Night Watch

Spooky. Alone at the helm. Literally in a sea of darkness. It's 4:00 AM. There's a beacon in the far distance. The run is from Milazzo to Cefalu, a 62 nautical mile passage. Speed over ground is 5.4 knots. Position 38 04.892 N, 14 11.139 E. A blip on the radar screen is ahead but your eyes see nothing in the darkness. The constellation Orion is above but you begin to see faces in the stars looking down on you. You change course by 10 degrees but the blip follows you. You have your radar, your course plotter, radio, depth meter, wind speed, compass. Is that a light up ahead? I don't know it's gone now...

Messina Straits

We left Roccella at 8:45 AM. Team Canada apparently had a nice cruise in and in the morning were ready to set sail.

We motored most of the 67 miles to Reggio. We were hailed by the Guardia di Fiancia which were guarding their coastline. We passed two armed vessels before a third vessel came bearing down on us. Their imposing vessel came 10-15 meters off our stern. They called us on the radio inquiring to our origination, destination, number of passengers, and general route. Our responses must of intimidated them because they chose not to board.

We passed by the arched bridge way embedded into the mountainside at Capo Dell' Armi. We are sure this has been filmed in several movies. See if you recognize it.

We saw Mt. Etna, an active volcano as well as Stromboli.

Reggio turned out to be a stinky commercial harbor with limited facilities including non-potable water. We chose to make a late night 90 minute run across the Messina Straits to the Sicilian town of Messina. Sicily! Finally an Italian experience true to what one imagines ones thinks of Italy.

After provisioning the next morning we set sail to Milazzo. To get there we had to sail through the mouth of the Straits. We saw wind surfers and kite sailors. The waters became rough and we fought a strong current before the waterway opened up to the Tyrrhenian Sea, much larger body of water. For those of you familiar with the Potato Patch outside the Golden Gate the experience was much the same but larger.

Onward to Milazzo...

The Great and Amazing Race - Crotone to Roccella Ionica

So the race has started. The Americans versus the Canadians. Team Canada, Cynthia and Serge have set sail to Roccella a 68 mile passage across the Golfo di Squillace. They must face the winds, the sea and maybe Poseidon himself. While Team America, Mary and Terry must travel 134 kilometers to Roccella by any means available. Train would be preferable but it is Sunday in Italy and they must face this challenge with gusto and moxy. Their handicaps: strange land, strange language, iPhone battery down to 50%, and it's Sunday in Italy.

Start time: 7:00 AM

Team America update 10:00 AM
iPhone battery down to 12%.
We walked through Crotone, a lived in graffitied town. We were pleased to find some businesses open so we stopped for croissants and cafe. Our first attempt at transportation was thwarted by a closed bus station. However as luck would have it after eventually locating the train station we walked directly on to a departing car. The conductor speaks no English so we hope it is going our way....

Team America Update 7:00 PM
Team America made it to Roccella by 11:04 AM. Team Canada rounded into the Marina near 3:00 PM. News of their passage not yet tendered. While Team America made it to Roccella early their search for a sit down meal has proven elusive. As they have learned Italians keep a completely foreign dining schedule.

After dinner Team America walked the 4 kilometers to the marina, where they found Team Canada slumbering within the Vessel Vanilla.

It was a fun day.

Villas, Villas and More Villas

These are pictures of some of the villas we saw in Saint Maria di Leuca.