Grand Slam

Monday 30th July, Corfu

Wednesday morning dawned (long before we got up) and what looked like it was going to be a warm and sunny day didnt last long. The plan was to leave to do the overnighter direct to Corfu but although the passage weather.comforecast looked good, Mrs Mare (the automated voice on channel 68 was giving dire warnings of F6-7 and Thunderstorms). Needless to say we didn't go. The other 10 boats all waiting for the weather to improve took the same decision. That was 4 nights in Crotone. Shades of Kilmore Quay almost exactly a year ago in Ireland.

The weather took a major turn for the worse and it rained until early evening. As it cleared I had another of those priceless conversations with Claude ('cause he looks like Greengrass in that tele programme they showed on Sunday nights) the marinier. He only speaks Italian so in a 15 minute conversation - not a lot was communicated. I got the - domane belle - bit ie good tomorrow. I think the bulk of his conversation was about why he couldn't give me a discount for 4 nights. Mrs Mare (remember we call her that 'cause she says "Mare" every third word) continued here doom and gloom forecast all night predicting F6 with Thunderstorms for Thursday but because Claude had given the thumbs up we decided to go.

Thursday morning, the big Beneteau next to us, Greenway, set off for Gouvia and in the next few hours all ten transiting boats left. We followed Double Dutch out, the small Dutch boat that we had heard going into Rochella Ionica early in the week and who had turned up on Wednesday. The crossing 150 miles or so was very calm for the first 21 hours with winds around 4-8 knts (as per passageweather.com). Once again Pam did most of the day shifts and I did most of the night. I saw 3 shooting stars, no satellites and no woolly mamoths. We let Billy have a swim again and he was very successful in not being eaten by a tuna.

As it was starting to get light on Friday morning we were approaching the island of Corfu which was being bombarded with lighting strikes every 20 seconds or so. Given there were also 3 tankers crossing at right angles we slowed down to let the storm and the ships pass. I was quite relived as we got within a couple of miles of the outlying islands that the storm had moved off to the south and we were only getting a few spots of rain although the wind had picked up to 20 knts on the nose. We continued to motor sail. Unfortunately however the storms hadn't gone. There were around 30 miles still to go and by the time we had cut this by half the next storm struck. The wind never went above 20 knts but it was on the nose. The problem was the rain and lightening. The water coming down was in biblical proportions. I had seen storms like this in Texas when we lived there in the '80s but never on the boat. Probably 3 inches per hour. Visibility was almost zero. We were flying blind using the plotter in a straigts between Corfu and Albania - terrified the lightening overhead would wipe out the electronics! We had around 2 hours of this before is started to clear and the rain finally stopped around 20 mins before we got into Gouvia marina. Absolute nightmare way to finish a trip.

We parked the boat in the marina for a months stop and then went to sleep. The marina seems very good. It's a long walk to the showers but it is very open and doesn't at all feel like a car park. There are plenty of bars and restaurants on site and a load on the road outside. There are a couple of Chandlers and a pub with sky TV where we saw the Welsh and Irish Lions loose to the Springboks - not a Scot in the side. There is a big "Oh really" coming though (our is that Oh Reallios?). The doom and gloom book advises boats coming to Corfu to come to this marina to do the entry forms and not go to the town quay as you are sent into town etc. Well, things have changed. We tried to do the paperwork and were told, "No, you cant pay here - go to the tax office in town and then get the form signed and come back" Oh Really! I made the trip into town today and it was relatively painless although I had reasonable directions. Get the port police in the marina to write it all on a piece of paper - the tax office in San Rocco square (although it isnt - it's behind the theatre - get the taxi driver to show you). Go up to the first floor, first door on your right and go to one of the windows with only a couple of people in and show the bit of paper from the port police and your passport. You then get given a printed form which you then take to stand in line with the hundred or so locals who are trying to pay their taxes. One window! It took about an hour of queing. I have now got the receipt that I have paid - I will go and see the port police in the marina to get the DEKPA (or whatever!) tomorrow if I can be bothered! The bus service into town though is good - I got the bus back - stops in the San Rocco square.

So the boat is here for a month - all paid up - and we are booked to fly back to the UK for a couple of weeks. In the meantime a few mods to do on the boat - to the boarding plank, a stern mounted anchor, a few charts needed, a new brush and some more mozzie coils. I'll let you konw how it is going before we leave. We did have a great lunch today of "Petisco (Lagos)" proportions for only 21 Euros (incl drinks). I am glad it is much cheaper here than Italy or Spain.

Tuesday 23rd June, Still in Crotone

It's Tuesday and we are still in Crotone. The weather deteriorated somewhat on Monday with cloud, rain and thunder for what was to be our day off - and it has continued ever since. It is now Tuesday evening and the rain clouds of this afternoon have just about cleared and the 25knts of wind subsided. Despite the rain and cold, we are still in t-shirts and shorts! The weather is looking better for Wednesday and Thursday so we plan to set off to get to Corfu in one overnight sail to arrive late Thursday. Having said all that, there could be a lot worse places to stop.

Crotone is quite a nice place. The doom and gloom book says it is a bit run down but it does have it's upsides - it's cheap! On Monday we walked into town to get some milk and bread - found the internet cafe- and had a nice lunch for just over 20 Euros (with a couple rounds of drinks). That is back to Lagos pricing. When we got back to the boat we were treated to a spectacular display of how to park a boat - NOT!! An Italian in a 39 ft Bavaria tried to reverse into a gap just about big enough for a 50ft boat in about 15knt of crosswind but couldnt get a handle on his prop kick. He tried 3 times but pulled out just as he got near. The fourth time he went bow first but only to pick up the lazy line and then reverse out - hanging on the line about 4 boat lengths off the quay. With the help of around 12 onlookers he spent nearly an hour trying to turn the boat so he could get in stern first (by now the wind was 30 knots). He finally got it in almost demolishing the stanchions on the two boats he was between with his "fender holders" ( a la motorboat type) on the outside of his lifelines. What a plonker! While this was all going on I was chatting the French guy next to us who was waxing lyrical about how Italians will never take a boat in bows to. By the way, this has to be one of the easiest harbours to park a boat as there is about half a mile of water to line the boat up in to get in the berth.

The funniest bit of the boat parking episode was the marinier who organises all the boats. He has a whistle to call the boats into their berth and he shouts loudly (only in Italian). He was giving all the instructions to the incoming boat - few of which were either being heard or obeyed. The other 11 people helping were all offering their advice in English which the boat didnt understand. This caused the marinier to shout louder and louder. What great entertainment! Since then, I have had 3 or 4 conversations with the marinier, great character. Shame I couldn't understand a word he said. I am sure he has some English or French but he refuses and speaks only Italian. Well it is his country!

Most of the boats in transit decided to stay in port on Tuesday due to the continuing thunderstorms - as we did. We went into town again for a lunch time meal and found one bar with prices of 2.50 Euro for a 660cl beer and 2.0 Euro for 0.5l of wine. Now that is Lazy Jacks happy hour pricing. I told you it was cheap. We didn't go there though so it won't be entered into the "Cheapest pub in the world competition". Instead we went to the beach bar we ate at the day before. Great food! Back to the boat to replace a light bulb in the front deck level nav light and to fill up the tanks with water.

It is worth mentioning there is a good chandlers on the road running along the front with things at reasonable prices and a good selection of stuff. Not a bad place to stop then - a shame the rest of Italy wasn't a cheap as this - although don't expect any cathedrals, churches or tourist tat. It's probably twinned with Bo'ness but it has got nice beaches (unlike Bo'ness which doesn't). Anyone living south of the border will not have a clue what I am talking about!

That's it for now. More when we get to Greece.

Sunday June 21st, Crotone, Italy

Well we have finally left Sicily and made it to the mainland. We spent a couple of nights at the Yacht Hotel moorings in Taormina and thoroughly enjoyed it. For the first time in months we had a good internet connection (boat to boat) and managed a load of Skype calls. Taormina itself is a fascinating town and needs 2 or 3 days to do it justice. Probably the nicest place we have been to since the Spanish Rias last year! I think the yacht hotel and town are a 9/10 which is the best yet.

If anyone is coming through the Messina straights I would strongly recommend going direct from Vulcano to Taormina and missing out on the very high priced Milazzo or Messina marinas. Reggio was full the day we went and is probably like that most of the summer - and looked a bit of a dump according to one of our friends who went last month. If you are stopping in Taormina, give George (yacht hotel) a call and let him know you are coming. You can't reserve berths but if you are arriving late (after dark) he will be ready to meet you (24hr service!!). No problem getting there in the night. His number is +39 335 8224656. Mention our names if you can.

We left Taormina around 10 ish on Saturday to head up the foot of Italy to Crotone, around 135 miles. There are no stops on the way. There is a marina at Rochella Ionica (spelling!!!) half way but the doom and gloom book advises it might be silted up. We had been told it is now only 2.2m in the entrance and when we went past we heard a dutch boat with a 1.7m draft told that there was a chance of grounding as it was low water!! There was a lot of swell at the time. I would say "no chance" with a boat with a 2m draught. This then was an overnight sail in a mixture of no wind and then 25 knots. We motored for 19 hours and sailed for 5. The sea state was pretty confused and high for a day of little wind - I would hate to do that trip on a windy day! We did end the passage with 2 reefs in. The first time we have reefed in a month!!!!!!!

I did most of the night shift with Pam doing the day shift. The night was mostly cloudless but the moon had done a runner along with the woolly mammoths. It did put in an appearance about 4.30am but what there was of it (new moon) didn't light things up much. I saw one satellite, 2 shooting stars and 3 dolphins and what looked like my first site of the Mediterranean shearwater (eastern variety) with a very white underneath. We got in after 24 hours, quite knackered in zero wind. Berthed in the marina (lots of room when we got in but soon filled up) and within 10 mins the wind was blowing 35 Knots plus from the south. On the way into the marina we saw another Ronautica 400 going out of the marina. The two guys on it waved and then when they saw it was a Ro 400, cheered loudly. They came over later and came on board. One of the guys worked in the factory where they are built in Crotone - I didn't know they were built here! Good to chat in broken English but we did find out that the increasing noise and gunfire(!!!!???) coming from the town was because Crotone football team had just won Serie B and promotion to Serie A. We are in for a noisy night.

We have finally found a marina with good toilets and showers and only 45 Euros a night - a snip (comparatively speaking). We will go and have a look around the town tomorrow - and wash all the salt off the boat. The wind is due to be high tonight and tomorrow so we will stay at least two nights before we set off either for the heel of Italy or direct to Corfu. We are only 130 miles from Corfu so nearly in Greece.

A final comment on my activities with Billy. Billy no mates (no relation to Bogey no mates -who is still with us - just waiting for an opportunity to upload photos) is a small rubbery fish like thing with a big hook up his bum that is tied to the end of a line. Each time we go out, I give Billy a swim, letting the line out behind the boat with the rod and reel that is on the back of the boat. This trip from Taormina, I gave Billy a swim for at least 20 hours. I think he enjoyed it. Some people probably think this is dangerous for Billy as he may get eaten by a big Tuna but this is just not the case. We have been giving Billy a swim for weeks now and no Tuna has gone near him so it must be OK. I think there are about as many tuna in the med as there are woolly mammoths.

As I write this, Sunday evening, the noise from town is increasing, car horns and fireworks - and it is not even dark! Everyone is celebrating. It will be a noisy night!!!!!!

Friday 19th June, Taormina

Well that has been a hectic few days! We are now through the Messina straights sitting on a rolly mooring under the city of Taormina. The sun is shinning and it is hot. Did I mention it was hot?

If you remember, we had met up with Trevor and Lesley on Kishorn in Vulcano at the weekend and stayed there at anchor for 4 nights. I managed to get the diving gear on and blow some bubbles in the bay we were anchored in. There was a dive school nearby so easy to get the tank refilled although Trevor managed to drop his and damaged the thread on the top - which necessitated a trip over to Lipari the next day by ferry to see if he could get it fixed.

We all left Vulcano (Chica, Kishorn and ourselves) on Wednesday and headed for Milazzo. The plan was for us to spend 2 nights in the marina in Milazzo for Trevor and Lesley to hire a car to go to Messina to visit their son (who was there only on the Thursday). Messina has been reported to be 100+ Euros per night so that's why we choose Milazzo. As we approached Milazzo, Trevor saw some pontoons north of the main harbour area and went in. They were only going to be charged 55 Euro per night so moored up. We immediately saw a problem of wash (as it was totally open to the sea) and after 30 mins (in which we nearly lost our boarding ladder) left and headed to the marina. The marina was very tight but seemed reasonably free of swell. They wanted 80 Euros per night plus 5 for Lecky. We had no option but that meant we would only stay one night. Not sure the doom and gloom book is very accurate for here. It says toilets and showers. That gives the impression there are more than one - which there is not! No wifi either. Chica came in later in the afternoon and had to pay 100 Euros (they are 42 foot). We are now after 15th June so on high season pricing.

We went into Milazzo for a meal in the evening which turned out very cheap (comparatively!!).

If anyone is following us this way - do not go onto the pontoons north of the harbour. They are dangerous! The sea state was almost flat yet the swell from the passing ferries is the problem........and given the choice again I would give the marina a miss charging these sort of prices. Instead miss out Milazzo and go straight through the straights.

On Thursday morning then we left to do the 30 mile trip to Reggio - just through the messina straights on the mainland side. The straights were no problem but around 3 knts of tide against us as we got there 90 mins too early. This place would be a lot different in high winds (we had none - as usual). Reggio though was full. The yacht harbour was packed. Kishorn had got in earlier in the day and Chica was just ahead of us and got the last slot. The mariner couldn't give a damn and was not interested in telling us any other options. The commercial harbour wall had space but we didn't like the look so instead headed off south heading for Taormina (24 miles further on). That's a big "Oh Reallio" then (the Italian for Oh Really). It was almost 5 O'clock so it was pushing it to get there before dark but we did have a knot of tide with us.

We arrived in Taormina just after eight thirty in the evening -just starting to go dark - sunset around 8pm. We had been told of a guy called George who has a yacht hotel here. It is a set of moorings and he provides all the services (water taxi, wifi, rubbish collection, theatre tickets etc). 40 Euros per night. Despite it being near dark, he met us and helped us tie up. Great service. We rolled around a bit that night with quite a bit of swell but no wind. It did subside a bit towards dawn and as I write this it is almost flat! The internet connection was not good so he gave me the router!! Great connection now. I have manged to do all my skype calls and sort out all my email. This afternoon we will head up to the town and have a good look around. On balance it was a good move not going to Reggio. This place has a really nice feel and it sounds like George cannot do enough for you. I think it may be too bouncy in some sea conditions but for settled weather - great!

The plan now is to head for Crotone on the foot of Italy tomorrow and Sunday (a 130 mile overnight passage) and then we will be 2 long day sails from Corfu.They weather looks reasonable for the overnight passage with 10knts (behind us) forecast.

With a bit of luck then, tonight will be our last one in Sicily and we can move on. I wonder what beer we will have next? For the last 3 weeks we have been drinking Messina or Morretii. It is almost impossible to buy it in cans and instead it comes in 33cl or 66cl bottles. The 66cl bottles are over a pint so a nice size to buy when you go to a bar. Trouble is that you tend to drink more. Carrying bottles to the boat is the other problem!

As for the various competitions going on, Milazzo scores 1/10 for their daft pricing (80Eu/night) and total lack of other services which puts them bottom of the list and Reggio 0/10 for total disinterest in helping us but as we didn't go in we will not count that. The pizza restaurant in Milazzo was the cheapest drinks for a long time with a 66cl bottle of beer and half litre of wine 7 Euros although I haven't a clue what it was called so that's not much use.

There has not been a lot of wildlife around and despite many of our readers reporting sightings, I have not managed to see one. We did see a few very small dolphins yesterday but not a lot else. By the way, did I mention it was hot?

Sunday 14th June, Vulcano again!

We are back in the anchorage in Port Levante on Volcano after a great relaxing week in Salina. We decided to go back into holiday mode so spent 6 days in Salina with no sailing and plenty of chilling out - hence the lack of posts. We have decided Salina is a great place and worth stopping at and the marina there is the cheapest place in all of the islands.... and it has toilets and showers.

We did a couple of bus tours round the island on the white knuckle ride bus. There are a lot of steep hills so the roads zig-zag up them with big drops and cars coming the other way don't seem to bothered which side of the road they are on. I am not sure how we managed to miss a woman driver coming the other way doing her hair rollers (I think!) and only looking up at the last minute. Pam's not sitting at the front of the bus any more! We also had a couple of very nice meals (one in the Porto Bello restaurant overlooking the harbour) although they were expensive - well we were in holiday mode!

We also took the tour boat to see Stromboli. This is a 12 hour trip over to Stomboli (30 miles away) for a swim, a look around the town and then stop on the way back as it goes dark to see the volcano in action. We could have done this on our boat but it would have taken 35 Euros worth of diesel and meant motoring back in the dark - anchoring on Stromboli is not to be recommended with any swell around - and the mooring bouys laid there have no better protection and they are 40 Euros a night. It was cheaper instead to do the 40 Euro each tour boat trip. Very worth while doing. The island (and small town) are a delight to walk round and the Volcano is spectacular. You go past the north west face of the island on the way there to see the lava flows that have cut a hugh slice down the side of the island - nothing grows there. In daylight it is facinating. As it goes dark, the tour boat stops off the north west face of the island and you can watch the spurts of lava and sparks firing out of the top of the crater. You get a spurt every 5 minutes or so (the book says 20 minutes so we must have caught it on a good day). If you do this trip - don't bother with the food on the boat. Eat on the island!!

On Saturday we left Salina to head down the Vulcano to meet up with Trevor and Lesley on Kishorn who had finally made it to the Aeolians. We stopped to fill up with diesel in Lipari on the way and then anchored next to Kishorn in Port Levante (on the east side - still a reasonably high level of swell from the west). It was good to hear all their news and had a good evening catching up. Only thing that spoilt it was just after they had left, while I was finishing my beer, a tour boat went past and caused so much swell that the citronella candle on the table fell off and deposited all the hot wax on the teak deak. Pam is cleaning it up as I type!!! .......now the reason Pam is cleaning up the wax is because I got up really early this morning at 8.45am to sort out the heads! It has not been pumping well so 2 days ago I replaced the "O" ring on the piston. I tried a bigger than normal "O" ring and it proved too hard to pump so I had to re-do it and put the right one in. Bit of pain but it is now done.

Today we will sail around to the anchorage on the west side of the island - wind is going easterly. Trevor and Lesley have just gone there so we will follow in an hour or so. Not too sure of our plans for the next few days but likey that we will sail with Kishorn (and Chica who are arriving today) down to Reggio and the first leg of the sail to Greece - sometime in the next 2 weeks. I would like to try and get to Corfu in time to see a couple of the Lions test matches.

Tuesday 9th June, Salina - Aeolian Islands.

Well we are still here. We have decided to wait until Trevor and Lesley catch us up. We spent a couple of nights at anchor on Vulcano to ride out the strong south easterlies that never appeared and then when the wind switched westerly we headed for the "marina" in Salina so we could have a good look around the island. The costs here are reasonable - only 30 Euros a night having finally convinced them that we were just under 12 meters.

On Monday then we had a bit of a tour of the island on the bus. We went over to Malfa, the largest town on the Island - but that is not saying much! Had lunch there and then back to Santa Marina. We met a young British couple on the bus to Malfa - and I had to laugh. We were talking generally about stuff - the way one does - and the girl must have said "Oh Really" at least a dozen times. It was difficult to keep a straight face! I must tell you that joke sometime.

The town here is small with some reasonable bars and shops and one internet cafe that we will try and post this one from. We also were able to order some provisions and get them delivered to the boat! There was one deli advertising the service. We went up this morning. It is the deli right at the top of the main street with a sign high up on the wall saying "English spoken & deliver to your house". We went in and the owner just about spoke some English. We ordered 24 bottles of water and the same of beer, plus fruit juice and some other bulky stuff. It wasn't as expensive as I had imagined and it was put in one of the 3 wheel trucks and driven down to the marina (with me in the front!). Pam walked!!!!! As it was a small van, it was able to drive right down the pier and up to the boat. That's the boat stocked up again for a while. For anyone coming here, definitely worth doing. We had imagined ordering it and then having to wait on the boat for hours (as we had to do in La Coruna). No instead when I asked when it would be delivered, I was told "five minutes" and then he offered for me to go down in the van. Great!!

In the evening we had a meal in a posh restaurant. Very nice food if a bit expensive. It did however teach me a lesson on tracking down wi-fi. We had put the PC on in the marina to find a strong(ish) signal for Portobello - the name of the restaurant. When I asked there if I could get a connection, they explained the wifi was for their Palm (type) pilots that they use to order the food hence no internet - Duh!!!

Overall Salina is a very nice place .....until last night. It got very over krauted!! A charter boat of 8 German blokes came in next to us with another charter catamaran three down. The noise of the partying was loud. Despite 3 requests to cool it after midnight it continued to the early hours. This is only happening with German crews. We had it in Majorca and it has happened a couple of times here. The Brits, the French and the various other Europeans tend to be much quieter but the odd lot of Germans have been awful. Thank god they have gone this morning. Let's hope they don't come back. They must be the equivalent of the British Chavs. Despite the Germans, I'd give this place a good 7/10 for a place to stop, helped a lot by the relatively cheap price.

Today we are off for another trip on the bus (white knuckle ride - Alton Towers, eat your heart out!) round the island and then tomorrow probably off to Lipari or Vulcano to hook up with Kishorn and then think about getting over to Greece. I wonder is there are many German charter boats in Greece! I think I know the answer.

Friday 5th June, Vulcano via Salina

By Thursday lunchtime the wind had died back to under 10knts after 3 days of 20knt + winds. Most of the boats sailing the islands had been holed up in Pignataro and were now all leaving. It was a mainly charter boats with crews of 8 (mostly blokes). We got to know some of them (including one of 4 greek flagged boats with Brits on board). They were all British Gas employees on a boys week out). Pignataro was 50 Euros per night (it is June now) with little in the way of services apart from the usual water and lecky. They did have a fax machine (useful) and posted weather forecasts - and ran round tying all the boats up as they threatened to break away. A German charter boat crew we got chatting to said that last year a couple of boats had banged masts with just the swell from the tour boats. This isn't the most secure place to tie up!

Lipari was a very good town to look around. The museum - what was open of it - was very good with loads of old pots and stuff. Well worth a trip. 6 Euros each to get in. The buses turned out to be very good. Monday and Tuesday was a holiday so no buses but all back to normal on Wednesday. Euro 1.30 a trip but cheaper to get a return or even a 10 trip ticket. Pay on the bus. The taxi from Lipari to Pignataro was 10 Euros. There is a good supermarket and an internet cafe. Bars are expensive though.

I think next time we will moor on the quays nearer the town. It can't be much worse than Pignataro providing there is not easterly swell.

We left after lunch Thursday and headed over to the island of Salina, a 10 mile trip (part drift, part sail, part motor) and went into the harbour there. 30 Euros a night (the cheapest yet). We looked at the anchorage by the harbour but the one boat there was rolling very badly in what looked like quite modest swell. Salina was a pretty little village with some nice restaurants but the small food shops were expensive. We didn't get chance to look around the Island as the forecast for Friday and Saturday nights was again 20knts plus SE which would not have been good in Salina. The harbour is open to the SE and was very rolly the night we were there with little wind. We were parked on the left as you go in - it is plenty deep enough despite what the doom and gloom book says. They seemed to be parking the "big" boats on the outerbreakwater - ie 50ft plus. We are one of the smaller boats here! This also is the first harbour (I won't call it a marina) where there are toilets and showers since arriving in Sicily....but still no internet or woolly mammoths.

Given the wind direction, we had decided to back to Ponente on Vulcano - the only anchorage (or berths) protected from SE in the islands. We will go back to Salina before we leave to bus ourselves round the island. We left Friday afternoon and arrived in Vulcano a few hours later. Only 11 boats in the anchorage and very good protection from the increasing wind. We went ashore to look for somewhere to go and eat but there is not a lot of choice here - just a few very empty hotels. We went back to the boat instead for a beer. We got some really good photos of the sunset - but as usual no internet connection to upload them!

We heard from Trevor and Lesley who are now in Sicily (3 days behind us). We are now very much looking at the weather. If we get another blow like earlier in the week, it will be far better to push on and go through the Messina straights and on to Greece (only 4 days away). However if it is a settled week then these islands are a good option and it would be good to do at least another one and then leave end of next week.

Tuesday 2nd June, Lipari - Aeolian Islands

We are now "tucked up" in a small "marina" in Lipari (the main town on the island of the same name). Tucked up is a phrase that I use lightly as there is nothing secure here when the wind gets up! More of that later.

Firstly a big thankyou to Trevor and Caroline on Balchis for spotting a Woolly Mammoth for me. It's on their blog sight (which I can't link to as I am typing this off line!!!). It looks a bit stuffed to me but at least its a start!

Sunday night in the anchorage on the north west side of Vulcano became more interesting as the evening went on. We walked across the island early evening and got back to find 25+ boats squeezing in. So much for my idea that everyone would go back home Sunday night - it turned out it was a local "bank holiday" on the Monday! Most boats were putting down their anchors a reasonable distance away from others but the odd "plonker" was aiming for any hole that appeared (as the wind had died to nothing and boats were facing all directions). One of the worst offenders then spent most of the night pulling in his anchor chain to stop him hitting other boats as the wind got up and proceeded to swing to all points of the compass and then round again. This anchorage is really one of the only ones protected from an eastery wind in all of the islands so not surprising everyone came here. Although the night was comfortable, having other boats only one boat length away with winds of 20 knts was not very relaxing.

One useful bit of info is that there is a diving school in this bay - contact Tony on +39 347 7283341 (mobile) - he speaks reasonable english.

On Monday morning we up anchored and left in a rather windy force 6 and headed for Lipari, the main town on the central island of the same name. Here the choice is some pontoons near the town centre or the little marina to the north east of the bay at Port Pignataro. We headed for the marina as the wind was Easterly force 6 gusting to 7 and creating a lot of swell. The snag was that it was forecast to go west by mid afternoon at force 7 which ruled out any anchorages on the west sides of the islands. We managed to get a berth right on the outside of the main pontoon which we thought would be fine. The wind however kept up until 6pm and the swell was causing havoc. They closed the outer pontoon for 3 hours as the boats were being buffetted round and we almost had our mast crash against the mast of the boat next door. The wind switched to westerly around 6pm and after that the swell from the east calmed down. Most of the boats we had seen the 4 nights previously (and most likely everyone else) were here all juggling for space to berth. Despite the west wind (20knts of it) it was a very uncomfortable night with lots of noise and creaking pontoons.

Tuesday morning - as we decided to stay put, we were offered a berth further in which we immediately took. Its now a lot quieter despite the continuing 20-25knt of wind in the marina. A German boat just arrived next to us said they had sailed from the mainland in 6's and 7's - a beat all the way!

The doom and gloom book says Pignataro is the most sheltered place on the islands. That doesnt mean it is sheltered!!! In strong easterlies the outer pontoons are dangerous and they are very uncomfortable in strong westerlies. Given that the wind only seems to come from those directions - the hills don't allow it to come other ways, watch out if you come here when it's windy. I think we are fortunate to have experienced the islands for 4 days with no wind but we are paying for it now...... and when it is windy - everyone will come here!

Anyhow, today once we had moved pontoons, we headed into town to see the museum. We waited a good half hour for a bus that never appeared so hailed a taxi. He was full but came back 10 mins later. Turns out he spoke reasonable English and offered us a tour of the island for 40 Euros. Given that was only 30 Euro more than the trip to town, we accepted and got a guided tour for 90mins stopping to see all the sights. The driver, runs a garage, grows wine, rents houses to tourists and is the Volvo Penta authorised mechanic on the island. He seems to know everyone including where to get everything mended. If you are following us then give him a call if you get problems - Fonti Bartolomeo (mobile +39 3385955230).

We then stopped for a bite to eat and dring and then walked up to the museum which was closed for the afternoon - it still must be a holiday to the dismay of the 50 odd people walking round trying to get access. We will try again tomorrow morning. A taxi back from town with a load of shopping from the local (large) supermarket cost 10 Euros.

The plan is to stop tonight here and then go into town to the museum tomorrow. If the wind subsides then we may move north a couple of miles to anchor and then go over to the island of Salina for Thursday/Friday nights. There is some more strong wind forecast for Sunday and we need to decide whether to be in the Aeolians for it (with no certainty of good shelter) or sail back to the mainland.

Sunday 31st May, Vulcano still and it hasn't errupted yet!

No sign of an eruption yet! The sun is warm, the sea is blue, the beer is cold and the sand is ......black!!! Well it is a volcano. Personally I don't like black sand. It looks dirty - although I don't think it is. We've moved round to Porto di Ponente around half a mile across land from Porto di Levante (where we were yesterday) - but we sailed round - a lot further - probably 2 miles. Levante is open to the east and Ponente is open to the north west so as the forecast was wind swinging to the E -SE, we thought it best to move.

Ponente is a nicer bay with a beach and a lot more room to anchor although it was busy last night (Saturday) with 20 odd yachts in (all local boats from the mainland come over for the weekend I guess). There is not a lot ashore but it is only 15 mins walk back to Levante - where we will walk this afternoon to post this blog at the internet cafe - and have a beer.

Nice place to anchor but open to the NW which is where the slight swell is coming in from. Fine when there is wind to hold you at the right angle to it but last night the wind died to zero and we had a very uncomfortable night being bounced by the swell with everything creaking and groaning (and the boat as well).

This morning I put on the diving gear and went under to have a good look at the prop. The anodes are fine (no wear at all) but the prop was not opening in both directions so that explains why no "overdrive" (very technical unless you know a 3 blade gori prop). I loosened it up so we will see if that has fixed it. Just a bit of over enthusiastic sea life made a home in the gear cogs. The bottom of the boat is starting to look quite dirty so a lift and a wash is certainly in order. It's probably costing us at least half a knot in boat speed!

There are not many British boats around and not many people understand any English. The odd waiter does - but that is about it. Very similar to the Spanish Rias in that respect. It will be nice to hear some English spoken again. One guy who did speak some English managed to communicate that Untd had lost to Barca - what a shame!

One big bonus of Vulcano seems to be the lack of mozzies. We got hit with them in Palermo with some nasty reactions to some of the bites, but since we left, none! I wonder if it's the sulphur in the atmosphere? Being slightly off the beach helps though. I am taking some interesting photos but without a good internet connection on the boat, it is impossible to upload them. All our connections have been via internet cafes - not easy to post pics. Sometime soon there must be a place we can get a connection on the boat?

The plan now is to stay here at anchor tonight and then ahead of the forecasted strong NW winds on Tuesday, head round tomorrow to Lipari, the main town on the biggest island and go into a marina for 3 nights to ride out the winds and to have a good look in the "must see" museum with relics dating back to 5,000 BC (and everything in between) - bet they don't have a woolly mammoth. If the winds and sea state are ok, we will then go and have a look at the island of Salina later in the week. The anchorages on Stromboli are only any use in very settled weather and there has been too much swell for that with constant gale warnings for the seas 100 mile north of us. We will give Stromboli a miss but may try and sail around it if the winds are the right way.

Friday 29th May, parked by an active volcano

Internet connections recently have been as scarce as Woolly Mammoths. I think I saw one (a Woolly Mammoth that is) but it turned out to be a bush. Don't hold your breath awaiting posts. I will write up the posts as I go and then load them all up when we get a connection. Anyway, the active volcano. Yes, we are parked next to an active Volcano which is venting smelly gas. Eeek!!! Now Pam usually sees the blackest picture when anything happens but was a bit perturbed when I asked what we do if the volcano erupts! (the answer of course is have another beer). As you might have guessed we have made it to the Aeolian Islands or the island of Vulcano to be more precise.

We left Palermo on Wednesday morning and headed east aiming for an anchorage at Porticello about 10 miles away (only the two of us on board as Martin had flown home). It was good to get away from the dirt and grim of Palermo. One thing to watch out for is the dirt on the ground. You pick up a thick oily deposit on shoes walking around town which mark the deck with oily black marks which are very difficult to remove. This is much worse when you go "bow to" so are walking down the deck each time you come back from being ashore. We must remember to take our shoes off.

Porticello turned out to be a bit naff. The anchorage was well protected but a bit industrial and the water not too clean. We had planned to go onto one of of the two harbours further east if this one was no good but instead we decided to go on a further 25 miles to Ceflau, an old town with a harbour and anchorage. We arrived around 6ish - a trip of 8 hours of which we managed to sail for 4 hours (that's a record then!!). Ceflau harbour was relatively empty with what looked like lots of room for visiting boats. Loads of room on the outside of the pier. We decided to anchor in the south east of the bay which was fine. There was also a boat anchored in the north of the bay. The whole of the harbour seemed well protected from the NW swell but it might be a different story if the wind was in the east.

The doom and gloom book wasn't too helpful saying "but not everywhere good holding". Why not be positive and say mostly good holding - it was anyway! Ceflau is meant to be a nice town but the anchorage was not the clean water we were looking for so we decided to just stay one night and head off for the Aeolian's the following morning. We made an earlyish start and 8.30am and headed North East for the 50 mile motor sail. The wind was mostly NW around 5 knots (I did see 7knots once) so we had both sails up but motored. We arrived at Vulcano around 5 ish and set about finding somewhere to anchor. Our plan was to go to Porto di Ponente on the north west side but the swell was around 2 metres (left overs from a storm far to the north) so that put paid to that. We motored round the top of the island and into Porto di Levante, the main harbour. The anchorage is to the north of the ferry quays.

The doom and gloom book is now a little out of date as there is a visitors pontoon to the south of the ferry quays - where the diagram shows "moorings". There were 3 or 4 boats on the pontoon but it was empty by midday. There was also a second pontoon totally empty. Price is 40 Euro per night for a 12m boat.

There is a small village with lots of restaurants and tourist shops but a good supermarket (surprisingly cheap given it's a small island). We have decided to stay a couple of nights so plan to leave Saturday morning. We had a nice meal ashore last night (less than 35 Euros for 2 but the beer was expensive - the wine very cheap). Highlights of the place are the huge volcano cone, steaming away that dominates the place and the funghi - a sulphurous mud pool - smelling strongly of hydrogen sulphide (!!!!!) - which people bathe in to get rid of their troubles. The tourist book we have says that it is also radioactive!!! Anyway that doesn't deter the scores of people plastering themselves in mud. The smell from the mud pool gets to most places but you learn to live with it.

One problem we are finding is that our Nationwide debit card is not working in many of the ATMs. We are getting about a 2 in 10 success rate. I rang them and they said there are problems with Visa internationally!! My Nat West card seems to be working fine. Both times the Nationwide card worked was at Banco Di Sicilia - so that is the one to try - if you can find one!

Now we are in the Aeolian Islands, we will try and spend at least a week here provided the weather is settled. Tomorrow is Saturday so we will probably head for one of the smaller islands further away from the mainland in case we get overwhelmed by tourists! - but then it all depends on which way the wind is blowing.