Sicily, Italy
June 24th-July 14th, 2020
Arrival and our first anchorage
We arrived in San Vito Lo Cape, northern Sicily, 3am in the dark (this is the sunset before arrival).
These are all pictures of our beautiful anchorage right outside the marina... all free...and with great views.
They say this is the most beautiful beach in Sicily
A most when you get to Italy. Get a Gelato :-)
Biking and hiking trip to Monte Monaco Mountain
At the beginning of the trail, where we left our bikes
We biked to the trail head of Monte Monaco, 532moh
We managed to find a little shade here from this small palm tree on our way up
At the top
At the top, overlooking the bay and our anchorage
Anders is posing at the top
The sun is in zenith. Not much of a shadow here
Beautiful views on the way down, and inland
Isola delle Femmine
Very popular day spot for locals. All the small power boats left late afternoon. We were the only one who stayed for the night.
This is a marine protected area, Isola delle Femmine, so you are mot allowed to go ashore. But anchor is allowed
Another beautiful sunset :-)
City of Cefalu
The historic and spectacular city of Cefalu.
Amazingly clear water over an all sandy bottom
Beautiful night skyline
We found this old community washing place in town
Anders showing how it was done
Narrow streets and beautiful colors from the blooming flowers and trees
We climbed the Rocca di Cefalu behind the town, 268m. The top of CefalĂą Rock was already inhabited in ancient times as the remains of a temple with megalithic stonework attests.
On top of the old fort
Looking down at the new marina on the other side of the Rocca
Isola de Vulcano
We sailed over to the isle of Vulcano, in the Aeolian islands, on our way to the marina in Milazzo north east Sicily
Very black sand on the beach here, for a reason...
Pretty clear water here. This is 10 m depth
In an unreasonably unfair world, we happen to be blessed by the unforeseen circumstances of a pandemic... When we planned to sail the Med, people warned us about the crowds and overworked staff at marinas and restaurants in the mid of summer. But after a well motivated 10 week lock-down in France, we are now enjoying an almost empty sailing paradise. The marinas fight to get our business, the restaurants have all the time in the world to serve us like royalties and give us invaluable advice on what to do and what to see, and we can pick any anchorage we like even if we arrive late. This might change coming August, but we're happy as clamps right now. @ Volcano Island, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy
The ocean was dead calm on our way back to Mizzano, Sicily
Milazzo, Sicily
Provisioning in the local supermarket. They take this Covid-19 serious. They took the temp of everyone who entered. Sanitizer everywhere and you need to wear a face mask
Easiest way to bring the provisioning to the boat :-)
Road trip around Sicily (and picking up Hans at the airport)
Rented a car and drove around and up to the active Vulcano of Etna, Sicily. Super cool! It was surprisingly lush and green on the island. And all the small old towns on top of the hills was stunning
We had a lunch at a picnique stop in a lush forest
Fun stop at a beautiful waterfall next to the road. Can you spot all the small fish?
View of Etna from the road on the north side
First we took the gondola up on Etna, then there was a bus waiting for us to take us up to the craters
A lot of selfies from the top of Etna, just because it was super cool and a once in a lifetime experience :-)
Looking down from Etna towards the base station. In the distance you can see Catania and the ocean
The view from our beach restaurant in Catania.
Anette climbed up to the active crater on Isla the Volcano. I did not hike around the crater cause the wind blew the smoke/gases over the trail
Looking down on our anchorage
Celebrated 4th of July on the island of Vulcano, Aeolic islands, Italy
Sailing along the west coast of Isle di Lipari, from Vulcano to Isola Filicudi. Beautiful rugged coast with lots of caves and rock formations
We really wanted to go ashore and explore the ancient village on the island. Took our dry-sacks with phones, clothes and shoes.
Unfortunately the wind was straight in to the shore so Anders stayed on the boat to make sure it was safe and Hans and I swam in to shore to explore
Beautiful views over the island, the town and the anchorage
Framed Horizon :-)
The history of the ancient village
View from the top towards Vulcano, Lipari, Salina and Stromboli
Pretty gardens in the town
We got company from these cute and playful dolphins on our sail from Filicudi to Stromboli. They always cheer you up :-)
On the way to Stromboli we passed the island of Salina
Sailed by the active north side of Stromboli, at a safe distance. The restricted zone is marked out very well on the chart.
The small rock of Strombolicchio
Our anchorage, at the bottom of Stromboli
We found Ingrid Bergman's house from the old movie Stromboli. It's actually for sale ... any takers?
Sunset over the town of Stromboli
Sailing by on the south coast of Stromboli the next morning.
On our way back from Stromboli towards Salina we past these small popular rocky islands outside Panarea. One is calles Isola di Basiluzzo
We did spend one night anchoring in Panarea. But our dinghy engine failed so we didn't go ashore
We did a road trip on the Island of Salina. These pictures are all from the very picturesque town of Pollara, om the north west coast. Beautiful anchorage to catch the sunset
Lunch stop in the village of Rinella, on the south coast. Wonderful seafood and beautiful views
I hiked up to a nearby peak. Very steep and strenuous. Beautiful rewarding views at the top
Driving through the narrow alleys of Santa Marina Salida
Nice sunset view from the restaurant over the neighbor island of Lipari
Another beautiful sunset of the north east coast of Sicily
The dreaded Messina strait. Where the legend says many big ships have going down in the rough strait
These are crazy Swordfish fishing boats. Three men at the top of the mast and one harpooner guy at the crazy long ladder at the bow .
This was a very funky marina on the mainland of Italy in the Messina strait. We were the only boat. very clean water though and very friendly people
Beautiful narrow streets of Taormina
Lots of restaurants in all the narrow alleys in Taormina
We drove to Syracusa
Lots of people enjoying theses cliffs for sunbathing and swimming. The old town is surrounded by a huge wall so not that easy to get down to the water
Syracusa "beach"
In Siracusa we visited the grave of St Lucia
Once again we drove up up mount Etna to show Hans the volcano. Just amazing even this second time. Thank You Hans for joining us on Horizon for ten days. We had a great time . Hope you will visit us soon again, in another part of the world
Had to stock up before leaving. The Italians take the Covid -19 serious. Gloves, face mask and hand sanitizer
Washed of the black ash of Etna. In Spain we had the red dust of Sahara
We left a stormy Sicily for the mainland of Italy after we dropped of Hans