Thursday 16^th July – Roccella Ionica, Calabria

38:19.664N 16:26.023E

Early this morning we said goodbye to Rosi and Otwin as they left for an anchorage further along the coast; then after breakfast we said goodbye to Mark and Svenja on their Bavaria 37 as they headed off to continue their journey west to close the circle on their circumnavigation. 

By now it was already extremely hot and the air very still.  As we are not at anchor, we do not always face directly into the wind and so the hatches don’t always funnel the air into the boat.  Richard has installed our wind scoop (the first time we have used it) over one of the hatches in our cabin so that what wind there is is directed down into the cabin – seems to be working nicely J

Yesterday I had heated some water in the solar shower and had used it to put some washing to soak in my washing tub over night.  This morning I rinsed it and hung it out to dry.  I then put in the bedding to soak and within a couple of hours the water in the tub had heated up and was getting hot.

Because the pontoons here do not have electricity I did not use the washing machine to spin it and so the washing took quite a time to dry even in this heat.  It wasn’t a problem, we were not going to run out of sun!  I think this is the hottest we have been on our travels – we have even erected an awning over the side of the cockpit enclosure to keep the sun out and try to keep the cockpit a bit cooler.  The fridge is working flat out L

Richard is happy as he has found good wifi up at the nearby café and so has managed to get the weather and software updates.

This afternoon we dug out the generator and installed it at the bow; after a couple of hours our batteries were feeling happier.

Still shattered after our travels and the heat, we have had an early night – the wind scoop has worked well (though it has replaced the mosquito net so I need to watch out if mossies become a problem).

Malta:  Leaving Grand Harbour

On passage:  Sunset over Etna

© Pyxis 2009