Canne

We spent a hot frustrating day Monday in Reggio waiting for the fuel truck to deliver after a huge power boat emptied the station of 4000L! Bob has figured that the power boat uses 200L/hr. at a cost of €400/hr. A far cry from our <4L/hr.!
The truck was supposed to deliver at 1400 and it wasn't there so I had the marina fellow call. By this time Bob was so annoyed, he got on his bike with the portable tank to find a gas station. It was just up the road so he ended up making 4 trips to fill our tank with 1 extra in reserve. Meanwhile, I had walked to the fuel dock to talk to the big catamaran waiting for fuel to ask him to not take it all! We had a nice chat. He was an Israeli skipper delivering the boat to Greece for the Israeli owner who, after chartering a boat on a holiday, decided to buy. Money obviously of no concern. By the time Bob made his last trip, the catamaran filled up and off he went waving farewell. I'm sure the fuel dock fellow was confused when we left the dock without stopping to fuel up! It was late in the afternoon so had to stay another night but decided to try anchoring where the catamaran had but it turned out to be either to shallow or too deep so we came back to the harbour and went to the other end. It was busy with ferries coming and going but surprisingly quieter and cheaper!
We had our raincheck dinner at the restaurant on the harbour which was good and, interestingly and somewhat weird, played music from the 70s!
We were up and gone by 0700 and by 0830 we'd crossed into the 37th parallel. 2 dolphins🐬 came alongside to welcome us. By 1130 the Capt. announced this was as far south as we were going since we were heading North & East. We rounded the toe of Italy. A few sailboats headed toward us and a large Brigantine was going our way but we passed him. At Capo Spartivento we saw 4 sailboats tipped over on the beach 😬. As the coast is all beach with no shelter, it's easy to see how a big storm 🌊could wash you ashore. We came to the closest harbour, Rocella Ionica, after almost 12 hours of motorsailing or motoring. Its understandable why there are more power boats than sail as the wind has been very light this whole trip. Ever the sailor, Bob will put sails up at even a breath of air.
Rocella Ionica is a professional marina compared to Reggio's rinky ones, and less expensive! Go figure. A beautiful sunset and a bright crescent moon provided a lovely long day's end.Read more