We had a much more comfortable night than anticipated. Richard was up in the night and
directed me to go look at the night sky.
It was very good, and I could make out the usual three constellations I
know and the Milky Way. Very fine.
In the morning we ate breakfast in the cockpit and it was pleasant. It then started to get very hot. So we had a swim, which was very nice. However sometime in the morning the
wind changed direction and started to blow directly into the anchorage. Then
boat after boat started to arrive to anchor for the afternoon and the sea
became very choppy. Eventually I
started to feel sea sick, which is really silly when anchored, but there your
are. I took a pill, but it didn’t
help much. So at midday we decided to leave and go to the harbour.
The first thing we noticed was a virtual flotilla of boats coming out of
the harbours. There were dozens
and dozens of them all going in the same direction at the same time. Richard said it looked like a lock had
just emptied, except there are no locks here! So dodging all the traffic we enter Porto Ercole
harbour. We know that it is a
small harbour with a very limited number of visitor berths, but, having come so
early in the day, we are a bit surprised when the marina staff tell us there is
no room and we have to go to the big marina outside the town.
There we have no problem getting a berth. In fact they read our name off the back of the boat as we
came in and called us up on the radio to arrange a berth!
We have a light lunch on the boat and then decide to go to the local
beach. It is literally the other
side of the harbour, but we can’t find any direct path to get to it and wind up
walking for about 40 minutes to get to the beach. By this time we are boiling, so we go straight into the
water. It is very shallow and
warm, but eventually we get out far enough to get cooler water and enough depth
to swim. I notice a whole family
of father and three sons paddle boarding.
The father is on a board with a very little boy, maybe 4-5 years old. When they reach shallow water the
little one starts to paddle on his own.
Great they start children on water sports so young.
After our swim we manage to find a better way back straight to the
marina. We shall remember that if
we stay here for another day or two.
We then book in. This place
is expensive. We expected that as
we are now in high season. But it
does have all facilities and we hope to be able to get a mechanic to fix our
furling system on the genoa tomorrow.
Anyway, everywhere else will be about the same cost given the time of
year.
This evening we walked into town.
It is supposed to be only half a mile away, but it was much
further. We finally made it in to
town and found a super place on the sea front to have a cocktail. For the price of your drink you also
got the chance to chose your own nibbles from a buffet, which was quite fun.
We are in two minds about what to do for dinner. The restaurants are very boring, but I
can’t face cooking so we decide to stop and have something to eat. They even call us a taxi to take us
back (I didn’t fancy the walk in the dark!). The taxi is quite reasonable and we get his number in case
we manage to get a table at the two Michelin rosettes restaurant locally and
need a lift.
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