting our driver and guide who would be taking us to explore Mt. Etna.  We wandered the streets of Taormina taking in all the beautiful buildings before wandering up to an Ancient Greek Amphitheater.  Unfortunately, it was a blistering hot day, and we were all struggling with the oppressive heat.  Soon it was time to head  back down to the bus depot to meet our driver.  We all prayed he had a car with air conditioning.

We met our driver and guide and headed out on our hour and a half drive up to Mt. Etna.  It truly is a magnificent volcano to see up close and personal.  We made several stops on our drive up where we explored the topography of the volcano, the resulting landscape changes from eruptions, and talked about the history of the volcano.  It is THE most studied volcano in the world because of it’s unique nature.  The summit area consists of 4 summit craters.  Another part of our excursion had us putting on hard hats for an exploration of an amazing lava tube.  We descended deep into the depths of this tube complete with dripping stalactites.  It was wonderfully cool down in the tube.  We were told if there was any seismic activity, access to the tubes would be forbidden due to the dangers.  After we learned about the tubes, we headed off to some hiking trails through the volcanic sands.  Here we had some amazing views of the surrounding area and some of the ancient craters.  The diversity of landscape on the mountain is incredible.  Some areas look like you are on the moon, and other areas are rich in birch trees and abundant greenery.  Sadly, we did not see any lava flows or cool stuff like that.

The next day, it was time to get underway again.  Our next stop was the city of Siracusa (Syracuse).  We left early as this would be an 8 hour passage.  The best part….we FINALLY got to sail!  Well, at least 1/2 of the trip.  Once we lost the wind, our journey got very hot again, so the 3 guys decided to jump off the back of the boat into the deep sea (7000 feet/2133 meters deep)!  Luckily we threw out a line and float because the current was moving away from the boat at a pretty good clip.  I managed to make them squirm a little when I joked that I could just sail off and leave them there floating if they made me mad.  Yeah, it was a little mean….haha.  Once they were cooled off, we got moving again.  A few hours later, we spotted our first shark….EVER.  We have never, ever seen a shark in the Med.  I must admit, it was a little freaky (and I’m not sure the guys will jump into the deep sea again anytime soon).  We were then treated to dolphins a couple hours later.  There were several pods busy playing and before long they came to the boat to play in our bow spray.  This is one of our most favorite treats when we are out sailing.

We anchored in the big bay outside of Syracusa.  This was another amazing walled city filled with Ancient Greek history (yes, you read that right….Greek artifacts).  We visited the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, the Fonte Aretusa which is a fountain fed by a fresh water spring and home to the only natural Papyrus growing in Europe.  We visited the Fontana Diana which dates back to the 9th century.  We enjoyed strolling the cobblestone streets and winding through narrow pathways.  We found a quaint little restaurant down one of these narrow pathways and enjoyed a very nice dinner off the beaten path and out of the tourist areas.  Our original plan was to spend 2 days here, but we have been in a brutal heat wave and where we were anchored was not really swimable (harbor bay….yuck) so no way to keep cool.  We decided to leave the next day and head down to a bay where we could anchor and spend the day swimming.

Once again, we were able to sail most of the 4 hour passage to our next stop….Isola di Capo Passero.  The swimming was awesome except for the jellyfish that kept cruising through.  The next morning we took the dinghy to an island between the two bays.  We pulled it up on the beach and walked the path up to the ruins of a castle.  We then motored over to the end of the island in search of the marble remains from a ship that sunk during Roman times.  Tim’s son jumped from the dinghy into the water to try and spot it, but it was really hard to find among the rocks and plant life on the sea floor.  Our plan was to leave that evening and make an overnight passage to our final destination in the town of Licata.  Since we had some potentially high winds with swell getting around the point, we decided to pull up anchor, get around the point, and find another nice bay to hang out in and swim until we ready to leave that evening.

Once we got past the point, we found a nice spot to anchor and swim.  The water was refreshing and crystal clear.  All seemed well until those lovely jellyfish made their appearance.  This time, the guys spotted one that was 18” (.46 meters) in diameter….YUCK!  Just before 7:00 p.m., we were underway for our overnight passage.  Man, we’ve done a lot of these in the short time we’ve been here!  As forecasted, the wind was a little blustery (on the nose) and the water was a little choppy.  This time, I took the 10-2 shift. This was one of my least favorite passages thanks to all the fishing boats that were out at midnight.  They are not on our AIS tracking system which makes it hard to see what direction they are going or how far away they are.  At one point, I had one coming straight at me!  I deviated my course 10 degrees, and he continued to come straight for me.  I ended up changing my course 30 degrees further, heading toward shore and was shocked at how close he passed beside me despite my change in course.  I was not a happy camper.  Before long, I noticed 2 more fishing boats heading in to port.  Once again, they were headed my way.  At that point, I fired up our second motor and zoomed out of their way.  I was finally clear of the bay and the busy ports deep inside.  By the time Dan came up for the 2-6 a.m. shift, I was pretty worn out from the stress of playing chicken with the fishing boats.  He told me later that his shift was very peaceful and quiet.  Of course it was!

So, here we are in the marina at Licata.  Our guests disembarked here, and we have been busy getting the boat cleaned up and ready for a temporary shut down.  We were happy to be in the marina today as the winds kicked up to 30 knots with 40 knot gusts…..not fun!  This will likely be our last post for a bit as we are heading home on Sunday.  We will leave Zoe here in the water for the next 4-6 weeks and return home for my son’s wedding and the close on our house (finally)!  Super exciting events, but dreading the trek home in the middle of busy, summer travel time.  We will be back with more adventures sometime in August!