25^th April

Tropea

Weather forecasting is not always right!

The sail from Agropoli to Tropea was about 130 miles. This meant an overnight sail in practice.
Having checked the wind, all looked good for a pleasant sail. 
But! As we were finding out for ourselves -  wind prediction is not very good in this area and we found ourselves having to motor a lot of the way!

We hugged the coast to enjoy the views as far as we could. Finally! At 7 pm we began to get the winds forecasted and we were sailing.
Night watches were arranged.
By 10pm we were motoring again.
By midnight the wind was shifting around and created a nasty swell.
Sailing again at 2am but now reefed!
It seemed a very long night sail with a ½ meter swell and not very comfortable.
We arrived just outside the harbor in the early morning and radioed in. 
No Reply! Great, just what we needed.

Is this a ‘Ghost Port’?

On entering the Port of Tropea we noticed there were NO staff - but there was a large ‘alongside mooring’ used for fuel. It was like a gost town. Even the fuel station had clearly not been used in months. We decided to moor at the fuel station whilst we investigated.

One of the many helpful locals told us, “Everything is free. But. There are no staff. No electricity. No fuel. There is water and there was no problem stopping where we were.” 

The wind was blowing hard and a mooring ‘bows-to’ or ‘stern-to’ would be difficult. We decided to stay moored by the fuel station! It wasn’t the prettiest place. We had to climb over a fence too. But, we were very safe and secure here. Only really stupid people would want to jump a fence and swing around rocks to break into our boat.

We even managed to receive free internet via Villa Payola somewhere in the hills above!

Tropea ..and the deli owner who just wouldn’t accept a ‘no’

This is a working class vacation area used by RVs, caravans and tents.
Tropea is another walled town high up on the cliffs with a glorious past. Once a major trading port, successful merchant men built themselves magnificent palaces. Now sadly in need of restoration work. Unfortunately, like a lot of the Italian places we have been so far this town has been spoilt by the need to put graffiti everywhere. Like EVERYWHERE!

The old town was over 200 steps up from the port. We counted them!
It was worth the climb. But for all the disappointment we felt that people feel the need to spoil their own surroundings we enjoyed Tropea.
Cathy and I replenished our food supplies.  In particular there was a fun deli shop with an interesting owner.  Every time we said, “that’s it!”. He would reply with, “But why don’t you try this or that!”
 We ended up with three times as much deli as we needed! When we finally said, “NO! NO more!” he offered us a drink as a thank you! 

The next day we took a stroll along the beach.  As we have cruised south we have noticed the sea change colour. The sea now has a wonderful blue colour. Perfect for John to paddle in!

Time to start seriously thinking about passing through the Messina Strait.