We hung out in Kefalonia for a few days and met some really nice yachters from New Zealand with 2 young kids. Our next stop after Kefalonia Greece was going to be the bottom toe of Italy. Roughly a day and a half sail/motor. Set off first thing in the morning before daylight and we knew that would put us into Spropolo Italy anchorage either first thing in the morning of day 2 or if we managed good time then it could be midnight. Managed to get in there just as the sunset around 7-8pm as we had a good sail coming across.

Next day we traversed the Messina Strait. At times the strait can work against you if the current is running the wrong way so we had to time our arrival at the mouth of the strait and we averaged 6.5 knots coming through. Luckily the main current runs from south to north. Just had to dodge a plethora of ferries coming at us from all directions. Stopped in Scylla just on the north side of the strait on the mainland of Italy. What a pleasant surprise this was, beautiful blue water, calm anchorage conditions and stayed an extra day or so waiting for Belvedere (Jeff and Jamie) to catch us up. The town and castle are built up on the hill and to do any shopping or visit the town and castle you had to either walk the stairs to get to the top or by taking the elevator for one euro! Did some shopping and visited the Castello Ruffo di Scylla. The castle occupies a prominent position over the Messina Strait. The first fortification of the cliff of Scylla dates back to the beginning of the 5th century BC. Scylla is strictly associated to the hunting of the swordfish.

Sicily

After getting our fill of Scylla we made our way across the top of Sicily to the underwater statues of Tindari.

Anchored just on the outskirts of the markers for the underwater statues. At the time there were a lot of charter boats around but they all disappeared leaving us with access by dinghy to the statues. Not much to see of statues. I was expecting a little bit more and only managed to capture one of the statues on video. But the best part was watching Jacqui trying to get back into the dinghy!

Only stayed a short time there, enough for a swim with the statues and then off to Cefalu, another pleasant surprise on the north coast of Sicily. It is a major tourist spot for Sicilians and tourists from all over Europe. It is a member of the I Borghi più belli d’Italia (“The most beautiful villages of Italy”) association. And it really is lovely.

Palermo

Did a little sight-seeing in Palermo the capital of Sicily, one of those must see cities. The cathedral houses tombs that we wanted to see and grabbed a cab to take us there. However, we had anchored outside the marina and dingyed in with Belvedere for a drop off, just hopped off the dingy and out come security, NO you can’t be here, NO you can’t drop off your garbage, NO you can’t walk to the road, ended up having to call Jeff and get him to come back and pick us up and drop us off at the other small boat marina opposite, when we arrived at the Capuchin Catacombs guess what, it was closed for maintenance, the cab driver felt really bad so took us over to the Zisa Palace as a tourist attraction for free. The history dates back to 1165, a Moorish craftsman under the rule of the Norman conqueror of Sicily, King William I. we wandered around and then headed to the markets. There was a garbage strike while we were there so some of the streets were not that pleasant. We nicknamed Palermo to PalerNO.

Sardinia

From Palermo we stopped at a jumping off point to get over to Sardinia’s southern tip Capo Carbonara and then we moved over to Capo Malfatano to meet up again with Belvedere in some nasty swells coming straight at us. We tried going out to get an angle but in the end we just went straight for the coastline.

Menorca

Arrived Menorca just outside of Mahon at around 2am in the morning. According to our buddy boat Belvedere there was plenty of room inside the anchorage. We were a little leery about going up the narrow channel to get into the anchorage in the middle of the night but we gave it a try. Got inside the anchorage area and it was packed. Maybe during daylight it would have been okay to attempt to get around all the boats to find a spot but not at 2am in the morning so headed back out the channel to an outer anchorage, when we arrived we were the only boat there (always leery of that, normally means shit anchorage) but we were so tired we didn’t care. In the morning there were a couple more boats that came in during the early morning hours. Mahon turned out to be a real treat. The castle was spectacular with all the fortifications and the town was small and pleasant. We held well in the anchorage. Some wind but no swell, we did however nudge the bottom as it is quite shallow. The highlight was the huge castle (we are suckers for a good castle) this one took us about 1.5 hrs to view and that was a quick viewing you could easily have spent another hour there. When we arrived back to the boat for a fast dingy ride to Mahon town compliments of Belvedere, the Civil Guardia had been around checking yachts we happened to miss them.

From Mahon around to Playa de Cales Coves. A very protected anchorage where we tied to the shore and then rafted up to our buddy boat Belvedere and Leading the Escapade (check out their youtube channel, couple of young Aussies travelling, good on them. Belvedere had all the water that we needed :). Aggh to have a water maker, it saved us from having to fill up somewhere in a marina. The cove was well protected and with our own private swimming hole off the back of the boat. Still able to get in the water and it was already beginning of October. During our overnights across from Kefalonia Greece we assumed that our tri-light at the top of the mast had been working, but Belvedere said he couldn’t see it so Jacqui decided to go up the mast and check it out. All looked good and the wiring on the inside looked normal as well. Something we need to check out when we are more settled. While we were tied up we finally had the visit by the Spanish Coast Guard that came on board to check the papers. Everything was in order. Nice guys.

Palma

We wanted to get over to Palma on Majorca so we said see ya later to Belvedere and headed out stopping in Porto Colom first. Not a very good anchorage so we stayed overnight and then on to Palma. During all of this we are watching the weather and making sure we can get there in one piece. Around to Palma was an easy trip and we did sail for a while. Anchored in a well protected bay that gets visited by day boats and only a few overnighters. It was right on the bus line for us to get into Palma to the Port Authority. Did a few trips into Palma trying to make a decision about getting to Gibraltar and it was going to be dependent on whether we could order necessary parts for us to cross the Atlantic, which was proving a bit difficult not having an address and if we could rely on a back up up plan and get a winter berth should circumstances dictate that it maybe next year for the crossing. After a lot of back and forth via email we managed to secure a private berth at a good price for 6 months so the decision was made to head over to Sant Carles Marina on the mainland. (another overnight, or close to it). Stopped over in Santa Ponsa for a couple of days waiting for the weather. Very touristy town and then when we started out we had a stow away bird that arrived in the morning and rested for most of the day at the anchor. Thought he would just get to the point where he better get off but he ended up getting 3/4 of the way there then disappeared.

From the few stops we have made in the Balearics, it is nice cruising ground and lots more to explore, however, it may be the time of year we were visiting as we heard in prime summer sailing season there are an abundance of charterers and full anchorages so glad we arrived in October.

Sant Carles Marina La Rapita

And now here we are in Sant Carles Marina where we will winter till end of April. The decision to stay for the winter really came down to how prepared we were to make the Atlantic crossing. A few things that we wanted we couldn’t get without having a more permanent address, like Starlink, (satellite internet) like a watermaker, like a few spares of almost everything. Now that we are here there is going to be a major parts ordering and fixing of things to make it just right.

Stay tuned for the updates!