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Saturday, August 2nd, Siracusa, Sicily, Italy
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Sailing into the sunset, the Zia crew plus two departed
the Greek Isles late Tuesday afternoon, coasting into
Porto Grande in the city of Siracusa, Sicily on Friday
afternoon, 68 hours later. After a few days in
Heraklion and a magical 24 hours in Marathi, on the west
coast of Crete, our guests and first time
passage-makers, Mike and Sue Boyle, proved themselves
true, born-to-be sailors. Surviving the airplanes
and surge of Heraklion as
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well as an uncomfortable start to our passage with lumpy
seas and no winds, The Santa Fe Boyles have relished
every minute of their Zia visit. Returning to
Siracusa, one of our favorites, the rest of us are
riding sky high right along with them!
Returning from Santorini to Heraklion, our mates from
"Gone Native" were there to catch our lines in a strong
crosswind. Dropping our anchor 200 feet out from
the seawall, we had some minor mishaps during our
docking procedure but landed without any real
problems. We talked about how we could have done
it better - we didn't let out enough anchor chain for
starters - and certainly will next time in a similar
situation. At any rate, it is always good to have
someone at the dock who you know, who knows what they
are doing, and who speaks your language. Desi and
Dave had big plans for the twins' 13th birthday on the
27th and the Zia girls weren't going to miss it.
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Last time here, we had discovered "Water
City" in the city of Anopolis and rewarded the girls
for an excellent first day back to school with a visit
there.
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Despite Cassie's expression here, both girls actually
had great attitudes, plowing through four lessons in one
day so we could have the whole next day free for our
excursion. Everyone had a great time.
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There was no doubt that with Wesley and Ryan they would
have even more fun.
With no specific plans, the Zia adults took the
opportunity for a day off from the kids. Sue and I
wondered through town a little, leaving Joe and Mike
dealing with a boat project. It was a stinky one
too - replacing the macerator pump on the port holding
tank which had broken a couple of weeks ago.
Luckily, the job went smoothly with as little direct
contact with the holding tank contents as could be hoped
for in these circumstances. Happy, and all
washed up, the boys joined us for a coffee, a stroll
around and a delicious gyro lunch.
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Impulsively, we rented a couple of scooters for
the afternoon. Fifteen minutes out of town we
visited the site of the ancient Minoan Palace of
Knossos.
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On
the way back, we sought out a beach we had seen,
situated fifteen kilometers east of the city. Mike
and Sue enjoyed their first dip in the Mediterranean,
surrounded by locals and soaking up the sun.
Dying to get back at anchor so we could do more swimming
and such, we headed west to a little bay called Marathi,
on the other side of the Akrotiri Peninsula from Chania.
The anchorage proved to be idyllic once we moved one bay
over from the vacation apartment complex that was
blaring bad music.
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We
had our best Greek meal ever onshore that night, leaving
the kids to cook for themselves on Zia. Cassie
whipped up some Penne al Pesto, Sue and I shared some
fresh fish and we ordered up an assortment of delectable
Greek appetizers which Niko brought us into the kitchen
to choose. Yum, yum, yum!
We
got into Chania the next day to do some grocery shopping
before our passage and to take care of the formalities
needed to leave the country. It was a bit of a
wild goose chase, trying to track down the right
officials and getting them to help us. We finally
realized that we just had to refuse to let them pass the
buck to some other office because they were too lazy to
do their jobs. I hate to say it, but this was a
universal attitude wherever we tried to check in in
Greece. They require you to check in at every
harbor. If you are going to have regulations like
that, it seems ludicrous not to provide competent
service to facilitate the process. I imagine they
will do away with the excessive paperwork and simply not
require check ins like the rest of the European Union
soon, but it won't be soon enough for us!
With some strong northerlies due to hit Crete the next
morning, we got an afternoon of swimming and tidying up
in before departing for Sicily late Tuesday afternoon.
The wind was directly on the nose and the seas were a
little lumpy and Susan learned the answer to that long
unanswered question, "Do you get seasick?" After a
rough first six hours, things settled down, the wind
filled in from the right direction and Zia was off and
sailing.
Uncle Mike is a huge fisherman, and was not disappointed
with the number of hits we were getting on our first
sunset fishing attempt. With a full freezer still,
it was strictly catch and release. We hooked four
or five tuna our first night and another four the next
morning at sunrise. The fishing wasn't quite as
reliable once we got a 100 miles out to sea, but we
still reeled in at least a couple of fish a day.
Having raised two daughters of their own, Mike and Sue are
both wonderfully engaging with Cassie and Juliana.
Aunt Susan listened to music, read articles and engaged
in lengthy conversation with both of them.
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Uncle Mike was a great substitute teacher on a couple of
occasions, actually making school fun for once!
Anchored in Siracusa, he hops in the dinghy to take them
fishing. The girls are in heaven!
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We
had never made a passage with virgin passage-makers
before and it was as wonderful an experience for us as
it was for Mike and Sue. These guys are awesome!
Mike shared the watches with me and Joe, and once Susan
recovered from her bout of seasickness, she was there in
the galley helping keep everyone well fed. They
were both filled with awe at the fact of sailing 500
miles from Crete to Sicily. There wasn't a moment
of boredom or restlessness as we relaxed, read, ate,
talked and slept, sailing our way out of the Aegean and
across the Ionian. The winds were on the nose, but
we made it the whole way on one tack with only 8 more
hours of motoring during one light spell.
Back in Italy, the wonder continues as we explore the
old town area of the walled city of Siracusa. A
couple of beers and glasses of Prosecco, sitting in the
Piazza del Duomo, people watching, and relaxing in true
Italian fashion, we contemplate our next moves. We
still haven't figured it out, but we'll keep you posted!
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Next Entry
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Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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