Best Laid Plans Are Written In Sand

As we bid a sad farewell to our son and daughter-in-law, it was time to start making our way north for the arrival of my sister and brother-in-law.  They were not due to join us for a few more days, and our goal was to get to a marina just outside the Rome airport (which was still quite far from where we currently were).  We left the town of Cetara on the Amalfi Coast and headed 7 hours north to the island of Procida, outside of the Naples area.  It was a cloudy and overcast day, and by the time we selected our spot in the busy anchorage, it was pretty late in the day.  The surrounding town was very nice, but the anchorage was very rolly with local boat traffic.  It had been a long day, and we were both feeling kind of blah, so neither of us felt like taking the dinghy into town to explore.  This, of course, would be a decision we would kind of regret later.  Oh well, we can always go back later or next year.  Little did we know, our plans in the sand were about to begin their slow erosion.

Beautiful island of Procida
Dramatic cliffside monastery on the island
Our passage to Procida from the Amalfi coast. 37 Nautical miles.

The following day was going to be a really long one, so we were underway by 7:00 a.m.  We were headed to the island of Ponza.  It took us nearly 9 hours to arrive at our next destination.  This island had a great looking town on one end and sheer rock cliffs on the other.  Thankfully it was a much bigger anchorage than the one we were in the night before, and we quickly selected our spot.  For those of you that know me well, I like a respectable amount of space between me and my neighbors and usually choose the most remote area (which also means we get some really amazing backdrops….in this case, the towering cliffs behind us).  Once again, there was a lot of powerboat traffic making for a very rolly anchorage.  Sadly, we really had no desire to head into town after our long day.  I guess after a few weeks of milling through very crowded towns bustling with tourists, we really needed some quiet downtime and solitude.  So, another island has been added to our “must return to” and explore list.  Darn!  Another island we have to make our way back to….haha.

Next stop – the island of Ponza
Ponza makes a perfect stopover enroute northwards to Rome. 51 NM from Procida

On the third day, we made the decision to get all the way to Fiumicino, Rome.  We had a reservation in a marina the following night, so we put in a request for an additional night tonight.  This was going to be a very long passage, and we would be racing sunset.  Once again, we got underway early in the morning.  About half way through our nearly 12 hour passage, we heard back from the marina….there was no room at the inn tonight.  Uh oh.  That was a serious miscalculation!  We were along the coast of mainland Italy, in an area where marinas and safe anchorages were few and far between.  Dan searched incessantly for options as we continued our way north.  No luck.  Finally he found a possibility.  About a half hour north of our intended destination, Ostia Marina, was an area where a breakwater had been constructed for a new marina that was never completed.  Never completed, as in the only thing there was a very nice breakwater with great holding in mud….that’s it.  The sun was very low on the horizon, and the race was on to get in before it completely set.  There was only one other boat in the anchorage as we rounded the corner.  The bay was surrounded by these very interesting “houses” on stilts which gave the whole place a bit of a creepy vibe.  We were soon greeted by a resident swan looking for handouts.  I threw him some toasted bread.  He was obviously well trained as he would tap his bill on our swim step to ask for more.

Dropping anchor at sunset after a long day sailing from Ponza to Ostia (near Rome airport)
65 nautical miles and 12 hours on passage
Swan greeting party

The next day we headed into the marina to get the boat ready for Kim and Don’s arrival.  Once we had Kim and Don on board, we got them settled in for the day before our departure the following day.  The weather the next day was cool and cloudy with very little wind.  We got underway fairly early for our 4 1/2 hour journey.  Unfortunately, the winds were calm which meant no sailing.  We anchored off the town of Santa Marinella.  We enjoyed some swimming before heading in to explore the small town.  Since it was now September, we carefully watching the weather multiple times a day.  It was becoming very evident that transition season had arrived early, and it did not look pretty.  We were carefully plotting our destinations to try and show our guests as much as possible.  Our plan….make our way up the western side of Italy, cross over to the island of Elba, and then head over to the eastern side of Corsica.

New guests joined us in Rome! Welcome Kim and Don!
First anchor drop with Don and Kim
Obligatory “Anchor beer” – an important ritual on Zoe!
Out and about in Santa Marinella

Our next destination was 6 1/2 hours away, so we got an early start once again.  Today was sunny and hot with very little wind….no sailing again.  We arrived in Porto Ercole.  We secured an awesome spot below some towering rock cliffs, very close to the town.  No one really felt like swimming, so we took the dinghy into town to walk the waterfront and surrounding town.  It wasn’t long before we had seen all there was to see.  This would be an early night since we were headed to the island of Elba the next day, and this would be close to a 10 hour passage.  Our guests were awesome troopers given the very long passages we were making each day.  As I said, transition season was upon us, and the weather was getting more and more questionable.  We still felt that we had our window to get to Elba, wait out some strong winds, and then head to Corsica.  The west side of Corsica was looking uglier and uglier with high winds and seas (not overly unusual), but the east side still showed some pockets of fair weather (notice I did not say great weather!).  Our plan was to leave the anchorage at 6 a.m.  At 2 a.m., Dan and I woke to the boat pitching around violently as large swell came rolling into our little nook.  To make matters worse, we were on a lee shore close to the rocks (if the anchor let loose, we would crash into the rocks).  Did I mention there was thunder and lightning as well?  At 3 a.m., I attempted to lift the anchor in 3 foot swells and white caps.  It was pitch black, so I had to try and use a flashlight in order to keep track of the position on our anchor chain and anchor.

Co-captain Robyn has the watch
Co captain Dan demonstrating how passage naps are the best
Nice view of a cliffside fortress from our anchorage near Porto Ercole
Tender ride to town for some exploration

The seas were choppy with 3 foot swell but no wind once we rounded the peninsula from the bay.  We enjoyed the sunrise and some much  needed coffee.  The afternoon winds made their arrival allowing us to actually sail the back half of our journey to Elba.  As we approached the harbor of Portoferraio, we entered the freeway of very large ferries and cruise ships coming and going.  Before long, we were tied up on the city quay right in front of the old town and all the hustle and bustle of a busy tourist town.  Our first adventure was to rent a car and go explore the area, including Napoleon Bonaparte’s villa where he had been exiled.  Tourist season was in full bloom and everything was very busy.  We decided to head up into a mountaintop town.  Heavy, dark clouds were rolling in which were limiting what we could do and see.  Unfortunately, we did have an “exciting” moment as we rounded a corner, in the heart of town, where it narrowed to one lane of traffic for cars going in both directions.  While Dan tried to avoid the concrete planters on one side, a young guy came around the corner (not really hugging his side) and we scraped down each other’s side.  Well, that put a huge damper on everyone’s mood.  We also wandered a huge fortress with great views overlooking the island and sea.  After exploring the area for a couple of days, we were ready to get underway.  Our plan was to head over to an anchorage about an hour away on Elba.  The seas were calm, but the skies were threatening with thunderstorms.  Our plan was to stage at the anchorage before crossing over to the island of Corsica.  More wicked weather was coming, so we were keeping a close eye on things.  Best laid plans…..

Time to get hunkered down…the wind is on it’s way
This spot will do quite nicely- Portoferraio on the island of Elba
City gates near the boat
Wet day view from Zoe
Napoloeon’s first residence
Two Arizona Cardinals fans in Italy getting ready for the game!

We found a nice spot in the anchorage and got settled in.  There was enough wind to keep the water moving at a pretty good clip.  We dropped the dinghy to go over to the beach bars and some cool looking hikes.  As Dan was motoring about checking the engine, it quit.  There was no getting it started.  He ended up rowing back to Zoe where he and Don set about trying to fix it.  No such luck….it was a goner.  This now meant we were trapped on the boat.  Trying to row 4 people on our dinghy (we were not close to shore or town) in windy conditions was not going to end well.  Without a dinghy, this also meant we were stuck going to marinas unless we fixed it.  We made arrangements to go back to Portoferraio where there was a marina with trades to work on boats.  The following morning we made sure they had room for us to come in early.  They told us they did.  The wind was now picking up and clouds were rumbling with thunder and lightning.  Once again, we navigated the gauntlet of cruise ships and ferries.  We hovered outside the marina trying to reach them.  The winds were already 18 knots.  That’s going to making docking an adventure.  When we finally reached someone at the marina, they said they had no room for us!  What?!?  Dan quickly scrambled and managed to get us a spot back on the wall we had just left the day before.  OMG….we were trapped on Elba!  Long story short….no one could fix the dinghy.  The weather around Corsica got worse, so we wouldn’t be going there, and the seas to get back to mainland Italy were not pretty.  We settled into our new home for a few days to wait out the weather.  Apparently this weather hell was going to be our new norm for the remainder of our time.  Our plans in the sand were now eroding more quickly.

Uh oh – outboard issues. Is it the fuel line or something worse?
Rain rain and more rain!!!
Napoleons’ second residence – much grander in scale
Bedroom in the Palace
Elba has it’s charms

We finally got our weather window to make our way to mainland Italy (Corsica continued to look worse and worst).  It was a very cloudy, cold, and long day.  After a 7 hour passage, we rode the swells into a marina in Rosignano, Italy.  Since we were tracking yet another weather system, we made the decision to come in to a marina and use it as our base to explore on land for a bit.  Our best laid sailing plans were being blown up left and right with weather systems.  So, when life hands you lemons…

The water became an incredible share of blue as we drew close to Rosignano

The marina was amazing.  We were safely tucked up deep in the marina where there were numerous shops and restaurants.  The surrounding area had many beach bars, restaurants and a nice long boardwalk along the sea.  I could definitely enjoy hanging here for a while….which we did.  I will close this here since it’s getting rather long.  Our next episode will take you on our land adventures in Tuscany, so I hope you will stay tuned!

Making the most of September weather!

Highlights From Sicily to the Amalfi Coast

We arrived in Trapani, Sicily on Saturday, August 17th.  We pulled into the marina where we were tied up next to a 90 foot sailboat and two even bigger boats on the other side of him.  Another 90 foot sailboat soon came in and tied up on the other side of us.  Here we were sandwiched in between 2 mega yachts.  We were literally the littlest guy in the marina! The nasty weather was due to arrive on Monday, and the kids would arrive on Tuesday.  Since we had decided to drive to Palermo to pick them up and show them around, Dan and I rented a car for a couple of days to do some exploring of our own and take care of some necessary errands.  He put out 10 requests to various local rental car places, and one got back to him with availability.  This was actually quite lucky since August in Italy IS their holiday time.  This also means everywhere is overrun with people….lots and lots of people.

A Zoe sandwich of 90 foot plus sailboats on each side

We picked up the car on Monday and headed for the town of Marsala.  This is the region known for the Marsala wines.  After bumbling around, we stumbled on a winery and popped in for a tasting. The winery welcomed us in with open arms despite us not having a reservation, and a big group of people already well into their tour.  They had a huge table laid out with nibbles, and a multitude of bottles of every variety of Marsala.  The owner pulled aside a young woman who spoke very good English, and she quickly brought us up to speed.  When they cut people loose for the tasting, it was like a free for all.  It was a pour your own tasting and taste as many things, as much as you want.  Everyone bellied up to the banquet tables where they proceeded to park themselves and strap on the food and drink bag.  I stood off to the side, quite overwhelmed by the whole scene.  Our young hostess kept telling me to get in there and try some things.  I told her it was too crowded for me.  I am accustomed to people going in and putting some food on their plate, filling their glass and then stepping aside for others.  Nope!  Not here!  They parked two deep all around the tables like the goodies might run out.  I did eventually get in there and taste some things that were quite yummy.  She then took us outside to see a truckload of grapes coming in and being dumped into the hopper for crushing (only some of us opted to leave the “trough” to see the sight).  We were told that due to the very hot and dry conditions this year, the grapes had to be harvested now instead of in September, or they risked losing them.  After we had more than enough samplings of Marsala, we got a private tour (the part we missed with the group) of their facilities.  It was quite fascinating.  Then we ended our experience in the wine shop where of course we purchased a lot of goodies.  It must’ve been a lot since they kept giving us free stuff!

A free for all of food and Marsala wine
Had an opportunity to watch the harvest – in August – due to the heat
An impromptu class on Marsala wine
So many wines…so little time!
It was a hairy descent into the wine cave!
Deep in the bowels of the winery where the extra reserve Marsala wine is aged
Beautiful Marsala

The rest of our day was spent running around doing errands (not fun).  We hit a sporting goods store to buy a new SUP (ours blew up in the heat a few weeks earlier) and a new pump (also blew up).  The salt water and salt air environment are definitely hard on everything.  We went to a hardware store for some materials for the boat, a home goods store for some new pillows, and the grocery store to get provisions before the kids arrived.  Definitely not the most fun part of our day, but the winery closed at 3:00 for the day, so we had to get that in early.  Trapani is a very lovely town.  At night, the streets come alive with people and music.  Beautiful lighted decorations arched from one side of the pedestrian area to the other creating a very magical atmosphere.  Of all the places to hunker down for 5 days, we truly enjoyed both our marina and the town.

Trapani has it’s charms!
Lovely walking the old town

The following day, we had an hour drive to the Palermo airport to pick up Richard and Denise.  They had left Phoenix, Arizona the day before….flew to Atlanta then Rome then Palermo.  It was a very long journey for them, but they planned to hit the ground running until they could go no more.  We headed into the city center of Palermo, Sicily where we wandered the streets taking in all the sights.  As is everywhere here, tourist season was in full swing, and the streets were mobbed with people.  We wandered the sights for a couple of hours and then headed out in the direction of the boat.  We made a stop at a sight called Segesta which housed a beautiful archeological park.  Here we explored one of the most amazing ruins complexes in Sicily.  The temple itself is remarkably well preserved and has sat unfinished for over 2500 years.  It was built in the 5th century.

Rich and Denise in Palermo!
Palermo Cathedral
Wandering the streets of Palermo
Summertime means crowds!
Wonderful Segesta, home to a well preserved Greek Temple

Once we had our fill of the ruins, it was time to head to the boat.  We got the kids settled in, and after a much desired shower, they were perked up and ready to go again.  Since we would be leaving the following morning, we wanted to show them Trapani and the hilltop town of Erice.  At the base of the mountain is a gondola which takes you to the top of the mountain.  The views were incredible looking out over vineyards, farmlands, city, and sea.  We had a reservation for dinner at a panoramic restaurant with similar views.  We enjoyed a very nice dinner overlooking Trapani and the sea while very ominous, storm clouds rolled their way over top of us.  By now the kids were running on fumes, so we headed back down the mountain and back to the boat.

Gondola ride to the hilltop town of Erice
Ready for fun!
Sunset dinner with a wonderful hilltop view

The next morning we explored a little bit of Trapani, took care of formalities for the boat and our crew and were off once again.  We had about a 4 hour day down the west coast of Sicily to San Capo Lo Vito.  Fortunately the winds had died down, but the forecasted seas were not as slight as they were suppose to be.  Before long, we were rolling around in 6 foot seas hoping the kids didn’t want to jump ship as soon as we hit solid ground.  We opted for a marina again since the anchorage is known to be quite rolly, and we wanted them to be comfortable as they adjusted to boat life.  This was a popular beach town, and it was quite adorable as well.  All the streets and alleys were strung with lights; shops and restaurants were bustling; and music was playing all around the town.  We had some dinner and wandered the streets enjoying the night life.  Before long, we headed back to the boat for an early morning start.

One last wander through the old town of Trapani
Rich and Denise settled into boat life quickly
Arriving in San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily
San Vito Lo Capo has a great summer beach town vibe

Our next leg was going to be a long one for our new crew.  They had agreed to do an overnight passage with us.  It didn’t require them to do anything, but it would mean being trapped on the boat for an 8 hour run followed by 24 hours.  We decided to break it up the best we could which meant an  8 hour journey to the island of Ustica.  Dan had reached out to see about reserving a mooring ball, and they said yes.  Nothing else.  That should’ve been our first sign.  The sea swell had also not died down like the forecast said (and we told the kids).  So, we spent 8 long hours trudging through 3-6 foot swells.  When we finally arrived, we saw no open mooring balls.  There was no room for us to anchor given the depths surrounding the island.  We also buzzed by the tiny harbor.  Nope, no way we were fitting in there.  Dan finally reached someone by phone, and we were promptly told there were no mooring balls to fit us (biggest one we saw said 5 ton limit….we are 16 tons).  Our crew looked very crushed when we told them we were unable to stay here and had to press on.  This meant a 24 hour passage after already doing 8 and the excitement of being finished for the day.

Very long passage from Sicily to Amalfi Coast!
Passage time means reading books, fishing and naps
Sunset at sea

We rolled into Minori on the Amalfi Coast late in the afternoon the following day.  The marinero’s came out and helped tie us up to forward and stern mooring balls, and we were finally settled in.  This was a very popular spot for locals on speed boats and other motorized watercraft which meant it was incredibly rolly. We bounced around in 2-3 foot swells which was NOT fun.  The day hot so we tried to make the most of it and swim anyways.  At night time, everyone in the area left and the water was calm and quiet.  We had amazing views of the town and coastline.  The next day, Dan’s niece and her boyfriend came out to the boat to spend the day with us swimming, jumping off the boat and a nearby cliff, and having a great time.  That evening, we wandered the town of Minori taking in the sights and enjoying drinks and dinner on shore.

Arriving Minori, Amalfi coast
Mooring ball field in Minori
Post passage recovery – in the water
Brianna and Tanner joined us for the afternoon
Fun was had by all!

We were all in this particular location (and why we were covering so many miles at break neck speed) to attend Dan’s nephew’s wedding in the hilltop town of Ravello overlooking the Amalfi Coast.  We arrived Thursday evening, and when Sunday rolled around, we were all meeting in Amalfi for a 4 hour boat tour of the coastline along with swimming.  We took the ferry to Amalfi where we met up with the group (60 people!).  We were loaded on to several different boats, and off we went.  This turned out to be a very rough, 4 hour adventure.  We made 3-4 different swim spot stops, and each one got worse in terms of the sea.  Ironically, this had nothing to do with weather conditions.  It was all caused by the massive amount of power boats and ferries transiting all these hot spots and kicking up 3 foot swell and waves.  Unfortunately, this meant a lot of people were not feeling well and some became very seasick.  Many powered through and enjoyed swimming, exploring sea caves, jumping off the larger boat’s roof, and even a cliff (much to the horror of the mother of the groom and mother of the best man).  Luckily all was fine.  We returned from the boat trip in the late afternoon and then needed to move Zoe about an hour away in order to put her in a marina.  We would be heading up to Ravello for a few days and were not comfortable leaving her on a mooring ball in case weather came up.

Wedding party boat heading out for fun!
So much fun!
Positano, Amalfi coast

We were tied up in a very small marina Sunday evening in a town called Cetara.  Once again, we headed out into the town to check out the scene.  The next morning, our crew headed to Naples to go explore Pompeii while Dan and I did boat chores.  Ahhhh, the joys of owning a boat.  We would meet them in Ravello in the late afternoon at our B & B.  Getting to Ravello from where we were turned out to be a very painful experience…..especially late afternoon.  We took a 45 minute ferry back to Amalfi and then hoped on 45 minute, very crowded bus to Ravello.  This entailed some one lane parts of the road and switchbacks the whole way up.  Once we arrived, we had to lug our bag up the hill some more before finally arriving at our room, a hot sweaty mess.  Tonight would be another wedding event…..a welcome party.  We wandered up to a pizzeria set on beautiful gardened grounds.  At midnight, Dan and I wandered back to the room while some of the others looked for places to after party.

We put Zoe in a marina for a few days while we headed inland. It was tight gap for our wide boat!

The following day was wedding day.  We wandered the town with Rich and Denise exploring the views; all the beautiful, little shops with their handmade wares; and a stunning villa perched on the side of the hill.  We found a spot offering limoncello tasting and tried a variety of flavors before purchasing a few of our favorites.  We enjoyed a nice lunch, where we paid way too much for way too little, but the views were incredible.  It was time to go back, cool off and rest, and then get ready for the main event.  This was a black tie optional affair, so we were all decked out to the nines.  All the guests convened in one location until we were given the signal to make our way up to the venue.  Once again, the venue grounds and views were stunning.  The wedding was quite special as it was tailored very specifically to the couple.  We then enjoyed a cocktails and small bites reception before being escorted into the main tents for the dinner portion of the event.  Yep, you guessed it….it was breathtaking as well.  The dinner was multi course, very yummy, and beyond what a normal person could consume in one meal.  There was of course dancing afterwards, and at midnight, Dan and I said our goodbyes while everyone else went inside for the after party that lasted until 2 a.m.  We would have liked to have joined, but we had a 7:30 a.m. bus, followed by a 45 minute ferry, and a 10:15 departure from the marina for a 6 hour passage north.  Ughhhh.  I am worn out!

Almost 900 miles from launch across three countries and we sailed to the wedding!
Enjoying Ravello
Villa Ruffalo in Ravello
So many charms in Ravello.
Wedding vows with a great view!
The happy couple
Time to have a party!

I have taken you on a rather long journey this go around, so I will leave you here for now.  The day after the wedding, Richard and Denise left us to go explore Rome and then head home to the U.S. the following day.  Dan and I are headed north up the coast of Italy toward Rome where we will meet my sister and brother-in-law in a few days.  Stay tuned for more adventures along west coast of Italy and various islands along the way.

Time to say a sad goodbye to Rich and Denise as they start to head home

Good-bye Africa, Hello Sicily!

When we embarked on our kitchen remodel, the local team was very hesitant about being able to get everything done by the time we needed to depart Tunisia.  The first problem was that they were all on vacation until August 12th (we were talking to them on August 6th).  The owner of the Corian company sent his architect to our boat the following day despite it being her vacation.  They assured us that the design would be sent to the fabricator, and they would put a rush on our order to begin as soon as vacation was over.  They said we should have our counters by the 15th or 16th (Thursday or Friday), and our installer said he only needed a day or two.  If you will recall, we had to be in Sicily to pick up our kids, and we were watching a weather system once again.  We were on the ragged edge of being able to leave on time.  I think they saw our worry because our architect and the fabricator drove out a second time to take final measurements and design details.  Three days later (August 11th….still during their vacation), they arrived with our brand new counters!  We were in shock!  Our galley was completed by Monday.  Talk about an amazing work ethic.  We will forever be grateful for the speed and quality of everyone involved.

Our new galley counters under construction in Tunis
Here they are! 3 days later!
New counters look great
Yosri and Dan rate this job a big thumbs up!

We were still bound to Tunisia for a bit since we were having some canvas work done as well.  We had a guy making us chaps for our dinghy (they are made of Sunbrella fabric and covers the PVC pontoons to protect them from sun damage).  They need to be custom fit and take a fair amount of time to make. He was also doing some repair work on various things on board.  Once he was done, we would be on our way. 

Dinghy chaps underway
Nearing completion. They look good too!

While we were waiting, we explored a few different restaurants that were quite good.  We went to one in the old port that the marina had recommended to us.  We sometimes forget that you have to be very careful when asking about dishes when dealing with language barriers because they think you are ordering it.  We had asked about a dish called Brik Thon.  I knew that Thon was tuna, but I did not know what Brik meant.  I still didn’t understand even after I asked.  In the end, we ordered two lamb dishes that sounded interesting.  To start, they served up this spicy fish soup and some sort of vegetable mix (at least that’s what I think it was).  The soup was very good, but I didn’t care for whatever the vegetable stuff was (very bland with not much flavor).  I didn’t want to be insulting, so I dumped it into my soup.  That helped.  Next came the Brik Thon…..yep, didn’t order it, but ended up with it.  It was this paper thin, tortilla like thing (I think made from cheese) that was folded in half with a large tuna filet and egg inside.  It was then deep fried and came with a wedge of lime.  Well, I guess I would be trying it after all.  I was really glad that we “accidentally” ordered it….it was quite delicious.  When our lamb arrived, it came slow cooked in a large pottery amphora.  Talk about exotic.  It was quite yummy as well.  Since Tunisia is a Muslim country, alcohol is forbidden except in resorts and places like that. So, most of the restaurants we frequented did not serve wine or beer.

Brik Thon – a Tunisian staple. Picture from the internet
Slow cooked lamb in a ceramic amphora. It was very tasty
Very different vibe in the restaurants than we are used to!

As we spent the day lounging around on the boat, Dan tells me that an American flagged boat just came in to port.  What????  We rarely see American flagged boats in Europe, so seeing one in Africa was a real shock.  The next question is always whether or not it is a “real” American flagged boat.  You may be wondering why.  We have seen many boats flying tiny American flags off their back (mostly in Montenegro) and showing a Delaware registration.  Turns out this is a huge tax dodge used by many Russians.  The thing that always bothers me is when we go to say hi, they act disgusted that we assumed they were Americans.  Don’t fly my flag if you’re disgusted by Americans!   Anyway, back to the story.  It turns out that these were legit Americans!  They had sailed a long way over from Key West, Florida via the Azores. We invited them to stop by and say hi, which they did.  We agreed to meet up the following morning in order to show them where all the necessities were in Bizerte like our Swiss friends did for us. 

Reggie and Terry from a Passport 42 “Lucia”

The following morning we met at the dock and walked them to the bottle shop.  This was a special little shop next to the grocery store with very specific hours each day, no windows, and behind a steel door.  This was where you could go to buy beer, wine and liquor.  As far as we knew, this was the only one in Bizerte…..very clandestine, as you can imagine.  We showed them the mini market next door, several ATM’s, and then we headed to the huge outdoor market.  We all bought various fruits, vegetables and meats.  We decided we were done (the experience here can be quite overwhelming) and started back to the boats with our haul of goodies.  All of a sudden, we were stopped by this older man.  He claimed that he knew us from the marina and that his fishing boat was there.  I’m thinking, “Of course you know we are from the marina.  We don’t look like locals, and you probably heard us talking in American English.”  After all, Tunisia is not a typical American tourist destination.  So he proceeds to insist on showing us the market and around the area.  We try to explain to him that we’ve already been to the market and our backpacks are full of food.  He leads us back through the market and meat area explaining things to us.  He then takes us away and down a narrow alley.  Hmmm, this could get interesting.  Before we know it, he is playing tour guide and showing us these hidden gems of a Turkish settlement area, the Kasbah, and local trade shops in these tiny stone rooms.  He explained that the door knockers on the homes had specific meaning back in historical times. The number of hands on the knocker showed how many families lived in a house and others were circles that showed that there were no children in the home.  He showed us homes that were once stables for the horses and dromedaries.  That was another piece of learning….they are dromedaries if they have 1 hump and camels if they have 2 humps.  Both are still camels, but they are differentiated in Arabic.  Who knew?!

Very fresh chicken at the local market
Our “guide” explaining the various door knockers used in the Kasbah
Our itinerant guide showing us around
So much symbology on one door
Dar El Kasbah – the old city
One of many small craft shops in the Kasbah
Fellow American sailors, Reggie and Terry
Sights of the Kasbah
We enjoyed wandering the byzantine streets of the Kasbah

After about an hour of exploring, we tried to extricate ourselves (remember, we had meat in our backpacks).  He finished our tour and when we offered a gift, he demanded 20 euro!  Our friends gave him the 20 euro, and he tried to get more.  Grrrrr…..I don’t like being fleeced.  I knew money was going to be expected but certainly not THAT much.  We finally broke free and headed back to the boat. 

Saying goodbye to our “tour guide” – he was quite the character.

Since we were planning to leave Tunisia the following morning, we made plans to have our new American friends and our two UK boat neighbor friends over for drinks later that evening.  We had a great time hanging out on Zoe swapping stories and sharing drinks with our new friends.  Before long, it was time to say goodnight since we (and the other American couple) were leaving Tunisia in the morning.  Although we were headed in opposite directions, we both had a long overnight passage ahead of us.

The following morning, we headed to the fuel dock to fill up and start the check out procedures.  This was quite the process.  Since Zoe is less than 12 meters, we were supposed to have free electricity and water.  The girl looked at our boat document which said Zoe is 40 feet.  She kept saying that our boat paper says 40 and Dan kept trying to explain to her that the measurement was in feet not meters.  He finally said, “look at my boat….does that look like 40 meters to you?!”  Yeah, we’d love to have a 40 meter boat….haha.  In the end, they sorted it out.  Then came, my least favorite part….the officials.  In the end, the whole process took us almost 2 hours, AND we were asked for a “gift” for creating the paperwork for our tax documentation.  Grrrr….now I’m mad and disgusted.  I was so pleased with the officials when we arrived.  Now, they left a bad taste in my mouth.  He ended leaving with nothing.  Yep, that was a big enough turn off for me that I will not be returning to Tunisia.  As you can imagine, this left us feeling very flustered and out of sorts.  We finally cast lines and started on our way.  We had been underway for about 20 minutes and just about to raise our sails when Dan received a phone call.  Uh oh.  The same official who we didn’t receive a parting “gift” informed us that they still had our passports!!!  Damn it!  We had to turn around and go all the way back!  Normally, we are really good about checking that we have all our documentation, but the little “gift” episode left us flustered.  Two very nice, young officers (not the gift seeker) were waiting at the end of the fuel dock as we pulled up and made the handoff of our passports.  They were very apologetic and told us to double check that these were in fact our passports.  They were good, and we were off once again.

Approaching the fuel dock for some cheap Tunisian diesel

We were happy to be able to get out of Tunisia on Friday because another weather system was due to arrive on Sunday.  We wanted to be sure we were able to get ourselves to Sicily for our son’s arrival and get there before the weather came.  As it was, the wind from the past few days left us with some rather rambunctious sailing conditions anyway.  For the first 5 or so hours of our passage, we had winds of 20-25 knots on a broad reach (behind us) and we were surfing 6 foot waves.   Zoe was hitting 10 knots surfing these waves which is a speed we have never seen on her.   It was all quite loud (from the large wake we were leaving at that speed) and a bit stressful as the autopilot was working very hard to keep us from broaching on the surfs. We also had a nerve wracking chunk of time where we were playing frogger with huge cargo ships and ferries.  We ended up calling one of the cargo ships on the VHF radio as we were on a collision course, and they assured us that we were okay to hold our course and speed, and they would take necessary action to avoid us.  As nice as it was to be flying along under sail, we were ready for the winds to come down a bit and the seas to tamp down.  Luckily, that came at nightfall.  As I’ve said before, I do not like night sailing.  In the 4 weeks we have been on Zoe, this was our 3rd 24+ hour passage!  The nice thing was we had an almost full moon which cast a nice glow across the water.  There were a lot of storm clouds as well which sometimes hid the moon, but we got no rain or thunderstorms.  Moonlit night sails aren’t so bad since the sea is illuminated.  When it is pitch black out, the sensory deprivation is very unsettling.

Pictures never do justice to swell
We needed to cross this busy shipping channel between Tunisia and Sicily
We called this cargo ship on the VHF to clarify intentions as we were on a collision course

As the sun began to rise, the Egadi Islands off the coast of Sicily came into view.  By now, the sea was very calm and the winds began to die off (always a good thing when you are planning to dock).  We rolled into the city of Trapani where we were met by marina personnel who dinghy escorted us in to our spot.  Two guys were on dock to assist with lines and before long, we were all tied up.  We were definitely in good company in the sense that we were the smallest boat on the dock.  We were surrounded by very large boats complete with staff.  The border police came to the marina office to check us in which was quick and easy.  We both felt a huge sigh of relief that we were home.  Wait, we are not Italian or home.  It’s just that we finally felt relaxed and back in our comfort zone after a few weeks in a very exotic locale.  We headed below deck for some much needed sleep after sailing for 24 hours on very small cat naps.  Later that night, we headed into the city for some dinner and exploration.  I have to say, we really like Trapani.  The alleyways were all lit up with bright colored lights and bustling with activity.  We definitely plan to spend some more time exploring this wonderful place.

Lighthouse on one of the Egadi Islands near Sicily. Getting close now.
Trapani Harbor – Sicily
Playing follow the dinghy to our mooring location
Catamaran sandwich – we were the smallest boat on the pontoon by far!
Our passage – just under 24 hours underway for 138 Nautical miles

So, we are happily sitting in a very nice marina in a very nice town in Sicily.  We are awaiting the arrival of the next Mistral (wind storm) and the arrival of family.  We plan to meet our son and his wife by rental car in Palermo.  We will spend some time showing them around before bringing them back to Zoe and heading out for some more sailing fun.  Stay tuned for more highlights from Sicily as we make our way to the Amalfi Coast.

Wandering Trapani
This town has Italian charm!

Welcome to Africa!

After saying goodbye to our friends Chris and Heather earlier that morning, we departed the marina in Cagliari, Sardinia at 11:30 a.m. on August 2nd.  We had originally planned on spending a few days exploring this town but the marina fees were quite steep -over $200 per night! So rather than ride out a multi day windstorm coming our way, we decided to leave after just one night. Our destination was 20 hours away in Bizerte, Tunisia, and we had a great window to cross and outrun a nasty Mistral wind complete with thunderstorms. 

If we didn’t leave on Friday the next few days were nasty!

We were kind of coming full circle.  Back 6 years ago, we had bought Zoe in Hammamet, Tunisia.  Over the past years, we had always taken Zoe to Montenegro or Albania to reset our tax clock as an American flagged boat.  Since we had moved from the eastern Mediterranean to the western Mediterranean, those locations were no longer an option (way too far away).  Given where we were (Italy), Tunisia was really our only logical option for taking Zoe out of the EU.  I can’t say I was super excited about going to Tunisia, only because we are American on an American flagged boat.  We had already been warned by an Italian sailor we met in Cagliari that Americans were not liked here…..go figure.    

It wasn’t long before the winds had begun to kick up.  The nice part was the winds were from a great direction, and we were able to sail. The down side was that it was really gusty and not consistent.  We put a reef in our main (to reduce the amount of sail in case of higher winds) ahead of time, so that we were prepared for the winds as they continued to rise.  Our reef line system has a lot of friction which requires Dan to be up on the coach roof to work with them, so we didn’t want to wait until things got dicey for him to be out on top of the deck.  This turned out to be a smart idea as we did encounter some very gusty conditions, and at times we were hitting boat speeds 0f almost 9 knots (which is fast for Zoe).  I took the first shift from sunset into the dark which would also give me the dark shift into sunrise….2 damn night shifts….yuck!  Dan’s reasoning (uh huh….I think I’ve been scammed) was because I have a sharper eye for seeing fish traps in the water, and we would be closer to shore at that point.  Whatever.  As I came on for my first watch, the lightning was already flashing in the distance….great.  There was also a tremendous amount of boat traffic between the island of Sardinia and Tunisia.  Oh boy, more fun.  Luckily, all the boats appeared to be broadcasting on AIS, so I was easily able to monitor where they were in relation to us.  All the boats in the middle of the sea turned out to be fishing boats.  I was very grateful that they were the large ones that broadcasted their position instead of the unmarked small ones we sometimes come across.  We were barely ahead of the incoming wind which allowed us to sail and then motor sail the entire way.  

Keeping alert during watch is important when crossing a busy shipping channel

I finished my 6 hour shift, and Dan came up to take his turn.  As I went to lay down to get some sleep, the wind decided to get finicky which meant Dan was fussing with the sails a lot causing a great deal of noise.  Needless to say, I got very little sleep before my next shift which meant I was getting very grouchy at this point.  I was NOT having fun!  The fishing boats were now no longer around, and the cargo ships had arrived.  Again, they were very visible on our screen but seeing them on the sea was tough since the lights on land, as we approached Tunisia, were now visible.  This is one of the reasons I hate sailing in the dark.  I feel like I have a hard time seeing things and determining if they are boats or lights on land since the land is black like the sea.  I was super grateful as the morning glow began, indicating that the sunrise was not far behind.  As we pulled into the bay outside of Bizerte, we were greeted by some dolphins (what a nice welcome)!  We rolled into the marina at 7:45 a.m. (over 20 hours after casting lines in Cagliari,Sardinia the day before).  The wind had moderated and tie up was easy.  We waited for the officials to show up so we could do the check in formalities.  We were very nervous about this as well.  Others have posted about corruption, need for bribes or “gifts, and confiscation of things when they search your boat.  In the meantime, the Mistral had arrived in full force.  The wind was howling and thunder booming.  We had arrived 1.5 hours before it all began…whew!

Dolphins put on a show for us as we neared our destination of Bizerte

The Tunisian border police showed up and escorted us to their office where we began formalities.  There was a lot of paperwork to do with them, and then we were processed with a customs officer.  They told us to check in with the marina, and then they would come to the boat for a search.  All in all, it took about an hour and a half to do the formalities, everyone was super friendly and professional, there was absolutely no corruption or confiscations (other than our drone which they hold until you depart the country, and we already knew that was going to happen).  The officials bent over backwards making us feel comfortable and welcome.  We were very appreciative.  With a huge sigh of relief, we headed below deck for some much needed sleep.  The Mistral was now in full force with dark, ominous clouds all around.  The marinero was frequently checking everybody’s lines to make sure we were all tied up snug.  At one point, he jumped on board so that he and Dan could use the motors to really shank our lines down tight.  The surrounding town looks quite tired, poor and dilapidated, but the marina is very nicely done.  Everyone here at the marina has been super kind and helpful, making us feel extremely welcome.

Six years later Zoe returns to Tunisia – where our adventure all began

The next day, we wandered into the heart of town to get some cash and bottled water.  We don’t know if it was because it was Sunday, but we stumbled on this huge street market. There were colorful and fragrant fruit and vegetable stands as far as the eye could see.  There were also stands peddling local merchandise.  We saw a number of meat markets and walked into one.  I was quite shocked when I looked over and saw crate after crate of live chickens….just laying there in a catatonic state.  Oh geez, talk about fresh!  The words of Dan’s dad came flooding into my mind.  “Where do you think your meat comes from?!”  Me:  “On a styrofoam plate covered in Saran, and I’m keeping it that way!”  I might have to become vegetarian….haha.  Nah, I love meat too much.  We then found the biggest fish market I have ever seen!  Everything was so fresh and looked amazing.  There was every kind of fish and seafood you could imagine.  It was still too windy to grill, we were still tired and a bit overwhelmed, so we decided to come back another time when we are able to grill the fresh fish.

Very very fresh chicken
Bizerte market
Bizerte Fish Market
Breakwater protecting Bizerte Marina
Bizerte Vieux Port (Old Port)
Bizerte Medina

We figured we would look into having some work done on the boat while we were here.  Everyone has talked about how affordable it is to get things done in Tunisia, and we had things that we have been wanting to do for years, but it has been too expensive in France and Italy.  We had the great fortune of being docked next to a boat that was having some major reconstruction done on her, so Dan called the supervisor over to our boat.  We talked to him about redoing our kitchen countertops in Corian and redesigning the layout.  This was an adventure in and of itself since he only spoke French and Arabic.  We managed to muddle through and by the end of the day, he had already made wood templates of our design!  Incredible!  It turns out, he is the owner of a company that builds and rebuilds boats.  He asked if we would like to come see his shop.  I was not super thrilled with the idea.  I always feel a little squishy (uneasy) about getting into a car with a stranger in an unfamiliar country and going somewhere unknown.  Think about it….we are taught our entire life to not get into cars with strangers…..yet, here I go again!  Despite his shop being fairly close, the traffic was horrendous, and you have to cross a big drawbridge.  The problem here is that 4-5 lanes of traffic, from every imaginable direction, funnel into one lane to cross the bridge.  This chaos happens in both directions!  We made it to his shop in a shipyard, and he showed us the boats he was working on, and the molds of some he was building.  He showed us a multitude of photos of the many boats he has worked on.  He was definitely very proud of his work (and it was in fact, quite impressive).  We made a plan with him to drive to the capital city of Tunis the following morning in order to pick our new countertop material.  I wasn’t overly thrilled with this plan either.  It was an hour and a half drive each way!  

Within an hour of asking if he could do the work he showed up with template to get started!
Minaret view as we cross the town drawbridge. We hear calls to prayer several times a day
Yosri and Robyn during our tour of his yard in the nearby town of Zarzouna

Our contractor picked us up the following day and we were on our way.  It was a pleasant drive once we got out of the city.  The landscape was interesting as it went from lush and green to dry and barren desert.  We entered the city of Tunis to the hustle and bustle of a large city.  Our first stop was down an alley to a marble shop.  We were shown 2 pieces of quartz.  Very pretty, but we were confused.  We wanted Corian and more of a color choice.  We were quickly becoming disappointed.  As we handled the piece of quartz, we were very concerned by its thickness and weight.  You might wonder why we would be concerned about weight on a counter top.  One of our counter tops houses a drop in refrigerator which requires a lid that has to be lifted up.  We were also putting a drop in trash bin and sinks with covers  over them.  All of these “lids” would require regular lifting.  Nope, quartz was not going to work for our project.  Our contractor was understanding and took us to another place to look at Corian.  Not sure why we didn’t go there in the first place.  The next place blew our mind.  This was a very elegant showroom….uh oh, I’m seeing dollar signs piling up.  This place had lots of samples to choose from, and we quickly found what we liked.  Soon, the CEO walked in.  He spoke great English and proudly showed us the models of their work.  He also told us that they were the supplier for some major catamaran companies in France.  The stars were aligning (he wasn’t suppose to be in the office that day), his assistant was going to drive down to measure our kitchen despite it being their vacation time, and he was going to put a rush on our fabrication because we had a departure date already set.  At this point, we still didn’t know a price.  Eeesh.  At the end of the day, they sent us the quote.  It was 1/3 the price of any other place we had been quoted for a much better design.  Woo hoo!  We also have a number of other projects underway, and we are super excited.  Stay tuned for how everything turns out!

Success! Found the Corian counter in the style and color we wanted
CEO of the Corian factory who agreed to expedite our order
The fabricator drove an hour and a half each way (twice!) to ensure precise measurements
We appreciated the diligence and attention to detail shown

Our next adventure was back to that crazy, huge street market.  This time we went with our new Swiss friends on the boat next to us.  They had already been several times and knew their way around.  Once you understood how it worked, it went quite smooth.   We walked away with at least 5kg (10+ pounds) of the freshest vegetables you’ve ever seen for a fraction of the price we are used to back home.  We then headed to a stand selling local products.  We picked up some harissa paste, some sort of spicy pepper mix, and locally made olive oil. Everyone was very helpful and kind without any kind of pressure to come buy their things.  Everything had prices clearly listed and the vendors were all friendly and honest. We then went to the bakery for fresh made baguettes and learned there were two lines – one for government subsidized bread (the long line) and normal.    Before heading to the fish market, we stopped at a cafe to experience Arabic coffee.  Dan ordered and thought it was the strongest espresso he ever had but still enjoyed it.   It was already a hot day so I ordered a cold tea.  Unfortunately, I received hot tea (this may have been a blessing in disguise since I have no idea if bottled water was used).  It was spiced with some mint leaves (and unfortunately, some sugar) but it was quite delicious.  I think I may have to buy some mint leaves now.  Our final stop was the huge fish market.  There were so many kinds of fish and seafood.  At this point, we were low on cash (I told Dan he didn’t bring enough!) so we only bought a kilo of yummy prawns.  I really do love them, but I can’t stand having to pull off all their heads.  I plan to go back another day for some other goodies from the sea.

Out and about with our Swiss friends
Fresh produce market
Everyone was honest with no pushiness or haggling needed
Venturing behind the counter for fresh olive oil and other treats
Trying the Harissa spice. YUM
Enjoying the local cafe scene in Bizerte. Arabic coffee is very strong!
Shisha is a big part of cafe culture here.

At this point, we had spent nearly a week with our new Swiss friends having a great time hanging out and swapping stories.  We also met a fun gentleman from the UK and a very nice couple from New Zealand.  One of the best parts of sailing is all the interesting people you meet from all over the world!  We thought we would be leaving Zoe behind to do some inland tours, but that is not shaping up like we had hoped.  The people doing the work on Zoe have been out nearly everyday making sure everything is perfect and that the jobs will be finished on time. So, we will leave you here for now, and be back for an update soon.  We are once again watching a weather system come in and will be threading the needle of leaving Tunisia after our work is done.  Our challenge is that we have our son and daughter-in-law coming in very soon to Sicily where we will pick them up, and then we need to get to the Amalfi coast of Italy for our nephew’s wedding.  We don’t like to sail a schedule, but that seems to be the theme so far this year.  Wish us luck!

Fun Along The West Coast Of Sardegne (Sardinia)

We finally made it back to Zoe in mid-July.  This was definitely our latest season yet, but we had two grandkids celebrating first birthdays this year and could not miss being with them.  When we finally arrived at the boat yard, we were quite crushed to see how filthy the boat had become.  If you will recall, we had spent days polishing her up really nice.  While we did not expect her to still be clean a month and a half later, we did not expect the magnitude of dirt and mud that coated her (all the result of Saharan dust storms).  We had only given ourselves a couple of days to prep the boat before putting her in the water, and it quickly became evident that we needed an extra day.  We had a lot of work done on the boat while we were gone, some of which had problems when we returned.  We had put in new underwater lights and only 1/2 worked.  We had new standing rigging done (the cables and wires that keep the mast up) and now our anchor light did not work.  That was probably the biggest problem.  No anchor light, no anchoring.  Luckily, everyone was very responsive, and we were back and running just in the nick of time.

Zoe alone in her corner of the winter storage yard. Most have launched for summer already.
New underwater lights professionally installed. The ring is new Coppercoat antifoul.
Installed dinghy wheels after discovering how heavy the new dinghy is for beach landings!
Rigger had to return from his summer vacation to redo the wiring to the new anchor light he installed.
We try to keep up with regular maintenance on Zoe. Here we are installing new water pump impellers.
With Zoe in the Provence part of France, good food is always nearby!
Zoe on her way out from storage
On the ramp…
A little stressful to watch but she is a boat again

Once again, we had our eyes on another nasty windstorm and needed to quickly leave the area in order to meet our first guests of the season.  The wind had already begun when they slid us into the water, and we rapidly got underway.  We needed to get to the Italian island of Sardegne (Sardinia in English) which was quite a distance away.  We made our way nearly 7 hours down the south coast of France to an anchorage in order to stage for our overnight (and open water) passage to Sardegne.  I couldn’t believe we were making our first overnight passage the 2nd day of our sailing season while trying to outrun a wicked wind!  Talk about jumping into the frying pan….ugh.

Leaving Port St Louis du Rhone
Approaching Ciotat, our stop for the first night.

At 6:25 the following morning, we were underway for the 175 nautical mile passage.  Our destination was a very beautiful island (Asinara) off the northern tip of Sardegne, and well protected from the incoming Mistral.  Unfortunately, the last 6-7 hours of our 33 hour passage were spent bashing into the waves, reducing our speed greatly.  We grabbed a mooring ball in Cala d’Oliva, in Asinara, where the donkeys and goats wandered the landscape freely.  The water was crystal clear, and the scenery was idyllic.  Ahhh, back to my happy place.  The next day we decided to explore a new cove, slowly moving us closer to our exit point but remaining protected from the Mistral.  Once again, we tied up to a mooring ball.  Here was a much bigger town with a lot more activity.  The wind had long since arrived, and this particular cove was not very well protected from the incoming swell.  By the next morning, we were pitching around in 3 foot swells hitting us on the side.  This meant that things were falling and crashing off the shelves.  We decided to abort a 2nd night here and quickly moved around the corner to another mooring ball field with better protection.  While the wind still howled, there were no waves on the bay making for a much more peaceful stay.

New Starlink up and running.
Look at those crazy speeds!!!
Passages always involve keeping a lookout for things that can run into you and ruin your day
We installed a new server (called “Sailserver”) to track our trips. So far so good.
Land after a long overnight passage is always welcome
The former prison camp of Cala D’Oliva. Italy used to keep political prisoners on this isolated wind swept island.
The island is now a national park and the prison has been turned over to the goats
Robyn doing canvas work with our Sailrite sewing machine
The Mistral wind made our mooring uncomfortable with large swell so we moved to better protected Trabucco Bay.

After 3 days of waiting out the wind, it was time to get moving.  Unfortunately, our departure did not allow enough time for the seas to die down after multiple days of very strong winds.  As we exited the small cut between island and mainland Sardegne, we found ourselves riding the bucking bronco of 3-6 foot swells.  We painfully took them on the nose for a few hours before finally being able to turn and take them from the back corner.  This made for a much more pleasant ride and gave us quite the speed boost as we surfed down the swell.  After a 7.5 hour passage, we arrived in one of our favorite towns, Alghero.  We tied up in a marina, outside the walls of the old city, and began preparations for the arrival of our first guests the next day.

Lighthouse on a Cape near the city of Alghero
One of our favorite beers (Ichnusa) to celebrate the arrival at one of our favorite stops
The new mast rigging was too tight and needed professional adjustment in Alghero

Our friends, Chris and Heather, arrived the following afternoon.  This was their first visit to Zoe, and we were super excited to be able to share our adventures with them.  Once we got them settled and oriented on the nuances of boat life, we grabbed a cab and headed for a winery to enjoy a tasting.  The winery was set on beautiful grounds, and we had a great time trying a variety of different wines.  Of course that resulted in stocking Zoe’s wine coffers for the rest of our trip!  We returned to the boat to drop our goodies, and then headed into the old town where we wandered the cobblestone streets.  Alghero is a beautiful old city with lots of small alleyways containing shops, restaurants and homes.  We took Heather and Chris to a favorite restaurant that we had discovered the year before.  Heather decided to have the lobster dinner.  Much to her dismay, the waiter insisted that she come “meet” her dinner.  He tried to convince her to have the lobster with all the eggs (a delicacy) to which she politely declined.  Dinner was delicious, but I think she could’ve done without the face to face meeting of her dinner.

Visiting Sella and Mosca Winery
So many to choose from – let’s do all of them!
First outing with our visiting friends, Chris and Heather
Dinner at an Alghero restaurant. You pick your dinner and they cook it!

Since our guests only had a week with us, we were on the move every day in order to show them as much as possible.  By 8:30 in the morning, we were on our way to another one of our favorites….the town of Bosa.  This was a short 3.5 hour hop down the coast.  We found a nice spot in the bay and dropped anchor.  Once settled in, we hopped on our paddle boards and headed into the beach bar.  Dan and I were a little slow going since our pump blew out before our SUP was fully inflated.  That was a slow slog!  We returned to the boat where we hung out in the crystal clear water on our floats enjoying some Sardegne beer (Ichnusa).  Yes, this would become a daily ritual.  After, we jumped in the dinghy and headed up the river to the town of Bosa.  We wandered the streets enjoying the scenery (unfortunately it was blistering hot).  Luckily, Chris found us a dinner spot with a table right in front of a giant fan!  As the sun began to set, we jumped back into the dinghy for our cruise back down the river and back to the bay where Zoe awaited.

Hoisting some flags representing our guests onboard. The State of Arizona flag and the Arizona Cardinals football team
Underway with friends for some Sardinian fun
Heather in her Zoe crew shirt. We had good opportunities to sail while they were aboard which can be rare in this part of the world.
Happy hour on Zoe!
You can’t land motorized vessels like our dinghy on beaches in Italy so we took our paddle boards in
Dinghy ride up the Bosa River
Dinner in Bosa
Impromptu Bosa Summer Festival
They know how to do parades here!
Sunset in the Bosa anchorage

The one nice thing about the Mistral (nasty wind in this part of the Med) is that it is always followed by beautiful weather….this time was no exception.  Because the weather was so calm, we decided to go to an island that you can only safely visit in the calmest of weather.  It is known as Isola Mal Vente (island of bad wind).  This was another 3.5 hour sail, but the island did not become visible until we were quite close.  Apparently, everyone else had the same idea as the anchorage and mooring field were packed with boats.  We continued on to a further bay which was a little less crazy.  We grabbed a mooring ball and snorkeled the crystal clear waters.  The boys decided to go explore in the dinghy where they got into a little mischief when some very drunk girls jumped into the dinghy with them, spilling wine all over Dan from head to toe. The boys worked hard to extricate themselves from the situation without causing an international incident.  When they returned, we all jumped into the dinghy and circumnavigated the island which has some spectacular rock formations and land features.  Needless to say, Dan gave a wide berth to the Spring Break scene that was taking place on the sandbar.  We had a wonderful steak dinner on board and then headed into the beach where we had an awesome beach bonfire to top off our evening.

Isola Mal Vente – a deserted island
Having fun with an offshore rock mount
Beach fire fun at sunset!
Deserted island with friends!

The following day, we were on our way again.  I told you this was a whirlwind journey (I think we wore our guests out)!  Our original plan had been to anchor in a beautiful bay surrounded by incredible rock cliffs with caves to explore.  Unfortunately, an onshore wind had kicked up making it feel very unsafe to spend time at anchor.  It had already been a very long day, but we decided to pull up anchor and head to the town of Carloforte where we would tie up in a marina.  In the end, it was a 9.5 hour passage (too long for any of us) and getting tied up in a crosswind had all four of us on our toes.  Finally, we were safely tied up and ready to relax.

Approaching Masua anchorage
Masua and Proto Flavio

We had a little later departure the next day as the wind was still a little rambunctious.  Once there was a lull, we got underway to our next destination, Porto Pino.  The wind did kick up once again, and we were cracking along, under sail, at almost 8 knots of boat speed (really fast for our big girl).  The boys decided this would be a great time to fly the drone over Zoe to catch her under full sail.  We had never done this before for fear of losing the drone in the water.  With just two of us, you can’t fly the drone, land it on a moving object and drive the boat.  This was the perfect time with me driving the boat, Dan flying the drone, and Chris ready to snatch it from the air when we brought it back down.  Problem was, Dan lost sight of it and the drone returned to its launch position.  With the motors on, I flogged the genoa (front sail), spun us around and motored back in the direction we had come from.  Before long, we spotted the drone high in the sky, and Dan brought the drone down with Chris snatching it from the air.  We realized later, we had done all of this with a fishing line still in the water…..oops….that could have wrapped our prop and ended badly!  Soon, we were back on our way to the bay.  Porto Pino is a very large, beautiful anchorage in white sand, making the water stand out as a beautiful expanse of turquoise blue.  The beach itself had a  number of lovely beach bars and sand dunes.  Since it was still a little windy (with choppy water), we decided to take the dinghy up the canal to the town and swim later when the wind died down.  We cruised up the canal and wandered the quaint little town checking out the local specialty shops and bought some goodies.  We then headed to a beach bar for some cocktails, calamari and fries.  That evening, Heather decided to do some hand fishing off the back of the boat.  We turned on the underwater lights as she dangled some tasty beef fat in the water.  As the evening got later, more and more interesting things started to make their way to the lights.  Before long, we had an octopus checking out what was happening in the water under us.  Then, something big darted in and out of the darkness.  It moved too fast to figure out exactly what it was, but everything scattered, including the octopus which buried itself in a sand divot, trying to stay out of sight.  Our best guess is that it may have been a small shark.

Drone shot of Zoe under sail…almost lost the drone!
It was stressful flying the drone underway but love the pictures!
Happy hour at Porto Pino
New underwater lights work great!

We were down to 2 more nights with Heather and Chris.  Boy did time fly.  We headed to our final anchorage of their visit, Malfatone.  We tucked up deep in the bay across from another nice looking beach bar.  Once again, the water was crystal clear with lots of sea grass below us.  You can usually find a lot more sea life when there is sea grass present, allowing the fish to hide.  We snorkeled and played in the water before calling the beach bar for a pick up.  At this point, we were all craving a nice burger and fries.  Unfortunately, when we opened up the restaurant menu, it was not your usual bar fare.  It was a lot of seafood and pasta with a very gourmet flair (and gourmet price).  Sadly (I know….poor us), we all found something we could live with to eat for lunch.  Don’t get me wrong, the food was very good….just not what we were all craving.  Chris managed to sweet talk one of the staff members into selling the boys a couple of their staff shirts which were quite nice.  As the sun began to go down (and it became a little cooler), we took the dinghy into a cove and hiked up the hill to the remains of a watch tower.  The 360 degree view with an ice cold beer was spectacular!

Heading into a beach bar for some fun
Exploring at sunset
We hiked to an ancient watch tower

Well, the dreaded day had arrived.  It was our very last passage with Chris and Heather on board.  We were headed to the big city of Cagliari where they would leave us the following morning to make their way back to the states.  We tied up in a small marina which was half the price of the ones closer to town.  We soon learned why when the electrical breaker continuously tripped every time we turned on the air conditioner.  Uh oh…..this was going to be a long night!  We decided to head out to the heart of the city where there was a huge indoor market and called for a cab.  This was a bit of a disaster as one company kept hanging up on us.  In the end, we almost had an international incident when 2 different cabs showed up.  Dan managed to sort it out (with a little money for cab number 2, of course), and we were on our way.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to the market, they were 15 minutes from closing, so a lot of the shops had already closed.  It had everything imaginable, and I was disappointed to not have had hours to spend time shopping.  We did manage to buy a variety of yummy cheeses.  We then walked to a highly reviewed restaurant that was definitely off the tourist beat.  It was very good.  We then struggled (we cannot use our usual Google translate when talking on a phone) to get a cab back to the marina.  Luckily, a Brit had come by and spoke in Italian to the cab company for us, and we were all set.  As we sat in the cockpit relaxing that evening, the fish in the marina were going crazy.  Something very big was thrashing around making quite a ruckus in the water.  No mater how hard we tried, we could not see what was causing the commotion.  Whatever it was, we could see that it was very big as it bumped into the boats during its hunt.  We needed to make this an early night as Chris and Heather had a 5:00 a.m. cab booked to catch their flight to Rome.  The time had gone by way too fast.

Trying the local cheeses
We do love cheese…
Cagliari market near closing time – 2pm
Friends enjoying Cagliari!

Dan and I had our own dilemma.  We would be leaving Sardegne for Tunisia in order to get our boat out of the EU.  Since our boat is American flagged and not tax (VAT)paid, we are only allowed to have her in EU waters for 18 months before either leaving or paying the tax (24% on their perceived value of our boat!  No thank you!).  Our dilemma was that another big Mistral was on the way, and the marina in Sardegne had no room for us to stay until it was over.  The mistral was bringing very high winds followed by very nasty seas (6-10 feet).  Our choice was to leave as soon as possible after Chris and Heather left (Friday) or wait until Tuesday for the seas to die down.  I had no desire to anchor out during that mess, and Dan didn’t want to move to the nicer marina for 200 euro per night (can’t say I blame him).  The passage to Tunisia was going to be 20 hours, and we would barely be in front of the weather as it came in.

The Mistral wind blows from France certain times of year, and we avoid them when we can!

We walked our guests out of the marina at 4:50 a.m. and sadly said our goodbyes.  Dan and I returned to the boat to catch a couple more hours of sleep before our overnight passage.  Once up, we walked to the other end of town to start the process of checking ourselves and the boat out of Italy.  Turned out to be a fairly easy process (for once).  As we got Zoe ready to go, we soon discovered what had been making all the ruckus in the water the night before.  Swimming through the marina were 4 dolphins!  It was so great to see.  Our final challenge was getting underway early enough to stay ahead of the weather, but not so early that we arrived in Tunisia in the dark.  We were underway at 11:30 a.m. with the hope of arriving in Tunisia at 7:30 a.m. the following day.  With that, I am going to leave you here, hopefully on the edge of your seat, and we will return soon with tales of our crossing and adventures in Tunisia!  Thanks for following along with us!

From Marseille, France to Cagliari, Italy. We put a lot of miles on (by our standards) in two weeks!

There’s A Storm A-Brewin’

It was well forecasted.  The wicked mistral had finally reared its ugly head.  We had been watching the forecast for nearly a week and each day praying that it would moderate or just plain go away.  It was not going to be pretty.  Each day we watched, and each day the forecasted winds grew along with the number of days.  Before long, it went from 1-2 days to 4-5 days.  Wind gusts were going to be over 50 knots.  Ugh!  My fun meter was rapidly approaching zero.  We were fortunate that Dan found a marina spot for us….sort of.  Unfortunately, this marina was not protected by a breakwater, and was on a floating pontoon which was only installed for the summer months.  While perfectly safe, it did guarantee that both the pontoon and the boats would be pitching around violently….and they were!  This was going to be a long and painful few days.  To make matters worse, we were expecting our next set of guests, one being new to the sailing life.  Emil and Carrie would be joining us, and we were really hoping this would not spook them off.  Emil had sailed with us once before and had unfortunately been indoctrinated by a nasty storm at the beginning of his trip.  He may start thinking this is how all sailing journeys begin!

Dan I spent the day getting Zoe prepared for what was to come.  We secured spring lines to minimize our side to side movement.  We went to the nautical shop and bought some steel spring line dampeners and chain.  These attached to the dock with chain and then to our lines to help ease the snapping pressure on the lines.  We had everything rigged and felt pretty good.  That evening we headed into town for some pizza and ended up sitting at a table next to another cruising couple.  We learned that they were out in the anchorage, and they gave a shudder when we told them where we were tied up.  They explained to us how rough it was on these piers with the boats pitching one way and the pier pitching another.  Needless to say, we were a little concerned.  They tried to make us feel better by reassuring us that our catamaran probably would not pitch around as much as a monohull. 

Ouch…this wind forecast is not pretty

The storm arrived the following day and quickly escalated.  We watched a couple of boats come in early, and it was a nightmare.  One very large catamaran required 3 marineros, one who was on a high speed tender, to assist them with docking.  They had 3 very failed attempts to get the boat docked, and in the end, one of the marineros jumped on board and docked it for them while the others jumped on board to quickly tie them up.  The first night of the storm, we were up all night long, taking only brief catnaps.  The wind howled, the boat cracked and creaked like it was ready to explode, and the dock pitched violently.  Winds became sustained at 25-35 knots and gusts went from 40-50 knots.  At one point, the chain on our leeward (the side away from the wind) stern line snapped, and we were no longer tethered to the dock on one corner.  Luckily, we still had 8 other lines holding us in place.  When we hit a brief lull in the wind, we reattached the stern line and added another.  By the end, we had 10 lines to various points on our boat.  Most of the wives and kids vacated their boats for the comfort of a hotel, and left their husbands to oversee the safety of the boat.  Not me….I got to stay for the fun!  For 2 1/2 days, we were unable to safely get off Zoe.  The boat was pitching up and down, and the dock was pitching side to side.  The waves inside the bay were 3-4 feet and spraying up and over our decks. So, we rode it out with Zoe.  By the third day, the gusts had come down a bit, so we could get off the boat when there was a lull in the wind.  Of course when we returned, so had the winds and getting on board was quite harrowing.  We managed to stall our guests for another two days in order for the wind and swell to continue it’s decline.  In the end, we were stuck in this “marina” for 6 days!  We were definitely itching to get going. 

This so called “marina” had a lot of chop that pitched us around
Video is the best way to show what the four days of rocking and rolling looked like

Our guests arrived for our last night in the marina, and by early morning we were back under way.  As we exited the Golfo di Aranci, we were treated to a couple of dolphins bidding us farewell.  Our next two days were spent in the beautiful Maddalena Islands off the island of Sardegna.  Here, we explored the crystal turquoise waters, rock reefs, and made an attempt to see one of the famous pink sand beaches.  Unfortunately, you are forbidden from walking or even swimming at the beach.  We were hoping to land the dinghy and hike to an overlook above the beach, but the water was very choppy and there was no nice place to put the dinghy.  So we had to try and take pictures from a distance while getting beat up by the swell and wake from the many other boats coming in to see the beach.  By the time we got back to Zoe, Carrie and I were soaking wet.

A little kayak fun with out new guests
The beauty of the Maddalena islands
Robyn at the wheel
Preparing to grab a national park mooring ball
Unfortunately the mooring balls were very close to our neighbors!
New guests enjoying life on Zoe

After two days, we had a decent weather window to cross from Sardegna to Corsica (the area between the two islands is notorious for funneling wind between the two and making things nasty).  Our destination was the beautiful city of Bonafacio, far up in an amazing fjord.  As we cruised toward the fjord entrance, we saw houses that were perched precariously on the cliffs overlooking the sea.  Entering the fjord, you are surrounded by these amazing limestone cliffs.  Before long, a stunning citadel greeted us, and the bay was lined with incredible looking restaurants and shops.  This was going to be a fun stop!  Our first adventure took us up the steep hill to a nature trail along the cliffs.  Here, we had panoramic views of the sea and the island.  There were also some scattered ruins.  From there we headed to the other side of the cliffs where the fortification stood.  We entered the walled city through massive doors that still housed the original equipment to raise and lower the gates.  Inside the walls were quaint little streets filled with shops, restaurants and cafes.  It was definitely one of the prettiest places we have visited.

The fjord city of Bonifacio!
Bonifacio – One of our favorite stops
Amazing hikes and views
The old fortress city of Bonifacio
Wandering the ancient streets
A stop for crepes and beer – only in france!
Bonifacio by night

The next day, we rented a car and headed inland for some further exploration of the island of Corsica.  Our first stop was a quaint little winery where we tasted some very nice wines from the region (which of course we bought).  We continued on our winding, hilly ascent to the town of Sartene.  We took in the sights, had a nice lunch in the square, and then headed off for some hiking along the coastline.  While we were wandering the town, Dan got a call from the marina telling us we needed to leave.  Uh, that’s not going to work….we are an hour away from the boat.  We had originally booked for one night, but after seeing how beautiful Bonafacio was we asked to stay one or two more nights.  The girl had told us it was perfectly fine, and we could pay the following day.  We were not happy.  In the end, they gave in and let us stay the 2nd night, but said there was absolutely no way for the 3rd night as they were booked full!  Why were they suddenly booked full?  You guessed it….heavy winds were forecasted which is also why we had wanted the third night as well.  We sadly got underway early the next morning. On a positive note, we had a cracking down wind sail on only a reefed genoa.  This area of the Med is definitely a lot more windy than the parts of Greece we had grown use to.

Road trip!
Winery Domaine Saparale
Vineyards during harvest season
Ancient inland city of Sartene
Hiking the Bruzzi Trail
Bruzzi trail charms
Leaving Bonifacio
25 -30 knots of wind on a dead run under reefed genoa sail. Stress free!

We spent the next night anchored along a big sand beach before heading to our next anchorage outside the town of Propriano.  The wind had kicked up higher than expected, along with the swell in the bay.  We took the dinghy and headed into town.  I found myself really happy that I had showered before this excursion since Carrie and I spent most of the ride getting doused in salt water.  Unfortunately, our timing was not ideal so when we arrived in town, everything was closed up for siesta.  We wandered the streets for a bit and then headed to the church at the high point of the town.  Once again, we had awesome views.  Since nothing was open, we headed back to the boat and made the quick decision to move to a more sheltered part of the bay.  This turned out to be a much better decision.  Not only was the water super calm, but we were able to grab a nice mooring ball just outside a quaint little town.  As I got busy making dinner, we noticed a large military looking ship coming in.  It was not just coming in….it was coming straight for us!  Uh oh, looks like we are getting boarded.  Sure enough, the big ship launched it’s dinghy containing 4 heavily armed and uniformed men.  They tied up to us and climbed on board.  They were the customs enforcers of France.  They spent the next 1/2 hour scouring all our paperwork, asking questions, and eventually searching our boat.  Can’t say we’ve ever had THAT experience before.  In the end, they said we were good and went on their way.

Some more kayak fun at a remote beach anchorage
Zoe at anchor
Drone shot of the amazingly clear waters of Corsica
Customs!
Customs boarding party at the ready
Zoe was boarded and searched and all was OK!

The next morning we made our way to the capitol of Corsica, Ajaccio.  Our plan was to grab a mooring ball outside of one of the marinas.  It didn’t take long before we discovered that was not going to happen.  The mooring field was filled with derelict boats both on balls and anchored around them.  We then cruised to the closest anchorage and that was a no go as well.  We headed to the marina (which didn’t look overly appealing either) and asked for a berth.  They told us the tender would be with us once they finished with someone else.  No one ever came, and they stopped answering our calls.  We sat circling in a narrow channel for 30 minutes before a different marina responded to our radio calls and said they would take us.  Talk about a blessing in disguise.  It was a beautiful marina, behind an actual breakwater, in the heart of town.  We were all super excited about our new home for the next few days.

Wonderful Ajaccio, Corsica
Ajaccio sunset with Emil and Carrie
One last dinner aboard before our guests make a sad departure

After 2 days of exploring the city of Ajaccio, we sadly bid farewell to Emil and Carrie, our last guests of the season.  Dan and I decided to go for a walk around the outskirts of the city and happened upon a bunch of American jeeps, tanks, trucks, and weapons from the World War II era.  We soon discovered that 80 years ago today (Sept. 9, 1943), Corsica was liberated by the Americans.  There would be huge celebrations throughout the city to commemorate this historical event, and we were smack in the middle of it!  Flowered wreaths were laid at the base of the monument, the Governor addressed the crowd, and all the branches of service were present.  The color guard did their flag ceremony and the band rang in a most amazing parade of foot soldiers, vehicles, and weaponry from WWII.  The soldiers wore uniforms of that era, and the ladies were decked out in attire for that period as well.  It was quite a sight to see, and gave Dan and I the chills being here to witness it.  Two fighter jets came roaring in over the crowd and it just about brought tears to your eyes as the afterburners shook you to your core.  This has definitely been another destination highlight for me.  Tomorrow, we will bid a sad farewell to Ajaccio as we make our way north on the island of Corsica.  We will only have 2 or 3 more stopovers before we make our crossing to the mainland of southern France.  Stay tuned for more adventures in France!

Great day to be an American in Corsica!
Authentic Sherman tank from WW2
Amazing display of American military vehicles from the WW2 liberation of Corsica
Re-enactment of WW2 American Soldiers
Sherman tank on the move!!
What a great flyover!!!

181 Miles Under Darkness of Night

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).

Passage plan
And we’re underway!
Half way there!
Land ho!
Beautiful Golfo de Palmas
Amazing turquoise waters
Exploring the area by kayak

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.  

Wonderful town of Carloforte
Each can of the locally caught tuna was around 30 euros! That’s over 30 US dollars. No thanks!
Local wild flamingoes

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.

Exploring the ruins of Tharros
Zoe framed by the ancient columns
Up the Spanish Tower
Hiked to the lighthouse on the end of the Cape
Long hike!
Drone picture of the Tharros anchorage

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.

Public dock on the Bosa River
Colorful town of Bosa
Enjoying local Sardinian appetizers

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!

Town of Alghero
Castle views from Zoe
Ancient fortifications
Strolling the castle walls
Happy couple!
My nephew and his fiancé joined us in Algerho

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.

Porto Ferro
Boat shenanigans
Taking the dinghy to shore to explore
Solitude
Amazing turquoise waters of Pelosa
Sand as far as the eye can see at Pelosa

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.

Some dolphins came to play!
Arriving Castelsardo rocking their new crew shirts
Wandering the picturesque alleyways
Up up and more up to the castle
Rented a scooter to better explore. That’s Castelsardo over our shoulder

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.

Beautiful anchorages of the Maddelenas
Terry and Fran with some kayak fun

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.

Watching for shallows as we enter the cove
Exploring the local museum
Hiking Isla Caprera
Mandatory Gelato stop
And that’s a wrap – Terry and Fran return back to the States

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!

I See Dead People

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!

Fish on!! It’s always the cheap handling and not the expensive trolling rig!
Poke bowls and sushi 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.

Pulling a 150 lb dinghy onto the beach for a day of exploration…already tired!
August has been a time for Italian vacations since Roman times. And they do take it seriously!
Atmospheric Cefalu old town streets
UNESCO listed Cathedral from 1131. Erected at the site King Roger II was saved from a shipwreck
Summertime hustle and bustle in Cefalu
Exploring the Temple of Diana high on the hilltop
Long and steep hike to the hilltop fortress but views were worth it
View of Cefalu as we depart for Palermo

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).

Our view of the cliffs 35 meters (about 100 feet) off our stern. Too close for a comfortable sleep!

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!

Fifteen minutes before the rain!
Exploring beautiful Palermo

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

Photo from Atlas Obscura (link above)
Photo from Atlas Obscura (link above)
We saw this first hand and can attest to the remarkable preservation of “Sleeping Beauty”
Nightmare material

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.

Porta Nuova Gate with it’s Arab influence from when Saracens occupied Sicily
Wandering the Palermo street markets
Palermo Cathedral and a colorful tuk tuk
Teatro Massimo and steps from a scene in the Godfather Part III
Hand written menu – in English- this place was a gem!
The street food scene in Palermo is justifiably famous

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!

Mooring Ball Chaos, Boulder Spewing Volcanoes – Welcome to the Aeolian Islands!

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!

Zoe in the mooring ball field – secure – or so we thought

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.

That red light over Robyn’s left shoulder? Meant no hiking the volcano for us!
We hiked to the top of another mountain instead to get our volcano view…
Scooter rental on a sketchy road on a volcano
Dan enjoying the view on a scooter stop
“If you see dead animals or withering of trees…..RUN!”
The mud baths – which were closed during our visit – with supposedly curative properties
Video of carbon dioxide spewing from the sea bed near Zoe

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.

Full service mooring ball field!
With a high crosswind, a marinero used his tender to keep us in position
All tied up and enjoying the picturesque surroundings
Lipari’s castle
Exploring the castle grounds
Lipari and it’s picturesque alleyways
Ornate church in the Castle
Roman Amphorae on display in the museum
Guard house high on the castle walls
View of the neighboring island of Salina
Boarding the tender for our ride back to Zoe

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!  

Approaching the island of Bottaro with a view of Stromboli in the distance
The open water carbon dioxide fumaroles of Bottaro
Front row seats to volcanic activity

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.

Zoe in the Stromboli mooring ball field
Dinghy stowed on shore and hiking gear being prepped
Our hiking target for today -the active caldera of Stromboli!
Many others had the same idea!
We hiked to the top of another mountain instead to get our volcano view…
Quite the fireworks show…fire and massive boulders hurled into the air!

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.

Leaving Stromboli and heading to Salina
A daytime view of the active part of the volcano we had hiked the night before
Stromboli in our wake…

  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.

Charming town on the island of Salina
Dinghy check… dinghy anchor- gone!

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.

Approaching the island of Alicudi
Almost a perfect volcanic cone – the depths around the island drop quick!
With only one road, donkeys were the only way to move goods around the island.
Definitely putting the burden in “Beast of Burden”!
Drone shot of the really steep island of Alicudi with Zoe in the foreground

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!

Leaving Alicudi with a fishing line out – fingers crossed!

Treasures of Calabria

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.

Zoe is thirsty for more fuel after 356 nautical miles. The Med tends to have light winds in summer so we end up motoring than we like. Or scary winds and we stay in port. Days in between are all too rare!

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.

Our Italian friend Vincenzo snapped this picture of us under sail after we decided to return to Crotone
A common meal starter in parts of Calabria is Sardella. It’s a spicy fish paste made from juvenile sardines and mixed with Calabrian red spicy peppers, topped with olive oil and spread on fresh bread – its quite tasty!
Robyn enjoying some homemade seafood pasta
Vincenzo and Chiara – the best Italian hosts!

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.

Leaving Crotone you have to navigate through some off shore oil rigs and workboat traffic
Forecasts in the Med can be fickle, and the forecasts in the Golfo di Squillace especially so. What was supposed to be a light wind day turned into a rollicking beam reach in 25 knot winds
Zoe in Porto delle Grazie in Rocella Ionica

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.

Our cute Italian Fiat high in the Calabrian mountains of Asperomonte National Park
Cooler temps and wonder hikes
Had to deal with rush hour. Felt like parting a sea of sheep…
Well marked trails and beautiful scenery
Climbing up from a waterfall gorge. Off boat adventures can be a nice change of pace
The mountains were calling – and we must go!
One of several waterfalls we visited in Asperomonte National Park

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.

This ike was highly reviewed but challenging to find the start. What a relief when we found it!
Beautiful river gorge to explore. We had it ourselves
Many crossings of the river on shaky wood bridges

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.

Wonderful Calabrian specialties deep in the mountains of the region
Fiat versus bull. I’m sure that would have ended badly!

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.

Italian mountainside villages are so picturesque
We think our boutique winery hosts enjoyed a visit from a pair of long distance travelers! Here we are with the master winemaker.

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.  

Sunrise starts are painful but the views are nice
The skills of these water scooper pilots were incredible to watch. They worked tirelessly all day to try and get the numerous wildfires in the hills under control

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!!!

In Italy, the mooring ball field operators tend to dinghy out and assist with tying up. Nice touch when there are only two of us onboard and it’s windy.
Firefighting helicopter refilling before his next run. Heroes!

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!

Italian website on current flows in the Messina Straits. For us, it was critical to have a northbound current (Correnti Montante in Italian) and little of the prevailing southerly wind. Timing was everything.
The payoff is a 4 knot current in the right direction as Zoe zooms through the Straits at 10 knots
In antiquity, the cauldrons created by the currents would swallow up unlucky boats who entered at the wrong time. This was the biggest cauldron we saw – timing definitely is everything.
Busy shipping channel through a chokepoint means both of us were constantly on the lookout for traffic to avoid.
Swordfish boat in the Straits. The swordfish in the Med tend to migrate through the straits and are easier to find. That is a spotter in that tower with binoculars looking for prey to harpoon.