Tropea and the Aeolian Islands

With all the changeable weather these past few days it is not a surprise to discover that the autumnal equinox is this Thursday. Rather than a pervasive English drizzle we have been treated to a theatre of sun and rain in true Italian style. Instead of being anchored up in these conditions we decided to stay put  in the marina until it blows over.  Tropea is very picturesque with narrow cobbled streets opening up to charming Piazzas and Panoramicos with dramatic views over the beaches and sea some hundred meters below.  Tourist shops seem equally split between those peddling fridge magnets and others selling fine olive oil and Cipolle di Tropea. These red onions are particularly sweet and equally at home on Pizzas as well as in ice cream!

Santa Maria dell'Isola.

Another renovation project

Despite the flood of northern European tourists the local shopkeepers and restaurateurs put on a friendly face and make you feel welcome enough so that they are able to extract that last ounce of discretionary spend. Profits are not obviously spent on restoration here though as every corner seems to present a decaying building just waiting to be returned to its previous glory. That being said, it is a beautiful place and the warmth of the locals seems to belie the darker aspects to its past.This region's reputation for being a recruitment ground for the cosa nostra is maybe connected to the fact that one of its notorious sons became the head of the Gambino crime family after a stint as the boss of the enforcement wing of the Mafia in New York. I am sure that is all over now, mind you not that one would want to ask anybody

Stromboli and fishing rod in background - the volcano was more active.

Dodgy weather had followed for some while and the forecast for the following days was not great, but we decided that we needed to move on and see the Aeolian Islands. The closest one, Stromboli, is not suitable for anchoring in unsettled weather so we headed slightly south towards Panarea. Against a bit of a head wind and current,  it took us almost until dark to get there. We were rewarded however with flashes of eruptions from the craters of Stromboli some ten miles away.  It is not often (ever) that you moor up within sight of an active volcano. It was good to anchor again, although we were reminded that the holding is not the best around these islands when I woke up to a strengthening northerly wind and an Italian yacht starting to drag his anchor quite badly and steadily within shouting distance of us.  This minor drama averted, we decided to weigh anchor and move to a cove in the south get to get away from the breeze and be able to have a swim.

It became clear that the exposure to the south was not going to be great for an over-night either so we headed to the largest of the islands, Lipari. Various people had given us pointers about what to see and do here, but all had pronounced the name differently, each ridiculing the other for saying it incorrectly. The Brits all say Lipari to rhyme with slippery and people from the continent say Lip-Are -ee, turns out the former is closer to the truth when we heard a ship on channel 16 quite distinctly say; Leap'aree.

Night shopping	Capers & more capers	Magnetic Enoteca
Lipari	Arranged Marriages?	Sunset - Panarea

In order to get our bearings we hired a car and drove around the island. This did not take very long as the main road is only about 30 Kms long and, on a clear day, the other islands look as if they are a stone's throw away. The view of Vulcano was particularly good and that made up our minds about where next we would be headed. It is only a few miles to the south, but we made our way there slowly as I planned to catch a fish for lunch. That didn't work out of course and we anchored in a calm bay under the crater of the semi-active volcano. There is no lava but there is a slight whiff of sulphur in the air. A little later a fisherman came by offering some of his fresh catch. I declined and felt like telling him he was just trying to rub salt into my failed fishing wounds.

Lipari looking southwards to Vulcano

Looking toward Stromboli 

Intrepid hiker on Lipari

Roccella Ionica to Tropea via Reggio Calabria

Bling from Crotone  ca. 800BC.

After we left Crotone, I was minded to pen a short retraction since I maligned it somewhat. This is in part because we made the effort to trek up the hill to the amazing museum housing artefacts from the Magna Graecia period, 8th Century B.C., and explore the prettier bits of the old town and also because our Ormeggiatore, Carmine, was super-helpful and friendly and has blue eyes - apparently.
I would like to say that our departure was perfectly timed to coincide with some favourable winds to take us further south, but the reality is that we took what we could get and that was not much, meaning we motor-sailed most of the way to Roccella Ionica some 12 hours away. A feature of the coast here is that very shallow waters abruptly shelve off to over 1500 Meters in depth. This produces a busy and sometimes uncomfortable sea near the shore causing a lot of silting of harbours, some of which are now unusable. This all means that the distances between stops along the southern part of Calabria are mostly quite long.

Cloud watching

Boris Bikes

Again the coastline presents a very dramatic picture, although today mostly dwarfed by huge cumulonimbus castles. Thankfully the thunderstorms kept to themselves and we moved along quietly minding our own business. Roccella is a sleepy stopover for yachties sailing between the Ionian and Sicily. We met familiar faces when we arrived and derived some comfort from knowing others were also engaged in a similar folly. The marina is, as one Brit put it, very fifties. If that means it has a great mini-market serving artisanal ice cream, a co-operative bike hire shop, super fast WiFi, etc. he is spot on. We made use of the bike hire place, which is a no fuss version of the Boris Bike concept, i.e. no paperwork, no fee, just a small donation. The town is a couple of kilometres away along a modern cycle path that follows the beachfront. A pristine, white sand, one person per 500 meter, beach. If this place had an airport it would likely be overrun and spoiled in no time, please no one tell Ryanair.

Carafa Fortress in Roccella

Roccella Beach

Our next leg to Reggio Calabria was also a long one and, as we both woke up at 1 am, we decided to do the first part during the night. We caught a great wind and made our way very swiftly down the last stretch of the southern Italian coast before we rounded the corner at dawn and headed north to Reggio Calabria which is opposite Sicily and just about in the Straits of Messina. I read that the people of Reggio have lost pride in their city after it had been demolished in an earthquake in 1908, bombed terribly in both world wars and impoverished by the economic crisis; it shows unfortunately.

The good,

the bad

and the ugly..

Saverio's wine

It does have two redeeming features however (aside from some glorious Grecian Bronze statues from 500BC). The one is Cesare, an ice-cream place (hut actually), which won best Gelato establishment of Italy  - somewhat of a big deal, given that there is a Gelateria every 21 meters in Italy - and the other, Saverio. Saverio is well-known in yachtie circles as outside of his day job as a taxi driver he is an allround goto man for anything to do with supplying sailors with essentials, whether it be croissants, motor oil, his homemade cheese, gas, home-made wine, etc. Our encounter with him started somewhat reluctantly, but as he honed in and lured us with his unlikely assortment of delicacies we walked away with the sound knowledge that we didn't dilute his average earnings one iota.

Dawn with 5 hours sailing behind us already

The next morning we set off early for three reasons, 1). to escape Saverio's clutches, 2). to time the tidal flow at the Straits of Messina correctly and 3). because bad weather was on the way. Despite making the convoluted calculation involving the high water mark at Gibraltar and a 90 minute shift for the northbound flow, it didn't help much. The straits are steeped in mythology for having swallowed whole ships in the turbulent eddies. These are formed by the cooler water from the south rising up from thousands of meters passing over a shallow and narrow shelf a mile and half wide and 72 meters deep before plunging down a thousand meters and more in the north. It all sounds rather too dramatic when you read about it beforehand, but when you are sailing along merrily, with a fairly strong following wind and your speed suddenly drops from 7 knots through the water to 2 over ground and the water around you looks more like a jacuzzi than the Med you realise that on a bad weather day this could all get rather messy.

Scilla

Above Bagnara Calabra

After dodging criss crossing ferries doing 40 knots, we made it out in one piece and, with some time in hand sailed to Scilla to have a look if we could moor up there. It is very charming but unfortunately not a suitable stopover unless the weather is totally settled, which it was not. So we continued a bit further along the coast to Bagnara Calabra, which is nowhere near as sophisticated as the name might suggest.  Nestled below the lush green mountainside it reminds you of the Ticino, until you get into the harbour and see all the floating plastic debris from the fishing boats. Somebody needs to have a word with these chaps - seriously. There being no fishermen about to talk to, the harbourmaster was treated to a class in Swiss-style negotiation. He obviously thought he was going to get away with it by saying; "The price is €65 for the night, but for you I will make a deal by giving you the 12 Meter yacht price instead of 13 Meters". The answer was not what he expected; "That is fine as a starting point but the electricity doesn't work, so I will give you €40 and when you fix the electricity and you will get another fiver". In fairness to him, he did sort out the electricity and as we left Catherine proffered the promised fiver, which he graciously declined. Somehow I don't think he is likely to forget us any time soon.

Tropea 

The reason we were headed in this direction in the first place was because we wanted to visit the iconic Tropea just a few hours further up the coast.  It is a remarkable sight even though our first glimpse of it was on a rather dull cloudy day. This and the prospect of visiting the Aeolian Islands the next 10 days or so has lifted the mood somewhat after a few days in grimy commercial harbours.

Cariati, Ciro, Crotone in Calabria

Leaving Cariati Marina

As I mentioned previously, the weather has suddenly changed and the predictable sunshine every morning and afternoon has given way to some heavy downpours and cooler temperatures this past week.  On the bright side the rain has been clean, not like the red kind we sometimes get in Turkey that takes tons of elbow grease to remove from your deck and sails if you forget to close the sail bag.  With all the accompanying thunderstorm activity though we have been somewhat sedentary (I am not a fan of being struck by lightning) and inadvertent guests of the three Cs of Calabria; Cariati, Ciro and Crotone.  These are not the most distinguished of places and I doubt many of you will have visited them or after seeing what I post, visit them in the future, but that does not diminish the adventure of discovering them. 

Ciro Marina - main shopping district - just the shops are missing

The end of the holiday season means that many places are boarded up and the streets have already taken on a forlorn look, which is likely to last until July next year. Shops selling essentials are only open a handful of hours a day and lack the choice found in Puglia. Only the Pizzerias and bars seem open for business and they continue to offer good value and a great atmosphere. If we share a Pizza and have a drink each we can get away with a dinner bill of € 7. This of course is before ice cream, grappa, coffee, etc. Actually our favourite local drink has become Amaro, which is a bitter, herbal liqueur somewhat akin to Jaegermeister. Some are better with ice and others not as you are bound to discover, as if you ask a knowledgable barman for ice in a Capo for instance, you are likely to get a severe talking to. 

A common sight in ports	Supermarket?	Safely below the clouds
Calabrian beach all to yourself	No crowds in Crotone	Fenders are a dog's best friend

We have a couple of long stretches ahead of us before we reach the straights of Messina and head toward the Aeolian Islands this coming week and the uncertainty about finding berths in Marinas has been compounded by no one answering calls. We just figured out yesterday, after speaking to an ormeggiatore in Crotone that it is because they don’t answer foreign numbers.  So, the first place we went to after we arrived was the Vodafone phone shop to get an Italian number, second place was the dictionary; Ormeggiatore = man who ties up your yacht.

Upmarket part of Crotone

Essential transport

No swimming today

Again we have had interesting neighbours, all of whom give us insider tips that are not to be found in the pilot books. Ciro Marina was recommended to us by Rene and Anneke and upon saying that the harbourmaster said ‘Ah! Le Hollandese?’, and promptly gave us a day for free.  I have yet to tell Rene how often I am going to try that down the coast.  Actually the port was full to capacity with small fishing boats but that did not stop Enzo finding us a spot in the Lift Bay. This meant we were super-protected in the strong northerly and only had to leave it once briefly for him to haul another boat out the water.  Crotone, despite its reputation, ended up being relatively luxurious. Washing machines on top of potable water within sprinting distance of the fish market have all contributed to a pleasant stay thus far.

Deserted aside from our bike	Crotone Centro Storico
Siesta for some	Forza Crotone!

Gallipoli to Calabria

Restaurant overlooking our anchorage

Well, obviously, not that Gallipoli, the one in Puglia.  It lies on the eastern side of the Gulf of Taranto,  a huge body of water, which is over 2,300 Meters deep in places. Definitely not somewhere to lose your sunglasses.
The town is divided into the centro storico and the new town, demarcated by a bridge to the old castle on the West and a monstrosity of a glass office block on the East. The old town, below which we anchored the first night, is a maze of alleyways each one leading to another church or shrine. We couldn't find the reason for so many churches - maybe something to do with prayers for fishermen's safety, who knows. The tourist track is a well-worn one here but the holiday season is obviously over and the shops selling all manner of local products are quite empty.  In amongst half open doorways the local life plays itself out in the Bari dialect making eavesdropping a thankless pastime. The dialetto barese has ancient and varied influences and, just when I was getting to grips with understanding Italian quite well, I am struggling to figure out anything that is being said.
               

A chat in the cool of the evening	A shrine to small blue cars	Eavesdropping on a fishermen's meeting
Salento Coffee (basically cold Irish Coffee)	Cappricioso - Patron saint of Pizzas	The old and the new

We decided to move to the marina on the north side of the old town the second night as the rocking on the anchorage was interfering with the meniscus of our wine.  As we were weighing anchor we caught a very heavy line that is there for the fishing boats to moor to - unmarked and uncharted of course. After much cajoling I was able to lift it up enough to disentangle ourselves from it with another line. The diving qualification was hazardously close to being useful, not that I had any equipment though.

We had planned, as much as one can, to take advantage of the weather on Saturday for the 70 or so  nautical mile crossing to Cariati in Calabria. We had planned to leave before dawn, but when we woke up at 4 am to a screaming wind and clattering halyards on masts we crawled back into bed thinking we would have to put it off for another day. At 7am though, as if by magic and according to the forecast, it dropped to a sedate 20 knot northwesterly giving us a fantastic sail more or less the whole way at speeds of between 7 and 9 kts. Consequently we chewed up the miles and got there in 9 hours.  Not seeing land for hours and hours and just the sound of the rigging humming and the waves in our ears is what it is all about.

FEISBUCC  on Guai Fai here!

Cariati old town

Restoration project - with completed shrine

The Calabrian coastline is rugged and mountainous and much more dramatic than the relatively flat Apulian landscape. Cariati is divided into the new town along the waterfront and the historic town a kilometre up the steep hill. To those of you who think in miles, a kilometre is about 4 millions stairs. Our Sunday morning coffee was to be enjoyed at the top of said steps. The old town is a charming, slightly run-down place that has none of the negative effects of mass tourism but none of its money either.

Commune square  - during Sunday siesta 

We got chatting to a barman (that was after the coffee) who turned out to have been a mechanic on yachts before he started his bar. He was very engaging and gave us the numbers of two brothers who could find us places in the marinas anywhere in Calabria. As the majority of marinas do not answer their phones or the VHF, this was a really valuable business card.  We did gather that the less one said about family businesses in this part of Italy, the better! As we said our good-byes we paid our bill; 3 beers - 3 Euros.  These chance meetings are the gems of such visits and we seem to have more of them this year than in the past.

Cariati Superiore

Calabrian olive hills

View from the port

Bad weather had been forecast for Tuesday, so we decided to stay on our safe mooring on Monday, which turned out to be a good decision as we woke up to rain and howling winds this morning. The weather pattern has changed noticeably now and the predictable summer winds have all but gone.  A regular look at the barometer and the various apps for the forecast is a more pressing matter now.

Our route thus far this season over 1,200 Nautical Miles