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?
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