Friday 1 June

 

We left Kefalinia on Tuesday afternoon and set off for our long journey across the Ionian Sea to Italy.

 

 

 

 

The weather was fine when we left but as we got out into open sea we experienced huge swell which was very uncomfortable...Sue felt so ill she had to go to bed!...

 

Wednesday saw the swell reduce throughout the day but as evening came the swell increased once more…..another uncomfortable night with very little sleep…

 

Thursday morning arrived and we could finally see land…. A welcome sight for all…the swell reduced somewhat and we headed for the tip of Italy..

 

 

 

Almost as we reached the tip of Italy the engine stopped for no apparent reason!......on further investigation we found that the pump was not filling up the day tank.

 

I investigated further and thought I had found the problem only to find a few miles along the same thing happened again…

 

Mike and Sue put the sails up whilst I had another look….this time the problem was solved but we had to motor slowly and allow the pump to fill up the day tank….

 

We eventually rounded the tip of Italy and into the Strait of Messina heading for The Marina del Nettuno at Messina.  The Strait proved to be very busy with lots of ferries crossing to and fro…..having negotiated all of this we arrived at the entrance to the Marina at 18.30pm….

 

We were greeted and shown where to moor for the night…..as I negotiated our entrance into the Marina……no bow thruster again!!!

I turned Quilombo around and after a quick discussion we decided we would have to manoeuvre Quilombo slowly and carefully without the aid of the bow thruster.  As we carefully went through the harbour entrance we heard a sickening thud and scraping noise……we had hit something!

 

We moored up and I had a look around the boat…I could not see any damage but went over to speak to the Harbour Master and the port authorities…..they were very apologetic and took me out to the point where the accident occurred. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a rock there about 3 metres from the side, and about 2 metres down,in front of the one you can see.Apparently they knew about it but there was no marker there….they would send a diver to look for any damage to Quilombo in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhausted we went to the nearest restaurant we could find, ate Pizza and fell into bed for a well earned rest…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday morning and already we are into June…..bright sunny day.

 

Whilst we are waiting for the diver I looked into possible problems with the bow thruster.  No joy at all so I called the manufacturers who actually have a dealership in Messina!!....a call to a local technician still could not solve the problem and so he very kindly came down to the Marina to help out.  Eventually by late afternoon the bow thruster was working again…..but at more expense!!

 

In the meantime the diver arrived at about 11.00am and inspected the boat thoroughly (well for ten minutes anyway)!! He gave us the all clear…we had just scraped the keel and the only damage was a scratch….!

 

 

We decided to stay another night as we had had another busy day and it was late…..we would set off at 6.00am in the morning.  I went to see the Harbour Master and to get our papers signed to find that the cost of one night was €150!!!

 

Our stop in Messina proved to be a very expensive one!!!

 

Saturday

 

Up early and on our way……sunny start but soon turned to rain.  We hope to reach the other side of Sicily by tomorrow morning….then we need to stock up on provisions and refuel before setting of for Sardinia.