Sicily Arrival
We arrived in Catania on the east coast of Sicily on Tuesday, 7 Aug around 7:00pm. We tried desperately to hail a marina in the port to no avail. The marinas are operated by yacht clubs and are located within the commercial port. Since we could not hail anybody we anchored outside the port in front of the beach just next to it. Had a good chance to chill and relax after the 2-1/2 day transit from Greece. On Wednesday morning we again tried to hail the marinas without any success. So, we took the boat inside, tied up to the ship bulkhead and walked over to the marina. Between our limited Italian and their limited English we made arrangements for a slip for the night. After lunch we went to town looking for the Vodafone phone store. My Greek SIM card works in Italy in roaming mode but the remote hotspot doesnât. We purchased a new SIM and 32Gig of data for 25⬠and is good for the month. We continue to question why cellular service in the US is so expensive. After resolving the phone business we set out to replenish our fresh food stores. We ended up going to 3 stores including the butcher shop. Everyone we ran into was very helpful to find things and get around that part of town. Catania is the second largest city on Sicily. We were impressed with the old part of town near the marina with the small balconies. We enjoy the views as we look down the narrow streets and the plazas frequently encountered. Because of the heat the streets are generally deserted during the afternoons but everyone starts coming out around 9 at night. We actually sat down for dinner at 10:00pm. We made plans to go thru the Straits of Messina on Thursday.
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