Unfortunately, although we weren’t going backwards ie east, we were, however, going back; to Taormina, to be precise, given our revised route, since it appears to be impossible to safely move along the southern coast of Sicily at this time of the year with the strong westerly winds and the Low Pressure systems continually building between Tripoli and Sicily, making for dangerous sailing conditions, especially when there are no anchorages sheltered from the south along that coast, or indeed offering good protection from the east or the west, with the exception of Licata Marina, which isn’t enough taking into account the distances that need to be sailed. Add the inconsistent and unpredictability of the weather and we decided to rule that route out altogether.
When we first discussed our route through Italy to Sicily then Sardinia, we concluded that we really didn’t want to negotiate the Messina Strait, hence the plan to sail along the southern coast of Sicily, continuing on to the Aegadian Islands, then hopping over to Sardinia to enjoy the southern coast there, before heading over to the Balaerics. It was a fine plan and the shortest route to Gibraltar without doing too many overnights. Well, it’s not meant to be, since the Messina Strait is our only alternative now! While it’s very irritating that this has cost us time and nautical miles, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to enjoy Syracuse and, really, what’s the point then of sailing if we can’t enjoy the various destinations along the way, even if some turn out to be a minor detour.
To diminish any sense of irritation we may have had, our highlight was a pod of dolphins coming to play in Paw Paw’s bows, the biggest dolphins we’ve seen since leaving the Caribbean and, as always, brought a smile to our faces, especially when one decided to showoff to us. Brilliant!
With the wind from the northwest and the current against us, we hugged the coast of Sicily as close as possible to reduce the force of the wind on our nose and to make the swell more manageable. It was a slow crawl at 4.8 to 5.4 Kts, but comfortable enough, all things considered. Regardless, it had to be done, in order to stage ourselves in Naxos Bay for the calm weather and then southerlies approaching, to get us through the strait.
By 1400 our SOG (Speed Over Ground) had increased slightly, getting us to 5.7- 6.0 Kts, with the lighter winds, per the forecast, having set in. The trick now was to decide which side of Naxos Bay we would anchor in to try and get the best night’s sleep possible in what proved to be a very rolly and uncomfortable anchorage the last time.
As we approached Naxos Bay, Paw Paw was surrounded with yellow butterflies. The last time this happened was in St Martin, Caribbean, in 2014 after returning from Bonaire, where we had spent our first hurricane season.
By 1700 we were anchored back in Naxos Bay, but at the northern end, given the direction of the wind and the swell that hadn’t changed. Being a Sunday, however, it was party central with local boats and jetskis racing up and down everywhere. Deciding not to anchor amongst the mayhem, we picked a spot further out, but hopefully still protected as best you can be in this bay. Nonetheless, we had a fabulous view to enjoy.
