Pitufa.at

While we were anchored in Vulcano’s Porto di Levante to seek shelter from gusty westerly winds (up to 35 knots), we met Aylin and Goeran from Cantana 3, a Hallberg Rassy 35 under Swedish flag (www.cantana3.com). Those two are the first real cruisers we have met since our departure. Goeran made a 6-year circumnavigation starting in 1993 and currently they are exploring Italy. It was very interesting for us chatting with them about their experiences all over the world.

We left Vulcano on Tuesday 11:00am with a westerly breeze that lifted us conveniently over the still considerable swell. At least for the first 15 nautical miles. Then this breeze faded away and left us in the swell without any pressure in the sails. The rolling and pitching was so horrible that we were forced to use the engine for about 10 hours before arriving in Cefalu on Sicilly. Under engine Pitufa was a bit more stable again, but unfortunately the rumbling of the engine is so loud under deck, that the person off watch can’t find much sleep anyway… At last we could find some sleep in this anchorage well protected by a long breakwater.

Protected from all directions but east, we woke up to face easterly winds carrying already choppy whitecaps into the anchorage. The plan to go to town for some sightseeing and shopping had to be canceled. We lifted anchor and set course for the island of Ustica under full sail.

The 60 miles sailing to Ustica, an island 30 miles North of Palermo, was relatively easy. Except for about two hours at night when we were becalmed, we had favorable winds. First from the east, turning south. Then from the north, turning east again.
We arrived at Ustica in the morning and tied onto a buoy, which wasn’t a simple operation in the confused swell.

Now we hope for a few days of diving and exploring the island – if the wind is gracious enough to allow it , because there aren’t many protected anchorages around the island. A few metres away from shore it’s still 50 metres deep and almost the only possibility to stay is to tie to a buoy on the leeward side of the island (which changes constantly).

The wind has been blowing from the west (that’s where we want to go) with 20-30 knots for some days now, so we spend more time than planned at Vulcano.

On the island of Salina with its green hills and colorful old houses in the town, we’ve finally discovered the charm of Sicilly. Never mind the rolling anchorage…

The Liparian islands are spectacular islands with smoking volcanoes, steep black cliffs and many coves. Today we take a look at the town of Lipari. The facades are touristy, but the houses behind crumbling away…

The Strait of Messina proved to be a difficult leg: strong currents, fallwinds, strong headwinds, high waves between Taormina and the entry of the strait. As soon as we left this witches cauldron we were becalmed again.

was not that easy…

Yesterday found us still south of Italy. Because of the calm weather it’s taken us a full week to sail from Dubrovnik to Taormina!
We celebrated my birthday yesterday by floating around in completely calm waters, sweating, cleaning up the mess in our fuel storage locker (one of the cans seems to leak, but we still don’t know which one) and waiting for wind. Not a single breeze tickled Italians toes… The highlight of the day was dinner. Munching two marvelous curries and sipping a bottle of sparkling wine, we forgot about the frustrations of the day.
During the night there were some fickle winds from different directions and we ended up motoring along for a while, because it’s just too dangerous to stand in the middle of the “Street of Messina” with freighters rushing by
Early in the morning the wind finally came and Pitufa flew under full sails clause-hauled towards Mount Etna.

…

After sailing with an average speed of less than 2 kn for a couple of days, we unpacked and repaired our blister (a light-wind sail) today and experienced sailing again. However, with no wind at all, also a blister cannot do magic and so we are just drifting around again now. It’s incredibly hot, the boat is rolling, the sails are flapping and we have to remind ourselves that we are determined to enjoy such calms

finally…

After the leisurely bay-hopping down the Croatian coast, our trip to Sicily feels like the first real cruising and we’ve quickly got into the rhythm of night watches. With the lovely warm weather we have they’re not tiring, as the watch can play with Leeloo, read a book or watch the impressive night sky. We’ve had very light winds till now, making only 100 nm in 2 days, but instead of motoring, we slowly sail on. When the wind dies we just go swimming, clean the boat, cook extravagant meals, watch dolphins, count floating plastic bags (20 an hour, humanity just doesn’t deserve this beautiful planet…) write blog entries, and enjoy the deceleration of life in general .

Today we cleared out from CRO in Dubrovnik. Our course is towards the strait of Otranto and then towards Sicily. At the moment a very light wind is carrying us southwards. This entry has been sent via HF radio

Our last stop here in Croatia is Dubrovnik. We’ll do some shopping here, the laundry, organise some things and then head towards Sicily. Unfortunately our kindle was weaker than Christian’s elbow, so we won’t be able to report as regularly as before.

Each lonely anchorage seems even more beautiful than the last one. Today’s resembles a Norwegan Fjord