We left Crotone, Italy this morning. I awoke at 8am having gone to bed earlier last night at 1am vs 4:30am the previous night. Dave is still asleep so Phil and I got the boat underway. After dropping the mooring lines and putting the boat in forward gear, funny noises were gurgling from below. There were apparantely some left over mooring lines on the prop which was severed the previous day while tying to the quay. A few shifts in and out of gear and we were clear to go. The prop shaft has a line cutter on it. After getting going it was now time for a bit to eat. So, I whipped up some scrambled eggs, cheese, and made some toast for Phil and I. Dave does not eat breakfast and was still asleep. The wind is picking up a bit so we put up some sail. Eventually it is a nice 12-15kts. So, I get all the sails out. We even flew the cutter sail. This is the first time
Souverain has sailed both head sails at the same time. We picked up an extra .5 kts. Boat speed is good hitting bursts of 8kts. The seas have flattened out now with the wind dropping to below 10kts. So the iron sail is back on and were motor sailing. Sailing the Halberg Rassey 53 is a breese. Both head sails are on roller furlers as is the main sail. It is a matter of pushing a button or two and the sails roll in or out via hydraulics. I'll have to ask Laurel my wife if I can get these added to Dream Keeper on our return.
As were typing here I've decided to see if I can catch us some dinner. So out goes the lure and fishing line. I'm hoping for some large fish. An hour has gone by no dinner yet as the line is quiet. We just saw a mini Mega yacht go by. It appeared to be about 110' long. We could not see any people outside on it.

5/30/2008 Santa Maria de Luca to Crotone, Italy: We left Maria de Luca for Crotone about 7:30 am to 6:30pm. We arrived in Crotone. The harbor attendant appoints us to a slip along the quay. A quay is basically a wall with rings on it. The boat is tied up as usual Med style, stern in, bow out. In this harbor mooring lines are already anchored to the bottom. We simply grab the lines with a boat hook at the stern of the boat, walk the lines forward to tie up the bow. Toss two stern lines to the attendant on the quay. These are then doubled back to the boat and tied off. We needed to get closer to the quay, so we backed the boat in reverse to tighten up the bow lines and to get closer to the pier. Upon doing this we snagged a mooring line in the prop. Woops! Dave hopped onto shore and looked over the situation. The line was going straight under the boat. I'm thinking we may have to go swimming to untangle the line. We fired up the boat and bumped the engine in reverse while Dave pulled on the line. We were hoping the line would unwind which it did. Off to town to get a bit to eat. I'm on the search for pasta and sausage. We have not found this yet and have been to two towns in Italy. Not sure what the problem is. Certainly part of the issue is inability to read Italian. Some menus have both. We settled on a nice little spot on the water, just a few feet from the beach. I ordered some gamberoni grilled. This is grilled shrimp. It arrived with the heads and all. You have to clean them table side. Upon leaving the restraint we were walking back to the boat and some loud music was set up in the streets. People are everywhere. Apparently the Rubber Soul's were playing. This is a Tribute band to the Beatles. They were Italian's dressed and looked the like the Beatles. They were pretty good as we listened to them play for about an hour and a half until they shut down. We then headed back to the boat for the evening. I got in early at 1AM.

Hello,

Well it's another sailing adventure in the Med. I'm over her in the Med with my friend Phil and Dave on a 2 week trip in the Med. I previously sailed on Souverain in 2002 from France to Spain and down to Portugal, but that's another story.

Stay tuned for more details on this ongoing voyage...