The Voyages of Disco Volante: Sicily

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Gorgeous, historic Sicily – how we will miss thee! We have been here for almost four weeks now and it has flown by far too quickly. It’s a fab island, with so much history and culture. Amazing food and wine, as we have come to expect in Italy. Although the weather has not been quite as good as we have been used to. (But guess we can’t expect miracles, it is November after all!) The temperature is still currently 20-22° each day, though more cloud and when it rains, it’s torrential!



The sailing has started to become more challenging now too. We have had Maestrale & Scirocco winds & one gale – this has confined us to harbour on quite a few occasions now. Plus the tail end of all the hurricanes. But overall we have been able to extend our sailing well past the end of September typical sailing season. Leaks we didn’t manage to fix over the summer are coming back in full force, no mould yet, but I am sure it’s coming! The waterproofs have had an airing now and jumpers are needed in the evenings. Though we still walk around in shorts and vests during the day – much to the Sicilians shock and horror! We have already started making lists of things that need repairing, servicing or modifying on the boat before we start the long sail back to the UK. The list is growing hourly, much to Mike’s horror!! We particularly need to make sure the leaks are fixed as we don’t want to come back to the boat in Feb and find it half full of water and mould, eek!



Sunday 19^th October – Arrival into Sicily - Trapani

Distance: 178nm

We arrived into Trapani at midday, 4 hours ahead of schedule after a nice bit of sailing early on. We hadn’t booked a marina as we had struggled to get in touch with any via e-mail. We eventually chose one that had good reviews and were waved over once we arrived. They asked us to come to the office after lunch (1pm-4pm in Sicily!). We got a bit of a shock when we did – 100EUR per night or 120EUR for two nights. We were too tired to argue at that point and paid it, we regret that now! Moral of the story, always check the price as soon as you arrive! The only positive was use of the washing machine was free – we fully abused that!!!! After some serious napping and resting we decided to head up to the cable car which goes up the mountain to the town of Erice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erice), with great views over the city. We decided to walk the 2 miles to get to the bottom of the cable car, instead of getting the bus – bad move – sooooo long and especially after limited sleep in the previous 30Hrs = fail. To top it all, we think the view may have been better by day anyway! The walk was so long that we ended up getting there with only about 30mins before the last cable car back down, so didn’t manage to see much at the top apart from the main street & a very old, but pretty church. TRIPLE FAIL. We soldiered on though and managed to walk all the way back too.. Barely managing a quick drink at a local bar before heading back to the boat, exhausted.



Monday 20^th October - Trapani to Egadi Islands and back again

Distance: 17nm

Gwyn and I started the day with a coffee & cornetto (Croissant) at a local coffee shop, which would become a bit of a tradition during our stay in Trapani. The café is a great little place, full of locals sitting out and chatting (Like something out of a movie!!). Quite how there are that many people able to take a longish break from work at 10:30am I am not sure, especially with the 3 hour lunch break they all enjoy. Our main concern was that we had to be there before 11am, when they traditionally stop serving cappuccinos and move on to espresso instead! The trials of travelling, ha!

We had put on a MASSIVE load of washing before we left and then decided to dry it on the boat on the way over to the Egadi Islands – The boat resembled a Chinese laundry as we set sail, there wasn’t a piece of wire that didn’t contain, pants, socks, shorts or t-shirts (see funny pic)

It’s just under ten miles out to the pretty Egadi Islands (http://www.thethinkingtraveller.com/thinksicily/guide-to-sicily/islands-and-archipelagos/the-egadi-islands.aspx/). They are sparsely inhabited, but pretty much nature reserves, so very picturesque & unspoilt. The sea around them is very green and clear. We found a nice little bay surrounded by rocks to have a swim and lunch. Mike and Gwyn spent some valuable time doing a photo shoot of Gwyn in his new Swedish flag speedos. We then went for a swim and found a nice sand bar, so you could stand neck deep in water quite far from the shore. Very relaxing afternoon, but we unfortunately had to head back quite early as the wind picked up considerably.

In the evening we decided to explore the pretty lanes of the old part of Trapani. The main street is pedestrianised and lined with restaurants, cafes and bars. We found a fab wine bar selling wine both by the glass and litre!!! (Straight out of the barrel, from local vineyard). It was a total bargain at 2.20EUR per litre – we stocked up!!! Slightly tipsy we then headed out for a lovely meal at a grill restaurant serving classic Trapani & Sicilian dishes. Fab meal – not actually sure what my kebabs were made of, cous cous based I think, but they were scrummy. Have to be careful in Sicily as rabbit, tripe & horse are very popular – none of which I am keen on! The steak options were beef & horse in nearly every restaurant! Cous cous also available everywhere due to Moorish/Arab influences. Lovely bottle of Syrah red too – already learning Sicilian wine is really cheap and good. Not available much outside of Sicily as most gets consumed on the island and doesn’t make it to export – lucky us!



Tuesday 21^st October - Trapani

Distance: 0.5nm

After some unsuccessful negotiations with the marina, we decided to move the boat to somewhere cheaper for the rest of our stay in Trapani. We did our research this time and found a marina for the more reasonable price of 40EUR per night. They were really lovely – very different atmosphere than previous one. The winds had started to pick up and we were told a Maestral was coming in and would last for at least three days (it turned out that at this time the ‘Middle Sea yacht race’ was going on in the area, and they recorded the highest winds in the race’s 45 year history. We saw quite a few battered boats retired from the race and running for shelter into Trapani while we waited the storm out). This put pay to our plan of moving to San Vito Lo Capo to be nearer Mike’s parents. We were stuck in port for now, thankfully not at 100EURs a night!

Mike’s parents and uncle John arrived at about 3pm, straight from the airport (They had managed to get return flights for £40 each, albeit with Ryan air!) We had some welcome drinks on the boat – sampling our newly purchased wine – yummy! They headed on to San Vito and we made plans to meet them there the next day. Mike and Gwyn spent the evening watching Dukes Of Hazard, one of the few English language programmes they have on Italian TV. Personally I think if you have seen one episode you have seen them all, but it kept them out of trouble! Still reeling from the exorbitant cost of the first marina, we ate on board. Gwyn made himself what he thought was vegetable soup, turns out it was actually vegetable stock – but not wanting to waste it he managed to finish the whole carton! To add insult to injury he then burnt his toast – I have the feeling cooking is not his thing! (See picture of the gourmet meal). He was pretty thirsty for the rest of the night!



Wednesday 22^nd October – San Vito Lo Capo

Distance: 0nm

Buses aren’t so frequent outside of summer, so we had an early start to get the bus to San Vito, which is the nearest seaside resort to Trapani. The winds were starting to pick up as we drive over the hills to get there. We had a quick wander around town, it was deserted as its off season, but you could imagine it would be heaving in the summer. We met up with Rod, Janet & John and grabbed a quick (Pre 11am) beer at a café. Then we stopped in to visit their guest house, which was lovely. Then it was off to the beach. The wind had whipped up the sea and the waves were huge, making swimming quite exhilarating to say the least. We got some excellent body surfing on though and the sea was actually warmer than being outside. We had a British style picnic behind a bush for shelter i.e. shivering under towels! The red wine helped us warm up though – honestly these oldies are right alcoholics! We normally make it to at least midday before indulging! San Vito beach is really beautiful though, gorgeous setting with cliffs behind and beautiful almost white sand. Shame the weather was overcast and soooo windy! We then had a wander around the marina and watched several yachts limping in. They all had Rolex flags and we later worked out they must have been part of the Rolex Middle Sea race around Sicily. (http://www.rolexmiddlesearace.com/race/course-map/ ) Quite a few yachts had to retire due to the unusually strong Maestrale winds.

All that was left to do was get some ice-creams and coffees down us, before the bus home. Oh and Mike & Gwyn managed a quick play on some kids coin operated rides (See pics) – much to all the locals’ amusement! We made plans to meet the Walker’s in Erice the following day and headed back to Trapani to warm up! When we got back two Rolex racing boats were in our marina, they had had to retire due to the conditions – We were happy to be snug in our lovely marina!



Thursday 23^rd October - Erice

Distance: 0nm

Due to the unreliability of local buses we were advised to get the cable car up to Erice instead of trying to use public transport. So we were back on the cable car (This time reached by taxi!), which seems to be the favoured form of transport up anywhere hilly in Sicily! The view was definitely better by day, just spoilt by the gaggle of TV & phone masts crowding the top of the mountain! A bit of an eye sore. We met Rod, Janet & John at the top and went on a rather extended tour of Erice. Mike took on the role of tour guide, showing us around the numerous churches, which seemed a little excessive given the fact Erice is only tiny! They were very pretty and elaborate though and most worth a visit. We had a well-earned lunch at a restaurant hidden up some stairs, with fab wine and pasta. Then we headed off to a patisserie for some of the famous cakes and marzipan sweets creations Erice is famous for. Only disaster struck and Mike, Janet and I somehow got ourselves locked in the garden of the shop. We finally got rescued, just before Mike and Janet were about to climb a fence! The views over the whole region are stunning from Erice. The town is also being very carefully restored and the streets are very beautiful – you get a real feel for what it might have been to live here back in the day. The only things that was slightly upsetting was the Italians need to drive both cars and mopeds at high speeds down the tiny roads – I now know why Sicilian’s seem to drive such small cars! After Mike had tiered out the elder Walkers (and younger!) we headed back to the boat to put our feet up, before a trip out to buy more of the unbelievable cheap & good Sicilian wine!



Friday 24^th October – Trapani (Early birthday)

Distance: 0nm

Our last day with Rod, Janet & uncle John. We decided to have tonight as my birthday celebrations instead of tomorrow as we have an early start on Sunday morning – I know by now that hangovers and sailing DO NOT mix well! (plus I am never going to complain about extending my celebrations!!!) We had a lazy day on the boat, with some hangover food shopping in anticipation of tomorrow – I had requested a birthday fry-up from Mike! We went out for a lovely meal in Trapani at a gorgeous restaurant where I tried the famous Trapani fish stew with cous cous, which was AMAZING! We all had a lovely time. I have noticed Janet and John always end up picking the same food – cute siblings! After dinner the Senior Walkers headed back to San Vito and we headed out for some Trapani bar mischief. There are no nightclubs in Trapani, so we headed out to find some fun bars. We started off in a cool wine bar with some very funky seating where we had cocktails with extraordinarily long straws! Then we walked down another busy street and found a bar with a DJ playing house music on vinyl! It was still quite early and due to the wind, town seemed quite quiet. But it soon picked up and once the bar staff heard it was my birthday we became centre of attention – I even got written a love poem by the bar owner (Via google translate!!). I was given lots of extremely strong free shots and even a mini tiramisu with a giant sparkler candle in it! The DJ played my requests and we had lots of broken English conversations with the bar staff – generally I was treated like a princess, natch! We eventually dragged ourselves away with lots of hugs and double kisses! (Mental note – must wear wedding ring in future, ooppss!) After that it all become blurry, but we somehow ended up in an underground bar/club partying with a load of Ryan Air Airhostesses – comedy night, job done!



Saturday 25^th October

Distance: 0nm

Ouch – hangover o’clock! We are all feeling a little tender today! Mike gallantly gets up to make us all a fry up. He nearly had to stop half way through to be sick, bless him. That’s love, right? I got a bedroom full of balloons (in hindsight think the mammoth balloon blowing session may have finished him off) and lovely pressies and a card written in Italian which I then had to translate. Mike was so ill by the time he finished cooking that he couldn’t even eat his. We had a very lazy day finished off with takeaway pizza. Lovely.



Sunday 26^th October – Trapani to Adrenella

Distance: 57nm

Finally we we’re leaving Trapani. Not that we didn’t like it there, but I think I can 100%!s(MISSING)ay we saw everything it had to offer, we had fully exploited its resources. Initially we planned a stop on the way to Adrenella (Just North of Palermo), but we decided to push it and go all the way. I had spotted a cheeky anchorage just outside of Palermo, which is a rarity for this coast. The sun was out and the sea very calm after all the storms, so alas we had to motor most of the way, but it was a very pretty coastal sail & suitably nice last sail for Gwyn who was due to jump ship from Palermo. We saw dolphins and Gwyn somehow managed to spot a giant turtle in the water as we went along that looked a bit like floating rubbish until it popped it’s long neck up to have a look at us – That was a first for the crew of Disco Volante and we spent the rest of the trip looking out for more of them, but failed to spot another. We finally reached the anchorage as it was getting dark and dropped anchor. It was Gwyn’s first go at anchoring, luckily it was very calm, so we all slept well, ready to do the short 2.5mile motor into Palermo the next day.



Monday 27^th October

Distance: 2.5nm

We headed on over to Palermo so we could get there early and do a bit of sightseeing. As we motored in lots of marinas started calling out to us offering moorings – how different it is from July & August when no amount of money can find you one. I’d managed to find a great little marina (a part of a yacht club) right in the centre, literally minutes away from the old town and all the sights. 40EUR a night for city centre accommodation! Once we had settled in we limped into town (Well Gwyn did as he somehow managed to damage his foot jumping off the boat!!) We headed for some lunch a famous ‘frigittoria’ – fried food place – called ‘I Cuochini’ hidden down a side street, where we tucked in to all manner of fried delicacies for 70cents a go – yummy! After the second round the boys needed a rest, so Mike and Gwyn lied down on a bench in a square to recover for a bit. We then went to a famous patisserie for wine & ice-cream – beautiful place dating back to 1900s called Spinnato’s, yummy. Slightly tipsy we then boarded the tourist sightseeing bus for a very lazy tour of the city. We passed the famous markets and lots of little tiny vans selling fresh fruit, bread and fish. A really good way to get to know the city, which seems to have a lot of British links dating back to the 1800s. After a short rest we headed out for dinner at a super cheap little back street trattoria for some grilled fish and meat. Palermo would end up being a gastronomic adventure!!! Just sorry we didn’t get to see it on a weekend.



Tuesday 28^th October – Palermo & Monreale

Distance: 0nm

I left the boys in bed nursing small hangovers and caught a bus to the nearby Monreale. They had been ‘churched out’ as they put it, so I headed off solo. The saying goes ‘Those who visit Palermo and not Monreale, arrive a donkey and return a pig’ – enough said! After a typical Sicilian public transport experience, waiting for a bus which was late, when it arrived got told I was at the wrong bus stop then had to wait another hour for the right bus. Not to mention while I was waiting I had the biggest rain storm we have had since leaving England, so my feet got soaked and I didn’t have an umbrella as it was blue skies when I got up! Finally arrived and am glad to say it was well worth the effort, despite being groped on the bus by an old guy and then a teenager – yuck! The rain definitely added to the beauty of the little town too, its stone work gleamed. The main reason to visit is the quite exceptional Norman cathedral, covered inside by beautiful mosaics of indescribable beauty. I also visited the cloisters which had beautiful carved stone pillars covered in mosaics too. The other reason to visit is the views down the mountain– which are incredible. I was glad I got out of bed. I got back to town around 1pm and met the boys for some beer near the brilliant fresh food market. I tried some wild strawberries, which are tiny and taste like sweets. We then did a big shop at the market using our broken Italian to full effect and costing hardly anything! Then there was just time to pop back to the boat to pick up Gwyn’s luggage and see him off on the coach to the airport. Bye bye Gwyn, come again soon!



Wednesday 29^th October – Trapani to Cefalu

Distance: 33nm

Time to leave Palermo, had to tear ourselves away. Great city & great people (and food).

We had worked out there was a nice little anchorage at Cefalu which you can use outside the summer months. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to go ashore, but the anchorage was very pretty and we made do with that. Only Disco and one other boat in the anchorage and it was pretty calm seas. Early night for us as big sail to the Aeolian islands tomorrow.



Thursday 30^th October – Cefalu to Volcano (island)

Distance: 49nm

I was slightly nervous about today. We really wanted to visit the Aeolians, but it is late in the season and the weather can be unpredictable, calm one minute and then crazy the next. The main problem being that there aren’t many safe havens on the islands and you are 30miles from the mainland if you need to leave in a hurry! I tried to put those thoughts away, but when we woke up it looked very grey and stormy and the visibility wasn’t great. We decided to have faith in the forecasts though, despite it starting to rain heavily as we left the anchorage. Luckily the further we got from land, the less stormy it got. We had a pretty nice sail over, with just a few squalls, one of which we had to put a reef in the main sail for. We arrived into a very safe anchorage on Volcano just as it was starting to before it started getting dark. We had just got settled when a French boat came in and started hunting around for an anchorage. The poor family went a bit too shallow though and ended up going aground. We watched them trying to free themselves, but could see with the wind direction they weren’t going to get free, so it was Disco Volante to the rescue!!!! We floated them a long line out with a fender attached and unfortunately it didn’t quite get across to them. So the Dad of the boat had to don his speedos and swim out to pick up our line. Then very easily we managed to pull them off the sand and get them free. Big sighs of relief all around as they bobbed free and anchored somewhere deeper. Good deed done for the day. We were moored right under the volcano and could smell the sulphur which was smoking out of the crater. Great photos! Very surreal to be anchored under an active volcano for the night!



Friday 31^st October - Volcano

Distance: 4nm

Today was hike a volcano day, once we had a leisurely breakfast we motored around to the other bay where the path up to the volcano crater was and also the mud baths. We found a nice place to anchor and rowed to shore, which was jet black volcanic sand. We hoped for a nice swim, but the water warmed by volcanic springs seemed to attract evil looking jelly fish, which were everywhere and had long tentacles. We decided to give the sulphur mud baths a miss as the smell was awful and we didn’t fancy stinking of rotten egg for days afterwards, also the only place to wash off was the sea amongst swarms of jelly fish! It was about an hour’s climb from the town to the crater of Volcano. A well-marked path of volcanic gravel and in places red mud. The climb was well worth it with spectacular views over both horseshoe bays. The crater was also spellbinding, with jets of sulphur clouds bubbling out of the rock and smelling terrible!!! We climbed back down as the sun was setting and rowed back to Disco, deciding to anchor back in our pretty bay again for the night.



Saturday 1^st November – Volcano to Lipari

Distance: 8nm

A very small sail today to Lipari town, where we were booking into the marina for the night. It was a short walk into the very pretty town to do some exploring. First we visited the archaeological museum, which was really interesting, especially all the things that had been brought up from the many ships that had been sunk around the unpredictable Aeolian Islands over the years including some from 300bc. Then we had decided to do a long hike up to the coastal road, to an old Roman Thermal spa. The route wasn’t particularly well marked, but we found our way and saw some beautiful views on the way. I reckon we must have hiked over 14 miles that day – our legs needed the exercise, but were a bit tired after the previous days volcano hike. We were back on the boat just as it was going dark, and knackered and broken we decided on an early night.. …only to be woken at 3am by the British boat across the pontoon having a party (There were two brits on board delivering a boat from France to Greece – wonder what the owner would have made of the party they were having on their brand new boat with a bunch of random Italians. By about 4:30am, we realised sleep was impossible and were just about to ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ when they finally passed out.. A bit gutted we hadn’t met them earlier in the night!



Sunday 2^nd November – Lipari to Stromboli (Circumnavigation)

Distance: 26nm

We had considered booking to go on the Stromboli hiking tour, but the cost (70EURpp) was a bit high for our meagre budget, so we opted for a do it yourself yacht version. At lunch time we set off and sailed via some very pretty small islands towards Stromboli. We were lucky enough to spot a lone whale on the way. At first I thought it was a log, but the spurt of water confirmed what it was! It sailed slowly past, beautiful! We had heard about lots of good snorkelling sites and wanted to check them out. We managed to find one particular site, where sulphur bubbled out of the sea bed, forming a curtain of underwater bubbles. The fish were some of the best varieties we have seen so far on the trip, including the beautiful parrot fish, with all colours of the rainbow. There was a tiny pebble beach you could swim to and hundreds of squawking seagulls who didn’t take too kindly to our presence. We had a drive by from the coast guard as there is an historic wreck nearby that keeps getting looted, so they checked we weren’t within the restricted area. Was a bit scary though!!! About 4pm we headed on to Stromboli, drinking mulled wine as we went, which seemed appropriate at the time, especially as it’s getting more cool in the evenings. Alas we didn’t get to see Stromboli erupting, the recent eruption had just finished, but we did manage to see a spot of red lava running down the volcano and the site of Stromboli smoking and so obviously volcanic, was both awe-inspiring and eerie. We decided to spend the night at the anchorage we had snorkelled in earlier on in the day. The seagulls definitely weren’t impressed to see us for a second time, the noise was unbelievable but thankfully they quietened down after we turned the engine off.



Monday 3^rd November – Stromboli to Taormina

Distance: 67nm

Big sailing day today, we were keen to get to through the Strait of Messina and onto the historic East coast of Sicily. I think it was playing on my mind as I woke up around 5:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I left Mike asleep and made a head start on the journey, setting sail at 6am, just as the sun came up – giving those darn seagulls another scare! We had a lovely sail as far as Messina, but met lots of sailing/ship traffic in the TSS (traffic separation scheme). The distance between Mainland Italy and Sicily is just 1.5km at its narrowest, which is mad to see! So a lot of shipping has to funnel through quite a small gap! We made it safely through, hanging back as a big tanker went past us. We had originally planned to stop off on mainland Italy at a cheap marina, but we had made such good time after my early start that we thought we may as well carry on to an anchorage outside Taormina. Unfortunately the wind was now right on our nose, we were motoring straight into wind, with current against us too. We finally arrived in the pretty anchorage just as it was getting dark, but the wind picked u and we had a pretty horrible rolly night, not what you need after a 12hr sail! To top it all (As always seem to happen with sailing), both tired we managed to wrap the forward anchor rope around the keel while trying to deploy the kedge anchor, meaning Mike had to take an evening swim to unwrap the whole mess. He jumped in naked, only to notice some locals also going for a swim and most confused to see his white bottom glowing in the moonlight!



Tuesday 4^th November – Taormina to Riposto

Distance: 9nm

We reaped the rewards of the uber long sail today, with only a 9nm blast to our marina home for the next 6 nights – Riposto. To be fair there isn’t much to write home about in Riposto, but the marina was cheap and the protection good, so we knew we could leave the boat in safety as we went off to explore the Etna region. We were pretty tired after the previous days rolling anchorage, so we didn’t do much apart from ‘TRY’ to get some washing done. Unfortunately there was no self-service laundry in the town, as we were told when we visited the tourist information office – pretty sure that lady doesn’t get many customers – but she was lovely! So we finally found a woman who runs a laundry service, who in true Sicilian style tried her luck with 60EUR charge. Almost as if rehearsed, Mike and I gave each other a disgusted look and made to walk away. Finally got her down to 40EUR, still a rip-off, but we were too tired to argue at this point and at least we saved 20EUR. I wonder what the locals would have paid?!?



Wednesday 5^th November – Riposto to Mt Etna

Distance: 0nm

We picked up a hire car today, first time of the trip. Mike bravely decided to take the challenge of driving in Sicily – brave man. Luckily it was a tiny car, but unfortunately it was raining torrentially, turning the roads into rivers, no joke, it was crazy. Not helped by the fact the roads are in a shocking state of repair, pot holes everywhere!!! The weather had rather foiled our plans, so we decided to take a drive up to the mountains anyway as we could see from the marina that the top of Etna was visible above the rain clouds. Once we had negotiated our way out of town (Thank you google maps!!!!) and the roads began to be less flooded things got much nicer. We stopped off in a little town called Randazzo for lunch. Massive slice of pizza or 1EUR! We then thought we may as well head up to the furthest point you can get to by car called Rifugio Sapenza and suss out the visibility. The cable car is 30EUR each so you don’t want to get to the top and then not be able to see Etna’s summit. The drive was really pretty, although google took us over volcanic rubble tracks at times, just wish the visibility had been better. We started to see patches of snow and the temperature fell to 9°, with glorious fresh mountain air.

When we first arrived at the top, we checked out the summit webcam and it was covered in cloud, but miraculously it began to clear, so we risked it and were rewarded with a sunny summit. (This turned out to be very lucky indeed as a storm came in and we didn’t see the summit again until the day we left). The cable car ride was really beautiful and was surreal to be surrounded by patches of snow, despite being in shorts in the marina. Wonderful day exploring Etna.



Thursday 6^th November – Riposto to Taormina

Distance: 0nm

The rain was just as bad today, so decided to do the short drive to the hill top town of Taormina. We took the autostrada (toll motorway) there, great road, but had hilarious incident. As we got our ticket at the toll booth a lady was standing there with a small plastic cup. We assumed she was collecting the tolls and asked how her how much it was, but she didn’t reply, so Mike chucked in 2EURs. Only afterwards did we realise she was begging and we had just tipped her a euro more than the toll actually was – we laughed about that for a long time. Turns out you pay the toll at the end of the journey after you see how far you went – FAIL. We had planned to drive to the town at the bottom called Mazzaro and then get the cable car up to the actual town as the streets in Taormina are tiny winding alleys and not ideal to drive around. However google maps had other ideas and we took a wrong turn which took us straight through all the winding roads of Taormina (see pics, crazy!!). Finally we found Mazzaro and parked up. We had a quick detour to Isola Bella, a nature reserve tiny island connected to the mainland by a tiny spit of sand, but due to the huge seas we couldn’t cross over to visit the pretty island covered in tropical plants. We then jumped on the cable car up to Taormina to explore. It is a stunning place – unmissable on a visit to Sicily! Shame it was raining. You can get lost in all the alleyways off the main street. Just wandering around is a great experience, you never know what you will find. We stopped off for wine and tapas (Antipasti) when the rain got heavy- lush. The thunder storm caused a power cut (Quite common on Sicily we have found), so we had to walk back down to the cable car, but it was a stunning walk which we wouldn’t have had otherwise.



Friday 7^th November – Riposto to Catania

Distance: 0nm

We had been planning an overnight trip to Catania as it is a big student city and we were gagging for a night out on the tiles. We left the car and got the train the short 30min high speed rail line to Catania and only 3EUR! We had booked into a great hostel with a private room for 40EUR a night. The hostel was in an amazing old palazzo building with huge wooden front doors. It’s called CCLY Hostel and is run by a lovely lady from the Czech Republic, who was full of greats for restaurants and bars. Unfortunately Catania was hit with a cyclone of all things that night and the government was telling everyone to stay indoors, so we didn’t actually end up going out in the end, so decided to stay another night and go out on Saturday instead. We managed to find a great snack bar for lunch – I had British style fish and chips and mike had curly fries, he was soooooo happy. Small things huh! We spent the evening chatting to the other residents of the hostel, one from the USA, a French couple and a lady from Taiwan. Was nice to meet new people and fellow travellers for a change.



Saturday 8^th November - Catania

Distance: 0nm

The weather was much better today, so went out exploring the city during the day and sussing out the nightlife for that evening. It was lovely getting ready to go out in a hotel, after a few beers with some the other hostel residents we went to check out the nightlife. We weren’t to be disappointed. Catania is a fab night out and the places were packed after everyone staying in the night before. We found a lovely authentic sushi restaurant (Albeit pricey – whoopsssss). We checked out lots of cool bars. We even managed to find a bar that sold our favourite Strawberry Stoli and gave us free shots! Due to Mike’s excellent research skills found an amazing nightclub, full of 30 somethings & playing amazing house music. (Discoteca Ma Music Arte Catania). The crowd was super stylish and very well dressed. Beautiful people. Stunning venue. Everything you could want from an Italian club really! We got lucky. Most amusingly a hot Italian guy told Mike he was a lucky man and that I was a ‘very beautiful lady’. Mike replied that I was also very expensive, he replied ‘All ladies are expensive’… ha ha ha ha ha….



Sunday 9^th November – Catania to Riposto

Distance: 0nm

After a long lie in we made our hungover way home. Very sad to leave buzzing Catania, it’s such a fun town. Once back in Riposto we got the boat ready for our trip to Siracusa for more sightseeing!



Monday 10^th November – Riposto to Siracusa

Distance: 42nm

I had been looking forward to visiting Siracusa since we first decided to come to Sicily. The Greek Theatre is one of the best examples anywhere. We had a fairly easy motor on the way, no wind and flat seas. A bit boring, but it was nice to be on the high seas again. Small incident on our approach to Siracusa, nearly hit a large rock. Mike spotted it just in time, but we made the silly mistake of not zooming into the chart enough and what we thought was a buoy was actually a rock. SHITTT!!!! IT was a close one. We had booked a marina right on in the centre of Ortigia (an island at the tip of Siracusa – the old part of the city), joined only by small road bridges. By the time we got in the winds were picking up. We were guided into our spot by a guy waving a torch. The marina pontoons were really old looking and we were tied up to a much bigger yacht that pulled us around quite a lot in the wind. We didn’t sleep well as the boat was constantly being pulled and jerking on its mooring ropes, most unusual for a marina. We also had to walk along really thin planks between each pontoon and the pontoons were moving quite a lot in the swell! I am so accident prone that I thought I would end up in the sea! Nearly did twice.



Tuesday 11^th November - Siracusa

Distance: 0nm

We only had one full day to explore Siracusa, so I was determined to get up early. We’d had such a rough night with all the jerking that we woke up early anyway! I really wanted to visit some old tunnels that ran under the cathedral, but they were mysteriously closed. Instead we headed straight for the Greek ruins at the Neopolis on the outskirts of town. It was a 30min walk, but nice to be able to explore on the way. The ruins of the Greek Theatre really were spectacular – it was an awesome place. We didn’t want to leave, but Mike wanted to visit the Archimedes museum in town. Which had lots of interactive games you could play based on his inventions. We then explored the rest of the town, stunning streets, beautiful fountains. One of the best places we have visited so far.

Rough night on the boat again with 30kt winds, so another bad night’s sleep!



Wednesday 12^th November – Siracusa to Pozzallo

Distance: 48nm (was 62nm to original destination)

We were up at 6am as we had a long distance to cover. We initially hope to make it to a town called Ragusa, 60nm away, but the winds were still very high after all the storms, and the sea was really big when we first left Sirucusa, only calming down just before we arrived in Pozzallo. It’s the knarliest sail we have had for months, waterproofs on, cold, wet and lumpy seas. Glad we haven’t got too many of these left now we are coming into winter! We were pretty cold and grumpy, so decided to cut the journey short by 15nm and nip into Pozzallo instead. The only saving grace was we managed to sail most of the way, however just after we put the main sail down and BAM, it cut out and wouldn’t stay on. We were so LUCKY that it didn’t happen in the lumpy seas we had just been through. So we were able to drift in the relative safety of the harbour while Mike worked out what had happened – blocked fuel filter. Within 15mins we were on our way into the marina, met by a lovely man, and a very quiet morning – hurrah! I was asleep by 8:30pm – rock and roll!



Thursday 13^th& Friday 14^th November - Pozzallo

Distance: 0nm

We are waiting for more high winds to die down before we head off to Malta. Determined to have one nice last long sail before we pull Disco out of the water, so we are determined to wait for good winds to blow us over to Malta. Meanwhile I am writing this mammoth blog and Mike is making a start on his job list, including servicing the toilet. JOY.



Subject to the winds dying down after today’s storm, we are off to Malta on Sunday via Ragusa so we can test the engine properly on a short motor. It will be an overnight sail as we need to clear customs/immigration between 8am-5pm and it’s a ten hour sail minimum. Malta is part of the EU, but has strict entry rules, we have to fly the Maltese flag as a courtesy along with the yellow Q flag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_flag_(contagion)).

Then it will be just a few days until Phil joins us for a week’s sailing around Malta. We then have a few days of boat maintenance before we fly back to the UK and then on to Thailand for two weeks.

We can’t wait to see all our friends and family – albeit just briefly. We are even fitting in an early Crimbo dinner!!



Lots of Love



Sarah & Mike xx

p.s. Still stubbing toes and hitting heads six months in – ouch!!

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Photos

Rescuing the French family
Pulling them off the sand

The boys fooling around
(Much to the Sicilians confusion and amusement)

Beautiful church
1 EUR to light up the ceiling