The Dark Blue Road
Offshore Island, Venezuela Until we arrived in Venezuela, our electric charts and chart plotters had served us...
Cefalu, Sicily
After a couple of weeks of island hopping in the Aeolian Islands (with a few thousand of our newest Italian friends), we were weary from the August crowds and melting from the August heat, so we decided to escape to mainland Sicily. We knew the mobs would be equally as bad on land, but our hope was that the boat traffic might be less.
We dreamed of finding a quiet little cove and hiding out until August was over.
Arriving at Cefalu, we had planned to anchor off the beach, but the swell made the beautiful bay untenable, so we rounded the point searching for some cover for the night.
It was about 5:30 and we wanted to get settled, so we quickly dropped Berkeley East’s hook off the marina.
By the time we had the sunshades up, the fiery ball had dropped behind the enormous rock (known as La Rocca) and a shadow shrouded BE. What luck! If the sea had been flat, we would have been sweating at the beach surrounded by jet skis and tubers.
Cefalu is one of Sicily’s jewels. Sandy beaches, a picturesque historic town on a rocky headland, a fine Norman cathedral, fabulous food, all make the town one of Italy’s most attractive seaside destinations. Unlike the modern beach resorts, Cefalù has grandeur in its past, and charm in its present.
We spent six days in Cefalu, exploring, relaxing and climbing that mammoth rock. We were correct in knowing that there would be masses of tourists on shore.
But we were pleasantly surprised that there really were fewer boats. If four boats had not discovered our secret place and anchored close to BE one night, we would probably still be in Cefalu, basking in the coolness of La Rocca, our six o’clock shadow.
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As always, Beautiful and picturesque sites.