Today we had a very early start knowing we had 80-85 NM to put behind us and by 0415 we were underway in completely calm conditions, something we were grateful for as we were moving northwest all day. In fact, the conditions were so calm, it was pond-like with so much haze we had to rely on the binoculars and radar to spot vessels without an AIS (Automatic Identification System), which surprises us that this is not a compulsory safety requirement on all vessels in the Mediterranean.

Coming through the Messina Strait meant we left the Ionian Sea and entered the Tyrrhenian Sea, which, unfortunately, has definitely not been kind to us tonight.

Given our early start, we tag teamed on taking naps, each needing a sleep in the morning and the afternoon.

The good news was that our watermaker was producing water again, after Roy cleared the air out of the saltwater lift pump and we were delighted to receive photographs and videos of all the grandchildren enjoying their summer school holiday with friends on Canyon Lake; brought back wonderful memories of our time spent with them last summer.

It was rather disheartening, though, to calculate that, although we’ve motored, motor-sailed or sailed 1330 NM thus far, we were roughly only 730 NM west of Finike, Türkiye, as a result of all the northwest / southwest zigzagging we’ve had to do to get through and around Türkiye, Greece and Italy. Of course, we could have set a course straight for Gibraltar, stopping in Crete and Malta, but then there was no point in staying in Türkiye for the winter to explore some of the Mediterranean destinations this sailing season, which we’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

By 1800 we’d reached Baie Degli, where we were supposed to find a cut out cove with mooring balls in the “Area Marina Protetta Costa Degli Infreschi e della Masseta” (Infreschi and Masseta Coast Marine Protected Area). Well, unless we are both going blind, we couldn’t find this cove at all and continued on to our backup anchorage northeast of the Marine Reserve, off a very picturesque little town called Scario. We had chosen these anchorages specifically to be protected from the northerly and westerly winds that were forecast for tomorrow and Friday and had planned on staying the few days to rest and enjoy some exploring.

However, after anchoring in calm conditions, by 2100, winds from the south materialised with a very strong north setting swell that was causing waves to crash onto the beach. By 2200, the isolated thunderstorm we could see on the weather radar had passed over us and everything settled down, enough for us to get some sleep.

Sadly the saga continued, giving us one of our worst nights on Paw Paw, when the storms to the southwest and south of us passed over and we were completely exposed.