Sicilian Suggestions

[Crisby]

Matt, thanks for the thread revival, our boat is in Trapani at the mo but we will be leaving in early May and heading East. We had been undecided whether to go the southerly or northerly route so it’s nice to have some additional info/opinions, one thing we have noticed already is boat bits are more expensive than Greece and we foolishly asked for a quote for new standing rigging, E8300 for a 42’er!! No thanks......

Chris

 

[Crisby]

And that doesn’t include VAT at 22%!!!

 

[RupertW]

The "Yacht hotel" in Taormina was a great but expensive start to our cruise past Sicily last year - that village has to be visited and looking down on our boat from a terrace far above was a highlight. As other have said the Aolian islands are a must visit. If the wind is in the right direction (and it normally is) the two bays at the Southern end of Vulcano are gently sloping and a lovely place to relax for a few days. We visited a few of the other islands and had a lovely night out in Lipari but that night the anchorage was a bit rolly.

Palermo was useful and some people really love it. I was tickled by a big French supermarket there (Carrefour) offering free delivery and a lift back to your boat. Trapani and the islands off it were the other highlight and although not as spectacular as the Aolian and a cheap ish 3 day bouy pass had to be paid for, the islands off Trapani were lovely and a good place to set off for Sardinia from.

 

[sailaboutvic]

If you plain to visit Taormina , I would ginpve the mooring buoys a miss not only there are expense but it cN bet rolly , you can anchor there but the buoys have taken the best spot and the bound in places rocky ,
Best bet just half a mile down the coast at Naxos , good anchorage and there busses to Taoromina

 

[Mistroma]

Hi Matt
You find two anchorages one on the west side the other the East side of Valcano the one on the west can be crowed ,
On Lipari you can anchor by the harbour on the east side or just under the old castle , there also a couple of more good anchorage on the East coast
Stromboli you can anchor by the harbour , but you have to keep well out as there are loaded mooring .
Panarea you anchor just off the beach at Torrione on the SE corner .
There a few other anchorages but these are the ones we use

We were at the West anchorage in 2017 and it was fine with decent holding and decent spacing. A load of charter boats were heading that way after we left because wind and swell were forecast from West. The East anchorage wasn't too busy and we managed to get very close to the shore with a light onshore breeze. It does shelve quickly and that reduces the space to anchor.

The wind switched late afternoon and became quite breezy. We had a steady stream of charter boats late evening and into the night. Three managed to squeeze in between us and the shore and could hardly deploy any chain. They kept us up watching them dragging all over the place and having to re-anchor when getting 5-6m off our bow. It went on for a few hours before they realised there wasn't room to anchor and they then tried behind us. This produced another few hours of anchor antics, but at least they weren't likely to hit us.

 

[Mistroma]

If you plain to visit Taormina , I would ginpve the mooring buoys a miss not only there are expense but it cN bet rolly , you can anchor there but the buoys have taken the best spot and the bound in places rocky ,
Best bet just half a mile down the coast at Naxos , good anchorage and there busses to Taoromina

+1 About Taormina. It was rolly on our visits and onshore at Naxos when we were there so didn't try that side of the bay.

Catania was a lot better, tucked in beside the wall but well clear of the harbour entrance. We had a visit from Carabinieri last time we visited and they told us to move because we were too close to the harbour entrance. I think we were about 300m from nearest part of the entrance and about 80m from the wall. No chance of being hit even if a ship didn't turn on approach as it would run aground before reaching us.

I told them that I was doing some maintenance and didn't want to restart the engine for an hour. They said OK but we would have to move approx. 1nm from the harbour. We finished and moved within 30 minutes but only went 0.5nm as 1nm would put us right at the end of the airport runway. I began to lift the anchor when a launch appeared in another 30 mins. and headed straight towards us. He veered off when he saw the anchor being lifted but turned back towards us when I didn't fully raise the anchor. I gave up at that point as it was obvious they didn't want us to anchor in any sheltered area and probably thought we'd give up and use the marina. We didn't use the marina but did leave Sicily a little early instead as we were heading for Greece.

 

[Yngmar]

Going east from Trapani (where you can anchor in the harbour):

Capo San Vito on either side of the marina breakwater. Was rolly though, so we skipped it. Saw one boat anchored right in the marina entrance though

Lots of beach to anchor off after the San Vito headland in the right conditions.

Castellammare is beautiful and well worth stopping at. The yacht club had highly negotiable prices.

Palermo, Arenella anchorage between the two marinas was busy and chaotic with small boats and unpleasant due to high traffic. Not safe enough for a trip ashore. Picked up a big old cable with the anchor when leaving.

Porticello, anchored off beach in bay S of harbour. Only boat there. Watch out for charted undersea pipeline.

Termini Imerese maybe on beach behind breakwater - didn't go there.

Had planned to anchor in Cefalu or go on the wall, but swell was NE and boats were bouncing everywhere, even in the two marinas and behind the wall, so didn't stay there. Don't bother if forecast is NE or E.

S. Agata di Millitello has a huge harbour (beware of ongoing breakwater expansion). Almost nothing inside, but anchoring still forbidden. There is a small charter base (two pontoons, toilet, office) which had a very cheap deal for us while the charter boats were all out. Very friendly people, but the town has not much to offer.

Left for the islands from here, skipping Capo d'Orlando due to outrageous summer rates.

Vulcano SE off a black sand beach with lounge chairs. Takes careful sounding, but had ample room and only a few boats. Liked it here, as it was very quiet. Black sand gets flip-flop meltingly hot in the sun!

Panarea, SE, west of the little rocky outcropping. Okay, enough space, but much busier and daytrip boats come and go all the time.

Stromboli only has a small shelf you can anchor on outside the NE town. Most of it is clogged with mooring buoys and the few spots were already occupied. Gets deep very fast, so difficult to let out enough scope and then you really have to watch your swing range. Saw a small flotilla rafted up with stern lines off the rocky beach south of town, but nothing there and you'd really have to know the exact spot.

Back to Sicily, Milazzo off a small hotel north of the marina for a night. Lots of Posidonia, had to find a sandy patch and dive to stick the anchor in by hand.

Taormina Roads was actually very good to us. Nice turquoise water, right off the beach and not busy, as everyone else seemed to hang around the buoys for no discernible reason.

Brucoli has good shelter, although difficult due to thick Posidonia (some rocky shelves to stick the anchor in though). Jam packed with small boats, which are however gone by 18:00 and leave you to a quiet night.

Augusta, Porto Xifonia, on a underwater mud mound. Big space, good holding, not the greatest scenery though.

Siracusa has its own thread somewhere here. Ortigia is a must visit, but only after dark, where it looks magical instead of slightly grubby.

Porto Palo, good spot to break up a trip. Shelter behind either wall, but W wall has dead coral rock with tricky anchoring. E much better, although fishing fleet whilst friendly does make a mess - jumped into a large Diesel spill once!