Crotone in Italy to Sardinia Cruise

[David Mardall]

We start the above trip this May and have two areas of concern. Firstly there seems to be a lack of stopping places from Crotone to the toe of Italy and secondly we have heard some worrying stuff about cruising along the East and North coasts of Sicily, mooring costs and availability etc. Can anyone give us any ideas on good ports of call before we finally head off to Cagliari in Sardinia

 

[macd]

Rocella Ionica is good (either on pontoon, about 20 euros per night) or good anchorage near entrance if winds not onshore). Not much from there to Straights of Messina. Good anchorages (and £ moorings) at Taormina on Sicily side S of strait, or under headland just N of Saline Ioniche on mainland side, which is far the shorter route. Plenty of anchorages on N coast of Sicily, although some are exposed. Capo de Milazzo is good and just a day sail from S. Ioniche. Cefalu worth visiting, excellent anchorage in harbour to E of town (much better than alternative off town beach, and has fuel berth). Aolean Islands well worth a visit en route: Vulcano has best anchorages. Porticello OK anchorage S of harbour (foul: use tripping line). Mondello has fair shelter for anything but E winds. Castelmare de Golfo, can anchor in harbour: lovely town but bit of a dog-leg into the bay. Trapani can anchor in harbour (NW side of entrance, near mooring buoys which are reported as unsound). Good hop off from there to Cape Carbonara (or can anchor near NE corner of I. Marettimo for slightly shorter passage). Good anchorages either side of C. Carbonara, although you need to take care with rocks in the eastern one. There's also a marina on the W side of the cape.

P.S. You'll have noticed I don't often do marinas.

P.P.S. see also this link: www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2910213#post2910213

 

[vyv_cox]

Macd has done more in this area than we did and I agree his comments about those we did. The marinas are horrendously expensive, minimum €60 per night, 10.6 metres (Riposto) and offered €100 per night at Milazzo but anchored outside in very quiet conditions. Reggio Calabria was €40 per night for the worst ****hole we ever stayed in.

Don't buy your fuel with a credit card at Crotone, use cash. Our card was ripped off here but fortunately was due to expire two days later so no harm was done, although they tried.

Aeolian Islands are worth several days if the weather is good. A walk up Vulcano has been one of the best things I ever did. Stromboli in the dark is fantastic but rather short of anchorages (i.e. no sheltered ones)