Today was a day of frustrations,
disappointments and serendipitous pleasures. We (well, Richard, really) got up very early to meet the man
who will fix the ding in the gelcoat.
He was supposed to come at 7:00, but in the usual Italian manner he only
turned up at 9:00 after at least two telephone calls. But he did a good job fixing the hole and was finished
within half an hour. While he was
doing the repair Richard cycled into town and got us a bread for lunch and
replaced an empty gas bottle (which we hadn’t realized was going to run out). So we could not leave until 10:00am.
The plan was to go to San Felice Cerceo-
about a 20 mile trip down the coast.
I was always worried about the feasibility of the plan because although
the pilot book says it is a gem, it also says that the marina has very few
visitor spaces. But Richard says
it is out of season and doesn’t bother to phone. So off we set.
The weather is nice, but there is little
wind and what there is, is too close to being on the nose to use. So we don’t even bother to undo the
sail bag on the main and just motor.
As we are going along we hear some loud bangs. It sounds like gunfire. At first we think it is some sort of salute or time signal,
but it continues. It is not too
much later that a local military vessel comes at us at speed with a blue light
flashing. We know we have done
something wrong. They are very
nice, but tell us that we are in a military zone and must immediately head out
to sea and go six miles out before heading to our destination. It seems they were calling us up on the
radio, but we hadn’t turned it on!
Having been sent off our course, Richard
decides that before we turn around he will phone up the Marina in San
Felice. It is just as well that he
does, because they tell him they are full. So we go to plan B.
That is to head straight out to the Pontine islands and particularly to
Ponza, which has been recommended to us by a number of different people, both
English and Italian as “Italy’s best kept secret”. They only problem is that it is over 40 miles away, so we
will have a much longer day at sea than originally planned. And I have not really prepared any
lunch.
So off we go. As we go along the wind starts to build and goes around to
be on the beam so Richard puts the sails up, but doesn’t cut the engine. He says that in order to get to the
island we will need to average over 6 knots and can only do that motor
sailing. I manage to make lunch on
board. Open pate and ham
sandwiches, using up what is in the fridge. The wind continues to build and as we get near the island we
have 15 knots on the stern, so we actually sail for a short time.
We had hoped to anchor tonight, but the
anchorages do not seem very well sheltered so Richard decides to take us into
the port of the main town. It has
a typically Italian system.
There are 6 pontoons spaced around the harbour each run by a different
outfit. The pilot book has phone numbers for them and one works, and says they
have room so in we go.
The wind is fairly high now staying at
14-15 knots and frankly the pontoon is not that comfortable. I feel that I really must get off onto
land, so we take a little exploratory walk into town. It is delightful.
The town is built all around the harbour and all the buildings are
painted in lovely pastel colours of pinks, oranges, blues and yellows. It is also very lively with lots of
shops and restaurants. We are
taken with it immediately despite the lumpy sea and bouncing boat. Also we find that there is a
Michelin starred restaurant here and we manage to get a reservation for
tonight.
For a while we are the only boat on the
pontoon. We a joined by a
Beneteau, with two Italian couples on board, who speak English and are very
informative. They tell us that if
the wind goes to the east, we must leave the harbour immediately. Luckily, that is not what the weather
forecast has predicted!
There is a problem with the arrangements
here, though. There are no washing
facilities or toilets. So we
shower on board and hope to use cafes, etc. for toilets.
Dinner is lovely. We have a tasting menu which is 5
courses, all fish, except for desert.
My only complaint is that we are sitting on the sea front and by the
time the food gets to us, it isn’t very hot!
Back to the bouncing boat and flake out
right away. Another boat, a large
motor yacht has arrived.
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