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Date: 07 Jul 2009 14:43:12
Title: Sun 21 June to Wed 1 July Porto di Tropea, Italy - Gouvia Marina, Corfu
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Our stay at Tropea was extended by very bad weather and thunderstorms until Thursday 25 June. Plans to visit the Aeolian islands had to be abandoned but we were to see the island of Stromboli when we finally set sail for Reggio Calabria. We had spent our time usefully touring the wild toe of Italy by car and got a feeling of the extent to which the mafia control life in this rugged mountainous region of southern Italy. Even Reggio Calabria had a certain charm with its seemingly vertical take-off airport and quite excellent museum where the bronze statues (Bronzi di Riace) are exhibited. These were found by chance on the seabed off the town of Riace in 1972 and are examples of the highest period of Greek art from the 5th century BC. We paid homage to Odysseus as Scilla and Charybdis were passed and we sailed into the crowded yacht harbour at Reggio Calabria to a berth reserved through Dario the helpful Mr Fixit. Having welcomed John onboard that morning we set off for an overnight sail to Crotone. The wind was light and the motor used extensively but Spellbinder picked up her skirts when off the Golfo di Squillace when the fabled strong katabatic winds had the boat reefed down and we surged ahead to reach the Porto Ulisses, Crotone  by early afternoon on Sat 27 June. Here we made friends with Natale, another Mr Fixit who kept watch on the harbour wall for approaching yachts and blew a very loud whistle to communicate with them. Here Pythagoras lived and, with an advanced knowledge of medicine, the people of Crotone (Kroton) produced champions at the Olympic games in their heyday. We motor-sailed to Santa Maria di Leuca to find a full harbour with a badly silted entrance off its north arm. Spellbinder anchored off the harbour entrance in murky water in the hope the silt would provide good holding - it did. We wondered at the futility of Mussolini building a monumental stone staircase here as a ceremonial gateway into Italy. While of interest in its way and being glad of meeting its people, the south coast of Italy does not holding much attraction as a cruising ground so we sailed for Greece and Nisis Othoni on Tuesday 30 June to anchor there in the Ormos Ammou (bay). Spellbinder sailed on in a zephyr of a wind to Gouvia marina, Corfu on Wed 1 July settling into a berth reserved for two months during the heat and bustle of the summer before resuming the cruise to Turkey via the Ionian islands, Corinth canal, the Cyclades and Dodecanese on 1 September. In fact, here in 2009, there is very little bustle and many worried locals as the worldwide recession bites hard. 
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