LA NEGRA

5. May 2012 Our first real stop in Sicily, coming from Malta, was Siracusa. A beautiful, very historic city on the south west tip of the island. At first Siracusa is a great place, with a market that is hard to find a better one. Good prices and just the best of the best at every corner. Unfortunately, we had some bad experiences in Siracusa. on our 3rd day or so we took our dinghy into the little city center, went for a quick walk, and came back to find our dinghy having been stolen. Axel went running and searching, and was lucky enough to find it again. Wise from our lesson, we got a chain and padlock and locked the engine to the dinghy, the dinghy to the boat, the boat on anchor, and put ourselves to sleep... Just to wake up the next morning, realizing that someone had paddled out to our boat in the middle of the night, broken the lock on the engine, and stole it. Imagine our frustration and disappointment. A quick (as quick as it gets in Italy) stop at the police station and we left Siracusa behind. What bothers me the most is not the loss of our beautiful little suzuki, or the money spent on a new engine, what really bothers me is the disappointment, the feeling of not being safe on our own boat, not trusting anybody and kind of expecting the worst from everybody. I can't wait for time to pass so that we forget, and become our good old relaxed and trusting us, being able to leave the dinghy on the beach, out of sight, without having a stomach ache and worry about who is going to steal what.