21 Sep - 02 Oct 2002 Castellamare

Mediterranean Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

Italian Republic

Sicily

Castellamare del Golfo

Town Harbour

SY "Kamu II" at anchor inside the harbour.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 38° 01.91' E 012° 52.81'

Mediterranean Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
Italian Republic
Sicily
Castellamare del Golfo
Town Harbour
SY "Kamu II" alongside the N breakwater.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 38° 02.04' E 012° 52.76'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map

Experiencing, at anchor inside the narrow town harbour of Castellamare del Golfo, rapidly changing katabatic winds from opposite directions: starting off with 45 knots from SW, changing only 3 hours later to 40 knots from NE, whilst SY "Kamu II" was swinging at the necessary minimum length of 50 m anchor chain around her anchor.

Being puzzled when we read in a newspaper that this town full of very friendly and welcoming people once was reckoned to have the highest number of murders per capita of all towns of Sicily and that the name “Castellamarese War” (from 1929 till 1931 fought by the Joe [“The Boss”] Masseria clan against the Salvatore Maranzano clan for the leadership of the Italian Mafia in New York City; Maranzano's faction won, and he briefly became capo di tutti capi ["boss of all bosses"], the undisputed leader of the entire mafia, but was soon assassinated by a faction of young upstarts led by Lucky Luciano) derived from this picturesque town.

Watching in the harbour how a big wine tanker was filled up with local wine, during day and night, from an endless supply of tanker trucks until her waterline was not visible any more.

Matt: Taking the local bus to Segesta, the political centre of the Elymian people who inhabited the W part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical Antiquity, and visiting the unfinished, 5th-century BCE Doric Temple and the Greek Theatre, an incomparable combination of architectural elegance and wonderful natural setting.