The marina is like a small town with only a few amenities: one delightful restaurant overlooking a large swimming pool and beach area, one closed restaurant--understand it was pricey from last year's stop here, and a market and shops--more on that later.

The plan today was a sighting trip to Mt. Etna. We were off only to have to stop before we got out of the marina due to a medical emergency for one of our "crew." Fortunately, it turned out to be sun exhaustion and dehydration not a stroke. (We have two retired docs and nurse onboard.) Once we learned that, four of us were off for the volcano.

After a long drive on a very nice autostrada, through many tunnels, and up a winding 16km (10mi) road with miles of volcanic rocks, we arrived. (They had an eruption with lava flow twenty years ago.) I was not prepared for the site of hundreds of peeps from tour buses and cars there for the same reason as us: Mt. Etna! (I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me that it would be cool up there at 6000' but it hadn't. Fortunately, I had a long sleeve shirt with me.) We couldn't see the top of Mt. Etna due to the summer cloud cover. We did not have time--nor were we dressed properly--to take the gondola up to the top. That and the shortness of our time there was disappointing. We had a nice lunch, shopped while standing in the queue for the loo, and attempted to take a few pics. Thank heavens for post cards!

The next adventure happened after our return when four of us--Midge, Linda, Dave, and me--set out for the market in the dinghy. Before we could enter the water of the other marina--and who knew there were two separate ones--we had to get a key that didn't look at all like a key. (We found out after the fact how it worked.) Then we were off in search of the market, cruising up and down the canals looking for it. (I thought I'd spotted it on my walk yesterday.) After tying up, we were off to find the market and ATM for Euros. Well, not everyone was off 'cause I stayed behind to hold the gate open. (While I had a personal pity party, I figured out how "the key" worked. However, I didn't want to let the gate close without actually having the key.) Groceries and Euros, at least for Dave, in hand we returned to the boat for cocktails then dinner!

One thing I forgot to mention was our loss of refrigeration. It started with the refrigerator on our overnight then went to one of the coolers where things from the frig were stored. Anyway, Michel--pronounced Me-shell--waited all day for someone to come fix them. He never showed!