Our initial planning had been a trip to Roccella Ionica on the sole of Italy but as we looked at it there wasn't any real attraction to the place, the cost at E75 was quite high and the distance at 93m meant a start late in the day and an overnight so as to arrive in daylight. We like to set off reasonably early, sitting around all day waiting to leave doesn't fit with Chris's 'urge to get on' so a target further away was needed to allow a good day and night sail with arrival the following morning. Le Castella fitted the bill with 138 nautical miles to be covered and an interesting small harbour with an old castle guarding the village.

We lifted the anchor about 9.30hrs and motored over to the fuel berth in the marina. There are two fuel places within 100m of each other and the other guy was trying to wave us into his berth as we passed but, given the chap actually inside the marina had been pleasant and his fuel was the cheapest we have found this year at E1.43 a litre, we ignored him and filled up at the internal berth.

We left the bay at Siracusa around 10.00hrs and headed off at around 40 degrees across to the mainland. The initial hours were lovely sailing, with the main and gennaker set and the wind off the starboard quarter we were making 6 - 6.5 knots until 15.30hrs when the wind decided to play elsewhere and dropped to 4 knots. The engines came on and stayed on through the night as we had no wind. We had a nice chicken pasta salad for dinner and dodged the odd tanker and cargo ship as they rushed to transit the Straits of Messina but unusually there were no fishing boats in the area. It is very deep water - over 2000m- so maybe it's not good fishing ground, however we did spot a couple of pots!

On passage we don't take fixed watches, whoever feels sleepy will go to bed and sleep, we find they usually wake up within a few hours and we then swap over. This time Carolyn slept from 21.30 to around 23.30, Chris had a doze for an hour or so and then took over the helm again from 00.45 to about 03.00. Carolyn kept watch until 04.50, when she had another sleep. Chris was planning to sleep again around 07.00 but as we headed out into the 'Golfo di Squillace' (the Bay of Squalls!) at 06.00 to cover the last 25 miles the wind suddenly went from 2 to 20 knots and a cross sea wave pattern hit the south westerly waves we had been riding. We were suddenly in a mini washing machine with wind to match. The last couple of hours of the passage were bumpy with Splice bouncing on a sea that had waves from different directions trying to outdo each other and the wind gusting at 20 knits one minute and 6 knots the next. This kept us both awake and concentrating (hanging on).

The peninsula of Le Castella gave us a slight lea (a shelter from the wind and waves) to drop sail behind at about 08.30 and we motored carefully into the harbour at Le Castella. This is an interesting entry. There are rocks in the approaches within the fishing harbour and the marina is through (for us) a very narrow entry into what was once a quarry. With depths of only 2.00m in the channel, our draft being 1.2m and only a couple of meters either side this was a place to enter very slowly. Our depth alarms were screaming merrily but the lowest depth under the keel was 0.8m. There was no-one around but a guy on a local boat got out his phone and signaled that he would call the staff. We were soon tied up to the quay to port of the entry where we had read most of the larger boats moored.



The narrow entrance to Le Castella marina

There was another cat next to us crewed by Americans taking her from Greece towards an Atlantic crossing though they left within an hour or so of our arrival. Chris caught up on some sleep whilst Carolyn chatted to the crew next door and a local with some English ability. It was hot, the marina is very sheltered and little wind was circulating inside, the temperature gauge on the stern was reading 43 degrees and we were melting just sitting still. The day was spent dozing and recovering from the passage, hiding from the sun.



The castle here is on an island connected these days to the land by a causeway. From early writings historians think there were once two other small fortified islands in the area which is why the local name is still plural despite there being only one example left

Around midday a 51ft Nauticat sailboat with a Canadian flag, 'Big Sky' arrived next to us in the slot vacated by the cat earlier. Con and Barb have been cruising the local area and had arrived from Crotone - our next probable destination. We were invited on board for drinks at 17.30hrs and enjoyed a few beers/wine with them.



The tower of the castle as the sun goes down

After a very necessary shower as it had cooled somewhat we walked in to the small town. We were surprised that the castle was still open, even more so when we discovered it stayed open until 23.00 each night. We spent an hour or so looking around and it was worth the effort even though we got sweaty again climbing the tower etc. With phases of building starting in the years BC and the main fort constructed in the 15th century it was an interesting place. It's the small things that sometimes catch your imagination. The flooring the guards would have walked on when watching from the ramparts had been tiled beautifully in a herringbone pattern with tiles laid on their sides. This formed a floor that was about 4-5 inches thick, a surprising use of materials but, if this was just the ramparts, what would the interior have been like in its heyday?



The remains of the tiled flooring on the ramparts

After this we tried to eat at a selected restaurant but it was fully booked, getting tired and hungry we just chose a harbour side place overlooking the castle and had a pasta dish. That was moderate but they did provide tasters of tiny cooked wild artichokes and a fish paste which were very good. We slept very well that night.

Main Photo: Splice and Big Sky moored to the quay in Le Castella