Messina Strait through Puglia
Rocella Ionnica
Not boat wash but where the waters meet in the Messina Strait.
Passing through the strait has a few restrictions requiring communicating with a VTS “controller” who is a bit like an Air Traffic Controller regulating and separating ships, boats and yachts. The strait as mentioned featured heavily in history and mythology and is a place I always wanted to navigate through. The cool waters of the Ionian sea meets the warm of the Tyrennian Sea there and whilst the current changes direction daily this temperature change differential lead to difficult conditions including whirlpools at times. It also brings a large wildlife diversity attracted there including mating swordfish. We played dodge the ferries for a while before turning the corner around the toe of Italy. From there it is a fairly boring coast line so we aimed to rack up as many miles as we could, that said we made it only as far as Rocella Ionica that day. Pretty from the sea, time and weather precluded us from going ashore to the castle, so with an early start we headed for Crotone.
The welcome at Crotone, first in the new port to refuel then to the old, was terrific including a bottle of wine and warm croissants delivered to the boat in the morning. Can highly recommend Marco’s Autonautica Tricoli. Crotone whilst a little run down has a good vibe, is very authentic Italy and has a very active foreshore by night. With a big sail across the Gulf of Taranto to Gallipoli(the other one!) in the offing we decided on a 4AM start.
Everything started well and continued for 35 seconds until some 30m from the dock where the port engine and Cooinda came to a grinding stop. In the Medditeranean you most often dock stern to a quay or wharf and tie off your stern there. To keep your bow out from the quay you drop your anchor 3 or so boat lengths out and motor back to the quay dropping your anchor chain as you go. Or you pick up slime lines at the quay which lie in the water and are attached to heavier mooring lines secured to concrete blocks or chain in front of the quay. You pick the light lines up and follow them forward and pull up the sunken heavy lines and attach them to each of your bows, so the cat is held in place at its 4 extremities. Unfortunately additional unseen loose slimeys caught our prop and pulled the heavy line they were attached to tightly around the prop. we weren’t going anywhere for a while. We dropped anchor in the middle of the fairway to the annoyance of others, but what could we do? So in the dark, Tarzan like I dived with knife and torch and proceeded to cut us loose. About an hour after our original ETD we were away.
The sail across across was uneventful but enjoyable with our first pod of dolphins staying with us for 10 minutes or so and some interesting traffic along the way. A pretty fort town, Gallipoli has some fantastic restaurants in the maze of streets and a fascinating history. As we came to understand more and more all these places have had multiple conquerors over the centuries. A long lunch at Agatha restaurant is highly recommended.
Another early start after 2 nights there saw us heading for Brindisi around Italy’s heel. It was a bit of a slog as the wind wasn’t favourable. Most often both of us will get the boat going and after the anchor is secured or fenders and lines clear, Sandy will head back for a snooze and I’ll put in a few hours before takinfg a break myself. it seems to work well for us this way, as anyone who knows Sandy, knows she loves her sleep. The coast around from the cape from Santa Maria di Leuca is quite pretty especially around Otranto.
A late afternoon arrival in Brindisi marina saw us refuelling and after docking in our pen, we headed into town for a seafood meal on the vibrant downtown quay. Places like Brindisi being larger and significant ports offer numerous options for where to leave the boat. The Brindisi marina, whilst a bit out of town offered a bunch of stuff that suited us. We were able to get the local rigger to give us a hand with some fair lead stuff and Greta the marina concierge was brilliant helping us with cars , tour advice and checkout with the Guardia di Costeria brought to our boat!
With a rental car we headed first to beautiful Lecce, rightly known as the Firenze of the south. It is a beautiful old walled city preserved and beautifully kept. It has plentiful galleries, baroque churches and colourfully interesting streets with shops selling eclectic wares from finely painted terracotta figurines, sweet and savoury tarollina, jewellery and all sorts of arty stuff. From there we went on to the four stunning hillside towns of Ostuni, Cisternino, Locorotondo and Alberobello. Whilst in close proximity they all have unique qualities making all worth visting. Featuring in every image of the Puglia region are the trullo houses from around Alberobello which impress even more as you drive around the region and walk the sytreets. Obligatory gelatos, Aperol Spritzes and sagne ncannulate pasta (ribbon like), a specialty of Apulia were consumed with gusto in the very warm days we spent there.
