Sorry for not posting in a while, internet’s been very
scarce and we’ve been super busy!
We finally left Malta, after having a great visit there, and
getting some things wrapped up on the boat. A huge “thank you” to Joe at Boat
Care for all your help getting loose ends done. You were a huge blessing to us
and I hope to keep in touch, really above and beyond!!
After an overnight sail we headed north back up along
Sicily. We stopped in Taormina, a town near the north end, and thought we’d be
there overnight, but after a quick check of weather, it looked like we need to
keep moving through the Messina Straight, an area which can be very tricky for
sailboats. The water comes all the way from the Western Mediterranean and piles
up right where the ‘toe’ of the boot of Italy is kicking the island of
Sicily. It’s a very narrow passage, and
creates whirlpools and eddies that if there is any wind, makes it difficult to
navigate.
So we kept moving and although we had a 4 hour push into
some strong winds (nothing unusual about that in the Med!) as soon as we entered the channel, the wind
thankfully died down the water smoothed out. It was 10:30 pm by the time we got
into the channel, and it was crowded! Huge tankers were coming and going, and
it took Maggie, Levi and I to team up and spot and follow all the boats. With
cities on both shores, it was tough to find which lights boats were moving
towards us or away. It felt pretty intense, but it was exciting at the same
time. After finally passing through, there was really nowhere at midnight we
felt like stopping, so we motored- no wind- and headed to the Aeolian Island
north of Sicily called Volcano. See you there!
No comments:
Post a Comment