La Sirena Messina

We had breakfast late as we slept in - we lost an hour because of the time change as we sail east. As I was watching the daily video segment where Stewart, the cruise director, describes the day's activities on board or port facts if we are going to be in port, I surfed over to the channel that shows where we are in the world. I saw that we were passing between mainland Italy and Sicily so we ...

Travel pod entry for Aug 16th

Cruising: our cruise in review

Well we have come to the final day of our cruise and today we chose to spend most of our time out on the balcony sunbathing and gazing at the beautiful Mediterranean. This cruise has had quite a different feel from the last one. For the most part it has been absolutely fabulous, but I felt that this cruise had a somewhat thinner façade ...

... the Greek theater. The arts festival was in progress, so the theater was set up for some sort of performance that evening. The view from the theater is pretty spectacular. We walked around the theater for a while and then headed back toward Taormina's main drag. Our guide told us her favorite spot for gelato, so Boo and I headed there and got some. We then went back ...

... haze. We sail quite close but the pictures are ****** due to the haze. We can make out the houses and the plume rising up above the crater and that's about it. Go to show after dinner. Something about hats. Pretty ordinary. Good singing, good dancing but a bit pale compared to the Celebrity extravaganzas. We leave before it finishes. Huge day tomorrow.

We now are in transit and will wake up about 185 miles south off of Lipari. It is a small group of islands just north of Sicily, right next to the tip of the boot. I've never been there and franly have never heard of it. I'm excited!

... we thought - 30 min instead of 2 hours) so we went back to the house to take in the last sunset with some Malvasia wine. It all could have been very romantic but instead it just seemed very somber and lonely by ourselves. We left early in the morning and would undoubtedly never return. It was una buona vacanza and it was difficult to remember that another whole vacation (and 10 days of it!) lay ahead of us still.

... active, but its doing something. Vulcanologists aren't sure what that something is but we'll all tell you that its very smelly. The whole town and beach stink of sulphur. To me, Vulcano looked like the end of the earth and smelled like it too. Fortunately, at the end of the earth they sell Heinekein and make delicious granitas. Regarding the mud baths, we've decided to give them their own entry in our travelogue as there was ...

... hard to say exact temperature but definitely over 40 degrees), and we motor around for a bit, go in for a swim, lie out on the deck to dry off, and repeat this pattern pretty well all day. We have fruit for lunch then lie on the deck in the shade under the tarpaulin and doze off. The heat is ferocious and just lying there sweat trickles off my body - I'm in a heat daze, the boat is rocking gently, I have no energy at all, it's a strange and not unpleasant feeling and I stay this way ...

La verde isola di salina: tranquilla, bella, di gusto! Una ottima cucina dove il cappero giustamente spicca, e dove concludere un basto con un bel Passito di Malvasia. E poi Pollara, un gioiello di posto dove il ricordo va al Postino Troisi, quasi con una lacrimuccia.

... to need blankets at night, so we have been quite comfortable. Quest is aluminum (pronounced al-yew-min-ee-um here), has roller furling for the genoa and lazy jacks for the main. What this means to land lubbers is that it is quite easy to put the sails away. We have an asymmetrical spinnaker that is more an overgrown genoa of much lighter material. This sail also has "auto furling" with the use of what is known as a "sock". It looks more like a barrel ring ...