Strait of Messina

Strait of Messina
Between Italy and Sicily
April 13, 2009 Monday

Webcam from the Bridge of the Queen Victoria is HERE.

The morning was rainy and the sea got choppier as the day went on. This was the lumpiest sea we have encountered on the world cruise, far more than off New Zealand in the Tasman Sea where, as Carol Anne pointed out, we had been bumped around at night, not all day long. We sat in the empty Lido for a while in the afternoon and enjoyed the waves and the beauty of the sea. We’re pretty sure most passengers stayed in their cabins, which was fine with us.

I slept unusually late, weary from the four straight port days and glad that we will not go touring in Italy tomorrow. Of the final six days, we will be go exploring in port only once more (Barcelona).

Preparations to transfer more than 200 from the Victoria to the Queen Mary 2 a week from today are well underway. All but ten passengers received their tickets and port tags last night – Carol Anne and I are among the ten whose tickets did not come out from Southampton. This presents only a problem: To move us seamlessly from our Victoria cabin to our new cabin of the QM2 we need the white tags that Southampton provides. This will allow us to bypass UK customs. I visited with Gaynor, the world cruise concierge and she has promised to provide us with the tags and I think she will.

We will take the last flight from Islip, NY (New York City) to Orlando on Sunday, April 26 and should be home in Celebration by mid-evening. I booked my ticket using a free Southwest Award and booked Carol Anne using her free her Companion Pass — total cost: 5-bucks. Why Southwest gives people like us peanuts, and how they stay in business is beyond me.

In the afternoon Carol Anne napped but I went to see an afternoon movie directed by Brian Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie. I’m big fans of these guys from their first movie, “The Usual Suspects”. McQuarrie came across a room and introduced himself to me at an Austin Film Festival a few years ago and we chatted for while. Nice guys; hugely talented.

By early evening we were passing through the Strait of Messina, the narrow passage between Sicily (port/left hand side) and the tip of Italy (starboard/right hand side) and entering, again, the Mediterranean Sea. We passed within two miles of Stromboli with its volcano, which last erupted in August 2008. Ahead, overnight is Civitavecchia, which is the container port for Rome and where we would be docking at dawn for the day.

PHOTOGRAPHS
Carol Anne reading on our Deck 7 starboard balcony, Ionian Sea in background
Looking at Italy in Strait of Messina from our balcony
Island of Stromboli and its active volcano
Map, Strait of Messina (below)
Map, Area (below)

The Strait of Messina

Area map

Photographs and Text of QueenVictoria.Wordpress.Com are property of, and Copyright 2009 by, Seine-Harbour Productions LLC, Studio City, California. All rights are reserved.

Tags: cunard, greece, ionian sea, italty, mediterranean sea, queen victoria, strait of messina, world cruise