Getting across the south of Italy by boat takes a bit of effort. It is what is euphemistically called a “coast of passage” which means not very may places to spend the night and what places there are are spread far enough apart to imply overnights or long days.
We decide to avoid the overnights, if we can, and commit to early starts to ensure not too late arrivals.
Lori has been itching to take True Colors off the dock rather than letting me do it. So we switch roles and she makes a flawless departure from the deserted harbor (even at our early hour, the fishing fleet is already gone). She is elated! We settle in for a long day and it’s amazing how far you can get in a day if you start at 5:00am. We make good progress helped by the wind and a current. We see two more pods of dolphins, a turtle and, we think, a shark with its iconic triangular fin darting across the surface of the water. It’s the first time we’ve seen one here.
Crossing the Gulf of Taranto, the first landmark we see is Punto Alice. Idly, I think, “How nice naming a point after a woman, maybe somebody’s sweetheart.” But, wait a minute, this is Italian. “Alice” in Italian means “anchovy”. “Anchovy Point” doesn’t have the same romantic connotation but in the US we were just as creative with “Cape Cod” in Massachusetts. Not much romance where commercial fishing is involved, I guess.
In order to make landfall safely, sailors rely on charts (paper and electronic) and, for more detailed information, pilot books. These describe harbors and anchorages and their approaches in great detail. For this area, the books were researched and produced some years ago by Rod “the god” Heikell. They have been frequently updated but that’s hard to do with paper-based media.
Our first stop was supposed to be Crotone which gets a grudging nod from Heikell but doesn’t sound like much of a place. Lori prefers that we give it a miss and Heikell's pilot book says there are some mooring buoys farther south in a little national park. Sounds great; only snag is they’re not there. The only buoys in sight are marking a swimming area - wrong type of buoys and legally you can’t park there anyway. The wind, which has been building in the late afternoon, is now 18 knots and it’s near the end of a long day. Much cursing and rending of raiment!
We head farther south, into the waves of course, past more buoy “locations” with no buoys. Our electronic chart shows a possible anchorage on the leeward side of a cape a couple of miles away. They crowd-source data and so we have an entry from at least one boat that has successfully parked there. We get there and there are three mooring buoys in the little bay! They look official and so we snag one. Our buoy-lassoing technique developed last year is a bit rusty and, because of True Colors' high freeboard, it takes a little time to get snugged in for the night (OK an hour!!!) , but the location is perfect and the night is peaceful.
The next day we slip out early again with the prospect of another long day. But early starts do have their upsides.
Yesterday’s wind makes for a lumpy sea but the wind itself has died and we can make good progress. And then the wind starts to build. Lori, not really a morning person, is back sleeping below. The wind is favorable for a sail but I am loathe to wake her. But the wind keeps building and I need to let True Colors have some fun.
I wake Lori and we get the sails up. Soon the wind is at 20 knots and we are close-hauled. It keeps building and tops out at about 25 - 28 knots. We keep the full sails up for a while just to have some fun and practice; True Colors is doing well and looks like she’s shaking off the cobwebs of the winter. We hit a maximum of 9.1 knots before we have had enough and decide to take a couple of reefs in on the main. The ride is much smoother but even with a handkerchief of a main we are comfortably doing 8.5 knots. Whee!
The wind moderates and we are eventually motoring again towards Roccella Ionica. Harbors on this coast have a tendency to silt up with sand during the winter months and the pilot book has warnings about this one. However we negotiate the sandbar and enter the harbor safely. We talk to the new owner of the marina, Francesco, who says he's has been dredging the harbor entrance this season and will continue to do so until there is about 4.5m of water on the entry. We need to make a manual alteration to our pilot book.
The marina is well planned but has finger pontoons that are a little on the short side for out 15 meters. We try one berth but we don’t like it and finally move to against a stone quay. The marina is being redeveloped so things that were closed will soon be re-opened and we will check them out on the way back.
Roccella Ionica located on the so-called “Jasmine Coast” (which gets its name from the long tradition of cultivation of jasmine for oil production) is a Calabrian working town with influences dating back to the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Normans and is dominated by its castle. Unusually it retains its medieval “city” plan that dates back to about 1000 AD.
Roccella also has a wonderful long stretch of light-gray sandy beach. Typical of the many beautiful beaches along this coast. But it is June and most of them are still empty. It is like some post-apocalyptic disaster movie. All the beach chairs and umbrellas are set out but there are no people, none. “But what's that coming over the hill? Oh no, it’s the zombie army. Back to the boats everyone!”
Another early start puts us on our way to Taormina in Sicily. Taormina lies at the foot if Mount Etna - the largest and most active volcano in Europe - so our mooring should be quite spectacular. Another slow start to the day wind-wise turns into 15 - 20 knots on our stern. We are comfortably running at over seven knots. Lori confesses that she has been nervous about this point of sail for the past three seasons. Visions of crash-gybing and corkscrewing into the ocean have apparently been running through her head. She is still a bit nervous but grows more comfortable as she sees how smoothly we sail in even this strength of wind. Our skills and comfort levels improve through practice and experience.
We moor in Taormina Roads under the old town and with a view of the volcano. A beautiful location.
