The town of Milazzo straddles a long narrow finger of land that juts out of the main Sicilian landmass to the north. Its port is on the eastern side away from the prevailing NW winds and swell but still has a reputation for uncomfortable ‘swell hit’ moorings as there is little real shelter and the ferry and tanker traffic is heavy and doesn’t slow down! Most of the comments we had read suggested that Poseidon Marina was better than the one in the main port area as, though more exposed, the noise levels from ships and discos was significantly less.

We wouldn’t want to be here if the winds were from the east but it was bearable with the relative calm and NW swells during our visit. The staff assisted us to turn ‘stern-to ‘ the next day and were helpful and the price at E60 per night was reasonable. The boat moves dramatically each time a ferry goes past, you need to moor well away from the pontoon as the movement is quite violent. The marina even have extra long planks to lend to you as our normal one wouldn’t reach. Carolyn especially enjoyed walking the 5m plank as the swell came through!!



Splice moored at Poseidon Marina - note the long plank - Carolyn refused to pose!

We enjoyed Milazzo, the town is pleasant though you need to walk a lot as it is long, thin and on the side of a hill. The first day we explored the main town and did some shopping for supplies. We selected a restaurant from Trip Advisor called ‘Anema E Core’ not too far from the boat that night as it specialised in fish dishes. It was a disappointment, the starter was fine and the staff pleasant enough but we had ordered two grilled ‘fish of the day’ and expected a fish on the plate. What we got was a small pile of fish flesh crudely scrapped off the carcase with most of the small bones still included. It was cold and not exciting and the salad wasn’t much either. When we asked why it was served that way the waiter just said it was their style. We are unsure if we actually got the fish we paid for as we could have been served anything. A ‘clear negative recommendation’ from us is unusual but – don’t bother to go there!



The main courtyard inside the castle

On Sunday we visited the castle on the hill above the town. Many years and period of history are visible here and it’s reasonably well done. It’s worth a trip, particularly the main keep and defensive fortifications. We did find it surprising that they have installed modern windows in many of the areas of the castle which detracts from the appearance to our mind. It does make the rooms more usable for craft activities etc which seems to be the purpose.

We spent the rest of the time doing normal boat jobs and preparing the passage through the Straits of Messina. This is a difficult stretch of water and you need to get the timing right as fighting the tides that rush through here is a losing battle, they can go at 6 knots plus so you wouldn’t make much headway!

We have used a website - www.correntidellostretto.it - to assist us as well as the standard ‘4.5hrs after Gibraltar high tide’ to calculate the best time to enter the Straits from the north. The forecast looks good for both tide and weather for tomorrow so we will leave Milazzo early tomorrow morning to reach the Straits by 11.00hrs. Then we will see if our calculations are right!

Main Photo: The steps we climbed to the castle, Splice is moored towards the top left of shot. You can see there's not much protection from the swell!