Messina Straits

It may well be, that Homer in The Iliad and The Odyssey exaggerated his description of Scylla, the many headed monster that guards the entrance to the Strait of Messina and eats sailors, while the whirlpool Charybdis pulled one vessel down after the other, but strong currents do make the Strait of Messina dangerous and unpredictable. We waited for the north to south tide that was set for 4pm - exactly three hours after high tide in Gibraltar. The sea is weird in the Straits for sure. It has it's own agenda and no compromises. It goes in and out, up and down, round and round with no predictability at all. we caught one current and our speed went up to 7 knots, then minutes later it disappeared and we were travelling at 3 knots. Silky whirpools dragged us off course and suddenly waves appeared in short sharp bursts as if from nowhere. It makes for interesting and unusual sailing plus you have to watch the big ferries plyign between mainland Italy and Sicily and the shipping. We radioed Port Authority Messina two hours before approaching the Straits as a courtesy suggested by our Pilot book, which was just as well, as the fines ( apparently) for not doing so are horrendous!
Pleased to report that Scylla wasn't hungry when we arrived and the Straits treated us well. Here's a Port side shot from along the Straits to mainland Italy as we approached Reggio Calabria.