In sailing terms this was a pretty dull trip as there was no wind until we entered the Straits of Messina. First a few photos of Lipari.

This is the street facing the sea. The buildings are not in the best of condition…..a few are combined shops with living accommodation.

Looking across the marina

It is not really a marina at all. There are just a few pontoons going out into the bay. Each one seems to be separately owned and the marineros stand on the end of the pontoons to encourage you to use their bit. The ferries cause a lot of wash and the boats roll a lot…..not a comfortable place to be but fine for one night. The marineros have a sun shelter on the pontoon which is quite a focal point in the evening.

We left reasonably early as it was a 70nm trip to Taormina. Not much to see except a high speed ferry

It looks a long way off but was heading straight for me until I altered course, even then it only missed us by a tenth of a mile. At the other end of the scale a dragon fly hitched a ride.

As we were getting to the straits we started to pick up some tide with us which eventually built up to 3kts. The entrance to the straits is marked by two pylons.

As you can see there is also a lighthouse and one of those old stone towers. We passed some swordfish boats which have two people at the top of a huge mast and a long bowsprit/walkway. I am not sure how it works.

More mountains wearing hats

The winds off the mountains were quite fun going from 6 to 25kts and varying in direction by about 30 degrees.

And finally Mount Etna as the sun was going down.

Taormina is just round that headland. The local agent for the Cruising Association, George Rizzo,  has put in some buoys and he came out to me in a rib and helped moor up.