Sailing Kujira

The strait of Messina is notoriously known for its strong currents, funnelling winds and crazy traffic. A few months earlier as we were coming from the north, we experienced all of the above. Big tankers and container ships going up and down, ferries going across every few minutes, tourists boats taking idiots on a thrill ride and small fishing boats scattered all along the strait. The wind had picked up to over 20 knots and with 2 knots of current we had reached for the first time 8 knots, almost sending us back to the future.  Today is a very different experience, with only light winds we are motoring along the coast of Sicily, making sure we keep as much distance with the mainland and its big black clouds as possible. Slowly but surely Kujira munches its way up the strait, the traffic is very light today and by midday the black clouds are gone and it even looks like we might make it out of the strait before sunset. As we reached the northern end, we witness for the first time a ...

Tuesday. It is just one month before we fly out of Madrid back home for a couple weeks. Before this happens, we need to have Kujira on the hard somewhere in Spain but right now we are anchored in Southern Sicily with dead house batteries, two broken alternators, a leaky dinghy and no working outboard. The situation could probably be worse, but it could also be much better.  Siracusa has a small marina in the bay and another one hardly bigger on the other side of the old town but neither nor have a berth for us, regardless how much we are willing to pay for it. When we called the first one the day before, we were told to try early in the morning next day, so of course when I try this morning I am told that we need to try in the evening, not the morning .. I guess it is an Italian way to tell me to get lost. Fortunately, Siracusa has a town quay, with 5 very spacious berths, free of charge, with no catch. “Siracusa port authorities, Siracusa port authorities, Siracusa port authori...