Messina 16/07/12

Open Blue
Tim & Manfreda Penfold
Mon 16 Jul 2012 15:39
Position 038:11:9N 015:33:5E
 
Not a great day as the wind was blowing hard through the straights of Messina, exactly where we needed to go and the waves were pretty big too. In the end the motored most of the way and hugged the Sicily shore to avoid the worst of the waves.
When we got to the marina we had an interesting encounter with the marina staff who first shouted at us for entering the marina without a reservation, then tried to push the bow of the boat the wrong way with a dinghy while I was trying to turn around, then behaved like our best friends, all very strange. The biggest shock was when we came to pay the bill for the night and leave, 130 euros! This was our first expensive marina experience, and after this we did our best to stay out of marinas in Italy for the rest of July and August. Unfortunately not always possible.