[p]pjr4728
[s]
pos: 37 50.666n 015 17.247e
sp: 0.0
h: 0m
w: 0kn W, CC 0, SS 0
d: 14/08/19 09:32 GMT+0200
Taormina: Our 2 day, 250nm passage from Argostoli on Kephalonia (Greece) to
Italy was pretty uneventful (read: mostly 'motor-sailing'!), except for the
last 8 hours or so, when the wind got up a wee bit more than forecast (but
by now, as expected!), hitting 40kn or so across the first part of the
Strait of Messina.
With the main fully reefed, Windchase was still blasting along at up to
8.5kn, despite the waves nearly on the beam. Given the N winds and strong
Sbnd tide in this area at the time, we erred on the side of caution and
headed straight over to make a relatively sheltered anchorage here at
Taormina, on Sicily.
This place looked 'toytown' amazing, with incredible buildings, both new
and very, very old, built on the most precipitous slopes, funicular and
electric railways, tunnels and bridges winding through and across the
escarpments, etc.
It also introduced us to the apparent penchant of Italians to use any
stretch of land with access to the sea, no matter how small or gravelly, as
a 'beach' for sunbathing, a zillion sun umbrellas and an opportunity to
make a Euro (or 20)!

[END]