There was a one day weather window to get back to Sicily so we took it. The whole Med has been buffeted by very windy conditions the last month so any opportunity to move has to be taken otherwise you end up stuck places for weeks. I'm hoping that from experience it is just the time of year and not a sign of a horrible summer to come.

As soon as the weather permitted again we headed off round to the east coast of Sicily via a quick stop to get our Cruising Constituto issued and stamped. This is a bit of paperwork that has to be issued to the boat for cruising in Italian waters. Sounds simple? Well, think again! The Guardia Costiera is responsible for this and not every port has an office and they are not open after hours or in the weekend. BUT you are supposed to get one upon arrival. We were in trouble as we arrived on a Sunday, we did not find out that our port did not have a Guardia Costiera till Monday, then the car hire guy wouldn't let us have a car till Wednesday. That meant it was Wednesday when we got to the nearby (40 minute drive) office. It took us 2 hours to explain and apologise. It was a public holiday the next day so they told us to come back on Friday morning to get it. Because of weather we had to leave with the boat that day but luckily the office was on our way and they then only made us wait 2 hours. You are supposed to get this stamped in and out at all the ports you visit. Well, you simply can't due to the hours they keep so most boats just go to the major ones if that.

While we had the car we went to Modica, a little town famous for it's chocolate. We found the main shop and tasted a number of their flavours but didn't think they tasted very different from each other so bought none. This particular chocolate is characterised by being a bit crystally and crunchy. The rest of the town is mostly churches, mansions and more chocolate shops and restaurants.

We spent the next two days visiting Taormina nearby Mt Etna that was very visible and smoking. We had white ash on the boat. Taormina is a lovely mountain top town which redeemed Sicily for us after experiencing Licarta and Marina di Ragusa, both rather run down ordinary sort of places. This was a gorgeous, well preserved, maintained and interesting place full of steep winding passageways and streets. Mt Etna is a whopping 3,300 m high and the Castelmola above Taormina is at 2000 - so very high. We travelled by Hop On Hop Off buses. Something we nearly always do in a new place for a good overview before we go off exploring any places of further interest. Shaunagh and Max went ashore the next day before we headed off to Vulcano island in the Aeolians.