It’s August 16th.. slowly but surely we are learning more about this wonderful boat!
We still have no way to get into the computer which has all the technical stuff we need. We are “ Googling” what we can.
We’ve found light switches that don’t seem to do anything lol!

We thought we didn’t have an Anchor light, the type of lenses on the light is a Fresnel which Cam tells me sends the light out horizontally which makes it very visible from a greater distance! So looking up at the top of the mast we couldn’t see it! It was a relief to know it worked.

The washing machine needs a new belt- we managed to get it off anyway. For now it’s hand washing things- sheets should be interesting 😳.

We did a tourist day the other day! We took a “ Hop on Hop off” bus to the very top of the Taormina area. We look up to that area from the boat.
We had lunch in a lovely cafe in the village called “Castlemole” at the top.
The views were spectacular! I can’t imagine how they can build anything way up there! Many of the buildings seem to be be teetering on the edge of the cliff. I believe the Castle is dated in the 1400’s , they are not positive. Somehow they dragged a huge cannon up there. Surely it wouldn’t be worth it for the enemy to climb up there!!!!

The bus ride up the mountain had me looking down! I felt like I was on a ride in Disneyland! I could hardly look out the window.i just couldn’t believe how these huge buses were winding around the hairpin corners- honking away to oncoming traffic. It was worse than a logging road in BC.

Almond wine is popular in this area, anything “Almond”really.
I had Bruschetta... which I found out was pronouncing all wrong !! It’s a hard “c” not a “ sh” lol 😂 just one of my many poorly pronounced words.

Some of you may not know that my Mom-was born in Florence Italy, she spoke English at home with her parents and was educated in Italian.
I asked her once why she never taught us how to speak Italian, she said,” none of you wanted to learn” OH!! I wish now I had learned how to speak Italian.

I am so reminded of my mom here ❤️

When we’ve had people here working on the boat - google translate is definitely our friend! They use it, we use it! Funny thing as we pass our phones back and forth!

Getting better at finding things at the market! The vegetables are not kept cold- maybe coolish . The green onions look almost dried out but when you peel back a layer they’re fresh as can be! So, no need to refrigerate.

Today we get the finished Bimini put on the boat! This will be so great! It has zippered sections of a mesh type material for when it’s hot and solid sections for the cooler times.

We just found out that friends Fred and Penny are coming to sail with us most of September! Fun!

We are sticking around this area until we feel we have what we need done.

We have seen some huge, huge yachts! They are here all the time! Many sailboats of all sizes!

When we returned to the boat from our tourist day, the mountain side we look up at was on fire! It was a pretty good size. Finally a water tank truck arrived at the road above it- they didn’t have much luck getting it out. It was quickly spreading. The truck left!! The fire was spreading - eventually the truck returned ( must have reloaded water) . It wasn’t helping.
Geesh, the fire was going crazy! Finally two helicopters arrived and we watched as they dipped their buckets in and out of the water.
Its two days later and it’s still smouldering. Big excitement that day.

Today is a very calm day, no wind at all. Always a beautiful view from the boat.

More on this sooon !

❤️⚓️⛵️