How do you say hello in Italian?
There’s no more Yassas (hello),
Kalimera (Goodmorning) or
efchsristo (thank you)
but now it’s
Ciao (hello/goodbye)
Buongiorno (good day), and
Grazie (thank you) instead.
After an uneventful passage overnight from Lakka Bay we arrived at Santa Maria di Leuca, on the heel of the Italian boot amidst stormy seas and some showers at 10.30am the next morning. Once inside the harbour walls we were able to relax, anchor the boat and catch up on some sleep lost. The wind kept up for the remainder of the day and at the end of the day a rather large looking storm system was looming and checking on the radar it was quite widespread and heading our way.
We prepared the boat, (bought in the cushions and my washing), ourselves (got our rain jackets out), and waited. The wind increased, it rained for about 5 minutes and the clouds grumbled with thunder and threatened us with lightening and before it got started, it stopped. We were certainly not complaining as we went about our normal routines.
The next morning, we got off the boat and took ourselves and our documentation to the Coast Guard to find out what we were supposed to do upon arriving in Italy. It is astounding the different experiences we have had with the various officials that oversee and monitor the movement of private boats throughout the Med. This morning, the gentleman involved was pleasant enough but basically was searching on this computer while trying to find out what to tell us. He concluded with us needing to get our passports stamped at the Police station. The closest police station was nowhere near us, so he just said, do it at the next port. I asked if we were able to go to the town, (because generally if you haven’t been officially stamped in then you should stay on the boat until such time as these formalities have been completed), his response was to hide his eyes and shoo us out the door with a grin and a shrug of his shoulders. Crazy!
We left Leuca the next morning to sail across the instep of the Italian boot, to Crotone, another place we had been to before. It was an uneventful day as we continued on our way, getting into town around 6 pm. We took the dinghy ashore and found another sim card and then went for an early dinner, well early by Italian standards and probably most of Europe’s standards. I remember when we visited Barcelona some 18 years ago how the siesta divided the day into two and all the fun started later into the evening for everyone, not just adults but kids too were up late even on a school night. It’s much easier to do when the sun is only setting around 8.30-9.00pm.
We filled up on diesel at Crotone on our way out in the morning. The boat holds 600L of fuel and we had used approx. 240L on the approx. 765 nautical miles we had travelled since leaving Leros back on 13th June. We have had some long days, getting the miles behind us but the reward at the end will be great.
We have just another 6 hours of motoring today and we will have reached Sicily. This is where we are meeting my sister Sharon & Paddy who are coming aboard for a week on Monday night, before they start on a longer European tour. They are flying from Rome to Catania if Mt Etna behaves herself and doesn’t close the airport. For those not in the know, Mt Etna on Sicily and nearby Stromboli (a place we visited in 2022) both had significant eruptions on 5th July causing the closure of Catania airport.
Things are looking rather hazy outside so unsure if that is a result of the eruptions. We were a few hours out from arriving into Augusta when we noticed a fine layer of grit on ourselves and the boat so determined this must be very fine ash from the eruption. By the time we got into the marina, the boat now had a fine covering of ash.
Did our visitors make the flight to Catania? All shall be revealed!
