Log reading circa 650 nautical miles from purchase and refit in Malta. Log at the start of this trip was 470. We are now almost three weeks into our trip.

We arrived at Rocella Ionica on the 21st of April knowing that the wind and waves for the next few days would likely keep us there.  We had visited this town ten years ago so it was interesting to see what had changed.  The marina has a great restaurant where we quickly became familiar customers however the kitchen only opens at 7:30pm -quite late for exhausted children.

We explored the town on the first day.  In the middle of the day it felt deserted with very few shops or cafes open.  We hiked up to the castle, knowing it's museum was also closed.  There's not a lot going on in this town so we planned to hire a car the following day and delve a little deeper inland.

Our trusty rental saw us safely navigate some very dodgy roads/tracks -up mountains and along riverbeds!  Our first stop was the curious but enchanting Parco Musaba with it's wonderful ceramic murals.

After ascending the high mountains and finding lunch in a very unlikely restaurant, we dropped down in search of waterfalls and gathered flowers to press.  On the drive back to Dragonfly we stopped at a hardware store for the bits to build a flower press and some other tools required for a few needed repairs.

100 & 1 Dalmations won the vote for film night.

We had been noticing the smell of diesel and I tracked the source down to a leaky fuel gauge sender seal.  A mechanic who had recently had it out had used the wrong sealant.  It was an easy fix but cleaning and getting rid of the small was not!

The windlass control buttons also needed replacing.

With each job I get a bit more familiar with our new boat.

Next stop Crotone -I crept our of the marina at about 6am, being careful not to wake the others.  We had a 9 hour sail ahead of us and got off to a great start with ideal conditions.

Theodore loves challenging everyone to untie his knots.

We arrived in Crotone at about 3:30pm on the 25th of April.  We are hopping along the southern coast to avoid wearing the family out with long crossings when not necessary. This means we end up in some very authentic towns that do not see a lot of tourists. Crotone is one such seaside town.  Our 2 night stay coincided with a local holiday and the streets were heaving!  Our two blonde haired children stuck out like sore thumbs and we had eyes on us constantly as we navigated the crowds looking for a pharmacy somewhere to eat.  Julia had come down with a mystery bug that left her feverish and feeling rotten. Sadly all the pharmacies were shut for the next couple of days.  Food was also hard to come by -it seemed 8pm was far too early for the locals to consider sitting down to eat.  We eventually found a restaurant willing to feed us -delicious food but Julia was fading fast so we didn't linger long.

The next day we wandered around the old part of town and again struggled to find an open restaurant. We sampled some local pastries as we walked by the beach. Sadly the town of Crotone feels run-down and dirty. We didn't let the children paddle on the beach as rubbish drifted in the water and it felt unclean.  Needless to say we weren't too sad to slip away very early the next morning and leave Crotone behind us.

Very busy promenade and lots of people interested to know where we were from.

Visiting Noto was our last excursion before finally casting off from our mooring in Ragusa and sailing away. Motoring away is more precise as the conditions were calm and the wind was gently blowing from behind us.

Our last day on land coincided with a good-bye celebration for Chad and all the exercise sessions he'd hosted -keeping the kids in the marina fit and motivated.

We left the gathering early and set our course for Syracuse. For some reason our starter battery was flat as we left -fortunately Dragonfly has a switch to put the house batteries in parallel for just such an occurence. A few years back on Bumblebee I had to haul a house battery up to the engine to jump start it and fried a spanner (& nearly myself) in the process by shorting the terminals.

In Warsaw the kids were taught to play chess properly at their kindergarten. It's amazing to see them progress from our earlier games where any move was allowed.  We arrived in Syracuse without drama and anchored in the harbour.

It was late but we still had energy so took the dinghy to Ortigia to find supper and stretch our legs.

We remembered how much we love Syracuse so decided to stay for another day.  We hit the market in the morning

We spent the day exploring the less familiar areas of Ortigia. We came across 'treasure beach' where every other stone was an ancient ceramic fragment -needless to say we had to lug all these treasures back to Dragonfly!

My camera picked up a battle scar along the way. When we returned to our dinghy we were locked in by the next door dinghy. Fortunately I was able to track them on the Noforeignlands app with just their tender name and within five minutes we'd made friends with the owners and were released from their padlock. Back onboard at last, the kids needed to let off some steam before bed with some disco moves (see vid at end of post)..

Nipped into Syracuse the next morning to top up our fuel tanks. Then we were off on our way to the anchorage below Taormina.  Zefi lead the yoga session along the way.

Sailing and scrubbing.

As we pass Mt Etna we were visited by a huge pod of dolphins and a few dozing turtles.

We anchored below Taormina and the next morning took the dinghy ashore to explore.

Not your average anchorage!!

This was our third time visiting Toarmina and to be honest it's also our last. Even in April it was crowded with so many people and shops.  Getting around is either by queuing for busses, rip-off taxis or you can risk your life on roads with no pavement to walk on.  It is beautiful but not the pleasant experience I remember from ten years ago.

Back on Dragonfly we endured a second wobbly night on anchor. The kids managed to sleep but we suffered! Regardless, at first light we weighed anchor and set our charts for Marina de Roccella on the Italian mainland.  After a calm morning the wind and waves picked up giving us an exhilarating ride as we surfed down two metre waves and filled the genoa with twenty five knots of wind.  After about eight or nine hours we were finally at rest in the marina at Rocella but not before bashing my shin while mooring and bleeding on our new teak.

Sunday the 12th of April was very windy.  We were still safely tucked up in Ragusa Marina but Dragonfly spent 12 hours lurching from side to side, straining on her mooring lines. Another boat in the marina recorded a gust of 49 knots. We are a bit more sheltered at the back of the marina and saw 43.7.  I'm afraid this post contains no sailing or boaty pics!

Sunday morning started with a display of Theodores finest dance moves. We then did a supermarket run requiring a taxi back.  Zefi and Theo were starting to go a little crazy with only us for company so I pinged the Marina Facebook group and was invited to join the kids parents Whatsapp group. we were also put in touch with Ines who popped over with her daughter Lucie for an impromptu playdate. 

Then we grabbed some supper in a nearby restaurant and had to carry two sleeping children all the way back to the boat.

We discovered on the Whatsapp group that Chad, one of the dads, organises a kids meet up most mornings with jumping, skipping, catching etc, so we turned up the next morning. Our kids were delighted to find loads of other boat kids of the same age and got stuck right in!

The wind on Sunday had kicked up some large swell so for the next couple of days there was no option to set sail.  To make good use of our time Julia booked us in for a wine tasting at a local vineyard called Tenuta Bastonaca..

With Dragonfly's bilge lockers now resembling a respectable wine cellar we planned a walk along the beach to see the waves.  Just before we set off I visited the boat yard to find help with our water maker. A mechanic returned to the boat with me but was also unable to get it to draw seawater.  The problem is likely a pinched or blocked inlet pipe or the first stage of the pump/seals.  Further investigation is necessary.

The Scirocco wind left lots of dust in the air and moved drifts of beach sand throughout the marina.

Despite a big shop the day before we were still short on fresh food so found it easy to justify an evening feed in the town square.  The temperature dropped a bit and caught us a little underdressed.

On Tuesday the waves on our intended route were still forecast at 1.5m and coming head on.  Julia heard of a castle nearby with a labyrinth so we rented a car and set off in search.  Castello di Donnafugata turned out to be a wonderful crumbling Baronial Palazzo with beautiful gardens.

Jozefina had been begging for some roller skates so we made Decathlon our next destination, en route to Ragusa town to check out a little private garden we found online.

Decathlon is one of my guilty pleasures -I feel like a kid in a candy store surrounded by all the fishing, diving, hunting, sailing gear.  It's reasonably priced and surprisingly good quality.  That skateboard Theodore is towing is a few inches shorter for kids and a couple of plys thinner to make it light -it's actually quite good.  From there we hunted down Radici gardens but were not able to enter without a booking. Something to save for another day. Instead we hiked some of the steps of Ragusa (there are a lot) and found a good spot for an Aperol Spritz.

The next day the kids were very excited as we were going to a 6th birthday party on the beach for Karoline.  Zefi had chosen a present and written a card.  It was a perfect day with a gentle breeze for flying (and losing) kites, and a good turnout of all the families we had recently met.

We kept our hire car for a second day and drove one hour to Noto to spend the afternoon exploring.

Tuesday the 7th of April 2026 saw Julia, Jozefina, Theodore and myself board a plane at Warsaw's Chopin airport, our destination: Catania, Sicily.  We have just spent the last seven months living in Warsaw with Julia's mum. The children have been in a Polish speaking kindergarten and are now so fluent they choose their new language to speak between themselves.  We've all had a wonderful experience during the first stage of our year away from the UK.  Now the second stage of the plan is being put into action.

It was a late flight -arriving at midnight.  Then a two hour taxi ride before safely boarding Dragonfly and bedding down well past everyone's bedtime.  Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day in Ragusa Marina. We had lots of jobs to do so planned to spend four or five days within the comfort of the marina.  To begin with Julia took Zefi and Theodore to the beach while I worked through a checklist or chores.

I won't bore you with the entire list but the main ones were:
Mend & reattach bow roller
Learn to use the water maker
Collect and install sails, hood and bimini from repairs
Swap life raft
​Repair dinghy
​+ lots of little jobs

Putting Theodore to work.

After three days the children were well settled in to boat life and the bulk of the jobs were complete.  On Saturday we assessed the weather conditions for making our move East towards the mainland.  Unfortunately it looked like the best day to sail was already well under way and we might have missed the perfect window  Determined not to rush, we agreed there was still plenty to do in and around Ragusa -for Dragonfly and for ourselves.  With this decided we took a taxi to Ragusa town, 30 mins drive inland.  An excellent decision as we might have missed this beautiful city!