Alexanders in the Mediterranean: Riposto to Isla Vulcano

We bugged out of Riposto early and headed further up the east coast of Sicily. The waves were exactly as before, short, steep and slamming. We slammed more on this passage than we have on the entire voyage. We tried motoring directly into the waves, we tacked into them, we put up the sails, sailed 30 degrees high and then low … nothing worked. We just ended up gritting our teeth -- primarily to keep our fillings from falling out -- and soldiering on. The only good thing was that we were in favourable current and despite the slamming we were making good time.

Ross chilling out on the stern.

About 13:00 hrs we got into the Straights of Messina -- the narrow channel of water between Sicily and the "boot" of Italy. The waves got smaller and more manageable and the slamming stopped. I can't imagine doing that in a 35 footer -- it would have loosened every screw in the boat. At one point in time, we hit five waves in a row and when I checked the speedo we were down to 3 knots (from about 7.5).

As we approached the narrows we were zooming along at over 9 knots, then crossed a tidal line and slowed to about 5.5 knots. … wow just like home!

The Straights of Messina looking north.

We made it through the narrows and were really looking forward to the beam reach to Isla Vulcano -- but just as we went past the north east point of Sicily, the wind pooped out and we had to keep powering … grrrr. We continued towards the islands in the distance and were passed by a number of commercial hydrofoils going 35 knots on the AIS readout … wow that is fast. We came into Isola Vulcano, and were the only yacht in the basin. We med-moored after doing a fly-by and settled down. A very enthusiastic dock man came and helped us … a 10 Euro docking fee is what he was really after -- though it did include a couple of lemons from his house. The trouble with Isola Vulcano is twofold, they have fast ferries, big ferries and a water ship that comes weekly to provide water to the island -- so to put it mildly it is LUMPY. The other problem is the smell … you know in the movie Shrek they talked about 'brimstone' -- Isla Vulcano has a lot of brimstone smell.

Black sand beach.

However, we got off the boat, Marina and Jessie went exploring - and the dock man (who had a gentle learning disability we think) showed them the brimstone "spa" area and where the volcanic steam comes out near the beach and the seawater is almost too hot to put your hand in. The smell was so powerful Marina said she had to breath only through her mouth to stand it.

The brimstone "spa". PU!

We decided to get off the boat and had a nice dinner in "town" once the ferries had stopped for the night (so we knew the boat wouldn't smash the mole while we were gone) and moved on the next morning as soon as we couldl after picking up a few groceries.