Martyn & Natalie left us on Saturday morning, to get a taxi to the Airport, it was sad to see them go, but not much time for long goodbyes as we were also leaving early in an attempt to stay in front of the weather.
We are on our way to Porto Bolaro, an 8 hour trip, which is approximately 55 nautical miles.
The weather was actually fine and we had a good journey getting our first glimpse of Sicily and Mount Etna! Unfortunately on this trip we won’t have time to stop in Sicily, but it was wonderful to see it in the distance.
As we came closer to our marina there were loads of windsurfers. It’s obviously a great little spot and these guys were flying across the water. A few of them came pretty close to the boat, waving and showing off their skills! Impressive.
The marina we are staying in is tiny, room for no more than 5 boats and less if the boats are big, like Mossy Joe.
We moored alongside, which is often easier, if there is no wind and people to help, which there was. However, the jetty’s look a little cobbled together and it took some time to secure the boat, using what appeared to be 500 ropes! The distance between the boat and the jetty, was large and involved clambering over said ropes, stepping on bits of barrels and generally looked like a bloody nightmare! 😬 Luckily for me Tracey is a mad football fan and the FA Cup Final was on so no urgency to go out to eat (Hallelujah!) 😂⚽️🏆 Well done to Crystal Palace.
We were told that another boat in the Marina wanted to leave at 8am, so this meant we would also need to be up and off early.
We eat on board after Tracey & Jacques braved the obstacle course to get off, TBF, they are experienced sailors, with no fear of falling and drowning! They returned from their excursion very happy to have found a major supermarket, with lots of wonderful things, including Sicilian red wine, mozzarella and a new favourite of Jacques and now mine ‘Fonzies’ they are like Italian cheesy Nik Naks! Yum.
Tracey put together a lovely platter of Italian yumminess, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and pancetta! A perfect supper, after eating our own body weight in Fonzies! 😂😂
The sky at sunset in Porto Bolero was beyond incredible, great billowing clouds lit by the setting sun, absolutely glorious.
We could also see Mount Etna in the distance, with her plume of smoke.
We were all up and raring to go by 8am. And after releasing all the ropes, which took a while! We were off.
Fabulous views of Etna in the morning light.
Today we are traveling through the Messina Straights. It’s a very busy bit of sea, with lots of ferries, cargo ships and other boats. It has designated lanes and even a designated roundabout (marked on your electronic charts)
We really were having to dodge the various ferries going between the mainland and Sicily. We also spotted these weird boats, with tall masts, that had men sat in crows nests at the top! They also had a huge passerelle protruding from the bow! Jacques, Tracey or I had never seen boats like this. It seems that they are unique to this area and are for catching Swordfish. The guys in the crows nest are spotters, when they spot a Swordfish, someone runs out along the passerelle and spears the fish. It was incredible to see these boats, I only hope the guys up the mast get paid appropriately for the risks they take. 😳
As we came out of the Messina Straights you start to be able to see the Aeolian Islands, which includes Stromboli, an active volcano, these are in the Tyrrhenian Sea. We could see Stromboli smoking!
Tracey and I thought we spotted a small island ahead of us, turns out it was a Cargo Ship. This cargo ship, the MscSimona, is so huge that we could see it from 12 miles away! 😳 It is 360 meters long, only 30 meters short of the largest one in the world. It was astounding to see something this big. By far the largest vessel I’ve ever seen. Mind boggling. I took pictures, but not sure the scale will translate.
Today’s route has been fascinating, so much to see and absorb.
We arrived at our next stop pretty early, it was a short 3 hour trip. We are in an other small marina in a place called Palmi. It’s small but not tiny. After mooring up, Stern too, unfortunately I messed up a bit on the lines again, not taking it under the stern rail, 😕 But I did manage to do fenders well, it’s all a learning curve.
I went off for a little wander, it’s not a big place, or a very pretty one but it’s interesting nonetheless. I was looking for an ATM and also a supermarket to try and get some more Rosè, somehow we have run out! 😩
I did find a small little shop, no rosè and no ATM! But I had a good stroll. The few restaurants that I passed all seemed to be very busy, it’s Sunday, so I guess that’s not surprising.
We went out to eat a little earlier than usual as we were all hungry, everyone fancied some pasta. 🍝
We tried several places, the first, Sunset Beach Club, looked fabulous, trendy and upscale, but sadly they had no tables outside, they also weren’t serving food, other than nibbles and snacks. We stayed for an aperitif, Aperol Spritz, yum. Then had a walk in the opposite direction, looking for another restaurant, most of them were not opening until 8. This meant we got to sit by the beach and watch a glorious sunset. 🌅
We then walked back to a place we’d seen near the marina, it was lovely but only served seafood, which Tracey & I are not huge fans of.
We then walked back where we’d just been and eventually found a place that was open, but it only did Pizza by now I was starving and could have eaten anything, so we stayed. The place itself looked like a 1980s wedding venue, odd, but their pizzas were flipping amazing! I had a margarita with extra basil on the side and it was so, so good! It also only cost €5.50, crazy. You can’t be an authentic Italian Pizza. 🍕
Our next stop is Vibo. This particular coast doesn’t seem to have a lot of marinas, or anchorage’s so sometimes the distance between each is longer, there is also not much choice. Luckily it’s still out of season so marinas are not too busy.
The journey along the coast was great, not much wind, so no sails, but pleasant.
The marina at Vibo was brilliant, large and well equipped. 3 guys helped us to moor up alongside, I got my rope throwing and securing on point. (Huge relief!) the sun was shining and then shortly after arriving the marina guys bought us all a little chocolate ice cream treat! Cute.
There are quite a few big fancy motor boats in this marina. Very ‘Below Deck’! 😳
Tracey and I went on our usual reconnaissance mission, scoping out restaurants and as always, finding a supermarket.
The town is nice, quiet but lovely.We found a Coop supermarket, which unfortunately didn’t have any Lemoncello! 😩 But did have most of the other things we wanted. We stopped for a water and I had my first Italian Gelato, Amarena Cherry! 🍒 😋
The Marina had a lovely little houseboat looking bar, with a rooftop terrace. So we thought we’d go there for an aperitif. Sadly they weren’t serving, but said we were welcome to use it and bring our own stuff! This was music to Jacques ears as it meant he could bring his Ricard (a French aniseed aperitif, which is Jacques absolute favourite) we could also bring our own nibbles, a large bag of Fonzies! 😂
The sunset was beautiful and cast a gorgeous golden glow over everything. We enjoyed our drinks and then eat back on the boat, our usual delicious Greek Salad.
Tracey had to work the next day, so I went for a wander into town. I needed to find an ATM. In Greece they were everywhere, here in Italy not so much! I found the bank behind a lovely little church and got some cash. Then had a look around. Before enjoying a Coffee Crème, this is a fabulous Italian thing of churned, soft serve, coffee ice cream. It’s bloody lovely! I sat and enjoyed it watching and listening to all the comings and going’s!
In the afternoon I did a video viewing of a potential property purchase in Newquay, thanks to my friend Stretch for organising! It was a great little house, but possibly not quite right for me. It did mean I also got to see Grantley briefly. 😍
We had thought about going into town for dinner, but Jacques offered to cook, he’s a fabulous cook, so this was a no brainier! He made the most delicious pasta carbonara and a gorgeous salad, it was fabulous. 😋The weather had been pretty nice most of the day. However just as we were finishing dinner the wind suddenly picked up, going from 4 knots right up to 30 it also bought heavy rain. We ran around lowering the rain tent at the stern, checking and securing the lines, tying up a random little boat that suddenly appeared next to us, by the time we had done this the wind dropped off again, but not for long, we had a night of sudden high winds, which meant everyone had a disturbed night, especially Jacques.
We left Vibo the next morning slightly later than planned as Jacques needed to catch up on a little bit of sleep.
It was another long trip to the next place, Cetraro. 8 hours. Not a bad run, a little bouncy, but no problems. It’s surprising how quickly the time goes.
I have just over a week before I am coming home, which is very exciting. I’ve been busy trying to organise seeing everyone, this is more tricky than it sounds!
I will be in Hertfordshire from 29th May until 6th June, then heading down to Newquay. Where I have to try and sort my life out, find somewhere to stay, buy a house, get a job, get a car, figure out what I want to do for the next few years. I was supposed to have got this last bit decided over the last year, I’ve thought about it a great deal, I just haven’t come to any conclusions. 😳😬Ideas on a postcard please! 😂
That’s it’s for now lovely people.
Have a great weekend and enjoy your bank holiday shenanigans. 🎉🍾☀️🧡❤️💙🩵💚
Books read.
None! I’ve started a new one. More on that next time.
Hereandthereclaire.com 