We had a relatively relaxed start today. After breakfast Tricia went to town for last minute perishable food for the next few days, while I stayed to prepare the boat. I had a chat with one of the Turkish guys who had help us a couple of days ago. He was keen to recommend that we visit Turkey, which is part of the very long term plan. For now we are continuing east along the north coast of Sicily and the weather looks set fair for a few days. We expect to be anchoring.
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| Looking back at Termini Imerese as we depated |
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| Typically dramatic Sicilian scenery |
We anticipated little or no wind today, and resigned ourselves to a long motor. We chugged along for the first hour or so, but then noticed that the wind was kicking in. The forecast, which is for a wide area of the Tyrrhenian Sea said that what wind there was would start from the south west and go to the south east. This particular forecast doesn’t given details about which way the wind would shift and we guessed that it would back through the south. In fact it veered through the north, so we had to keep our wits about us, for frequent small changes in wind direction. The wind became a little stronger and we were soon making good progress, albeit not in quite the direction we wanted.
The boat speed reached the magic number, and we were treated
to our first dolphin encounter of the year. The pod was between 8 and 10 strong, and
they stayed with us for 10 or 15 minutes, playing the usual games of charging
up our wake on the edge of the bow wave, sitting right next to the nose of the
boat, or seeing which one could pass closest to our bow. All great fun. You
never know whether to go and get a camera, half expecting that they will be
gone by the time you get back, or just to sit and enjoy the spectacle. We chose
the latter today. Just wonderful.
The visibility was great today, and we had our first glimpse
of the Aeolian Islands. I wasn’t expecting to see them from this distance and
they provided a very good steering reference as we tacked eastwards. Hopefully
the conditions will be benign enough for us to visit over the next few days.
There is comparatively little in the way of sheltered anchorages in the
islands, but we are both keen to see the firework display that the volcano on Stromboli
puts on each night.
We have anchored in Pollina, to break up the journey to Capo
d’Orlando. We are rolling a bit in the swell but it is all fine.
Miles Today - 26
Miles 2022 - 114
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