We left Reggio with no regrets at 6.50 am and headed north towards the Straits of Messina.  Neither Scilla nor Charybdis consumed us, but we did have fun in their swirling currents for a while.  The Straits  can flow up to 4kts and their timing is related to high tide at Gibraltar, so I wasn’t totally sure I’d got the timing right.  For a while we seemed to have a knot of current against us, but I think it was just poor route choice taking us into a back-eddy and we were soon being whizzed along by 2 knots in our favour.  We got caught a couple of times in swirls and we could see bigger vortexes off to one side, but the sea was flat and no ferries impeded our fast passage.  The rest of the day was as flat and as calm as you can imagine, so we motored for 7hrs to arrive in Tropea for a late lunch.  Tropea is quite a sight – a medieval town built on sandstone promontories overlooking the sea and a popular tourist destination on this part of the coast.  Once again we are paying high marina fees, but at least the surroundings are attractive, with terrific views up to the old town.  On our first evening we climbed the 200 steps to the town and had a drink in a bar overlooking the sea.  We tried to make out the 30 mile distant cone of the volcano of Stromboli, but it was lost in the haze.  We hope to sail there next to view it erupting in the dark.

Our view from the marina:

One of the town squares:

Why the masses of square holes in all the old buildings?  Answers by email please.