East Coast & a Taste of the Ionian

Wednesday 12th August.... LINDA - We're heading towards Sicily's East Coast but not quite there yet. This morning we departed Marina di Ragusa after waiting half an hour for fuel. We didn't actually need fuel but it was convenient so we took the chance to fill up as we weren't in a hurry to reach the next destination. After a lovely leisurely 5 hour sail at 5 knots with just the genoa, we reached Punta Castellazzo and dropped the anchor in just 2.7 metres of water. We were on the east side of the Punta and it was pretty well sheltered from the winds and choppy sea. We had been warned of uncharted rocks so anchored quite a way off shore. You might just be able to see the boats in the distance on this next photo.

Dean awaiting Oscar's dinghy arrival this evening

A pretty good walk to the Punta and back

A good little landing place on the slipway

A brief walk along this quiet track

You can see it was way past sunset. Saffy was really enjoying the walk in the cool winds of the evening but we had to get back. Dean had bbq'd a Pork Joint on the boat earlier and we couldn't wait to get stuck in. Plus before bedtime I had to do some stargazing, for the Perseids Meteor Shower was performing its finale this evening. I did get to see 5 shooting stars before Dean said it was 11pm so i'm satisfied at that. Same time next year. 

Thursday 13th August.... LINDA - Well we were planning on spending 2 nights here in Punta Castellazzo, but as always the weather never behaves for long. This meant that this morning we must move on 9 miles to Porto Palo where we can seek shelter from some winds due tomorrow and Saturday.  Porto Palo is right on the very south eastern tip of Sicily so we are only a mere stones throw from the Ionian....yippee. I've never been to the Ionian before, a new place is always exciting. Still no doubt it will be ruled by the Wind God as per usual. Who is that person? I would like to have a word.....

A lovely calm 8am at Punta Castellazzo

En route rounding Isola delle Correnti

The most southern point of Sicily

So here we are anchored in the 'harbour' at Porto Palo with our wind scoop up and wow the afternoon winds are making it dance away from side to side. It's quite funny to watch, as if it's wiggling its hips. 

It's not really a harbour but more of a bay with breakwaters extending from either side. There's a fishing port behind the east breakwater and the rest seems to be an anchorage, so we've tucked ourselves in behind the west breakwater. Here's a google map photo, the dot is our current position.

The dot is us

Friday 14th August... LINDA - We landed on a different beach this morning to walk the dogs because last night's beach had a lot of litter scattered all over it, and there was so much old dried sea grass that it was like walking on a 6 inch sponge. It also had that sulphur smell like the volcanoes we visited in the Aeolian Islands. This morning's beach was a real soft sandy one with easy landing (and rubbish bins) enabling us to have a bit of a look about. You don't realise how excited we get when we find bins. There's nothing much here except some homes and a campsite which we haven't found yet. 

The 'better' beach

with an excited Oscar

As predicted it was a good old windy afternoon blow with gusts above 25 knots. It's annoying but i can't complain too much as Thesee held steady head to wind with hardly a murmur. And of course, there was no swell being here behind the breakwater. When we are at anchor we monitor position constantly to check the anchor is not dragging. We use various methods, one of which is to get what is called a transit. This next photo is my transit for the day... Look closely.....The grey boat ashore (centre of photo) is directly in line with the sandy coloured house on the horizon. If these two go out of line with each other we know the anchor is dragging. 

Transit

Ant did in fact have a bit of anchor trouble on Impavidus and so he moved to a better spot and further away from us so we all had plenty of room. As the afternoon passed more boats came in for shelter, and one of them annoyingly dropped his anchor right in the space between us and Impavidus. He was so close to Impavidus, Ant said at one point they were only 10 metres apart. Cindy said she could see the lady's eyes were blue! We took a photo for evidence just in case there was any collision. They eventually moved after a couple of hours and Ant having to tell them twice they were too close.

Problem boat in front

Impavidus behind

At about 6.30pm the wind started abating, then we noticed a lot of smoke on the mainland. Sometimes we could see the flames above the trees. It definately looked like there was a problem, and it wasn't too long before we heard fire engines and saw the blue flashing lights.

So although we haven't really done anything today, it has been quite eventful. 

Saturday 15th August... LINDA - Another day to keep ourselves busy aboard the good ship Thésée here in Porto Palo. No events to report about today, but we kind of prefer it that way as it means all is well. Some yachts left today and some stayed. Later on these 5 motor boats arrived and all rafted together sitting on just the anchor of the big boat. Not sure i would like to be the little one on the end.

Dean managed to stay occupied with deck cleaning and he also converted the hose on the solar shower. We had a spare shower head and he fitted it on in place of the original small plastic on/off switch. Then he hung the solar shower in an old unused shopping bag, hanging from the bimini frame.... Hey presto, now we can solar shower off the back of the boat, and save our precious water reserves. 

Here's the shower in full use

Sunday 16th August... LINDA - We normally keep the paddleboard on deck but had put it down in the cabin since Thursday as Dean had been oiling his teak toerails again. It's a big beast to have in the aft cabin. It was a squeeze getting to my wardrobe i must point out.  

Today we got to move on after three days sitting in the same spot. Unfortunately we had to wait until 1pm to move because at the new anchorage five miles around the corner the swell direction was still onshore. This was a big day for us to finally reach THE IONIAN !!! Around the strategic point at Capo Passero you could almost say that two seas meet.... The Ionian, and the Sicilian Channel, and most definately you could say two sea swells meet. It was a little bit rough but most of the roughness came from the huge number of day tripper boats that were all over the place. 

We reached the anchorage north west of Isola di Capo Passero and it didn't look too bad so we gave it a try, knowing that the sea direction would change in our favour late afternoon.

Almost around the capo

and waters calming down 

It's a bit of an open anchorage but we didn't feel alone as you can see from the next photo. 

Puts yesterday's 5 rafted boats to shame

Saffy was so excited to have reached a new sea, she had a big smile on her face.

WE ARE IONIAN 

SO IS HE

Later on when it had calmed down Dean swam to check the anchor. We'd heard the Ionian was cold but he said it was lovely, and in fact the warmest water he has been in so far. Also the coastguard came around and gave us a close presence. We read that they move you on if you are too close to the beach, but you can't fool Sailors Three and we had done our research making sure we were more that 300 metres off shore. 

So as usual we took the dogs ashore, onto the island as it was less crowded than the main beach. It's a bit rocky.

That blue strip is Oscar's lead !

 Brits paddling

Another view of the strangely shaped fort

Built to keep the Turkish pirates at bay

The four of us.... well off shore

Monday 17th August... LINDA - For the third out of four days we had wind gusts of over 25 knots. They weren't due to arrive until after midday, and so we had arranged a berth for tonight 3 miles up the coast at Marina di Marmazemi with an arrival time of 11am ish. That gave us all enough time to have a morning coffee ashore before departure. Some of the gang (those without doggies) had not been off the boat for 5 days. 

Swordfish recycling bin for plastic bottles

Coffee at Popeye's bar

....and yes it's also a pizzeria of course

Pleasant on the patio

It was getting pretty breezy by the time we got back on the boats. Dean called the marina to see if we could arrive a little early and they said it was OK. Marina di Marmazemi has a tricky entrance and the harbour staff come out to meet you in a rib and guide you in.... rather like at Ragusa. We staggered our departure times by about 15 minutes so we didn't all arrive together and it worked well, giving the harbour staff time to receive and berth one boat at a time.  We were the last boat to arrive and it was blowing up to 22 knot gusts by this time. Dean did a wonderful job and positioned Thesee into his berth between two large boats with perfection. I didn't even have to do any fendering. 

This evening we all went out to the Club Nautico restaurant in the marina for pizza.... and to discuss our next move for tomorrow.

Tuesday 18th August.... LINDA - A decision made at pizza dinner last night that we would move on again today. This time destination Syracuse, or is it Siracusa? Everyone seems to spell it differently. I must look into that. We had a good 5 hour sail, better than expected really, so we arrived happy. 

This morning in Marina di Marzamemi before leaving

Bora La in front with cruising chute

At 5.30pm we entered Grand Harbour at Siracusa and called the Port for permission to anchor. It was quite a palava as they wanted to email us yet another health declaration form (which we've already filled in about 5 times), and they have trouble understanding your email address. Phil on Bora La especially had a hard time communicating with them. 

We anchored and waited for the said email to arrive which it did about an hour or so later, then we completed it and you have to send it back to four different email addresses. It wasn't until about 8.30pm we received our official anchoring permission, and by then we had been anchored for 3 hours. I honestly don't think people bother to report in, it seems quite pointless.

There's two big Norwegian cruise ships here, one on the docks and one at anchor. There's no guests on board either vessel and we assume these ships have been sitting here since lockdown began and everything came to a halt. One ship is called Norwegian Spirit, the other Norwegian Dawn. We are anchored fairly near to them both, and it was quite fascinating to watch the anchored ship gently swing round on its anchor when the wind direction changed last night.

View as we entered Grand Harbour

Here two boats have already turned at anchor, the cruise ship just started to move around. It's quite a beast.

We did a quick ashore landing, finding a spot in the small canal adjoining the two harbours. I stayed with the dinghy as there have been reports of theft, whilst Dean walked Saffy. There is a bridge and it's very very low, and the locals offer thrill rides at speed under it. You have to duck otherwise you would lose your head. This would definately not be allowed in the UK. I don't have a photo yet, but will get one. The town looks very interesting what we could make out anyway. More exploring tomorrow. 

 

...and then in no time at all it was sunset

Wednesday 19th August...Dean We went ashore with Saffy quite early and managed to get into the marina to leave the dinghy there. The marinero was very helpful and moved boats around for us to squeeze in. We took a quick walk along the front to check out the transit berths, which are huge. Maybe next time.

 Sea front restaurant

 Two old geezers just hanging around

 The view from higher up in the town

Thesee is anchored about 1000 meters off the bow of the cruise liner.

 and again

We took a steady walk up into the old town trying to keep in the shade for Saffy. We came across this great delivery van on our tour.

 Delivery van with smart buildings in the back ground

By this time is was eleven o'clock so we stopped for a quick elevensies by this fountain.

 The fountain of Diana

 Croc man!

The city is quite spectacular with old buildings and amazing architecture and of course all the old narrow streets jammed with modern day traffic.

 Old narrow street

Not sure?

As with most foreign cities the streets are all lined with bars and restaurants. It's great to stop for a coffee and people watch.

Thursday 20th August...Dean We woke to see a new neighbour in the anchorage this morning. This is the largest ketch sail boat in the world, 86 metres long, owned by a Norwegian rich bloke. Strange name. We found out that the masts are too tall to fit under the bridges in the Suez & Panama canals and it therefore has to go right around the two Capes on its worldwide travels.

 Aquijo...its sails weigh 2 ton each !!

Today is shopping day ooh joy! Any way off to Lidl we go. We took Saffy ashore early to the beach near here and near to Lidl but there was a bloke that was clearly not happy so we decided to walk from the marina where we left the dinghy the other day. There was also a mad woman on the beach that took a liking to Saffy. We detoured slightly on our way shopping to look at Apollo's temple but he wasn't in.

 Temple of Apollo

 Still not in

 Pomegranate tree in Apollo's garden

 Walked past a fancy building

 and a fancy bridge...

this is the low bridge that the local nutters race under

 and a fancy tower at the Forum

We met someone on our way down through France that said he way cruising along Lidl by Lidl. I know how he feels. Anyway job done for now. 


Friday 21st August.... LINDA - The month is flying by and we are having a good time here in Siracusa. We did something really unusual for us today.... we went on a tour bus. It was only a fiver and you can hop on and off all day long. It was such good value for money, plus as we were trying to find the bus stop, Dean saw the bus, flagged it down, and we all hopped on... Dean, Me, Saffy, Phil, & Cristina. We got off at the Greek Theatre where there is also the Ear of Dionisus, Ropemakers Grotto, Tomb of Archimedes, Quarry of Paradise, Altar of Hieon II, Roman Ampitheatre, Archimedes Park. We decided to opt for the cafe and take it easy, as it was so hot we could not have walked it all with Saffy.  An hour later we hopped back on the bus and back into Ortigia (that's Siracusa old town), where we all had lunch. We didn't get back until 3pm. Some sights on the bus tour.

Ancient fanciness here on this building

Looking up the narrow streets in old Ortigia

Now in the new town

Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime

Church and catacombs of St Giovanni

All but demolished in the 1693 earthquake

Nearing the hop off point

Didn't catch your name sorry

Me and Saffy on the tour bus

Chaos in the traffic as usual on the way back

At our lunch stop

.. lunch stop again

So the busy day continued and David had arranged for us all to meet at 7pm for a cultural walk around the old town. We think he meant a pub crawl but he wouldn't admit to that. So more photos....

More of those very very old trees again

Looking back to Madonna's place,

 with Mount Etna in the background

Here we are at Aretusa's fountain

where the papyrus grows naturally

It's quite something

Another view of the Papyrus

After sunset we came across a spot where all the beautiful young Italian ladies were posing for photos. It was quite funny as they kept asking us to move because we were obviously spoiling the camera view. So when we reached the bar at the Cathedral in Piazza Duomo i decided to try this posing for myself.

 Do you think i need more practise?

After drinks at a second bar, this time on the quayside we arrived back at the boat and it was gone 11pm! What a busy day Thesee. 


Saturday 22nd August... LINDA - After all of yesterday's sightseeing and pub crawling we were due a rest, and that's pretty much what we did all day. Dean did a little job fixing a broken light fitting inside the boat. I did a bit of research on the cruise ships. They are out of commission until the end of October. They obviously have to keep things ticking over and there is always a small puff of smoke coming out of the top, and we have seen that some of the cabins are in use, so i assume there are still staff living and working aboard to some degree. The first cruise is due to depart 1st November destination the Greek Islands and Eastern Med. 

This morning i decided to take a photo of Norwegian Dawn as we passed almost under its bow on the way to the marina for Saffy walks. I didn't realise until i looked at the photos that it was smiling at me... love the eyelashes too....very clever.

Happy face

You don't normally get this close up to a cruise liner

On another note, i wish someone would tell the Italians that margarine is yellow, NOT WHITE...

Yuk

Sunday 23rd August.... LINDA - Another day busy doing nothing, apart from our afternoon bbq. Dean wanted to try out the grill plate this time so we had pork chops. It was a waste of a cobblestone really as they were cooked in no time at all.  

Sunday dinner

Monday 24th August... LINDA - It's still really hot here in Siracusa. There is a breeze but not enough to lower the indoor temperature highs of 32 degrees. This morning in port was an 'Open Arms' yacht. They rescue migrants at sea. 

We had a little wander about town with Ant, Cid, & Oscar before heading back to Thesee and yet another day with not much to do except weather checking and planning. 

Dean was playing around with his solar panels. They don't seem to be performing as good as in previous days, and he has found out that that the shading from the duogen wind generator has a big impact on their performance. He's decided to lower the wind gen in the day so that the solar panels can do their thing, and raise it again at night for the wind to take over the charging.  The sun is getting quite low now at this time of year, so he got one of our old spare panels out, wired it up, and hung it over the side rails. It made so much difference and before we knew it the batteries were up to 100% charge. 

Tuesday 25th & Wednesday 26th August.... LINDA - Oops, busy doing nothing for two days and forgetting to update the blog.  Dean's extra add-on solar panel is working wonders. Here is today's monitor results....over 300 watts going in now!

Apart from that, not a lot happening, just dog walking and weather watching. Getting a little restless here now, so going to move on tomorrow.

The next blog post will be called 'Back south'