Strait to the Ionian Sea

The Strait of Messina is that little channel of water between the toe of Italy’s boot and the rock it is kicking (aka the island of Sicily). It’s pretty narrow – 1.3 nautical miles wide which we think might be about the same width as the Golden Gate Bridge. We decided we wanted to watch our boat go thru it, so we set our alarm clock and were dressed and blinking and on the top deck at 1:45am. For the full 45 minutes we were out there, we comprised 2/3 of the passengers intrigued by this late night activity.

It was rather dark so we relied on the town and shore lights on both sides to figure out where we were. The red and green navigation lights helped, too. We kept looking on the rock for the glow of an erupting Mt. Etna but no luck.

We were back in bed and asleep by 3:00am, confident that we had safely made it to the Ionian Sea. Today was an “At Sea” day so we basically relaxed, meandered the ship, and read about upcoming ports.

We also took a little afternoon break to enjoy a wine tasting. They promised snacks so I ate a light lunch. They didn’t mention the snacks would be smaller than tea sandwiches and largely things I don’t enjoy eating. Nevertheless, in the spirit of adventure and of being a grown-up, I made myself try the shrimp, the salmon, and the caviar. Ick! I solidly remain a huge fan of land-based meals. But this is one of the things I like about cruises and their all-inclusive meal plans – the ability to try different foods without guilt if I don’t finish them. Even Rob got into the spirit today and tried a very exotic drink. With two packets of sugar, though, he still couldn’t handle the iced tea.

We are in a new time zone and tomorrow we will be in the second of five countries on this trip. Stay tuned!