As Alex wasn’t in the U.K. to enjoy Christmas, my neighbours, Kate and Nick, and I decided to surprise Alex with a mixture of Christmas and Easter. We name this day Eastmas. Whilst Alex and I were out swimming, Kate and Nick went to work in preparing the Christmas tree, decorations and off course the Eastmas egg hunt.
Alex was delighted and surprised when he got home to find a trail of Easter bunny footprints leading to clues and ultimately chocolate eggs.
We had a wonderful Christmas lunch of turkey breast with all the trimmings. Lots of fun and laughter followed by the customary football match in the back garden, only stopped by the loss of the ball into the bramble, by yours truly.
Great fun and a big thank you to our very good friends Kate and Nick, who are now very much part of Alex’s life and like family.
Alex, having found one of the eggsEastmas fun with Kate and Nick – Turkey with all the trimmings – even had crackers
0730, wind has obviously died down, as I was awoken by the start of the engine, just in time for my next watch at 0800. Coming up to wonderful sunshine and a calm but rolly sea. It was nice to have the suns rays on me again and the warmth permeated my clothing. Alex joined me at 0835, full of joy and happiness one can only get at sea, or is it because he’s with Daddy, perhaps both.
Sunrise mid Mediterranean
Scrambled eggs with pancetta were the order of the day, requested by his Lordship, Master Alex. A wonderful breakfast, served with fresh coffee, on deck and in glorious sunshine, was the start to our second day at sea. It’s the most wonderful feeling waking up and being at sea, miles away from the hustle and bustle, no internet, no phone signal, just three men and a dog.
Joyful Alex with appleMe explaining something our another
We were alternating between engine and sail as the wind died down in belts of 15 minutes, and the picked up again for an hour. It was in this 15 minute lull that the engine splutters and eventually died. Not to worry, our captain and fantastic mechanic, soon Thad the issue resolved. A blocked fuel filter. Once cleaned the engine purred into life again, but by then the ind had picked up and so off it went again, this time intentionally.
Alex was in seventh heaven, not one murmur about not having internet access. Simply enjoying the new world he had discovered. Exploring the boat, trimming sails, looking out, he was a true, participating member of the crew.
We hogged too at 1345 for a lunch of steak and potatoes, kindly prepared by Massimo. It was amazing eating in the warmth of the midday sun, with not a soul in sight, except for those on board.
As we made way again, we were rewarded with our first visit of a pod of dolphins. Alex had spotted them and shouted down to the rest of the crew. We watched them play with the bow wave and they stayed with us for 10 minutes, before darting off and continuing their journey.
A visit at sea from lour friendly dolphins
I went below for a kip for an hour or so and on my return discovered that Alex had another two visits from dolphins, one of which was twenty strong and with a infant. He also averted a potential disaster, by spotting a large lobster pot, directly on our route and only avoided by quick action from Alex and then Massimo. What it was doing in 800 metres of water, God only knows, perhaps it had become adrift, by another poor vessel cutting its line. I wasn’t privy to all this, so can only speculate.
Alex and Arba on watchSunset, on our second day at sea
We left Salina and set sail for the island of Filicudi some 15 miles away.
The wind had picked up to a modest 14 kts and we sailed to within 6 miles when the wind dropped and we then motored the rest of the way.
Arriving, we found a pretty old and battered jetty to which we anchor moored. This is the first time we tried this and it seemed pretty straight forward reversing whilst laying out the anchor chain’t and then attaching stern lines to the jetty.
At about 1800 and took a walk to the town about 1.5 kts away, unfortunately all up hill and about a third of the way up the volcano. We found a bar/restaurant which we entered through a door and it was empty, that included the owners and or staff. We waited 5 minutes and after calling out several times decided to leave. We could have helped ourselves to the many bottles of wines and spirits on display as the place was totally deserted.
In the fading light we made our way down a steep walkway/path and back to Arya and a wonderful risotto prepared by Stefano.
The island is pretty sparsely populated, but worth a visit in calm weather, for pleasant walks and fantastic views.
Early to bed tonight as we have a 0600 start tomorrow for Palermo.
Up at the crack of dawn, well 0700 actually, and set about preparing Arya for our next leg. Today we are setting sail for Salina, for a lunch time stop, and then onto Filicudi.
We arrived at Salina at 1100, after mainly sailing the 6 or so miles. A warm welcome, from the local and when we radioed ahead to ask for berthing instructions and prices for a short stay, were warmly surprised that there was no charge.
The island is wonderfully quite and at the time of our visit, absolutely no tourists, a total contrast to Lipari.
Wonderful quaint local shops, restaurants and drinking places. Local children playing the the town square and no iPhones or iPads in sight. A truly wonderful place. I wish we had more time to stay. A great place to distress with wonderful walks, wildlife and fauna.
Sampling the local wine
Local children having a late breakfast
Narrow streets of Salina
Just about to have lunch. MORE LATER……THIS PLACE IS A DEFINITE MUST
After breakfast I took a trip into Lipari on a motor scooter Stefano had hired to drop some washing off to a local launderette and also replenish our food supplies for the next few days. We even managed to negotiate a great price for fish from a local fisherman.
Negotiating with the local fisherman
He even gutted our fish
Later we met up with Marta and Massimo and took a leisurely walk to the old harbour and an Obsidian shop, and purchase a piece for my growing stone collection.
The town is absolutely beautiful, with narrow, charming streets, beautiful churches and full of jewellery and souvenir shops, not to mention many many restaurants. We choose one and treated ourselves to some fantastic pizzas. We then moved onto a patisseries, where I had been the previous year with Ed and Bill and had a cannoli.
Finally a walk back along the shore with greatly views of the bay to do some maintenance on Arya.
This is my second time in Vulcano, but it is still as beautiful as I remember it. The only two differences are the company and the climb up seemed a lot harder this time around. Anyway Marta, Massimo and I managed to make it to the summit and around the entire crater perimeter. Certainly a lot easier descending rather than ascending.
Stefano stayed at ground zero and we joined him on our way down.
We then walked into town and into a lovely restaurant called “La Forgia da Maurizio”, run by an extra friendly Italian, who spent 20 years in Indian. Fantastic food and hospitality. We ordered Pasta Caserecce with Fish and pomodorini and were given free appetisers, obviously help down with the local white wine. In fact the food was so good that we ordered an additional plate of fried anchovies.
Back to Aria on our tender and then we sailed for our overnight destination of Lipari,”Porto Pignataro”. Four tacks and we were in, and just before the rain.
Our first real overnighted was spent in the small town of Milzzano.
We woke in the morning and Stefano went to town to do the usual food shopping, whilst the rest of us spent leisurely time enjoying breakfast and coffee.
Massimo and I then walked into town for fresh bread and were magnetically drawn to the local Chandlery. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to walk into the old town as we decided to make way for Vulcano, some 24 miles away and after a wonderful Lucy of Spaghetti Vongole we slipped lines. Disaster struck as Massimo was taking Aria out. Just after slipping lines a huge increase of wind caught the bow and started pushing Aria sideways down the narrow alley and towards other yachts. I took the helm and managed to get her stern into stern into wind by letting the wind do the work of swinging the bow around. This allowed us to reverse Aria out of the alley, directly into wind. Disaster averted, we set our sail and set course for Vulcano.
Marta at the Helm
A fantastic sail in winds of up to 29 kts and we sailed the entire journey and in the north west side of the island “Porto di Ponente”, where i had visited some year ago. Life is funny, I would have never thought that I would ever be here again, let alone so soon.
We anchored in 20kt southerly winds and the anchorage was calm with no swell and after our usual culinary delights, presented by Stefano, we retired to a very peaceful night.
Massimo took over watch at about 0600 and I went down for a sleep. Waking up at 0900 for breakfast i was told that 10 minutes after i went down a pod of Dolphins appeared.
There was only 6kts of wind and so we motor sailed. We were watching the weather closely and as we approached the southern most point of Italy decided to travel onwards and through the straits of Messina. The wind and tides were in our favour and we had good northerly tides until 1800
So, decision made and we set a course for Messina. About, 10nm from the Straits, we contacted Messina VTS on channel 13 and were then transfer to channel 10 where we made our intentions clear. We declared that we were going to pass on the Sicilian side and head north through the straits. We also gave our vessel length and number of souls on board. We were asked by VTS, to continue monitoring channel 10 for the duration of our passage. About an hour later we were called by VTS and asked to give our position.
Going through the straits is straight forward and far less dramatic then some stories you read on the web. In fact, navigating the Solent, Southampton Water and Hurst point is far more challenging. So in my opinion, navigating the Messina Straits is a walk in the park.
After mooring and securing Aria we headed into town for a meat feast
What a night. As is our usual routine now, we settled down for our evening meal, lovingly made by Stefano. This time a traditional pasta and vegetable soup, which consisted of pasta, carrots, lentils, chic peas and I’m sure numerous secret ingredients.
Our little stowaway is still with us and we are not sure if Arba is aware of its presence as it sleep away in the corner of our lounge near a speaker.
The wind remained southerly at a steady 5 to 8 kts and the sea was a flat as a pancake.
Massimo had the 2100 to midnight shift and so I retired to my bunk, whilst the overs cleared the meal and dishes.
At 2330 I was disturbed by a change of revs and a rougher movement of Aria. Quickly getting dressed in heavy weather gear, I went on deck to find Massimo deploying sails and reducing the engine revs. The wind and waves had picked up as predicted.
Aria, was over canvassed and so I suggested we role away 2/3rd of the genoa, leaving the main with 2 reefs. Once Aria had settled into her new configuration we were makingbetween 5 and 6 kts, with an angle of 45 degrees. The sea was rough with 1.5 mtr waves and we had 25kts of wind across our deck. This lasted one and a half hours, again as predicted, and then dropped back down to practically nothing. “Predict Wind”, which is the forecasting app that I am using, proved, on this occasion, to be 100% accurate.
Massimo and I stayed on deck, together with a shaken Arba, until 0200, when I retired to my bunk for a well deserved kip.
Relieving Massimo at 0500 the wind is southerly at 5 kts and the sea is like a mill pond.
0540, greeted by a rising Venus in the east, appearing. Red, then amber and finally white as it pokes through the distant cloud break. Then disappear again as clouds draw in.The end of the night also brought a sole dolphin, surfacing only once, but enough for me to catch a glimpse of it underwater life.
Now waiting for the dawn to see what this new day brings.
Negotiating with the local fisherman
The old harbour
Lipari as seen from our walk back
