Crotone 4th June to 5th Rochella Ionica

Off again
Mark+Barbara
Tue 21 Jun 2011 13:23
Having paid our marina fees we thought it prudent to go ashore and get as much done as we needed to do.First stop was to look for a Vodafone store so that we could buy a data card for our "mifi",this proved very easy and we now have Italian service internet on the boat.We needed to get some fuel but the old chap that works at the marina nad helps one tie up said not to bother as ,in his words, the fuel man was a "bastard" and would cheat us so it would be better to get it at the next port of call if we were not desperate! We decided to take his advice and get the fuel in Rochella Ionica.As we were getting a little hungry we decided to spoil ourselves and find a fish restaurant that we had heard was quite good.We eventually found the place down a back alley near the port and discovered that there was no menu,the guy just brings you food!!! We had some delicious grilled vegetables and sardines and then proceeded to tuck into an assortment of fish and shellfish pasta.The meal wasn't too bad and the chap was quite jolly despite the language barrier.Unfortunately he "fleeced" us by charging an exorbitant rate.Oh! well this is mafiosa land!!! After settling up we made our way back to the boat and turned in for the night as we had planned an early morning start for Rochella Ionica.
 
5th June
 
Left as planned at 06.00hrs.Sea was calm and as luck would have it the wind was on the nose so again we motor sailed part way and arrived in Rochella at around 4.30pm.The entrance is quite shallow so you really need to keep a sharp lookout, as we had been here before we felt quite confident and tied up alongside with the help of another English and Swedish yachtsmen.
The marina was really quite full due to the fact that it is relatively sheltered and also the charges are quite minimal.This is due to the fact that as yet the marina does not have a management company and the coastgaurd at present are based here and keep an eye on things.We found out that the Englishman that helped us had also had his boat in Messolonghi for the winter but had not stayed himself in Greece for the winter.
Rochella is a good place to stock up before crossing over to Greece and it is here that they have the pizza restaurant that sells pizza by the metre! They also hire out bicycles for a small fee,we had decided that we would hire a couple of tricycles to go and get some fuel with from the local garage.It seems funny that we were here only a short time ago and everything feels quite familiar.