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.

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

And tomorrow Vulcano beckons

So our journey continues and we decide to press on and head towards the Straits of Messina. Our logic is to try and get there before the high winds begin, which are forecast for Thursday morning ( 4th of April ). This puts us in a more favourable position to decide our next course of action, which we hope will be to head through Messina and onto the Aeolian Islands. If we are held up in the Messina area we will have options to explore a bit of Sicily.

It’s 0108 as I write this and we are motoring onto Santa Maria Di Leuca, about 12 nm left to run. We have approximately 1/2 a tank of fuel left and I have suggested we pull into this marina to fuel up and get some provisions and top up our water tanks.

So that’s the plan. Sorry, no photos of this part of the passage as no infra red camera ?, but I did manage to squeeze in a shot of the sunset and our home made Pizza, that Stefano made for our evening meal.

We arrived in Santa Maria de Leuca at 0400 and promptly hit the sack and agreed to get up at 0800

Ahh what a sleep, it’s also beautiful to wake up in a new home, even if it’s only for three or four hours.

We all choose, or were given, tasks to do to make our planned departure of 1000.

Stefano went to get fresh food including steaks and vegetables.

Marta, Massimo and me, cleaned Aria, filled the tanks and then made our way to the old harbour and the the “Sailors Friend Chandlary”, to buy a spare gas bottle, which they did not have. Not surprising for Italy, so I’m told. I did however persuade Massimo to invest in some fishing gear, hopefully the investment will be repaid with a catch.

Back to Aria of off to the fuel pontoon and full tanks again. Better safe than sorry, for our long onward journey, especially as the next 12 hours or so, show limited winds.

An so off we set, on our sail for the Straits of Mesinna. As predicted, the winds are not more than 5 kts. So we settled into our trip and Stefano excelled himself with a truly wonderful lunch of steak, roasted potatoes and wonderful salads.

Not much change in wind and its now 1900 and apart from seeing a turtle, nothing else to report.

We are motor sailing at 6.9 kts in about 8 kts of wind coming from the south. But the sail is giving us a push.

We have a stowaway. A small, exhausted swallow has joined us and sought refuge. She inside Aria and has made a home for herself and finally Arba has a companion.

So we are about to settle into our night routine and will give you updates later.

An early morning start. Taxi booked for 0430 and off to Gatwick for a 0740 flight to Bari.

Check in went smoothly with the EasyJet automated system and headed straight to Jammie Oliver’s for an English Breakast.

The flight was on time and and most pleasant, with wonderful views of the Alps.

Arrived in Bari to wonderful clear skies and temperatures of 17 degrees and rising. Sailed through customs and into the arrivals lounge to the warm welcome of Massimo, Marta and Off course Arba and the customary Italian coffee.

So nice to be picked up by the best of friends, who drove 2 ½ to meet me in a hire car. The drive back to the marina was fantastic with stunning views along the coast.

Having readied Aria, we set up lines to spring off the pontoon and the reversed into 17kts of wind and into the bay of the marina and then powered forwarded through the breakwater and into the open sea of the Adriatic.

Genoa deployed almost immediately and started our down wind sail on a course of 130 degrees along the eastern coat of Italy. Memories flooded back of my youth in this area with my parents and my sister, I was just 11 years old.

The night drew in and the sky stayed clear to a wonderful welcoming of stars and planets, which included, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and at dawn Venus and a waning, crescent moon, starting off blood red and then turning to a brilliant white.

Massimo and I ran a 3 hour watch, whilst the other two crew, Marta and Stefano slumbered.

The new day brought wonderful blue skies and warm sun and Stefano serving breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Ran the engine for a couple of hours to charge the batteries and to take advantage of the engine due to the wind dropping. Fortunately, the wind picked up and and the iron maiden was turned off and we returned to Gods power.