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Tsamaya Safely Tucked In At Vibo Marina
we stayed at Stella del Sud - a great place to stopWe arrived in Stella dell Sud Marina in the town of Vibo Marina and figured we would be here for just a couple of days. Well, as always plans change. Bob was concerned about our electrical system on the boat as he noticed the last couple of days that the batteries didn’t seem to be charging completely over night. When the sun was out the solar panels were doing their job and everything was fine, but we have to be prepared for those cloudy days and night passages so need to figure out a solution.
When we left the US we loaded Tsamaya up with lots of spare parts. One of those was an extra alternator. Bob figured that he could easily put the spare on and we would be good to go. That isn’t quite how it happened. The next day he tested things and nothing seemed to improve. As it was a new alternator that was concerning. It was then that Bob noticed that there weren’t any lights showing that the power was on for the charge controller. OK – that must mean that that the controller is bad (after checking fuses, connections, etc first before coming to
A Couple of Views of the Harbor
liked the piano keyboard & dice! that conclusion). It was a Saturday but figured we could contact the company in Canada that we had purchased the original alternator and controller so explained the problem in an email. Lucky for us the president of the company stated that it was “peeing like crazy” so he was answering his email on the weekend. With having correspondence over the weekend the order was put in for a new controller and they were going to send it on Monday. It actually went out on Tuesday (June 26
th) but we felt that was still pretty good. DHL stated it would take a week to get to us and on the following Monday morning (July 2) we had the part in our hands. That didn’t seem too bad, but wait.
Problem solved, right? Wrong… Bob installed the new controller and nothing happened – not even an indication that the power was on. As Bob was composing the email on Monday, July 2
nd he said thank goodness it isn’t the 4
th of July yet, when I quickly said, wait – you are sending it to Canada and with Canada Day being on the 1
st, they celebrate it on the 2
nd so we
won’t get an answer today. We wait again. Tuesday afternoon here (remember there are 6 hours difference) we made a phone call to follow up our email and got some answers. We were told by the President of the company that they made a mistake and didn’t think about the fact that they changed the design of the controller and the alternator since we bought them in 2010 and this controller doesn’t work on our alternator (even though we had given them the dates of purchase). Now what?? They suggested we could just find a local person to make a change to the alternator, but that won’t work as we are in a very small town with very little in the way of workmen. Also Bob said as this is our power source we need to be sure it is right so ordered a new alternator (they did give us a discount) but now we are in a waiting mode again. The new order went out from Canada Tuesday evening (July 3
rd) and today on Friday July 6
th we know it is on its way south from Rome. We are crossing our fingers it comes tomorrow or Monday at the
latest. Sure hope this fixes the problem.
So what do you do while you wait two weeks in Vibo Marina? Monday’s are market day here so of course we had to get to that the first Monday here. With a 2
nd week we got to go a 2
nd time too. It is quite a good size market with many of the same types of offerings we have seen before, but there were a few new items as well. Other things that you do while waiting – the daily things that you do everywhere – shopping, cooking meals, laundry, cleaning and sorting. Fortunately there is a train station and a local bus service in Vibo Marina so figured we’d check out where we could go as the small village here doesn’t have too much to offer. It does have a few grocery stores, a couple of restaurants, bakeries and coffee shops, but not a large selection and after a few days there aren’t many new places to walk or explore. We did find a restaurant we like, Pedro’s. We had to laugh when we first saw the sign as it has a Mexican hat but states it is a pizzeria.
The Market in Vibo Is On Monday
some of the same items, but some new ones here too We looked in and it was full of local families so decided to give it a try. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and as a result have been back a few more time.
The marina here has a very nice place where you can go to have a drink, watch TV (many went to watch the soccer game) and socialize. There we have had a chance to meet a few other cruisers and exchange travel plans. On our dock we also got a chance to meet a couple from Australia, Ron and Kathleen and found that they will be overwintering in the same place we are so that was a great connection to make. They enjoyed Pedro’s as well so had a meal together with them before they left a few days ago.
Fortunately a cruising friend of ours told us about a museum in Reggio di Calabria that we could get to by train from here. A great idea it turned out to be. It took us 2 hours by train to get there but it wasn’t a hardship at all as the 1
st train went along the coast giving us great views including over to Stromboli,
You Can Completely Outfit Yourself At the Markets
this was the first time we saw men's suits though! a still active volcano. We will be sailing past it when we leave here, but it was still great to get a view of it. The 2
nd train took us a little farther inland and we got to see some more of the agricultural areas of Italy.
The main focus of our trip was to visit the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia which was only a couple of blocks from the train station. It is a very well laid out museum with wonderful labeling in both Italian and English. You start at the top floor and work your way down. You begin with learning more about the geology of the area and the impact that it has had over the ages on the animals found, the various types of settlements that developed over the years and much more. Many of the other museums visited have lots on Roman findings, but this one has a very high concentration of Greek findings in the area. You may not realize but the Greeks came to this part of Italy back in the 8
th & 7
th C. BC as they were searching for other commercial areas as well as were leaving overcrowding and
We Questioned the Mexican Hat on the Sign BUT
the food here is fabulous - our favorite place here! famine situations over the years. With that in mind archeologists have found numerous ruins from Greek times and many are housed in this museum.
The pride and joy of the museum however are two bronze Greek statues of warriors that were discovered in 1972 near Riace (they are called the Bronzi di Riace). They were found buried in the sand underwater and fortunately they were in excellent condition. No one knows for sure where the statutes were to be placed or who they represented. There has been speculation that they may have been on a ship being delivered but it was shipwrecked, however, no wreck has been found in that area. There also is a question of who the sculptors were but it is thought that they were done by two different artists around 460-450 BC. There seems to still be a lot of unanswered questions, but the one thing that is certain is that these were done by the Greeks and show the craftsmanship and the details they were able to accomplish in this medium. What really is quite amazing about these sculptures was the fact that most items made of bronze were melted down by the Romans
Taking a Day Trip to Reggio di Calabria
to visit the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia to make weapons, therefore to find two complete (or nearly complete as the helmets were missing and spears that they held) is quite an accomplishment in itself. Having been lost underwater for so many years was our reward to be able to have a chance to see them here in Reggio.
Many of you may wonder why there would be Greek finds in southern Italy. Remember from our last blog post that Paestum was a Greek town as well. We found out that in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, for various reasons, including famine, overcrowding, and climate change the search for new commercial outlets and ports Greeks began to emigrant and many came to southern Italy and Sicily. The Romans that came later called the area of Sicily and this area in the south of Italy, “Magna Graecia” which means “Greater Greece” in Latin. This is where the name of the museum came from. We really have to thank our friend Sue for suggesting a trip to Reggio to us.
The main town near Vibo Marina that sits high on a hill a few miles away is Vibo Valentia. The first Saturday we were here the marina
The First Train Went Along the Coast
giving us wonderful views of this area arranged for someone to drive us there as Bob needed to have some follow up blood work done for his primary care physician back in the US (nothing serious – just routine). Getting a ride up these hairpin roads by an Italian was quite an experience in itself. Bob was in the front seat and I in the back holding on and wondering how we were going to make it through some of the tight places, but we did without any incidents. To complicate the trip some for the driver, the laboratory we were going to was near where the street market was being held and we wound up driving through the market! Think we surprised a few of the people shopping at the market, but we made it without hitting anyone - it seemed like a small miracle from my viewpoint. One comment on the medical care here – the marina had called ahead and made an appointment for Bob – we got there, waited a few minutes and he went in to get the blood drawn. He was out in a few minutes and said that the technician did an excellent job on the first try. We only
had to pay 14 euro (approx $16.50) for the lab work and they promised to send the results to us by email. On Monday we had the results – much quicker than we would have gotten them in the US.
Well, from our trip to the lab we knew that the market in Vibo Valentia was on Saturday so with waiting for the part we were still in town so sounded like a day trip to us. We caught the bus up to Vibo Valentia but it takes a little longer as it goes to a few other towns giving us a chance to see a little more of the area. One village we had heard might be worth a ride to was Pizzo. The bus went through by bus giving us an idea for another trip if we have more free time to kill as it looks like it would be a nice village to walk around for a few hours. This trip was interesting in the fact that we were on a full size bus and some of the turns were quite tight through these villages. The roads themselves were narrow enough, the curves tight enough, but
when you throw in cars parked without worrying about getting even close to the curve or leaving their rear end sticking out in the road, that makes it even more challenging. Other places we were faced with trucks coming the other way where the bus driver had to tell them to pull in their rear view mirrors so they could pass. Sure glad we weren’t in the driver’s seat!
We did make a “little” mistake when we went to Vibo Valentia though – we didn’t get off when we should have and realized that the bus was continuing on to other villages instead. By the time we figured it out we were too far out of town so talked as best we could to the ticket taker on the bus. He didn’t speak any English and we have a very limited amount of Italian words at our command. Enter the phone with google translate. We worked with that for a little bit but between that and sign language it was understood what happened. We got the message that the best thing to do would be to stay on the bus to the end of the run where it will
turn around and come back to Vibo Valentia. Sounded like the best plan to us as well giving us a chance to see a little more of the area – fortunately we weren’t on a timetable to be anywhere and the bus was air conditioned! We made it back to Vibo Valentia but then we had to figure out where the market was as that isn’t on any google map! We wandered around and finally found it, fortunately before it closed. We didn’t have plans on buying too much as we didn’t want to have to carry it around. We only picked up a few things that we didn’t see offered at the Monday market in Vibo Marina such as dried figs and apricots.
Now the challenge was to figure out where to go to catch the bus back to Vibo Marina as the traffic pattern is such that we weren’t sure if where we were dropped off would be where we would get back on. We usually ask that question when we get off, but didn’t this time with all the confusion of our mistake in the first place – we were just busy thanking them for letting
us do that on the same bus ticket! We got to the spot where we thought we should stand and we were able to confirm it with a person that was running the shop that we were standing in front of. Our bus schedule showed that the bus should arrive at 2PM, but by 2:30PM the shop keeper came out with his family and told us that there may be a problem of where are standing and said he would take us to the bus station by car. Very kind indeed. We piled into the car with his family and got to the station where he asked where the bus stops to Vibo Marina. He didn’t get a clear answer and said he would drive us to Vibo Marina directly. We didn’t want to take them out of their way so told them we would be ok waiting at the station. There were no signs of where to wait but there were quite a few groups of people waiting in different areas so we just kept asking people and finally found where we thought we should wait. It really is amazing what you can find out with very little in
the way of language skills. We even had someone look up the schedule for us without even asking them to do so. We have definitely been impressed with everyone we meet being very helpful. About 30 minutes later the bus came and we made it back to Tsamaya (as Bob said, “all in the same day too”!) You never know what starts out as a simple trip to the next town might lead to.
As much as the marina has very helpful people and it is a safe location we are definitely ready to move on so here is hoping the new alternator arrives and when it is installed everything works well so we can be on our way. Time will tell…
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