Landfall Sicily

August 23-25, 2013

 While the Aeolian Islands may be so named as they were believed by the ancients to be the home of Aeolus, the God of Winds, apart from the odd thunder storm, wind was something we had found very little of during our stay and the trend continued as we departed on our passage south to Sicily at 6.30am.



The beautiful town of Cefalu proved to be an excellent first stop on Sicily

The port of Cefalu is overlooked by a dramatic hilltop fortress

Initial glassy seas and still air eventually gave way to a very light breeze which at least allowed us to raise the main and motorsail across the flat Mediterranean. Our destination was the port of Cefalu located about midway along Sicily’s north coast. The trip was very uneventful and we were able to anchor midafternoon in the very attractive little bay overlooked by a fortress set high above on a cliff lined hilltop.

We were able anchor Alcheringa outside of the marina at Cefalu
but in the shelter of the headland.

Friday Aug 23 Gelso to Cefalu, Sicily– 50.0 Nautical Miles – 8 Hours 33 Minutes
Average Speed 5.8 Knots – Max 6.6 Knots

 

We had selected Cefalu as it appeared to be one of the few anchorages on the north coast that offered some shelter but it also had a marina we could run to if necessary. As it turned out it was an excellent choice and proved to be a great stop. The town, has a population of just under 14,000, and unbeknown to us, it is also one of the major tourist attractions in the region. Despite its size, every year it attracts millions of tourists from all parts of Sicily and also, from all over Italy and Europe.


Kieren on the bow in Cefalu trying to tan up his London skin.

We enjoyed a casual afternoon onboard in the sun then headed ashore the following morning. Following the road around the headland we discovered an incredible old town centre of narrow streets lined with extremely well preserved buildings, a great beach and lively café scene. The town is dominated by the towers of its Norman cathedral that dates back to 1131. Like most of the town, the exterior is well preserved, and is largely decorated with interlacing pointed arches; the windows also are pointed.. The round-headed Norman portal is worthy of note. A semi-circular apse is set into the east end wall with a groined vaulted roof, while the rest of the church has a dramatic wooden roof. Two strong matching towers flank the cathedral porch, which has three arches corresponding to the nave and the two aisles. Despite all of us suffering a degree of ABC overload (Another Bloody Cathedral) this was one of the more memorable examples we’d explored during our European wanderings.

 

 

 

 

 

The view back towards the old town of Cefalu from our lunch spot.

 

It was a very enjoyable time wandering the cobblestone streets and laneways followed by an excellent late lunch washed down with a generous quantity of fine Sicilian vino at an open air café on the headland overlooking the bay. Yep, Cefalu was a good place to begin our Sicilian sojourn.

The anchor was up next morning and we motored westward past the old town towards Palermo over crystal clear, mirror finish waters. We were very pleased when a good wind did appear later in the day and Kieren was able to enjoy a spirited sail on the boat after a full week of motoring. He was flying back to London the following day and had all but given up on experiencing passaging under sail that his Uncle Marc had been spruiking about. We were even able to coax Alcheringa up to a peak of 9.2 knots at one stage which is excellent for a 42 foot Jeanneau.



Dramatic cliffs near Palermo

We threaded our way through the maritime traffic in the huge harbour at Palermo and found our way to the berth we had organised next to the water police base and about as close to the city itself as you could get. Shortly after docking good friends from home arrived at the boat which seemed an appropriate excuse to crack open a bottle.  Anthony and Lynda had been holidaying in Europe and  been in Palermo for a couple of days. They were going to join us the next day for some time with us on the boat before continuing their trip.

That evening we all headed off to a local restaurant they had discovered and had yet another awesome meal which served as an Alcheringa send off for Kieren and welcome to our new temporary crew mates.




Sunday Aug 25 Cefalu to Palermo

33.7 Nautical Miles – 6 Hours 20 Minutes

Average Speed 5.3 Knots – Max 9.2 Knots

 

AN APOLOGY

Since returning to Australia at the end of last European summer’s wanderings around the Med, we have been extremely busy, catching up with friends and family, finishing and publishing our first book, ‘Stuff it. Let’s go sailing anyway’, mounting a very successful exhibition of Karen’s artwork and buying a new boat. While spending much time preparing ‘Our Dreamtime’ to sail off into the western Pacific and South East Asia, we’re also working at finalising the this blog’s story of our adventures in the Med and getting it all back to current so keep checking back for new instalments.


To stay right up to date with what we’re up to these days and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at Dreamtime Sail on Facebook

If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.  We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.

 

Back to Vulcano - the Aeolian Islands Pt3

 August 19-22, 2013

  After waving off our friends Tony and Lynne on the morning fast ferry to the Sicilian capital, Palermo, we were back on the dock that afternoon to welcome back Marc who was returning to the Alcheringa after a visit home to London. He also had his 16 year old nephew, Kieren, in toe for his first taste of the cruising life. They were both exhausted after a very full day of travel and a welcome meal preceded an early night all around.

Next morning Marc and Kieren took the opportunity to have a look around the delightful old town before we dropped the lines after lunch and said goodbye to Lipari. It was certainly good to get away from the washing machine like waters of the harbour and set course back to the short hop back to the relative calm of the anchorage at Vulcano.

 

Incredible views from the crater



Aug 20 Lipari to Volcano – 3.4 Nautical Miles – 0 Hours 42 Minutes
Average Speed 3.6 Knots – Max 6.1 Knots

We were anchored up by 2.00pm so Marc and Kieren headed straight ashore to do some exploring. We’re not sure Marc realised quite how much exploring as Kieren’s youthful enthusiasm, not to mention rugby playing fitness level, saw him heading straight for the pathway to the top of the smoking volcano itself. Not being one to want to disappoint, Marc dutifully strode alongside and reportedly did a fine job of maintaining the pace despite his heavy nicotine dependence. While Vulcano is largely a snoozing volcano, it has plumes of smoke and gas all around the summit crater. The inside of the crater can be seen from a path around its edge. It’s possible to see right to the bottom of the volcano. All around the summit, fumaroles vent hot, sulphurous gas and much of the ground is hot and stained yellow by the sulphur.



Vulcano's volcano is constantly venting sulphurous gasses

Marc did say he had fleeting doubts when they encountered warning signs stating that gasses emitted around the crater could be lethal but he decided if the number of Rothmans he’d inhaled over the years hadn’t killed him the mountain was also unlikely to succeed. The pair were rewarded with stunning views of the surrounding islands and a truly up close and personal experience standing at the very rim of a smoking volcano. On the adventurers’ return to the boat, Kieren eagerly set about trying his luck fishing bright eyed and bushy tailed while Marc enjoyed some well deserved quiet time resting up with a glass of wine and smoke after what was a far more strenuous climb than most would take on.

Kieren had a line in the water at every opportunity but the fish did not cooperate

Marc contemplating if our neighbours could have anchored any closer over a
glass of wine and smoke on the swim platform

The following day Marc and Kieren headed ashore again while we stayed aboard for a kick back day of planned blogging for Rob and reading for Karen. That was until dark storm clouds started to roll over the top of the mountain about lunch time accompanied by the ominous sounds of thunder. Considering how crowded the bay was with charter boats we’d watch anchor up around us with widely varying skills this was serious cause for alarm. We certainly did not want any repeat of our nasty experience in similar circumstances on Mallorca the previous year. See Ambushed by the Storm Gods in Santa Ponsa

We decided the safest option was to clear out and get plenty of sea room around us so on came the engine and up came the anchor. As we cleared the anchorage of tightly packed yachts and pleasure boats we noticed all of the ferries on the dock were also casting off and making for clear water. We just had time to batten down and get some wet weather gear on when the storm gods unleashed with our gauge showing gusts to 40knots accompanied by near horizontal rain that stung any exposed flesh. As uncomfortable as it was, our only real danger was getting run over by one of the circling ferries as visibility was non-existent at times. Fortunately our AIS not only showed us where they were but also showed them where we were and we were all able to avoid each other without any real drama.

The storm disappeared even faster than it had arrived but as we made our way back to the anchorage we could see it had created havoc in the short time it had visited the bay. Dozens of boats had dragged anchor with some well tangled in the float line marking the swim zone right along the beach. Many showed battle scars where they’d clearly bounced off each other.  As we carefully re-entered the fleet we were concerned at what Marc might have been thinking if he’d come to the beach when we’d gone and found his boat nowhere to be seen. In all the mayhem a nice big clear area had been created which we happily dropped anchor in and set about drying off. As it turned out Marc and Kieren had gone to the other side of the island where the storm had been much less dramatic and he hadn’t been worried at all.

 Unbelievably, within a hour of the storm we had boats entering the bay and anchoring almost on top of us again. We decided it was time to move on.  We left the smoking mountain and its sulphurous stench in our wake at Ten the next morning and motored on glassy waters around the western side of Vulcano past stunning cliffs and many sea caves.

Stunning sea cliffs on Vulcano

There was hardly a breath of wind as we made our way to a small bay at Gelso on the southern end of the island.  Even very close to shore the sea was over 200 metres deep and incredibly blue. Karen couldn’t resist and we drifted for a while so she could cool off in the stunningly inviting water.



Karen insisted we stop the boat for a swim in the stunning deep blue sea.

We anchored off Gelso where we discovered steep cliffs rising behind an attractive black sand beach complete with obligatory waterfront bar, umbrellas and sun loving Italians who we soon joined ashore for a very pleasant final afternoon in the Aeolian Islands before striking out for Sicily on the morrow.



A very enjoyable afternoon was had on the black beach at Gelso



Our anchorage at Gelso

 

Aug 22 Around Vulcano– 8.1 Nautical Miles – 1 Hours 51 Minutes
Average Speed 4.3 Knots – Max 5.6 Knots

 AN APOLOGY

Since returning to Australia at the end of last European summer’s wanderings around the Med, we have been extremely busy, catching up with friends and family, finishing and publishing our first book, ‘Stuff it. Let’s go sailing anyway’, mounting a very successful exhibition of Karen’s artwork and buying a new boat. While spending much time preparing ‘Our Dreamtime’ to sail off into the western Pacific and South East Asia, we’re also working at finalising the this blog’s story of our adventures in the Med and getting it all back to current so keep checking back for new instalments.


To stay right up to date with what we’re up to these days and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at Dreamtime Sail on Facebook

If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.  We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.

 

 

 

Sailing to Vulcano, Lipari and the Aeolian Islands Pt2

August 17-19, 2013



Lipari was an unexpected gem

  We enjoyed a sedate but nice downwind sail next morning on our way to the island of Vulcano. That’s right, this actively volcanic island is actually named Vulcano.



Leaving our anchorage on Basiluzzo and our superyacht neighbour astern.

The Romans believed that Vulcano was the chimney of the god Vulcan's workshop and therefore named the island after him. (Obviously the name caught on for other smoking mountains all over the world) The island had grown due to his periodic clearing of cinders and ashes from his forge. The earthquakes that either preceded or accompanied the explosions of ash etc., were considered to be due to Vulcan making weapons for Mars and his armies to wage war. The Romans used the island mainly for raw materials, harvesting wood and mining alum and sulphur.

Currently, around 470 people live on the island, mainly deriving their income from tourism. It has several hotels and cafes, the important attractions being the volcano’s active crater, beaches, hot springs and sulphur mud baths.



Isla Basiluzzo to Volcano – 23.8  Nautical Miles – 3 Hours 32 Minutes
Average Speed 3.6 Knots – Max 6.9 Knots

Our anchorage on Vulcano with the gaping crater just to the south.

 

We anchored in the shadow of the volcanic peak in a nice sandy bay just off a beach that featured steaming mud pools at one end. The mud is said to possess healing and soothing qualities for the skin guaranteed to make you look much younger. Swim in the pool then cover your face and body in the mud, let it dry and form a mask, then rinse it off in the sea where hot springs make the water warm and bubbly, like a natural Jacuzzi.

As soon as we got ashore a bee line was made for the mud baths. Karen, Tony and Lynne were keen but Rob was more than a little sceptical deciding he’d make the sacrifice of staying out of the ‘vile sulphur smelling cesspit’ and photograph the immersion and transformation of the soon to be younger looking trio. They thought it was cheap at only Two Euro for the dubious privilege, so in they stepped. ‘Shit it’s hot,’ Karen exclaimed before taking the plunge undeterred. (Or should that be under turd)



Let's all jump in the almost boiling mud on Vulcano. It'll be fun.

After rinsing off a liberal coating of the milky coloured sludge in the sea, our now rosey red threesome headed for the showers to discover they were coin operated at two Euros for about thirty seconds of water. Nice scam! But wait it got better. The very acidic and it turns out, low radioactive mud also stripped all the platinum coating off the white gold chain and pendent Karen was wearing, ate away her silver anklet and destroyed all the buckles on her bikinis. Another ten minutes in there and she would have been naked. Yep! Two Euro was a bargain.




Obviously this girl was just trying to save at least half her
swimmers from being eaten away by the mud.

Later that evening after another swim in the sea and showers on board, all three did remark over a wine or two that their skin felt much younger and smoother. That seemed logical to Rob as he espoused that clearly the outer couple of layers of ‘older’ skin had been eaten off living newer younger skin exposed. He expected all three to glow in the dark once the sun set.



The mud pits are at the far end of the black sand beach at the foot of the
very much live and kicking volcano.

Next morning we discovered a bigger problem than the fact all the swimmers  had lost much of their colour and still stunk of sulphur. Our batteries weren’t charging when we ran the engine and despite checking all the obvious potential culprits, we couldn’t find why. We had little choice but to head to one of the ridiculously expensive pontoon berths at the nearby island of Lipari and see if we could find a marine electrician to investigate.

It was only a short hop of a couple of miles over to the largest of the Aeolian Islands but getting a berth was a challenge. The town of Lipari is located on a large, open bay where the only public berths are found on pontoon fingers that stretch out from the shore. Each is run by different concession holders who have one thing in common, an understanding of supply and demand. The pontoons don’t offer any shower or toilet facilities. They provide little protection from any weather from the north east to south east or the constant washing machine of wake from the fleets of high speed ferries entering and leaving the bay from before dawn to well after dark. After circling around and around for almost two hours, we were finally able to secure a spot on the pontoon furtherest from the town centre but adjacent to the main fuel pontoon which ensured a constant supply of additional wake to sorely test our fenders. But this is the peak summer season so for the privilege we were only required to pay 115 Euro( $160aud) per night. Oh and it had to be cash. Wouldn’t want the pesky Government getting a share for taxes would we.



The fuel dock was right beside on Lipari with toys like this huge rib making
plenty of wake to keep us rocking and rolling all day.

For a spot we had not intended visiting, Lipari proved to be a very pleasant stop on our Aeolian wanderings and we made the most of our time here exploring and enjoying this delightful town and it’s very friendly people. Lynne was of the opinion the boat's electrical issues was a male problem and decided she and Karen would get off the boat while Rob and Tony set about getting our battery charging sorted out with the assistance of Mario, a quite elderly marine electrician steered in our direction by the pontoon manager. He arrived at the boat with no shoes, no shirt, no tools and no English. A game of charades ensued to try explain the problem but that  proved fairly unsuccessful until Rob thought to start the engine and point to the gauge showing Mario that no charge was going into the house batteries that power all our lights, instruments, autopilot etc. ‘Ahhhh!’ said Mario before starting a new round of charades which we successfully guessed meant he wanted a screwdriver. Within seconds he had the cover off a relay box above the engine and pointed to one part of it exclaiming ‘Kaput’. He unscrewed it off the bulkhead, pointed to five o’clock on his watch, said we have no idea what and disappeared off the stern and down the pontoon with the offending relay box.  After a brief conference to try to work out what just went on, we resolved that maybe he meant that he would be back at five o’clock.

Meanwhile Karen was being lead all over Lipari by Lynne for some serious retail therapy and art gallery visits. Having not had any ‘girl time’ like this at all since she was last with Lyn back in the UK eighteen months previously, Karen was initially finding the whole experience a little weird. Since the UK she’d only ever been shopping etc with Rob, Marc or both which she assures us is a very different affair and she was very much out of practice.  By the time they got to the long lunch she was starting to feel better about it all. When discovering even more galleries and shops full of local art, crafts and designer fashions from Milan followed she was starting to get right back into the swing of things and was totally in the groove before the second cocktail was drained near the end of day stop at a trendy bar.

Back at the boat Rob and Tony were starting to fret. Not about but the girls not being back, but rather, where was Mario. It was after six by now and they were starting to think they may have misinterpreted his communication.

A little before seven our wiry septuagenarian electrician appeared striding down the pontoon full of life, still shirtless, still shoeless but clearly not clueless. He had the pontoon manager in toe to act as interpreter this time and  quickly conveyed that no replacement relay box was available on the island so he would attempt to fix ours and would return the following afternoon about five. As Mario departed Karen and Lynne arrived announcing that they’d had a lovely day and now it was time for the boys to take the girls out to dinner. Cruising is such a hard life for the women sometimes.

We did have a wonderful dinner in one of the manner restaurants in the old town centre and all four of us spent the following day discovering many of the treasures left behind over the various, Greek, Moor, Roman and even Norman eras of this historic island township, all interspersed with some more fine food and wine of course.



Karen and Tony in foodie heaven on Lipari



It was awesome exploring the winding streets of the older parts of Lipari town



This building has been everything including a Greek then Roman temple and
Moorish mosqueover the centuries of various occupations of the island before
finally being reborn again as a Norman Cathedral.



Remnants of Greek columns in the cloister of the cathedral

Super Mario turned up right on cue in the late afternoon and had Alcheringa sending electrical power to all her batteries again within ten minutes. Fantastic. For his three trips to the boat, searching the island for a replacement  before finally jury rigging the unit to get us out of trouble and refitting it his bill was 50Euro. ($70aud) Unbelievable.

Next morning Tony and Lynne bade us an all too soon farewell as they caught the fast ferry across to Palermo on Sicily before flying home. We may not have got to do quite as much sailing as we’d planned but we’d certainly had a ball.

 

AN APOLOGY

Since returning to Australia at the end of last European summer’s wanderings around the Med, we have been extremely busy, catching up with friends and family, finishing and publishing our first book, ‘Stuff it. Let’s go sailing anyway’, mounting a very successful exhibition of Karen’s artwork and buying a new boat to sail the western Pacific and South East Asia.  We’re now working at finalising the story of our adventures in the Med in this blog and getting it all back to current so keep checking back for new instalments.

To stay right up to date with what we’re up to these days and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at Dreamtime Sail on Facebook

If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.  We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.