38:07.35N 13:22.24E Wednesday – we skip out of Scilla all ready to sail along the top coast of Sicily to find a flat calm sea and no wind, not a breath, not a puff, so we motor for the next 23 hours.  Boring?  Yes, but it’s also wonderful to use the galley without lunging between handholds and adding to my bruise collection.  We see Mount Etna with a gentle plume of smoke drifting in the sky, we see dolphins and the amazing Eolie islands with their clear volcanic shapes.  There is the most magnificent sunset right before us as we chug due west and the world seems very calm as we eat up the miles through the night.  We enter Palermo bay just as the sun rises and I can’t resist this photo. 

Once we’re tied up I have a complete strop about the lack of fridge so an engineer is coming to look at it tomorrow.  We’re also going to let the caterpillar go this evening when we go out for a meal.  There has been much discussion whether caterpillars are site specific, i.e. does he only eat lettuce and, if so, is it fair to put him in a park?  There was a suggestion we should consult CLOC (Charitable League for Orphaned Caterpillars) but common sense prevails and he will have his freedom tonight.