Stuck

We had a medium bad night last Wednesday just NW of the entrance to Messina Strait. This was our anchorage and as you can see, it is wide open to all sides but South. But there's nothing more protected in vicinity.

We left early, Captain was hopeful that we could sail as there was a breeze, but it soon stopped and we motored. Messina Strait showed all its tricks - waves in the middle of nowhere,...

...water as if it was boiling,...

...and eddies.

We even saw a traditional boat for catching tunas and swordfish. There's a man up in the basket on the pole watching out for them, and then they are harpooned by men hanging on the plank in front of the boat. While harpooning fish sounds cruel, it is much less damaging than fishing nets, that catch everything, or even trawling nets, that completely destroy the ground.

We managed to stay away from all the fast ferries that were crossing between Sicily and Calabria. We didn't see any dolphins, just some gulls resting on calm water.

In the afternoon we got some wind and then the rain came. Captain was glad that the boat will be washed. Rain didn't last long, but some wind stayed, so we were able to sail. In the evening wind got stronger, the last hour we reefed the sails and the boat got all salty again.
We anchored shortly before midnight in front of Roccela Ionoca. Unfortunately it was pretty rolly and it was difficult to sleep, even though we were tired. Double rum helped a bit.
In the morning we sailed away early. This is the town of Roccela Ionica, we never visited, but have quite a few photos from all our stops in front of it already in previous years.

The wind picked up and we were sailing nicely the whole day. Nothing very exciting happened. We managed to get across Golfo di Squilache already by late afternoon and anchored on West side of Capo Rizzuto. It was quite pretty.

Unfortunately the wind turned in the evening and the waves started rolling into the bay. It got pretty uncomfortable. Forecast said it would be 5-10 knots from NW for an hour, but it got to over 20 knots from West for more than two hours. Well... We didn't want to move in the dark, but luckily wind turned to North and it got calmer at about midnight. So the night wasn't so very bad. But these things keep upsetting me.
In the morning we started even earlier, we wanted to get to Gallipoli, some 90 miles away. I got up to help with departure and I wanted to make some photos of Aragon castle in nearby town of Le Castella.

Then I went back to bed. We motored all day, sea was calm as a lake.

In the beginning there was quite some current against us, but later on it disappeared and we could maintain a good speed. Nothing really happened all day, but I didn't mind. 90 miles in a day is exciting enough, everything else can be boring.

But it wasn't really - in the evening the wind started, slowly at first, but before too long we were reefing the sails again. Some 10 miles from Gallipoli it started to blow directly on the nose and we motored again. Needless to say, boat was thoroughly salty again. But this time the weather forecast was almost right, wind started to blow from NE just two hours earlier than forecast. 

We anchored S off the Gallipoli at about 11 in the evening. There were couple of other boats in the bay, two sailboats on each side of us. I was really glad we made it in such a good time, in next days there would be more N wind and more difficult to get over Golfo di Taranto. After a double rum we went to bed.

On Saturday we slept long, night was windy, but anchorage good and without any waves. In the afternoon we rowed into the fishing harbour and went into town. Gallipoli is one of the prettiest towns in South Italy, and it's not very touristy. We walked about it for a while, among churches,...

...town library,...

...and old palaces.

After a while we got hungry and I wanted to try the puccia, baked pizza bun filled with different things. I did a bit of research on Internet and found a place where we got this - a pizza for Captain and a puccia for me. It was absolutely delicious, I already love pizza, but this was even better. The crust was even a bit crispy and the filling of pancetta, grilled aubergines, sun dried tomatoes and ruccola divine.

The place was very authentic, we got the only table outside on the pavement, and the building was a bit old and ornamented, but also a bit run down as so many in Southern Italy. Perfect.

We also had a couple of beers with it, and after some more walking a great gelato.

Since it was Saturday, our anchorage was pretty crowded with local boats. Heron is in the back, behind the catameran.

We managed to buy lots of fruits and veggies, but the store for bread and salamis was only opening in the evening, so we decided not to wait. Maybe we should have another gelato and just hang about for a while longer... I'm still sorry we didn't wait, we were in that store a year ago and they have some pretty good stuff there.
In the evening anchorage got empty. I couldn't resist another photo of Gallipoli and a sunset.

Next morning we sailed off, we wanted to sail to Santa Maria di Leuca at the corner of Otranto Strait, which we would pass on Monday. It was a downwind sail, but a bit rolly. I washed one load of laundry and since we didn't buy bread the day before, I baked some. It was quite good...

...and we ate a lot of it, while it was still warm.

We got to Santa Maria di Leuca in early afternoon and we thought - why not sail through the Otranto Strait right away. So we sailed by the town...

...and the lighthouse with its Staircase to Italy, that Mussolini built, and rounded the corner towards North.

Wind hit us with full 20 knots on the nose and waves started to pound into the boat. Before the corner it didn't look that wild, but we didn't want to go back. It was hard on boat and on us, but at one point we would need to go through. The wind would only turn on next Friday or Saturday, and we didn't want to wait for whole week. And the forecast for so far ahead is not really very reliable.
We sailed to the bay just behind the Otranto lighthouse and under the town of Otranto. We were here before, but then it was much calmer. We anchored almost in the dark and decided to check the weather the next morning and then decide what to do.
Night wasn't good, but not too bad. Bay is very pretty, the hay on the shore reminds me of some old painting.

Next morning we carefully studied the weather. And weren't happy. True, wind that we had sailing through the Strait was weaker than it would be on Monday or Tuesday, so we got that part in our favour, but this also meant it would be difficult to sail further. So we decided to stay in this bay for couple of days. It is quite rolly, sleeping is not very good, and even during the day it is difficult to do anything in the boat. With such strong wind we didn't even want to row the dinghy to the shore. So we read a lot and that's it. And try not to bite each others head off. We'll check the weather again tomorrow, it looks like it may be a bit calmer tomorrow night, so we might sail off in the evening, all the way to Monopoli. We'll see. But until then, we're stuck in a pretty bay on a bouncing and rolling boat.