Sicily
Marita3
Mark & Helen Syrett
Thu 23 May 2013 07:36
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We said farewell to Ian and Carole (and Maximilian)
and cleared out of Greece and set sail for Sicily.
 The passage has been described in previous blogs so
no more need be said!
We sailed up the Messina Strait to round the north
east tip of Sicily
 to reach Milazzo where we had agreed to meet
friends and take shelter from forecasted strong winds
 As we cleared the Strait we saw the swordfish (and
tunny) fishing boats that have been designed to catch the migrating swordfish.
The bowsprits, up to 15 metres, are longer than the boat and two or
three spotters stand at the top of the mast to try and spot the swordfish that
sleep on the surface during the day. The boat can be controlled from the
masthead and once spotted the boat creeps up on the fish and harpoon guns are
then used to make the kill.
  The wind was forecasted to blow from the west at
about force 7 in a few days time but instead it decided to blow immediately from
the south----a scirocco. This brings with it humid conditions and a lot of sand
in the air having blown up from the Sahara. It is said that if the scirocco
blows for more than three days all inexplicable ''crimes of passion'' are
excused. (Skipper and crew are both well!)
The ferocity and suddeness of the wind was quite
unnerving with gusts up to 35 knots. The mountains disappeared in a sandy haze
and the boat covered with sand yet again.
  Our friends had very sadly had to cancel at the
last moment (a knee injury racing their flying fifteeen) so we decided to hire a
car and get away from the marina to Messina---a town destroyed by
earthquakes time and again, the last was in 1908, it was rebuilt
and then bombed in World War II and rebuilt again. The town was a mess and full
of rubbish blowing around the streets with the housing and infrastucture in a
dreadful state----it made Indonesia look clean and civilised. We drove straight
on to Taormina.
Perched on a cliff top with amazing views up and
down the coast and over to a simmering Mt Etna this was Sicily's Byzantine
capital in the 9th Century. Goethe and DH Lawrence lived here for a
while. Narrow streets full of designer shops,
  an amphitheatre (Teatro Greco)
 the puppets
 and several churches
 views....
  A honey pot of a tourist centre but well worth the
visit.
On our return we noticed that barometer had fallen
from 1017mb to 997mb in 48 hours and sure enough during the night the wind
turned west and the rain and wind arrived. Who said that sailing in the Med is
fun?
Milazzo is a strange mix---it is a busy ferry port
serving the Aeolian Islands and other ports around Sicily and mainland Italy.
The older parts of the town have character
 with a citadel at the north end
 and old churches
 The Aeolian Islands got their name from Aeolus the
god of the winds. The ''Aeolian triangle'' is is the Bermuda triangle of the
Med. In the Odyssey, Aeolus gives Odysseus the contrary winds tied up in a
bag but his curious crew open it and the ship is blown off course. The mariners
muttered among themselves about the dreaded Aeolian triangle and how they
''shouldn't have come here with that bloody fool Odysseus''. Is there a lesson
to be learnt?
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