SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA and LECCE

With some reservations we set off for S.Maria Di Leuca or 'Leuca' as it's called locally. We had dreaded the long trip, hoping it would not give us grief that our sail from Solenzara had done. The first 20 or o miles were fine, then the rough weather patch started. We coped ok and after 10 hours we rounded the cape near Leuca.

our boat between two 'Scuola Vela' boats

 To our surprise we were met by 15 large yachts, all travelling in convoy towards the marina. So many boats after seeing none for so long! We took 2nd place and headed into a berth with the large yachts streaming in behind us. Once we moored we realised that these were part of a sailing school, each with 8 teenagers on board, coming from Policoro and heading like us, to Corfu. For the next day and night we felt like sardines in a tin, squashed up tight and every external surface of our boats squeaking and rubbing. Some carefully squirted olive oil on springs and fenders helped to relieve the constant noise! 
To our great relief the students were polite, well mannered and had a reasonable curfew. We continue to be impressed with the effort put in by the local towns in Italy to teach their young people the skills of sailing - something that's rather lacking in Oz.

the large marina

So began our unexpected long stay in Leuca. In some ways we were in the best place to be stuck because everything about the place is terrific. The marina has excellent services, clean water, electricity, good showers, and helpful staff. The town itself is quite delightful, with a  'Lungomare' (esplanade), fruit and veg shops, Supermercatos, pizza bars and beautiful local scenery.

 
We spent many hours walking through the town, amazed at the old and new residences in every street that reflect a fairly wealthy past. The story has it that these were built by olive oil 'barons' who grew thousands of acres of olives all over this area.

After a day or so we decided to venture further afield and after deciding NOT to hire a Vespa, discovered that the area bus had just resumed service. It took 1.5 hours to travel to Lecce, the capital of the region, where we were pleasantly surprised by the sophistication and beauty of the old classical buildings and streets.

The 'Greek' church in the old city of Lecce

Much of the stonework has been restored so that it reflected modern restoration philosophies that made the new area similar but not artificially aged












We had a particularly memorable meal at a small bar, 'insalata tipica' which consisted of tuna and burrato cheese on crisp brushetta topped with sweet tiny tomatoes, olives, capers and lashings of olive oil. Yummy!






 
Our trip to and from Lecce took us through miles and miles of olive groves, lanes of prickly pear and oleander on every fence and garden bed.

The houses were unusually large - something not seen in our previous travels along the Italian coast. Up till now, we thought Italy was all 5 story apartment blocks. We could see a striking similarity between the large mansions Italians have built in Adelaide and these homes.
























 
Tomorrow we leave for Corfu. The weather looks good, more importantly, the WAVE height is low, so it might just be a comfortable crossing to kassiopi on the NE side of Corfu.

Caio Italy!!


P.S. another mechanical saga for the technically minded:

The Starter Switch Saga

Last year when we were going through locks on the Rhone, I went to start the engine to leave a lock; nothing.  Quick as a flash I put my years of working with crappy cars into action and used a screwdriver to make a connection between the starter motor solenoid and the starter power.  It worked and we motored off.
Later in the journey when we were travelling along the Cote D'Azur, it happened again and once more the trusty screwdriver came into action. The problem became an intermittent nuisance and I couldn't find out why it was happening.

This year, the engine would not start on the switch at all and I was forced to use the screwdriver switch all of the time.

After hours of taking off panels, cleaning connectors, measuring resistance and swearing, I decided that I would have to replace the wiring,the starter switch and possibly the starter motor solenoid.  Unfortunately (actually fortunately) there wasn't an electrical store anywhere to be found.  The chandlers in Italy are nothing like the massive emporiums of France. I had resigned myself to paying an electrician to fix the problem after we left the boat in Patras in August. Today I decided to give it one more go.
So, panels off, spanners out,  sandpaper at the ready, I once more started working over the electrics.  No success.  Having tried everything, I decided to trace the supply cable back to source just out of curiosity.  It left the starter switch, entered a wrapped loom and descended into the engine compartment.  I followed it down and lost it in the gloom.
Nearby, I saw a red wire, but thicker than the one that I was  tracing. I followed it  to the back of the alternator and out of curiosity, checked the tightness of the terminal nut.  It was loose!
I tightened it up and then checked the starter;  working perfectly and faultlessly. I started the engine ten times without it failing, then left it to recharge.
So at the moment I think I have solved the problem but am not sure why.  The loose alternator terminal does explain why the motor would start sometimes after I had started it with the screwdriver; the vibration occasionally made a connection.
This solution might also improve battery charging.
We have noticed that it is not at all unusual for well-tightened nuts to loosen off over time. Maybe it is the vibration of the motor or even the constant rocking of the boat.
We now hope that we have put an end to the somewhat annoying practice of whipping off seat cushions and ferreting around the engine bay with a torch and screwdriver trying to start the motor.
Another one bites the dust.

CROTONE

The weather has continued to be warm, the sea flat and the marinas and towns really enjoyable. The locals appear to be than happy to please the visiting yachts and have plenty off modern facilities.

 'Lega Navale' runs a brilliant marina - quite impressive restaurant/office/bar overlooking the boats. As usual, the mooring guys and marina workers were incredibly helpful.
We sat, drinking coffee, and watched the children at "Scuola Vela" bringing in their small 'Opti' yachts and taking turns to wash them down.
Emi would be in her element!!

 
The coffee continues to be strong and the pizzas huge. We often choose one capriciosa and share. During the day the temperatures reaches the high 30s and shops shut for 2 - 3 hours, which is a pity. At night the local bands set up stages in the squares nearby and play well into the next morning with surprisingly, 70's and 80's music. It's ok, just.











The port and town appear to be a very popular tourist destination for hundreds of families and young people, with the beaches next door full of people from morning till late evening.

 Once the sun sets and the temperature cools down, everyone settles into bars, restaurants or just ambles along the promenade surrounding the marina.



We took advantage of the great markets in the town to stock up supplies. I'm still in shock about the prices charged for the most beautiful fruit and vegetables. Locally produced food has not lost it's importance in these smaller towns.

1 euro kg for the best tomatoes and peaches!

Our stay was cut short by the window of opportunity (as we thought) to get across the Bay of Taranto before another blow set in. We were only half right and the sea was not as friendly as we had hoped.

LE CASTELLA

 

We left Rocella Ionica around 7am and set off for Le Castella some 48miles north. The trip was effortless with us arriving around 1.30 in the afternoon. Although the wind stayed constantly in our face, we managed to have a enjoyable sail with both main and genoa. Occasionally we hit 8kts, but of course, we were motor sailing. 

Parts of the day were so calm it felt eerie. The horizon became a blur and small boats passed as though they were floating on clouds.

We use the mobile now for all marina entry requests as it seems the only vhf used are short range, hand held types and no-one ever answers our calls. It appears that other sailors have the same experiences so we no longer feel that we’re not communicating correctly!

The marina is small but very well maintained. We feel safe, although the huge floodlights that beam above us all night could be annoying. The town’s success seems to be based on diving the local wrecks, visiting protected areas in glass-bottomed boats and wandering around the “castella” at the end of the town. 

The town is fairly bare except for the main street where dozens of tourist shops sell ‘Calabrian’ souveniers. Apparently, the hottest chilli now is recognized as “Viagro Calabra” and is marketed in every conceivable way. Must get David to try some some!

 

The Calabrian hot dip!

Today is Dave’s birthday and so we intend to live it up a bit in the local restaurant – maybe pizza and pasta!

We busy ourselves for much of the day doing small maintenance jobs and napping. It’s very hard to be more active as the temperature reached 40 in the shade of the cockpit. We did, however, finish installing the airconditioner outlet and so spent the hottest part of the day in the relative luxury of 26’.

ROCCELLA IONICA

After such a disappointing stop at Reggio Calabria, Roccella Ionica was a breath of fresh air. Our journey from the south was easy - little wind and no swell. The trip was long and took around 8 .5 hours averaging 7+ kts.

How the coast has changed. Now there are huge white cliffs of clay and plenty of farmland. Holiday houses dot the coast for miles and miles. We were equally amazed to see the HUGE bridges that spanned the valleys along the coast. Italy certainly has invested in infrastructure!

The marina is delightful. We were met by Francesco, the mooring staff member, who gave us plenty of help and information. Because the electricity was being 'maintained' we were given a discount on our stay. We got by, and anyway, we need to start toughening up for Greece where apparently most marinas don't have electricity.

REGGIO CALABRIA

 

We left Bagnara Calabra very early Monday morning and set off for Reggio Calabra. The trip to the beginning of the Strait of Messina was smooth and with very little wind, however once we entered the narrow straight, things changed. The sea became strangely forceful with a strong current pulling us along. Every now and then we could feel and see ‘eddies’ or whirlpools that formed part of the running tide that slowed us down. We’d chosen a very calm day to pass through the area so luckily all was ok. Once we came out of the narrow straight past Sicily and around the ‘toe’, the water returned to being calm with no swell. Some of the stories we’d heard about the area were very scary.

Around lunch-time we pulled into the rather depressing and somewhat unpleasant marina. Everything as usual was shut and we were struck by the isolation of the marina and the surroundings. The nearest coffee shop was more than a km away and only found after trudging up the highway, cutting through a very small dirty tunnel under the railway line and then walking, walking, walking.

The trains ran all night next to the marina and every so often the very loud garbled announcement was made on a loudspeaker that was impossible to ignore. That, and the ships going in and out made our night uncomfortable. Still, we did have free WIFI as a small compensation.

BAGNAR CALABRA

E30 p/n

First impressions were that it was a petite, compact little port with all services and relatively sheltered berths. 

The hills above the marina are covered in terraced vineyards

We set off to explore the local area and found it very disappointing. 

There seemed to be a problem with rubbish collection and general cleanliness. The stench from the huge bins along the promenade was awful. Rubbish was everywhere, as though the easiest way to get rid of unwanted hard and soft waste was to thrown it over the rocks or pile it up in every corner. It was such a pity as it promised to as pleasant experience as the ports further north.

There were very few shops and almost all of them were shut for lunch, however we found a good Gelateria. The prices were amazing. 

A beer for David, a gelati and a chocolate cream puff for me and all for just E2.50 ($3.50).How they make a living is beyond us!

What seemed to be a quiet little marina changed around 6pm. Local families in their huge power boats arrived and squashed into every available space, had a few disagreements about moorings and then disappeared on their bikes and in their cars.

We were amazed to see the huge swordfish fishing boats along the coast with many of them coming from this small harbour. The 2 men at the top of the tower were awe-inspiring to say the least.

We spent most of the afternoon relaxing and at 8pm headed off to the local restaurant in the marina for tea.  As usual we ordered one pizza and had plenty to share between us.  The restaurant was booked for an 18^th birthday party  which did not giving us something to look forward to during the evening.  We managed to get some sleep by about 1.30am and we set off to Reggio Calabria next morning.

mooring E30 p/n

VIBO VALENTIA

-->

We had heard so many good reports about Vibo Valente, the marina, the Canadian lady who ran it and the pleasant town close by. We were not disappointed when we arrived. 

Everything was done to make us feel welcome from the very helpful staff to the coffee on the house at the bar. Angela, the owner, had made a point of making her marina business successful by being positive and friendly although we did feel her concern for the current downturn in the Italian economy.

We spent the day walking the small town's main streets, buying provisions and enjoying the atmosphere. With the weather warming up, gelati is now mandatory and still so cheap - 1E a cone!