We moved on - along with the many other weathered-in yachts on Thursday 8th, motorsailing with the strong northerlies coming through the Messina Straits. We stopped at a beautiful anchorage for the night just on the south-east of the straits, right off the beach with an uninterrupted view back to Sicily and Mt Etna. Our timing to get through the straits needed to be spot-on to make any progress south to north, with the flow against the strongish northerlies - so Friday 9th motoring with 2 engines we were through by lunch time - although we did have a little drama with a fishing line caught under the boat, but thankfully not in the props. It was hot & still for our motor around to Milazzo - arriving to anchor in the bay just at the end of the daylight - a big day. We stayed at anchor in Milazzo for a week. We gave up waiting for the engine parts & enjoyed the town instead. We saw a 'mafia' wedding, had the local yacht club to come & go from each day with somewhere to safely leave the dingy, good local shopping (although expensive fresh fish), watched the Italian G.Prix & Champions League football - & had a café close by for internet. All-in-all a perfect port for a cruising yacht. We had anchored here previously in September 2004 and our return was just as enjoyable.
IMAGE straits of messina - chartplotter; cruise ship too close in straits; milazzo city;