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| at sea with Tripping Sicily |
“My favourite scent is
the scent of the Sicilian Sea” Domenico Dolce, Sicilian and Fashion
Designer, Dolce and Gabbana
I always recommend the finest local contacts in Sicily and
one of the best is Simona Ferro.
I met Simona through the wonders of social
network. She is the Founder and CEO of Tripping Sicily. After 10 years of working
in the tourism and boat charter industry, Simona decided to create something
different in nautical tourism with customised private cruises on luxurious
yachts, sailing boats and vintage gulets and in 2011 she founded Tripping
Sicily.
I had breakfast with Simona last month and she invited me to
experience one of her boat trips and have lunch on board a vintage gulet, I
eagerly accepted her kind invitation. I was due to meet Karen La Rosa of La
Rosaworks, who customises tours in Sicily from the USA, the following week and
I thought Karen would love an afternoon at sea. So the following week myself,
Karen, my lovely English friends who live in my town Teresa and Liz, who is a
Taormina based wedding planner, arranged to meet Simona at the cable car
station at Mazzaro ready for an adventure at sea.
With more than 1000 kilometres of
stunning coastline Sicily is the perfect island for boat trips. Sicily
is surrounded by three seas, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the North, the Mediterranean
Sea to the South and the Ionian Sea to the East. The eastern coastline between Syracuse
and Messina is particularly beautiful as Mount Etna dominates the coastline.
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| Taormina Coastline |
The day started with Mount Etna erupting, I woke up to the grumbling
sounds of the volcano and as I went out onto my balcony for my morning coffee
big plumes of dusty clouds were being expelled creating a long smoky volcanic
cloud across the skyline out towards the sea.
That morning I had arranged a visit to Casa Cuseni in
Taormina with Karen and Teresa, which was the home of the English lady Daphne
Phelps for over 50 years who entertained many famous guests and wrote the book
‘A House in Sicily’ about her love of her home and Sicily. After our
fascinating visit we headed to the cable car station ready to descend down to
Mazzaro and Simona.
Getting on the cable car is always exciting as it swoops you
down to Taormina’s beaches and there Simona was waiting for us.
We walked down the steps at the entrance to the cableway car
park and emerged onto Mazzaro beach. The small
beach of Mazzaro is set in a beautiful bay, its pebbled shore is dotted by
bathing lidos with colourful sun umbrellas and beach beds. It is this beach
that the designers Dolce and Gabbana chose to shoot their Spring/Summer
advertising campaign in 2013.
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| Onboard with skipper Carmelo |
Simona
explained that a small fishing boat would take us out to sea to board our home
for the afternoon. Our skipper was Carmelo and we excitedly climbed on board his
boat. Simona pointed out to us a colourful fishing boat that was moored on the
beach next to us, this was the exact boat that Dolce and Gabbana used in their
photo shoot.
Once on
board Carmelo set off across the bay of Mazzaro playing summer tunes to get us
in the mood. Carmelo started to take us along the rocky coastline towards the
Grotto Azzurra.
The Grotta Azzurra is a sea cave named after
the blue reflection on the water inside that illuminates the cave completely. Carmelo
navigated us in and we were amazed by the beauty of this blue cave with its
wonderful light reflections.
As we emerged out
of the grotto we then carried on past Isola Bella which is a small island. It
was a private property until 1990 when it was bought by the Region of Sicily and
was turned into a nature reserve administrated by the Italian branch of the
World Wide Fund for Nature. The island is home to several species of birds and
a few types of lizard. The crystal clear waters around the island have an
amazing diversity of sea life.
As we past Isola
Bella towards the bay of Naxos our home for the afternoon came into sight ..The
Cizdaroglu.
As we approached the
boat the crew was waiting on board to greet us and help us on board.
The Cizdaroglu is
a gulet built in 1984 constructed with high quality and precious wood and it is
beautiful.
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| heading for the Grotto Azzurra |
Measuring 20.30 metres long there is lots of room onboard. On deck there is plenty of space for
sunbathing and lounging around on sunbeds and a hammock on the front deck and
the bow has a huge round sofa which can sit up to 10 people. The boat has a
capacity for up to 25 people.
Below deck it has
four nautically decorated cabins each with its own bathroom. There is a living
room area and a fully equipped kitchen. It is also equipped with surround sound
hi-fi, snorkeling kits and kayaks.
Simona was the
perfect host and had arranged lunch for us on board. There were local
delicacies of seafood, rolled swordfish involtini, grilled aubergines and salad
all accompanied by fine Sicilian wine. All followed by a dessert consisting of
fresh fruit and coffee. Yummy!!!!!
Simona’s
knowledge of Sicily through its history and culture is astounding as well as
her nautical knowledge of the sea.
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| our home for the afternoon |
After our amazing
lunch we lazed around enjoying the Sicilian sunbeams and fresh sea air, the
atmosphere was so tranquil and peaceful. Across the bay in the distance behind
my town of Giardini Naxos, Mount Etna was still smoking creating a picture
perfect landscape.
The boat is perfect
for half day or full day trips. It is great for special events, birthdays,
wedding parties, bridal showers, company incentives and team building
experiences or maybe a few days or more cruising Sicily’s coast and its
islands.
Whilst the boat
is wonderful Simona has many other amazing luxury yachts, sailing boats and
gulets to suit your needs, she can also arrange a variety of other experiences
on the island. For her full fleet, itineraries and adventures visit her website.
Reluctantly it
was time to go home and Carmelo brought his fishing boat back to collect us. We
all had the most fabulous afternoon, from the moment we boarded we had
experienced one of the most relaxing moments of our lives. Simona and the crew
of Cizdaroglu made our trip from start to finish a memory to treasure forever
and I look forward to my next adventure with Simona. Watch this space.
Visit the
Tripping Sicily website and follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
New Blog post
coming soon; “Casa Cuseni …. a house in Sicily”
