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Published: June 30th 2018
Finally On The Move Again!
feels great to be on the water againWe left Gaeta on Sunday June 17
th at 8:30 AM with the sun shining and the autopilot working and no leaks of diesel – life is good! We didn’t have too much wind but enough to put up the main and the stay sail and headed to our first destination, the Isla Ischia. We were averaging 5 knots with the help of the engine, but later in the day the winds picked up so we slowed down the engine as we did not want to get to the anchorage too early. We have been told that this is a popular anchorage that we are headed to, but are hoping with it being Sunday many would be returning home for the workweek ahead. We will see if this works out in practice.
The island we were heading to has a very distinctive castle so there was no question where the anchorage was, we just had to decide based on the winds if we would anchor on the south or north side. With our check of the forecast for overnight and morning we decided on the south side. There were quite a few motorboats and some sailboats anchored when we arrived at
4PM, but there was plenty of room to get our anchor down comfortably. It was a little rolly but figured it was due to the movement of the various powerboats in and out of the anchorage. By about 6:30PM the place was emptying out and by evening we were left in the anchorage with only a few sailboats and one large motor yacht. It was even nice of them to light up the castle at night giving us a lovely view from our cockpit. Unfortunately the anchorage was quite rolly all night long, but it didn’t stop us from sleeping.
The next morning we woke to clear skies, had our breakfast and left the anchorage at 7:30am. Our thought was to head to Capri which was only 4 hours away giving us time to explore where the rich and famous hang out. Capri is very lush with vegetation which was lacking on the main land. When motoring around the island to get to the anchorage we were aiming for we saw numerous caves along the coastline. The small powerboats were lined up at many of them waiting to enter the caves – seems like a popular thing to do
here. There are three rock formations, Il Faraglioni that are iconic of Sicily. The tallest of them has a height of 357 feet while one has a tunnel through it and the boats line up to go through it. Needless to say with our mast we decided that wasn’t an option, but did pass between two of them without any problems as the depth was more than adequate. We got to the anchorage at 11:30 AM and got our anchor down in the midst of a mass of boats. We were rocking and rolling constantly from the various tour boats and ferries going by. We figured we could stay, put the dinghy down and go to shore OR we could continue on and take advantage of the nice day and get further along. We had read that it wasn't as easy to get ashore from this side due to a rock slide a couple of years ago. We read up on what there was to see and do on Capri and as we aren't big shoppers, we figured we didn't need to go ashore just to say were visited Capri. With starting our season late this year and no real
strong reason to go to shore we could move on. It took us less than an hour to work out the pros and cons and not surprisingly we pulled up anchor to continue our travels.
Once we made the decision to move on the wind of course died, but it was a beautiful sunny day so knowing that we will be able to get a few more miles ahead it still seemed to be a good idea. Part way through the trip Bob hollered down to me that we needed to do a cushion overboard drill. He had been leaning against a cushion and when he went to change position the cushion went overboard. We made a quick maneuver and saved the cushion – success! After an hour or two the wind picked up some and we are able to put up some sail to help us along. Looking ahead we could see some rain, but fortunately we could see that it wasn't coming right at us. We did get some wind from it and then later as Bob said we got "a free rinse cycle". Just before that happened though we were getting close to a town we
had read about in our guide book, Positano. Everything we read told us this is one of the most photogenic towns along this coast. With the brunt of the rain ahead we took time to slowly go past the town to get a good look and took some photos of our own. These towns along the coast are really built into the hillsides with the road seeming to be precariously winding along the cliff sides. There are numerous cuts back into the cliffs and many appear to have buildings in very precarious places. We wondered how people actually got to many of the places as they were high among the cliffs with no visible means of access. I think it was much less stressful to see this from the water than driving those cliff hanging roads!
We enjoyed slowly motoring by the towns along the coast which included Amalfi. We wanted to get as much distance as we could today so continued on. We told them we were continuing on to anchor further down the coast. In looking at the chart it appeared that there would be a good anchorage just past Amalfi near the town of Atrani. There
was a marina in Atrani where someone from the marina came out and wondered if we wanted a spot in the marina - we were planning on anchoring but did ask the price. Found out that for our size boat it would be 80 euro’s for the night. As we weren't planning on staying or checking out the town, we continued around the corner and found a few of the larger motor yachts anchored so picked a place nearby and dropped our hook in 25 feet of water. Everything seemed to be fine, but then quite a few ferries decided to go by which kicked up quite the wake making us do quite a bit of rolling. Our hope was that when the boat traffic subsided we would stop the rolling - unfortunately that wasn't the case and we did some major rocking back and forth which is not that comfortable. I really question if babies really enjoy rocking back and forth as it sure doesn't help our sleep at all! Finally in the night the wind picked up which was actually a good thing as it kept us from rocking back and forth. Oh well, at least we had
a beautiful view from the anchorage, we had a great hook which kept us safe from the nearby rocky cliff and we were in a better position for our next day of traveling.
Tuesday morning the wind was still blowing which was not too bad – started out about 12-15 knots so figured we’d get the sails ready to move on. Just about the time we were ready to pull up anchor the wind shifted direction and started blowing about 20-22 knots. That didn’t last too long as it kept changing wind speed and only a few minutes later it seemed to level out about 13-15 knots again. At 8:10 we had the anchor up and we were on our way to our goal of Agropoli which lies across the bay from where we were. During our 5 hour sail we had all possibilities of sail configurations using the main, genoa and staysail with winds that went all the way from 0 knots to 23 knots with a few changes of direction thrown in to the mix. At least this kept us alert and busy. We have been finding since being in Italy that many places close at 1PM
and may not open until 3 or 4 PM so about 12:15 I made a call to the marina. This is a little different in that there seems to be 4 different places to call as each of the piers seem to be run by different people. We had heard from others that they have a transient slip that is free for the first 24 hours. That would be great but as we want to travel the next day by bus to visit a UNESCO world heritage site, Paestum, we wouldn’t be around to move the boat. We decided it would be best to just call one of the places to see if there was a slip available for two nights. The first place I called didn’t answer but the 2
nd place on the list was the Yacht Club which answered. The first person I spoke to knew right away that I didn’t speak Italian so he asked me to wait to get someone else. When that person got on the line the first thing he asked was if I spoke German. I did study German for 3 years in High School which was “just a few” years ago and
fortunately have spoken it from time to time with our German friends and others that we have met along the way. Well, the rest of the conversation was in German and happily I must have been clear enough as I understood that someone would be at the dock to help us in and he was! Success – never thought I’d be using my very basic German skills to get a slip for Tsamaya while sailing in Italy.
We got settled in to our slip and the person helping went off for his lunch as it was now a little past 1PM – not sure when he was going to come back but hoped it wouldn’t be too late in the afternoon so we can get those all important details like the password for wi-fi. This is typically one of the first things we find out along with the codes to the toilets and showers. Basics are important.
When the wind was piping up we had heard a loud crash which sounded like glass breaking. In checking around we found that a ceramic vase that we had bought while in Paris at a flea market that we liked had
slid off the shelf it was on and smashed into lots of small pieces. It has been there every time we sailed since entering the Med and had almost forgotten about it. Well, guess it now just gives us an excuse to look for a replacement sometime in our travels. We were very glad it wasn’t one of the bowls that we had gotten in the Azores or from Gdansk as not planning on going back to either of those places. Fortunately we have them packed away well protected so this can’t happen. This is actually the first breakage we have had, so not too bad a record over this length of time.
About 4PM the person at the yacht club returned, we paid our bill and then headed into town. Our plan was to take a bus the next day to see visit Paestum as they are said to be the best preserved monuments of the Greek city called Poseidonia originally from the 6
th C. BC. We had heard that the bus station was on the other side of town from where the marina is so we decided to hike over to check it out as well as
Positano on the Amalfi Coast
notice the color of the bougainvillea - stunning! buy tickets. While in Gaeta we learned that you had to buy your tickets before getting on the bus, but we found out today that is not the case here. Now at least we know where the station is and found a couple of short cuts for the walk over tomorrow. It was close to quite a large supermarket so we stopped and picked up a few things that we needed on the boat. We walked back with the intention of going back out in the evening to find a place for dinner, but once we got back we decided to stay put. The thunder we were hearing rumbling overhead also tilted the scales to staying put.
On our way into town we did find a small shop that was selling a local treat that we have gotten hooked on. It is called tarallini and they are addictive. We have gotten them in grocery stores in a couple of basic flavors, but here they had more than you could imagine. We were given quite a few samples to try which definitely got us to buy some to bring back to the boat. As he told us they go perfectly
with a glass of wine – we have tested this theory out before and it is very true.
Wednesday we caught the bus at 8:20 AM and headed to Paestum as planned. It is always a bonus to take the bus to get a chance to see a little more of the countryside. We first went along the coast getting a chance to see the beach area here and then moved into a highly agricultural area with plenty of farms irrigating their fields with spraying water. We were somewhat surprised to see this as it definitely isn’t the most efficient way to irrigate.
Our first glimpse of the site was while we were still on the bus as we skirted around the Roman wall that had been added later to the Greek city of Paestum. When you get off the bus and start walking toward the site, you get your first look at one of the temples which is of the “wow factor” already, but by the end of the morning’s visit we kept saying “thank goodness we listened to the advice of others and visited Paestum”. We have been to other ruins, but the idea that three
Greek temples had never been destroyed or buried and were just “forgotten” has preserved them for us to enjoy and learn from today. The three temples were the highlight, but there were many other buildings of interest. Fortunately the signage at the sign was excellent in both Italian and English giving us a better understanding of what we were seeing. It was discovered that the original names of the Temples may have been wrong, but as archeologists have learned more this has been corrected. The temple that was said to be for Ceres is now believed to be for the Greek goddess Athena. It dates from 500 BC and was made of locally quarried sandstone. The 2
nd temple you come to had been thought to be for Neptune, but now is known to be for Zeus. It dates from 450 BC and is the largest one at this site. The last one is the Temple of Hera dating to 550 BC, the oldest temple here and one of the oldest Greek temples standing anywhere in the world.
The Romans came to this area later and built their structures on top of what was in place before, however, they were
very careful not to damage any buildings that were of religious significance. As proof of this a small Greek tomb was located in the middle of the growing Roman city, but because of the religious significance, the Romans built a wall around it, added a tile roof and then buried the tomb.
This is an amazing site and well worth the time to visit if you are ever close to this area. The entrance ticket also includes the museum which we fortunately had time to go through part of it before our return bus trip. The ground floor is dedicated to the finds from Paestum and other archeological sites in the area.
One find in particular that was spectacular were the bronze vases that were found filled with still liquid honey and sealed with beeswax. These were found in the tomb that had been buried by the Romans. Even more surprising when the tomb was opened was that they did not find any bodies, just the vases filled with honey. It is still a mystery as to what the significance was to this tomb in the center of the city that held no bodies, just the vases with
its sweet honey inside. Now that they have been opened the honey has since crystallized, but the vases themselves have intricately decorated handles and are in excellent condition. There also was an exhibit highlighting “the tomb of the diver” which was recently discovered in 1968. To be an archeologist when this tomb was opened must have been a highlight of their career as the tomb was completed covered inside with paintings on the walls. Since it was uncovered they have been trying to interpret the meaning as one of the paintings in particular is baffling. It is of a diver which is very unusual as this has never been found before. There are two different theories now, but nothing definitive. As Bob said when we saw many other artifacts that you could see were pieced together, an archeologist needs to be a lover of puzzles and the diver tomb is only one of them!
We caught the bus back in the early afternoon as Bob has been concerned about some electrical problems on the boat that he wanted to check out. We have lots of spares on Tsamaya and one of them is an alternator so he decided to
install it to see if that would fix the problem. Fortunately we have plenty of backup systems with the 3 solar panels and 2 wind generators, but still want to figure out the problem – will see if this does the trick.
The afternoon and evening was filled with thunderstorms so we just stayed on the boat even through our original plan was to hike up the hill to the historic part of town. Oh well, we will just have to miss it this time.
Thursday morning was calm and promised to be that most of the day. We left the marina at 8:30AM and motored most of the way to Capo Palinuro where we dropped our hook on the south side at 3PM. We had a little help from the wind, but not much as the winds were very light. This turned out to be a very lovely anchorage. When we arrived there was only one other boat. As we will be getting up and leaving about midnight we are pleased that this is a very open bay with no obstacles to worry about when leaving. As soon as we got settled, we jumped in the water
for our first swim in the Med this season – it was lovely! The water is clear and the bottom is sand for good holding – a great anchorage indeed.
This part of the Italian coast is lined with beautiful sand beaches backed by tree covered mountains with small towns peppered along the way. Not a bad place to spend the night even though it will be a short one.
After a few hours of sleep we raised anchor and left at midnight for our next destination, Vibo Valentia. Some may ask why we would subject ourselves to leaving in the middle of the night – the answer is quite simply that we estimate how long the trip will be and then work backwards based on what we would like our arrival time to be. We at first thought we would give ourselves a few more hours of sleep and leave at 2AM, but decided we’d rather get in a little earlier so we have time to check in, get cleaned up and have a little walk around town and grab dinner out which brought us back to a midnight departure time. We also checked out the time
Views of the marina in Agropolis
It worked out to be a good stop for us of moonset and sunrise to determine how much of the passage would really be “in the dark”. All of this and most importantly the weather predictions factor into our planning of any leg of our journey.
The moon was bright when we left making an easy exit from the anchorage – it also helped that there was only one boat even close to being “behind” us. There was very little wind, but we still put up the mainsail as that helps with any rocking and rolling that we get as well as is an easy way to start depending on what happens with the wind later in the trip. We each took turns at the helm over the course of the 16 hour trip as usual. Janice was on duty to get to see the “light show” from heat lightening that was occurring on either side of us. Only down side was that the light from the moon was lost early in the trip due to the clouds that had rolled in. Not much excitement during the whole trip – just a little bit of wind and it didn’t change direction too much so had to motor sail the
whole way. We have noticed that it seems that in the last 2-3 hours of our trips we usually do the best as the winds seem to change to “the right direction” – this trip was no exception to that “rule”.
When on duty Bob was surprised a couple of times by very shallow water. Majority of the time our depth sounder was reading “blank” which means it is too deep to register. A couple of times though it changed quite quickly to 13-15 feet and then went back down again to too deep to record. Quite the underwater mounds!
When traveling we always keep our eyes peeled for any sightings of wildlife. We were treated today to something we hadn’t seen before – a swordfish jumping completely out of the water 4-5 times – quite the show!
When we got to the marina the staff were very efficient in helping getting us set in our berth, a nice introduction to the place. It looks like it will be a good place to stay for a few days. After getting cleaned up we walked around a little and found a nice restaurant that was filled with locals
The Stairs Lead To the Historic Area of Agropolis
but unfortunately we didn't take the time on this trip so figured that would be a good place to eat. When reading the menu we did notice that swordfish seemed to feature quite a bit, more than we have seen before. All we could think, maybe that swordfish knew that he better hightail it out of this bay before he became part of your next meal. It was a very full and long day so sleep was definitely in order – a full night will be a treat.
This has been a good start for the season – we left Gaeta on Sunday and are now in Vibo Marina on Friday. This is putting us in a good position to head over to Sicily soon as we plan on spending most of the month of July exploring there.
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