26-Jul-2007, Ionian Sea

Nicky has done really well. He doesn't seem to mind the confined space and we have managed to keep him occupied well. Thank goodness for Lego! He got a gift of a Lego Toolo helicopter (the type that screws together) for this crossing and spent several hours busy with the parts today. We also did face painting - I made Nicky into a sea dragon and he painted my face with blue stripes. Another thing he enjoys is towing objects like the sea dragon we carved out of a swim noodle - it hops along on a rope behind the boat and you can make it jump and splash. Coloring (in exhaustive detail) is another favorite. On the first full day of our crossing we hit a calm and went for a swim in kilometer-deep water. Nicky didn't hesitate: he pulled on his swim wings, climbed down our swim ladder, and started paddling around! That also served to cool us down as it has been very hot. Today we filled up his small inflatable pool with seawater in the cockpit for him to splash in.

Nicky sleeps through the night well but he has been waking up early and joining whichever one of us who is on dawn watch in the cockpit. He curls up there with his pillow and blanket and usually falls back asleep quickly. This is our second crossing of 3 nights and it gives me some confidence that he will also be fine on longer passages like the 5+ days it will take to reach Malta later. We have not had any rough weather yet (aside from the short stretch in the Strait of Messina) so in that respect it has been easy to get into the rhythm of offshore passages and get our sea legs (no seasickness yet for any of us thankfully). Let's hope our luck holds out!

01 - Mediterranean

Comments [2]

Nana
26-Jul-2007, Cephallonia, Ionian Sea, Greece

The Aeolian islands were a real highlight, especially our beautiful anchorage on the west side of Volcano and our hike up to the crater rim. We left the Aeolian islands at 3AM on our third night at Volcano in order to make the favorable tide at the Strait of Messina, about 45 miles away. In fact we arrived near the opening of the Strait early and had a few hours anchored off Sicily to wait for the tide to turn (this way we were able to go with the strong current rather than against it).

We had read a lot about the Strait of Messina and were cautious about the currents, whirlpools, and eddies that it is known for. In fact, at the head of the Strait we could see a rough rippled area, almost a starting line where the Tyrennian Sea meets the Ionian. However, everything went smoothly and a bigger concern was the huge number of ferries crossing the Strait that we had to find our way around. In the end we found an opening and crossed without any problem. Unfortunately our short stay in Reggio di Calabria was disappointing, with an unappealing harbor area and little time for seeing the town after dealing with repairs and provisioning.

We left Reggio on a Sunday evening and soon were tangled up - almost literally - in a series of difficulties. First, we left the harbor and set sail without realizing that due to an air show - seven fighter planes performing spectacular stunts and formations - part of the Strait was closed to boat traffic and so we had to hurry the hell out of the stunt area into clear water. Nicky loved the show but my heart was pounding from the low fly-overs they had executed. Then the winds and seas built very quickly because everything is funneled through the narrow Strait between the high land masses of Sicily and mainland Italy, to an uncomfortable point that we were a bit unprepared for. To complicate that, the reefing lines jammed (to make your sail smaller in big winds) though Markus quickly found a solution and got the boat well under control again.

No sooner had he accomplished that, than the winds died right down; we were out of the narrow Strait and rounding the boot of Italy to head east to Greece. So we ended up motoring through the first part of the night. That is until about 2AM when Markus woke me form his watch with the news that we were tangled in a fishing net. We pulled and hooked and cut at the net but weren't getting loose. Meanwhile another boat was approaching. It turned out that boat was the fishing boat and they began to reel in their net. I had visions of a midnight encounter with angry Italian fishermen but that was not the case in the end. They came up slowly until they were right alongside and quickly managed to free us with no hot tempers or wild gesticulations. I could picture them bragging to their fishing buddies at home: we caught one THIS big! They didn't let us go, though, until they had given us three huge tuna out of their catch (they were ready to give us more but we politely declined). So it turned out to be a positive encounter instead of a nightmare - but next time we will catch our fish the normal way, I hope! By the next morning we were out of sight of Italy, in international waters, savoring a delicious tuna meal and our memories of Bella Italia!

We counted on two and a half days for crossing the Ionian (250 nautical miles) and have done well so far with a little motoring and a log stretch of good winds with very calm seas. No dolphins yet and also not as much boat traffic as I expected so it has been a quiet crossing. We do the days in 4 hour watches and the nights in 3 hour chunks (so one of us is always on deck and on duty in turn). We are looking forward to exploring Greek waters with Cephallonia and Ithaka first on our list.

01 - Mediterranean

Comments [0]

Markus
18-Jul-2007, Vulcano, Aeolian Islands

Jus a quick update since I'm using a public internet terminal with an awful keyboard...
Wwe made our first passage from Olbia/Sardinia to Filicudi in the Aaeolian Islands (north of Siciliy) and covered the 270 nm in about 65 hours at a leisurely pace with some very nice sailing unde starry skies in light winds. Nicky got the full program and saw dolphins, a wale annd some big ships and had a good time on the boat. After our arrival in the Aeolian we stayed for one night in Filicudi, then spent a night in a marina on Lipari to take on water and replenish annd are now at anchor before Vulcano where we hiked up the very vulcano tis morning. Next stop: Reggio Calabria - stay tuned...

01 - Mediterranean

Comments [1]