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.