30^th April

Riposto, Sicily

We arrived and settled in the marina at around 4pm in the afternoon.

Riposto is a working town and not at all geared to tourism.  It sits at the bottom of Mount Etna, the smoking giant that is always in the back of everyone’s mind - the elephant in the corner. 

Like a spoilt child, Etna needs to let you know she is still there!

Having sailed for 36 hours we were content to have a drink, a bite to eat back in the boat - and most importantly, an early night.  As we were enjoying our drinks we heard numerous loud bangs, like military cannon and then the fierce tolling of church bells all over the town.  In our naivety we thought they were doing military exercises!  In practice it was actually Mount Etna letting off steam – a regular tantrum - it likes to show off and make sure you know it’s still there.   

The internet is a wonderful thing.
That night we discovered  that not only were these cannon shots Etna but that they fire off many times each day, and – just the day previously had shot huge clouds of ash into the air and covered every street in Riposto,  AND – every boat in the marina too of course! The ash was at all cool. It was gritty, harsh and dirty. Being quite egalitarian the ash didn’t care what orifice it entered, what gears it messed up or what gelcoat it wanted to scratch.  The surrounding area seemed to be covered in about 1 cm of ash making everything look grey and bleak.

The clean-up job was going to be massive for the town council. The blow out was the 13^th time in the last 4 months.  The local mayor had just called upon the Italian government to call a ‘State of Emergency’ and thus help them with the clean-up. It didn’t happen (I believe).

We looked at the weather report. The forecast was for either no wind or light easterly wind for the next 5 days.
“Do we go onto Syracuse?”
“Do they also get the ash?”

We decided to stay in Riposto because it was well located for traveling about but we immediately covered all our vulnerable sailing gear, slots, holes and orifices.  We even put up our new sun canopy that was recently purchased in Mahon, Menorca which covered 70% of the boat anyway.
(The canopy worked really well. It not only protected the boat from any random flying ash but it also kept us cool during the day!)

Over the next few days we watched homeowners, boat owners, marina staff, shopkeepers and municipal workers sweeping roads, sidewalks, roofs, beaches and parks begin the enormous job at hand.

Unfortunately, the town was dirty, old and rundown. I’m afraid with garbage everywhere.  However, the fish and fruit market were a delight and great for provisioning on our next leg.

“I just need a line and tackle to catch a tuna please..”

The local chandleries were extremely well stocked and the people everywhere were incredibly friendly and helpful.  In fact the chandlery we used happened to stock fishing gear. Not only did the owner select a line and tackle for us but he also assembled it and promised that we would have NO PROBLEM catching TUNA with this set up. His brother was a professional tuna fisherman but also he had been fishing his whole life to boot! 
More and this later!

That evening we strolled into town to find a restaurant..

Les and Cathy opened the restaurant door. 
All the dining locals stopped in their tracks, the conversations paused and silence fell over the room.
“Who are these people that have entered?” “Are they Film stars, celebrities?”  or, were they just stunned by the beauty that had entered their lives!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh……..

Then, just as quick as everything had stopped – everything started up again!
It was like in the mafia movies.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared. The staff showed us to our table - but you had the feeling we were being carefully watched! 

First the next morning Bob & Cathy went to see about car hire and the local attractions.
Our first car trip was to Taormina,  20 miles away.