History, Friends, and Fair Winds in the Late Summer Mediterranean

 

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Ostia Antica and the Heat of August

 

From Elba, we made our way to mainland Italy and met up with Mary’s cousin Dervla, whose address we had used for shipping some supplies. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon visiting with Dervla, her husband Vincenzo, and their son Domenico.

 

 

We then continued along the coast and eventually booked into a marina not far from Rome at the end of August. Temperatures remained very hot, and much of the Italian population was out enjoying time on the water — a good moment for us to stop in a marina and run our air conditioning.

Nearby was an impressive archaeological site. Ostia Antica was the original port of Rome, later abandoned when the Tiber River silted up. It was far less crowded than we expected and truly incredible to visit.

 

 

Once our friends Joe and Cheryl arrived, we also made a trip into Rome. After sitting out a couple of weather days, we finally departed the marina.

 

 

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The Constituto Complication

Remember the “Constituto” mentioned earlier? Up to this point we had done a fairly good job of keeping it up to date, but we ran into a problem when leaving Ostia.

We needed an exit stamp and attempted to obtain one several times the day before departure. Unfortunately, no one was ever at the office. Because we needed to leave early the next morning to reach our next destination, we departed without the required stamp.

 

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Ponza and an Unexpected Island Tour

 

We enjoyed several lovely days with Joe and Cheryl and said goodbye to them on the island of Ponza. They had an adventure of their own, taking ferries and trains back to Rome for their flight home.

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was the island of Ischia. Somewhat out of character for us, we let a taxi driver talk us into an island tour — and it turned out to be amazing.

 

 

Ischia is very special, something we now know thanks to Franco di Meglio, our taxi driver and a wonderful ambassador for the island.

 

 

 

 

 

While in Ischia, we brought our Constituto to the local coast guard for a stamp. He told us we would need to return to Ostia for an exit stamp before he could stamp us into Ischia. That, of course, was not going to happen…

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Amalfi Coast with Family

Next, we were joined by Mary’s cousins Katie and Eileen, who took a train from Rome to meet us just south of Naples.

We loved having them onboard and sailed along the Amalfi Coast, stopping at Amalfi Harbor Marina. We explored the town and spent time people-watching while sipping Aperol Spritzes.

We had hoped to catch a nighttime glimpse of Stromboli with them, but the weather did not cooperate. Wild conditions kicked up, so we adjusted plans and made a few coastal stops before saying goodbye to them at Vibo Marina.

The view

 

 

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Through the Strait of Messina

 

By September 24, we were watching the calendar closely. We had a wedding to attend in Michigan on October 5.

We considered booking Echo into a marina along the way for our return to the U.S., but ultimately decided to continue on to Marina di Ragusa on the southern coast of Sicily, where Echo was booked for the winter season beginning October 1.

We sailed from dawn to dusk each day and arrived on September 29. The highlight of that passage was transiting the Strait of Messina, the narrow body of water between Sicily and the toe of Italy.

It can be challenging in unfavorable weather or current, but our passage went smoothly. Jeff later wrote the following on Facebook:

Homer wrote that Odysseus sailed the Straits of Messina around 3,200 years ago and faced major obstacles…

No sea monsters for us, but it still feels like an accomplishment nonetheless. We leave the Tyrrhenian Sea in our wake, Sicily to our right, Italy’s toe to our left, and continue into the Ionian Sea. Last night we anchored in the shadow of Mount Etna; tonight we look out toward the ancient city of Siracusa. A memorable couple of days.

 

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Sicily, a Wedding, and Looking Ahead

We quickly buttoned up Echo at Marina di Ragusa and flew back to the U.S. for the beautiful wedding of our niece Shaye and her new husband Erik. It was wonderful to see everyone and deeply meaningful to be there.

We later returned to Sicily to check on Echo and continued traveling in Europe. Sicily has so much to offer historically.

Highlights included the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina with its extraordinary Roman mosaics, the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, and Mount Etna. We had booked an organized hike but were unable to reach the summit due to volcanic activity — still a great experience and perhaps a reason to return.

 

 

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Autumn Visitors and Winter Plans

In late October, we were joined by Rachel, Sam, and four-month-old Isla, visiting from Romania. We were thrilled to have them aboard and caught a good weather window to sail to Malta.

 

We enjoyed a beautiful anchorage in Gozo before continuing on to Valencia, where we secured a marina berth right in town — a city rich with fascinating history.

 

Back at Marina di Ragusa, Echo was hauled for winter projects. We did more land exploring in Sicily before flying to Prague, then renting a car to visit several cities in Austria, which we loved.

From there, we flew to England for a wonderful visit with friends David and Suzanne, boarded the Queen Mary 2 for a leisurely crossing to New York City, and finally flew to Washington State to spend the holidays with family — staying until March, ready to begin our second season in the Mediterranean.

 

~ Mary and Jeff ~