It felt strange to be finally leaving Corfu but
the crew soon got into the swing of things and made sure they were familiar with
the safety gear.
Nick and Maddy testing their
lifejackets |
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Pat took her watch seriously
Pat on watch as the moon came up |
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So did Maddy
Maddy on watch |
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Nick did a cracking job on the passage and took a lot of the strain off
the skipper – nice one son !
Nick at the helm |
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We had a steady North Westerly force 5 to 6 which
helped us keep up a good speed and it was soon time to take down the Greek flag
and hoist the Italian one
Nick and Paul changing courtesy
flags |
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After 63 hours we reached Riposto on the East Coast of Sicily. That’s at
the base of Mount Etna. It didn’t look like the volcano
was doing much so after a group discussion we all opted to carry on without
stopping as we had to get round to Palermo in time for Maddy’s flight home. So
we headed North through the straits of
Messina and its infamous whirlpools
and finally left the Ionian and entered the Tyrrhenian. The Aeolian
islands off the North coast of
Sicily are all volcanic and we
finally dropped a hook at 23.45 on the
island of
Vulcano. 364 miles non stop – 78
hours.
We had a lazy day on Vulcano watching the locals do what they like to
do
Hot Mud Bath anybody ? |
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And then we did what we like to do.
Yummy. |
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Next day we got up at dawn and climbed the volcano.
Warning sign at the start |
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The effort was well worth it .The crater was large, impressive and
smelled worse than Nick
Volcano on Vulcano |
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The view from the top across the Aeolian islands
was spectacular.
See what I mean – there’s my boat |
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Then we pushed off and visited the islands on Filicudi and Alicudi before
finally landing on Sicily at
Castellamare del Golfo on August 10th – 477 miles from
Corfu.
And then it was time to say goodbye to Maddy and wait for Barry and
Margery to arrive for the next leg.
Bye Bye Maddy |
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