Sicily

Of course there is a lot to see and enjoy on Sicily. And, my parents have joined me for a couple of days. Before my parents came, I sailed south to visit Siracusa. Siracusa was one of the recommended cities in my toursit guide, so I wanted to visit this city. The distance between Catania and Siracusa is rather big, approximately 30 miles, so it takes me all day. I arrived around nine o'clock. Because I wanted to safe some money, I decided to take anchorage, I'd pull into the marina the next morning.

Rather windy anchorage.

The next morning it was rather windy. To makes matters worse, the wind was perpendicular to the town quay and the marina berths. Hmmm, should I go now, or wait for the wind to go down in the evening? If I wait for the evening, I won't be able to see the city, because I had to sail back to Catania the next day to pick up my parents. Hmmm. The flags do seem te be hanging down a bit in town. Should I sail over to the marina just to check out how windy it is there? Just as I had decided to sail to the marina to check, my neighbor came over in his dinghy. "Do you need transportation to town?". "Yes please, that would be great!". So I no longer needed to pull into the marina. (There was way to much wind for me te row my dinghy into town). Siracusa was lovely.

Church in Siracusa

Ortiga, the old city of Siracusa

The next morning, not to early of course, I left for Catania to pick up my parents. Together with my parents I wanted to sail through the strait of Messina. In 2005 I had already gone through the strait with the navy, but doing it with my own boat would be really special.

The first obstacle was getting on board. I have become used to jumping from and on board, but for my parents I borrowed a passerelle. That turned out to be challenging enough! The first day my parent had a rough introduction to sailing the Med. The distances between ports vary from 20 to 30 miles. There was quite a lot of wind, seven beaufort, and we were all soaked when we pulled into Riposto.Berthing in the marina was very challenging despite the extra help on board. The weather forcast for the next day was not much better. Again to much wind. We switched to plan B, and visited Taormina, one of the most touristy city of Sicily. To get there we had to walk to the train station, take a train, and finally took a bus up to Taormina.

Amphitheatre in Taormina

While we walked through the ancient amphitheatre I had a strong deja vu feeling.I think I have been here before. Hmmm. Five minutes later I was sure, I was here in 2005! Rather stupid, all this trouble to get there, and I had already been there. I walked the city again, and tasted the local specialty: arranchini. I had the pistacchio variety.

The next day we sailed for Messina. The wind was a lot more pleasurable, but it was still a rather long sail. We arrived in Messina motorsailing around ten o'clock at night.The strait of Messina is known for its gusts of wind rolling down the mountains, and the eddies, so the most narrow part of the strait of Messina is only navigable for a small sailing yacht during slack. Fortunately slack was not too early, so I could sleep in till about nine o'clock. Around eleven thirty we set sail. Immediately after departure we were treated to a show of typical fishing boats. These special boats are used to fish for swordfish in the strait of Messina. 

A long extension, about one and a half boatlengths, protrudes forward. A guy with a harpoon sits there ready to spear the swordfish.

On top, four men sit to look out over the water to spot the swordfish. It was very impressive to see these boats circle in the strait. We could wave at them from very close by!

To reach the most narrow part of the strait we had to tack, but we could do almost the entire strait under sail. After rounding this electricity pole we navigated the entire strait. No weird currents or eddies, great wind, and a fantastic sail.

Proud that we had sailed the strait we continued to sail to the next harbor, Milazzo. Much later than planned we berthed in Milazzo.The next morning my parents left the boat. I think they had a great time.