Before long, people were out enjoying their weekend on paddleboards, paddleboats, canoes and swimming in the still freezing water. Roy had to join them too, though, to clean our depth sensor again and clean Paw Paw’s bottom after our stay in Syracuse.
With the weather conditions out of the north-northwest and later the northwest, we were delighted to be well protected, with very little swell and it was lovely to be in a quiet anchorage surrounded by nature again; towering cliffs, covered in green vegetation and to watch birds soaring high in the sky as they eyed out their next meal. Having warmer weather too also meant we were in shorts and t-shirts for the first time since last summer.
It was also lovely to have a nice long chat to one of our floating neighbours, Carolina and Alan, off Hakule’a, who came over to introduce themselves on their way ashore to enjoy a hike over to the little town of Palinuro, on the other side of the headland.
However, given our lack of sleep last night with the fireworks and thumping music till all hours of the night, we decided an afternoon nap was a better way to spend our time rather than a hike; unusual for Roy, but he had a few maintenance chores to take care of on the engines that were more important and needed some shuteye first. These included checking the engine and saildrive oil on both engines, as well as emptying the RACOR filters again as some residual gunge had collected again from the diesel we purchased in Perveza, Greece.
Dinner and bed wrapped up a wonderfully peaceful and relaxing day.
The town was definitely more alive today compared to yesterday; the rain obviously having had something to do with that. People were out enjoying the sunshine and that meant all the cafés and restaurants along the beachfront were open too, where we stopped for a coffee; no baked delights this time, but we found another bakery during our wanderings and picked up a few pastries. If nothing else, we were eating our way through Italy.
As we strolled along we got to see more of the beautiful park that runs the full length of the waterfront, with plenty of benches to sit on and while away the day under a shady tree. This little town had definitely started to grow on us, considering our rather poor opinion of it initially.
Located in the “Area Marina Protetta Costa Degli Infreschi e della Masseta” (Infreschi and Masseta Coast Marine Protected Area), Sapri, together with the neighbouring small towns of Villamare and Scario, are known for the numerous hiking trails and Mount “Coccovello” dominating the skyline of the area, as well as its popular beaches and beach clubs.
It was also a wonderful opportunity to get a glimpse into ordinary Italian life with very few tourists around, including their very quirky “supermarkets” that literary have one of everything they stock, spaced out on the shelving, with about a foot / 30 cm between items. We weren’t altogether sure if this was because the owner couldn’t afford to stock the shop fully or indeed if this was entirely normal. We settled for the latter when every “supermarket” we stopped at was exactly the same.
Deciding to enjoy dinner ashore this evening at one of the local restaurants, after our dismal attempt at an afternoon nap, precluded by the swell rolling into the anchorage, we stumbled upon a food fair, combined with a children’s funfair, where hundreds of locals were out enjoying the festivities and surprisingly, most of the food stalls had barbecues burning.
We settled for a barbecued meat combo-meal for two, eaten at one of the numerous picnic tables that had been set up, following which we strolled back to “Piazza Plebiscito”, the main town square, where a most unusual band was planning and people were out enjoying the warm evening air as they browsed through the many stalls. Roy, of course, could not resist the sweets stall, filling a bag, much to the delight of the owners, who probably made their entire income for a day in one foul swoop.
From there we walked back to the beachfront to enjoy a gelato and where a bird pooped on Elaine’s head, apparently a sign of good luck in Italy, before returning to Paw Paw. She wasn’t impressed though!
Our evening outing didn’t commence, though, until we’d moved Paw Paw to the opposite side of the bay after Roy spotted a lot of activity setting up more fireworks on the beach closest to us. Dinghying ashore to chat to the folks, he was informed that a major fireworks display would be taking place at midnight and the rockets were basically all pointed directly towards Paw Paw.
Wanting to see the display, we set our alarm for a few minutes to midnight and headed to bed, but, at midnight, nothing happened. After hanging around for about ten minutes or so, we returned to our beds. However, we’d barely drifted off when we heard the first bang at around 0035 and what an impressive display it was, lasting nearly thirty minutes, leaving us clueless as to the odd time the fireworks were set off and wondering whether or not this kind of celebration takes place for every Saint’s Day.
It was, however, another unexpected, but very pleasant visit to a little town along the Italian coastline.
We had chosen anchorages along this part of the coastline specifically to be protected from the northerly and westerly winds that were forecast for today and tomorrow and had planned on staying the few days to rest and enjoy some exploring.
However, when a southerly wind and a rather strong north-setting swell materialised just before bedtime, we’d assumed that that was associated with the isolated thunderstorm that had just passed over us, especially since everything calmed down afterwards. So, off to bed we went.
Sadly, though, we were about to have one of our worst nights on Paw Paw, when the bulk of the storms to the south and southwest of us, passed over at around 0100 this morning. That was the end of our sleep! It didn’t help matters that a mayday call associated with a man overboard in the vicinity of the Messina Strait, was being broadcast over the VHF radio, putting our nerves even more on end.
As we bounced around with the high swell on the beam, causing waves to crash into the shoreline, and pouring rain, we debated what to do, concluding that we didn’t want to run the risk of making a bad situation worse and stayed put. Besides being flabbergasted at the weather forecast getting it so horribly wrong, resulting in us being completely exposed, there was absolutely nothing we could do, but ride it out.
However, when the anchor dragged at around 0330, sounding the alarm, lifejackets were donned, all hands were on deck and the anchor was raised to slowly work our way further east, staying a minimum of one nautical mile offshore while we waited for daybreak to enter the bay off the little town of Sapri.
Once safely anchored, before we could have breakfast and climb into bed, though, the garbage bag in our dinghy looked like it had gotten seasick and thrown up everywhere. We have no idea what happened, but given that we battled to dispose of our garbage in Sicily, we’d place a full bag in the dinghy and the contents were everywhere, floating in all the rain water we’d received overnight. What a mess!
Then, just as we were getting ready to crawl into bed, after an early morning breakfast, we both heard an almighty bang. Thinking something had hit us, we scrambled on deck to realise it was fireworks being set off from the beach. By this point we were sure we’d entered the twilight zone! This happened again at noon, but, thankfully, we managed to get some shuteye between blasts.
When we surfaced, Roy took our garbage ashore having spotted large bins on the beach. With more isolated thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon, although the sun peeked through briefly, we stayed onboard until early evening when the rain abated, or so we thought, before taking a stroll into town.
The plan was to have an afternoon coffee then an early dinner as well as pick up a few provisions. Well, none of that materialised, with the exception of eventually stumbling across a little bakery on one of the backstreets that had fresh bread and a fresh produce “man and a van”, who had fruit. The coffee shop we’d spotted on the beachfront didn’t have coffee and we couldn’t find another one and the restaurant we wanted to eat at didn’t open until 1930. Deciding on a different restaurant, which supposedly opened at 1800, was awash too as they left us standing in the rain outside the restaurant long after the specified opening time, by which time we decided they weren’t worth our business and returned to Paw Paw for a light meal and our beds, but not without first getting soaked in the rain; we were both fast asleep by 2030, desperately wanting this day to be over.
Following a stroll around the little town, however, in search of the services we wanted, besides some very pretty gardens and some lovely buildings, we stumbled upon “Piazza Plebiscito”, the main town square, bordered by “Parrocchia Immacolata Sapri”, the Church of Saint Mary Immaculate, draped with a huge banner, as well as beautiful lights and various stalls being setup. It occurred to us that there must be some or other celebration taking place, which would also explain the fireworks.
As it turns out, being the 15th of June, the town was celebrating the Feast Day of Saint Vito.
Little is known about St Vito, also called VITUS, born circa 290 AD in Sicily and was the son of a pagan Sicilian senator, who was converted to Christianity by his nurse and later martyred. He became the patron saint of nervous disorders for casting an evil spirit out of the son of the Emperor Diocletian. According to legend, he died during the Diocletianic Persecution in 303 AD, around the age of twelve or thirteen. In certain parts of the world his Feast is celebrated with dancing, giving rise to the name of the neurological disorder, "Saint Vitus Dance", an autoimmune condition, also known as Sydenham’s or Rheumatic Chorea, which is characterised by rapid, uncoordinated jerking movements, primarily affecting the face and the feet. It also led to Vitus being considered the patron saint of dancers and of entertainers in general, as well as providing protection against lightning strikes, animal attacks and oversleeping.
Although we would have loved to witness the celebrations, we were simply too tired; our beds were calling, but, once again, a destination provided us with an insight into a cultural aspect of a country we were visiting and a taste of an experience we weren’t expecting.
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.
By 0930 we were halfway, holding a decent SOG (Speed Over Ground), but by 1000 we were crawling along at 4 kts, given that slack water was only at around 10:45, at which time, like clockwork, our SOG jumped to 7.0 Kts. The other noticeable fact was that, in a matter of seconds, the freezing wind turned warm; we no longer needed our jumpers, jackets and woolly hats to sit at the helmstation.
As we made our way north we had very picturesque scenery to enjoy and, having marvelled in a blog a few days ago at the civil engineering feat involved in constructing the roads and tunnels on Sicily, we could clearly see the series of tunnels carved out of the mountains for the main road and the railway tracks, both of which run along the coastline of the island. It resembled a necklace of pearls, with a tunnel every few kilometres, some even closer. What we also noticed was just how densely populated the coastal areas of Sicily are, with numerous multi-dwelling buildings as far as the eye could see; understandably so, since the interior was mostly mountainous.
Getting through the strait was a bit of an obstacle course, though, with fishing pods, fishing boats, tankers, other yachts and ferries, the latter having the right of way and something we definitely didn’t want to get tangled with, especially the hydrofoil ferries that came screaming past at 36 Kts. However, something we’ve never seen before were the sword-fishing boats, with people standing high up on the mast as spotters.
The most bizarre event of the day was that our favourable current, which didn’t even last a half an hour before we had the current against us again until the last 5 NM, taking our SOG at one point to 2.6 Kts. So much for the accuracy of the tool widely used by sailors in this part of the world to transit this strait, which is supposed to specify the ideal time to transit, depending on which direction one is heading. Even more bizarre were the tide tables on Navionics, showing the tide falling at two different tide stations on the west side of the channel, but rising on the east side, which, of course, would be impossible in reality.
Fortunately we were still on track to arrive at our chosen anchorage as scheduled, having exited the strait at around 1230 as planned and we had avoided any delays associated with the swimming competition, highlighted by the securité announcements over the VHF radio, informing all ships that they were to proceed with caution and stay a minimum of 500 metres from the swimmers. Of course, the swimming route was across the northern entrance to the strait as we were approaching it and we could see the swimmers gathered on the west shore. Not sure how the tankers would cope with this obstacle and definitely not a strait either of us would want to swim across. Regardless, it was another very long day of motoring through the Mediterranean.
By 1915 we were safely anchored behind the large breakwater in the rather rural area of Vibo Valentia, with two other yachts for company and no swell. We had actually motored a further three hours eastward to ensure we had a good night’s sleep; we were over rolly anchorages!
Shower, dinner, bed was the order of events in quick succession, but not before we’d enjoyed a chat to Keenan and the twins, since William was at Summer School for the morning.
A pretty sunset wrapped up a very long day, but Roy’s comment of: “If we go anymore north we’ll be seeing the northern lights; where the bleep bleep are you taking me?!” had Elaine in stitches because it was a very valid point.
Unfortunately, there was also a significant change in the forecast for the weather to the north of Sicily from Wednesday, with an additional Low Pressure system developing off Naples, assisted by northerly winds coming down the east coast of Sardinia and combining with the westerly winds being pushed around the northwestern tip and along the north coast of Sicily by the Low Pressure system to the south of Sicily, reducing our weather window to sail overnight all the way to the Naples area, specifically to Sant’ Angelo on Ischia Island. In other words, it’s yet another cluster of monumental proportions, which changes by the day. Not one forecast is accurate for more than 24 hours and even then it changes. So frustrating!
This, of course, resulted in a change to our revised plan one day into it, assuming the conditions materialise, but hopefully we can still continue moving in a northwesterly direction in order to get to Sardinia at some point in the not too distant future.
It’s fair to say, all of this would not necessarily be a showstopper if there were a selection of decent, well protected anchorages for these constantly varying conditions, but there aren’t and getting a reservation in a marina, is difficult too, especially for a rather beany catamaran like Paw Paw; either they don’t have space or they don’t respond to any written communications, assuming, of course, that you can actually find their contact details to request a reservation.
After breakfast, however, the first matter of today was to rectify a few issues that had cropped up on Paw Paw yesterday. Firstly Roy discovered that the bottom shelf of the port forward cabin was wet and had dampened his clothes, in particular, one of his swimsuits and a rushguard, which was only noticed because he had to jump in the water yesterday evening to clean our depth sensor and check for blockages in all our throughhulls, particularly the watermaker throughhull, since that had suddenly stopped producing water en route.
So, while Roy hunted for the leak, Elaine emptied out his cupboard to dry his damp clothes. Fortunately it didn’t take long to find the leak on the accumulator o-ring of the freshwater pump. Once that was fixed, when checking the watermaker, he discovered that the saltwater lift pump was full of air. We’ll know tomorrow if clearing that resolved the issue.
Afterwords we dinghied ashore to Taormina Beach, the latter word used rather loosely and to be honest, one would have to be desperate to want to lie on it; it was nothing but pebbles and rocks and only freezing water to swim in.
The next hurdle was getting to the road, to walk to the little town of Villagonia, to stretch our legs and to enjoy a coffee and a baked delight. This proved to be something of a maze as we negotiated tunnels, steps and a very busy road without any pavements or sidewalks, requiring us to press ourselves up against the closest building every time a vehicle passed and we weren’t the only people having to do this; their were numerous pedestrians having to take their lives in their hands along this road without an alternative route, including all the folks arriving by rail at the historic railway station and tourists pulling suitcases down the road looking for their hotel.
By the time we reached the “supermarket” and scratched our way through the pitiful fresh produce supply, we were both missing the fabulous fresh produce markets in Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu , New Caledonia and Türkiye, as well as the fabulous grocery stores and healthy foods of New Zealand, Australia and SE Asia. Throughout our circumnavigation, up until we reached Türkiye, the fruit and vegetables we purchased tasted like the fruit and vegetables that they were, not some tasteless, bitter mockup.
On our return walk, we stopped for lunch at Puerto Rico Beach Club and had the most expensive mouthful of salad yet; Elaine’s literally had two very thin slices of tomato on a bed of iceberg lettuce and a blob of mozzarella cheese on the side with about 6 olives for €16. Roy’s wasn’t much better, but had very rubbery octopus added for €18. What a rip off! We had a beautiful view, though, overlooking the bay where Paw Paw was anchored. Trying to remain grateful for our cruising lifestyle, we had to remind ourselves that many people would love to be sitting in that very expensive restaurant with the view we had, overlooking their yacht.
However, if it sounds like we’re not enjoying sailing in the Mediterranean, you would be right. That would be for a host of reasons, but primarily because we’re not actually sailing; we’re motoring. We are, however, enjoying the touring aspects and the fabulous attractions we’ve stumbled upon thus far en route, by sheer chance actually, because we didn’t plan our route to tour, but rather to get west to Gibraltar the quickest possible way, with a minimum number of overnight sails, taking into consideration the prevailing weather conditions in the months we would be sailing through these countries.
All in all our experience in the Mediterranean has thus far been a case of “we’ve had the best, now try the rest” and it just isn’t coming up to snuff at all. Let’s hope it improves!
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.
