AC in Mazzaro Bay, from the mountain town, Taormina,

(the white dot not the rock)

Taormina with Mt Etna in the background

Up in the hills of Tindari

The Medieval City of Siracusa from AC

SIRACUSA, SICILY – 8th DECEMBER 2007

We arrived in Siracusa (east coast of Sicily) two days ago. We have spent the last 10 days, since leaving Portorosa Marina, travelling down the east coast via, Messina, Taormina and Catania. The highlight of these places definitely being Taormina!! It is a fabulous mountain side town with lots of history and style. We enjoyed a full day, in brilliant sunshine, wandering the sites of the town including medieval churches (of course) a Greek amphitheatre, and sitting in a café enjoying a drink while "people watching" along the main street – this is apparently what you are suppose to do there as the place apparently attracts many rich and famous people! Apart from us – we didn’t see anyone else!!

We anchored this time (good for our budget) in a little bay below the town called Mazzaro which apparently is a very popular spot during summer and looking at all the moorings in there you probably could not anchor. Fortunately we were the only boat anchored in the bay so it was quite special. The two hotels in the bay were closed so there were very few people around.

We have enjoyed the fact that we are able to explore these places without the crowds of tourists and although it is winter, the average daily temperature is now between 16 – 19 degrees C, not all that cool and very pleasant! In fact the last ten days of weather have been very good for us!

Our journey through the famous Messina Straits was a smooth passage. If you read up on the history of the Straits there is much to be cautious about especially the tales written in the great adventures of ‘Ulysses’! Although we did witness signs of the two oceans meeting the conditions were pretty well perfect for us – thank goodness.

A little Mythology from Terry.........

In our voyage from Capri down the west coast of southern Italy and then across to Sicily at Portorosa and our continuance through the Straits of Messina past Mount Etna to Siracusa where we are at this moment we have sailed in the wake of the famous Odysseus (or Ulysses if you are Roman). The first place was the Galli Islands which are close to, and West South West of Positano. These small islands are said to be the islands of the Sirens, those bewitching ladies whose sole purpose was to lure unsuspecting sailors to their death. We all made it probably because we had two other couples on board, the McKenzie's from Auckland and the Keeley's from Christchurch.

Then there was the Straits of Messina. A veritable cauldron with Charybdis, a huge whirlpool, on the western side, and Scilla with her six long necks with horrible heads and 12 long feet causing havoc on the eastern side.

Mount Etna is purported to be the home of the Cyclops, the one eyed giant that ate six of Ulysses twelve men .

As I understand it the Odyssey by Homer was all about Ulysses getting home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Troy was in northwestern Turkey and Ithaca is in the Ionian Sea. One has to wonder why Ulysses was in the Tyrrhenian Sea at all. Either he was a lousy navigator or Homer was geographically bereft or both?

The tides ………

We have been quite surprised at the number and strength of some currents. Often one knot or two and a few times up to four knots. Quite surprising as the Mediterranean has very small tides, seldom more than one foot. Clearly there must be a flow from east to west as all the major rivers feeding into the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea can only exit through the Straits of Gibraltar or dribble out through the Suez Canal. Apparently differences in salinity from one Mediterranean Sea to another and various strata of temperature cause quite complex water movements and of course in the end we have to deal with it anyway.

Continuing our Tale…..

During our month or so in Portorosa I went back to NZ for 9 days – only 5 of them were in NZ. The reason was primarily to attend my special niece and friend Vicki’s marriage to Phil in Christchurch – what a handsome couple! It was certainly along way to travel for 5 days but well worth the effort to witness such a special occasion plus the bonus being able to catch up with other family and a few friends in both Christchurch and Auckland. (Unfortunately there wasn’t the time to see everyone – sorry!) The downside being leaving Terry behind as it was the first time in nearly 3 years we have spent more than 4 hours apart – a very strange feeling. However I was also able while in NZ to fulfil a wee shopping list for him as it is difficult at times to find parts for AC!

We spent a couple of days in Palermo before I flew out to NZ so we had a good look around the city. Although in places quite dirty and polluted it was a very interesting and intriguing city. On route to Palermo we had lunch in a place called Cefalu (founded in the 4^th century BC) about half way between Portorosa and Palermo, such a pretty medieval town. It has the most stunning Cathedral with Byzantine mosaics!

After my return from NZ Terry and I did quite a bit of touring around on our motorbikes. We ventured up into the mountains with picnic lunches and also to quite a large town called Milazzo – about 15 kms east of Portorosa. Gosh we love adventuring on our bikes and it was a good idea to take picnic lunches as these siestas (between 1 – 4.30pm) are a bit of a pain during the winter months as nothing is open in smaller villages and towns!

Our local village, Tonnerella, was about 10 minutes from the boat on our bikes. Terry did a bit of scouting while I was in NZ and by the time we left Portorosa we knew where to buy all our food supplies. This little village has the most amazing barber, fishmonger, butcher and produce shops and all of it was excellent quality. Despite our lack of Italiano we managed to communicate sufficiently to buy what we wanted – we were quite the highlight when we to came to town!!! We have found everyone so friendly and helpful – sign language does wonders!!!

We are looking forward to exploring more of Siracusa over the next few days. Last evening we wandered around the old part of town, which is full of Xmas decorations, and into the Piazza Duomo where we enjoyed a glass of vini rosso and witnessed a wedding taking place at the Cathedral opposite – just had to go and have a look while the service was in process – a complete bonus seeing a wedding taking place in the evening in the grand cathedral – quite a treat!

This morning we were off to the markets to replenish our supplies of food – so cheap and the good quality continues!!! And not to forget all the pageantry that goes with these markets - a real highlight!!!

Sicily was quite different from what we expected – simply a mixture of everything really! It has a population of 5.3 million and the land area is less than 1/10 of that of New Zealand and most of that is mountainous pretty much to the sea shore. The shore, valleys and mountains are intensely built upon. Their roading system makes our motorways and roads look like bush tracks. Some of the villages and cities defy gravity. Like everywhere' some of it is beautiful and some is not.

From Siracusa we are heading south (26 miles) to Porto Palo where we will leave to head for Valletta, Malta. Subject to weather we are planning to be there around the 14^th of December!

Our address in Malta will be;

Terry & Lois Rogers

Vessel - Alpha Crucis

C/- Msida Marina

Yachting Centre

Malta Maritime Authority

Ta' Xbiex Seafront

Ta' Xbiex

XBX 1028

Malta

We cannot believe it is only a few weeks until Xmas – it just seems like yesterday we were in London enjoying the lead up for Xmas last year! This is our third Xmas on board!

Take care

Love

The Jolly Rogers