Weather
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Weather
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Good short term forecasts are available on VHF. Announced on VHF 16 for you to switch to various other channels, and also runs pretty well continuously on 68. In Italian and then repeated in English. The GRIB files for the Med are pretty accurate.
Charts & Guides –
Once again, the monopoly seems to be with Rod Heikell’s Italian Waters Pilot – expensive and a ton of book. Very detailed if you need this much overkill and plan to do extensive cruising. Too bad there isn’t something with less gory detail out there.
Formalities –
We did not check out of Greece. We did not check into Italy. We were told not to check in or out by several non-EU cruisers, the logic being we were already checked into the EU once we cleared into Greece.
Boat Stuff: Sicily
Syracusa
is a big city and has everything you need. The supermarkets seem to have 2
aisles of pasta, 2 aisles of cleaning products and 2 aisles of everything else.
Good buys on chocolate, pasta (naturally!), ground coffee, Italian wine (we
found drinkable bottled reds for about 1.50 – 2 Euros but nothing really worth
recommending) Beef was sky high just like in Greece. There is a cash-and-carry
type store for your case lots and large quantity stuff very close to the
waterfront. Leave the dinghy west of the commercial dock (marked “Molo S.
Antonio” on your chart) – there are new low docks there with no boats at them.
There is a huge open air market in the old town just east of the Umberto Bridge which joins the new city to the old. Complete with fish, meat, essential souvenirs and household goods & clothing, it seems to run every day until around 1PM or so.
In Italy, wherever there is a town there is provisioning.
Fuel – available at all docks. More expensive than Greece. Fuel is cheaper in Spain (Balearics) and was the cheapest we found in the Med, so if you can hold on, wait till Spain.
Water
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Syracusa - you buy a card and put it in one of the water tap machines on the town dock, and the water is metered. Minimum 20 Euros (!) for a whole bunch of water but probably more than you need. The card is 10 Euros non refundable, and then you ‘refill’ the card for 10 Euros at a time. We noticed free water at the Naxos town dock – there were little roof structures on the main wall and you would need a long hose to get the water to your boat or dinghy.
Free water at Milazzo.
Propane – European Camping Gas … we used an adapter to put into our tank…
Laundry – we found a coin operated Laundromat in Syracusa. Just a block west of the westbound bridge in the new city which joins the new city to the old, on the south side of the street (Umberto).
Anchorages
– we anchored everywhere, and purposely were in Italy before the busy August
season. There were many horror stories about the summer crowds, expense and lack
of anchorages in Italy. We only bounced off Sicily so did not cruise Italy
really.
Boot – East to West
Recommended by others:
Santa Maria di Leuca (on the ‘heel’ of Italy) – anchor free outside breakwall or free on the wall itself
Crotone (on the ‘toe’, near the ‘instep’) – can tie to the wall cheap (about 5 Euros a night), or maybe can anchor outside the breakwall.
Cantanzaro Marina – not recommended, poor holding
Rochelle Ionica – much raved about by many cruisers. Marina under construction, free, tie up alongside. Power and water available.
Sicily –
Highly recommended:
Syracusa – anchored in the huge protected bay at 37’ 03.546 N / 15’ 16.804 E. Great landfall from Greece – you are sure to find a safe anchorage here. 25 ft mud, great holding. Large city and great provisioning. There is a town quay, a marina, chandleleries, water available.
The ‘stern-to on your own anchor’ town quay is free; you just pay for water & power if you want it. However, most afternoons, a sea breeze comes up, sometimes quite strong (20 knots+) creating a big chop, and will blow you right onto the quay. A mass exodus from the quay follows after much scrambling around. The wind dies right down just before sunset again.
Recommended:
Taormina Roads – 37’ 50.713 N / 15’ 17.246 E 35 ft sand. Shelter from north, if wind switches south go to Naxos at the south end of this bay. A little rolly because it is an open readstead.
Tindari – 38’ 08.120N / 15’ 03.466 E 15 ft coarse sand. South of a little sandspit that runs east-west out from the point. C-Map has not got detail because the sandspit changes its shape constantly. Just approach slowly from the south and eyeball – go slow because the bottom comes up fast. It’s all sand so it won’t hurt much if you touch bottom anyway. Good holding, good shelter and crystal clear water. Big beach and lots of tourists and little power boats come in for the day but leave overnight. There are a couple of big yellow markers and these apparently mark off a swimming area, between these and the beach you are not supposed to anchor and the coast guard patrols and kicks boats out of this area. I don’t know how you are supposed to know this, as the yellow buoys are not marked with any writing.
Good just for a convenient stopover:
Augusta – 37’ 14.242 N / 15’ 13.980 E 14 ft weed. There is reportedly a friendly Yacht Club there and you can get water But we did not go ashore so don’t know firsthand.
Catania – 37’ 29.131 N / 15’ 05.402 E 16 ft sand. Anchored south of breakwall. Big town nearby but dirty beaches and not pretty.
Milazzo – 38’ 12.751 N / 15’ 14.970 E 14 ft sand/mud. Very dirty beach, dirty crummy town, lots of roll and wake from constant ferry traffic. But free water, fuel conveniently available and good holding.
Cefalu – 38’ 04.426 N / 14’ 02.214 E 29 ft weed and sod. Anchored south of the main breakwall, just barely sheltered from the north. Did not go ashore but the town looked OK.
Not recommended:
Baia de Mondello – anchored at 38’ 12.203 N / 13’ 19.943 E 19 ft weed, rocks, sand. Barely protected, very rolly the day & night we were there, and to make things worse you will be kicked out by the coast guard if you anchor within some invisible line which would allow you to be sheltered. Don’t know how you are supposed to know where this line is (some local guys told us about the line). There were a couple of other boats there anchored for the day we were there but they all cleared out that night, leaving us there alone. The coast guard was around but did not tell us to move.
Reports from Other Cruisers:
The Aeolian Islands:
Stromboli - rolly, poor shelter, deep water, difficult to anchor. Go only in settled weather. Can anchor at the north end and hike to rim of active volcano. Black sand
Filicudi - nobody goes here.
Liari - main island. Tie up because the anchorage is deep, in fact you may not be allowed to anchor.
Salina - anchor anywhere between Santa Marina and Pta Lingua.
Vulcano - very deep water at either side on the north end. Anchor depending on the wind that day. Black sand, good holding, though many say bad holding. Go in settled weather. A 2-4 hour climb to the top of the volcano. The water here will eat the galvanizing off your chain.
Palmero - don't go there. Filthy and expensive commercial harbour.
Trapani - excellent anchorage with good shelter.