Saturday 19 May
Siracusa

Buying fresh anchovies

We have been in Siracusa since Tuesday.  We left Ragusa early on Tuesday morning in quite a choppy sea because of the previous days' wind but with the wind behind us we made good progress and arrived at Marina Yachting by 4 p.m.  We were given an excellent spot right by the marina office and the old town of Ortiga, perfect for eating out and the best market we have come across full of fresh fruit and an incredible selection of fresh fish.  

It seems that everyone in Sicily knows someone that you need to help you and the marina man just happened to know the agent for the passarelle whom he contacted and who arrived promptly on Wednesday morning and by lunch time it was fixed - at a price, of course.  Thats the good news.  The less good news is that we are still hearing a banging sound from the starboard prop shaft and the Captain is not happy with it.  So the agent for the passarelle just happened to know the man who runs the shipyard just around the headland who paid us a visit.  He suggested we might have picked up a fishing line round the propeller so we spent Thursday morning waiting for a diver to tell us that we hadn't - at a price - and then we arranged for Sequel to come out of the water at the shipyard on Friday morning. The engineering manager at the shipyard doesn't seem to think there is a problem with the bearings on the propshaft but thinks the propellers need balancing - so that is being done, although Bruce is not convinced and we are hoping that the boat will go back in the water early next week.  In the meantime we are staying in a great hotel about 2km from Ortiga and have hired a car. As a fellow Brit said this morning 'so you've been forced into some sightseeing' and I did think I might loose the will to live half way round the archeological museum this morning. So many pots.  We plan to visit Mt Etna tomorrow.  The weather is lovely - about 23 degrees but a chilly wind - and all being well we will cross to the mainland towards the end of next week and possibly from there to Cephalonia before too long. 

Time now to go and find somewhere, other than the hotel room, to watch the footie - Bruce seems to think a lot of Italians support Chelsea, only problem is I will be watching with someone who may just want Bayern Munich to win and if they do he might just have to walk the plank.