Sicily is in sight!

Dave the motorhome has taken cheekiness to another level, slightly further along the Calabrian coast in Santa Maria just next to Cabo Vaticano (N38.61626 E15.83665). Last night’s car park was covered in blue painted lines to indicate you had to pay, none of the locals did, so neither did we. Tonight’s car park has the same blue lines and a ‘no motorhomes’ sign – oh well, we’ve been here for a few hours now and no one seems to care.

This morning Jay took Charlie for a beach run while I washed the pots, on his return he reported that the volcano we could see from the beach ‘Stromboli’ was smoking. Sure it enough it was, but we knew not to panic, it seems this little fella is constantly blowing his top and a permanent lava stream can be seen down one side of it – of course that’s the other side to where we were, but still it was cool to see it smokin’.

Smokin’ Stromboli!

We headed up the steps into town and were surprised by how many places were open; yesterday it had been a dead zone. However our two visits up there were during the lunch break, which around here seems to go from 1pm til 4.30pm! If the shops were open, then maybe the Duomo would be open too so we could finally see the two unexploded WWII bombs in it. No. It was still firmly shut. The tourist office was open, but no one around to speak to, just a few leaflets and photos of the place. Figuring we’d ‘done’ Tropea as best we could, we climbed back down the steps to Dave and set off along the coast.

The rubbish situation around here would cause outrage in the UK, here bags are just added to the pile.

Our friends Jacqui and Marc were here earlier in the year and suggested stopping at the lighthouse at Cabo Vaticano so we headed there. Parking up we wandered down to the view point and got our first sighting of Sicily. We’re still trying to work out which bits of land on the horizon are Sicily and which are Italy’s ‘toe’, but it’s getting pretty close now. While at the view point we spotted an empty car park next to the beach below, so jumped back in Dave and have spent the day here.

Can you spot Dave in his prime location?

Opening Dave’s door Charlie shot off and disappeared, only to be spotted a couple of minutes later having made his own way down onto the beach to snuffle up the best sniffs – that dog loves the beach!

Jay on his own private beach!

A hundred stone and stick throws later and he still wants more, but we had to pop him back into Dave while Jay braved the cool waters for his first snorkel since Croatia. Charlie gets very upset when the sea steals his Jay and stands there barking at it if we let him on the beach with us! Not much to report in the water, just a few small fish. Having helped a local bloke to move his outboard motor earlier on (and being given two fennel in return – all recipe suggestions greatly received as we don’t have a clue what to do with them) Jay suspected there wouldn’t be much as the bloke was off fishing elsewhere.

Dressed like a pro Jay is ready to go!

If only his exit from the water was as graceful!

This afternoon I had a nap – heaven – while Jay researched what there is to see in Sicily before taking the sand loving pooch for another beach stroll before the sun set. We’ve got the most amazing view from all of Dave’s windows and now it’s dark we can see twinkling lights across the water, but none of the houses around here are lit up and the cafes are all closed – we’re truly out of season. Maybe there will be a bit more life in Sicily.

Looking at the internet it seems that the world will, once again, end tomorrow – don’t we get this every year? Well, if it does I’m glad we haven’t been sitting in offices for the last 14 months dreaming about taking this trip, we’ve been enjoying ourselves on an adventure of a lifetime. If it doesn’t end tomorrow, we’ve still got enough savings for another six months of travelling, so it can end any time after that – otherwise we’ll have to get jobs!

Ju x