Expecting conditions to improve as we progressed westward, the initial wind and sea state was no surprise. However, as the wind lightened to below 10 Kts out of the northwest for most of the day, although it never turned north as predicted, the sea state got rougher, with short steep waves, which was not in any forecast. If anything, it was supposed to be calm. Regardless, we were beating to weather again making for a very uncomfortable and unpleasant motor-sail.
By 1700 nothing had changed; we were still beating to weather in very confused seas, increasing our frustration levels with the forecasting in this part of the world, but there was nothing we could do about it, except to soldier on. We did, however, wonder if the sea state was current or tide related or, if indeed, a weather system had developed to the north of us.
On the bright side, we had clear sunny skies, warm temperatures, plenty of ships plus one other yacht for company and we both managed to nap. In fact, Roy had a morning and an afternoon nap. It was a real shame, though, that we could see the air pollution on the horizon so clearly around us.
Fortunately, by nightfall, at around 2130, the seas had started to settle, although the wind backed to westerly at around 2330, which resulted in us motoring.
Another observation we’ve had about “sailing” in the Mediterranean is the lack of VHF radio etiquette. Besides the lack of protocol, we’ve heard people talking over each other, people chitchatting incessantly instead of switching to another channel, people whistling over the radio, playing music and burping, all on the hailing channel 16. We know our memories are fading, but we very seldom encountered this elsewhere during our circumnavigation.
Nonetheless, under a clear starry sky, with a waxing gibbous to light the way, we continued west.
The bouncing around in the churned up water continued until the wee small hours last night, as water taxis returned visitors to their yachts after their night on the town. Then, of course, the obligatory fireworks display at midnight woke us. To crown matters, when we went ashore for breakfast this morning, there were thousands of weekend revellers and holidaymakers wanting breakfast too.
Deciding to explore further afield and to seek some tranquility, we walked to the west side of the island and what a lovely walk it was, with beautiful scenery, fields of wild flowers and a very picturesque bay on the western coastline, one we had thought of moving to in the easterlies, but they didn’t materialise. Regardless, it was certainly calmer and less chaotic in that anchorage.
When we returned to Paw Paw, the mayhem had continued in our anchorage, so we re-anchored once again; this time in an entirely different anchorage further north on the east coast and eventually found some respite. At least we didn’t have the constant stream of water taxis ferrying people back and forth to the beach. However, we still had the megalomaniac speedboat racers flying through the anchorage, but it was further for them to come, so we had fewer to contend with. We understand this mayhem gets progressively worse through the summer and as we head to Spain. Oh what fun!
Our day ended with a Zoom Family Get-Together, hosted by Elaine’s sister, Deborah, as we don’t have the best data connectivity while on the move. It was lovely to see everyone again and to catch up, but not before we both enjoyed our first swim of the season together, although the water was so cold it took Elaine’s breath away. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very long swim!
With our imminent departure and the revellers departed, we settled for an early, but peaceful night.
Afterwards we took another stroll through the town, taking a different route, but the crowds were so intense we both got a headache and decided to return to Paw Paw rather than stop for another refreshment.
Still on weather watch for a window to depart, once back onboard, another perusal of the various forecasts showed conflicting information which was more like a lottery on picking what winds and sea state you wanted. Completely useless and changed to something different within a 6 hour window. Regardless, our early morning departure was scrapped, since we had no idea what we would be encountering, especially since a Low Pressure system was circulating between mainland Italy and Corsica Island, moving southwards. It was so frustrating because there were easterlies forecast that we could’ve taken advantage of, but that element of the forecast kept changing too. In the end, we got very light northeasterlies that did nothing, but create an unpleasant swell in the anchorage.
Having postponed our departure, we tried to enjoy a lazy afternoon onboard, but it was impossible. Firstly, because of thunderstorms not forecast, requiring us to be vigilant until they passed and then the increased mayhem in the anchorage that came out to meet us even after we’d re-anchored further out of the bay to avoid the situation that materialised, as yacht after yacht, speedboat after speedboat and megayacht after megayacht arrived. We may as well have stayed where we were. It had been a very long time, though, since we’d seen this many yachts in an anchorage, but as Roy pointed out, it was all very festive; not as crowded as New Year’s Eve in Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson), but it was busy. That, of course meant, we had yachts anchored on top of us from every direction, with the usual latecomers, who short scoped so they could squeeze in.
With all this mayhem and particularly because there were very few non-Italian speakers around when we went ashore, we decided to research Ponza Island, one of the Pontine Islands off the Italian west coast, only to discover it’s been a best kept secret that has managed to fly under the radar, frequented primarily by the Romans and Neapolitans, who vacation here. It’s charm has also attracted celebrities such as Rihanna, Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé.
A favourite pastime of the holidaymakers is to rent one of the many small speedboats and enjoy the numerous coves scattered around the island. This accounts for the churn that we’ve been bouncing around in all day and well into the night, when they all return to base.
Our day ended with a lovely surprise phone call from Keenan and Brooke, who were on their way to breakfast, but wanted to introduce us to their newest member of the family, Milly May, and what a cutie pie she is.
A snoop around, however, revealed a lovely little town, painted in pastel colours reminding us the Greek Island of Symi, although inundated with crowds of people, mostly Italians coming over on the fast ferries from Rome. We did spot the odd foreign tourist, but they were few and far between.
The longer we’ve stayed in Italy, though, the more we see the similarities with sailing in Australian in so many ways; speedboat manics who don’t care what damage they cause with their wake, marinas full of local boats and, hence, no room for transients, rules on where you can and cannot anchor and for how long, no dinghy docks anywhere and very few places to land a dinghy, resulting in us permanent hunting for a secure location, preferential designated anchoring areas for locally flagged boats only, no convenient laundry services or laundromats and no convenient way to fill up propane tanks. We had the same opinion of Australia as we do of Italy, in that they don’t need or particularly want the transient cruisers, because they have a huge boating market of their own!
By late afternoon it was bedlam in the anchorage after the Rome yachting invasion. We’d barely re-anchored further out of the bay, to remove ourselves and Paw Paw from the situation, when a huge yacht decides to anchor right across our bow, less than two boat lengths in front of us and then short scoped to squash in, when there was ample place to go further into the bay. Needless to say, the cruisers were quite happy to stay there until Roy said something after about half an hour, when they showed no signs of moving. Lo and behold the response Roy got in perfect English was: “I was just looking at that”; really, well when exactly were you going to stop looking and move! It just never ceases to amaze us. There have been many times where we’ve misjudged our anchoring, but at least we’ve had the common courtesy to move before being asked to do so, especially when you can clearly see it’s unsafe.
While Roy monitored the situation in the anchorage, Elaine did the laundry then unpacked her summer wardrobe; at last it was definitely hot enough for shorts and t-shirts, but she still hasn’t braved the freezing water. Just having to put her feet into it every time we beach the dinghy is enough for her. Roy, on the other hand, braved another plunge before dinner time, after he was sure a speedboat wasn’t going to ride over him!
Dinner onboard sealed the day, primarily because neither of us could be bothered to deal with the crowds ashore again. Once in the day was enough.
Leaving Ischia Island, sailing further north along the eastern coastline, we noticed how populated this little island was too, but, since we didn’t go ashore, we don’t know if it still had an “ island feel” or not; Sicily certainly didn’t.
In extremely hazy conditions on lake-like calm, flat seas, Roy ran the watermaker as we motored again and Elaine took the opportunity to catalogue the numerous photographs and videos she’d taken over the past weeks.
By noon we could see Ponza Island on the horizon and by 1500 we were anchored off. It was a rather interesting and pretty island, interesting from the perspective of the various rock formations of different colours we could see as we approached and which we could see around the anchorage in more detail.
The anchorage we chose was a little closer to the very picturesque little town of Ponza, but it was a tad busier with local boats and water taxis ferrying folks back and forth to “Spiaggia di Frontone”(Frontone Beach) at the head of the bay and which is only accessible by boat.
By evening, however, the beach was emptied, umbrellas and deckchairs were packed away and the local boats had departed, only to be replaced with cruising yachts arriving late evening. This is likely a staging area for many yachts heading to Sardinia and first landfall for those coming the other way. By nightfall the anchorage had significantly more yachts anchored than what we had on our arrival, suggesting our assumption was correct.
Tired from our lack of sleep and another long day of motoring, we remained onboard and simply enjoyed the sights, before calling it a day and heading to bed, but not before Roy took a swim in what was very unexpectedly freezing water, judging by the noise he made once he surfaced after his plunge, while Elaine took advantage of all the hot water to soak a few items of clothing, all to be put in the washing machine tomorrow.
Before weighing anchor, we dinghied ashore to finish our provisioning and enjoyed a coffee and baked delight; this time chocolate croissants, at a little caffè called Officina, where we also enjoyed a chat to a delightful couple visiting from Australia. We also saw a few more brides and bridal parties having their photographs taken around the “Castel del’Ova” (Ovo Castle) on the waterfront, but, nonetheless, not a very pretty area for wedding photographs.
By 1100 we’d weighed anchor and were heading west to Ischia Island en route to Sardinia in choppy seas, primarily due to the numerous ferries and speedboats flying passed us in every direction. Fortunately it was a short trip and by 1400 we were anchored in a very busy anchorage, full of local boats visiting for the day. It didn’t help matters, though, that a very rude charterer who entered the anchorage after us tried to cut in front of Paw Paw to take the anchoring spot we’d chosen. He soon backed off when he realised Elaine wasn’t having any of it and increased our speed to block him! Idiots everywhere these days, sadly!
We did, however, have a gorgeous view of “Castello Aragonese d'Ischia”, but we were all toured out and stayed onboard, although Roy ventured into the water to clean our depth sensor, yet again, and commented on how warm the water was. Elaine, on the other hand, having seen and smelt the number of sewerage pipes jutting out from the Italian coast, there was absolutely no way she was jumping into any water around Italy. It did make us wonder, though, whether or not the Italians knew where their sewerage was going, because it never stopped them from swimming. Because of this, we are only running the watermaker when we are well offshore.
By this evening the anchorage had cleared out with a few cruising yachts left for the night. Given the summer weather we decided on a nice big salad for dinner, accompanied by a chicken thigh each cooked in one of Roy’s delicious sauces. It was the perfect way to celebrate midsummer.
It seems the Italians wanted a bigger celebration, though, when fireworks, raining down over Paw Paw, woke us up at midnight. As Roy said: “What’s up with these Italians and their fireworks!”. This was the fourth display in less than a week! Needless to say, this, together with the loud music that went on till all hours, was definitely not conducive to a good night’s sleep.
After breakfast onboard we dinghied ashore, passing under the causeway bridge of “Castel del’Ova” (Ovo Castle), which we could see from our anchorage and into Porto Saint Lucia, where we secured the dinghy at the 129 year old exclusive “Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia”, then walked along the waterfront to “Piazza del Plebiscito”, the main city square, but google took us on a wild goose chase, in sweltering heat, before we actually found it. However, this allowed us to see “Fontana del Gigante”, “Statua di Augusto” and Litoranea Park along the way.
The piazzo was enormous, dominated by the neoclassical-style “Basilica Reale Pontificia San Francesco da Paola” (Church of San Francesco di Paola), with its hallmark twin colonnades extending to each side, located on the western side of the piazzo and one of the most unusual Roman Catholic churches we’ve seen during our circumnavigation.
Research revealed that Joachim Murat, Napoleon’s brother-in-law, planned the entire square and the large building with the colonnades, in the 19th Century, as a tribute to the emperor. When Napoleon was dispatched, the Bourbons were restored to the throne of Naples and Ferdinand I finished the construction in 1816, but modified it to represent what is seen today. He dedicated the church to Saint Francis of Paola, who lived in a monastery located on the same site during the 16th Century.
The church is reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome. The façade is fronted by a portico resting on six columns and two Ionic pillars. Inside, the church is circular with two smaller domed side chapels and a centre dome at a height of 53 metres / 174 ft.
In front of the church were the statues, “Statua Equestre di Carlo III” and “Statua Equestre di Ferdinand I” and on the eastern end, “Palazzo Reale di Napoli” (Royal Palace of Naples), the latter explored after we’d enjoyed a coffee and baked delight at the iconic “Gran Caffè Gambrinus”, regarded as the “society-hall of Naples” for more than 150 years and where Elaine eventually got to eat a “cannoli“. Delicious!
Since the Italian Unification, Heads of State, politicians, intellectuals and tourists alike have visited the renowned caffè, including Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Sigmund Freud, Luciano Pavarotti and Angela Merkel. Every year, on New Year's Day the President of the Italian Republic enjoys breakfast there.
Visiting “Palazzo Reale di Napoli” was another wonderful surprise, given that the Royal Apartments have been beautifully restored.
It was one of the four residences near Naples used by the House of Bourbon during their rule of the Kingdom of Naples from 1735 to 1816 and later the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816 to 1861.
Construction on the present building began in the 17th Century and was intended to house King Philip III of Spain on a visit which never happened. Instead it housed various other members of royalty, including Charles III of Spain, when the palace became the royal residence of the Bourbons.
The facade was completed by 1616 and the beautiful interior frescoes by 1620. However, the decoration of the “Cappella Reale dell'Assunta” (Royal Chapel of the Assumption) wasn’t completed until 1644.
In 1837, after centuries of alterations, re-modelling, additions and modernisations, a fire damaged many rooms and required restoration from 1838 to 1858. Further restorations were required after parts of the building were bombed during World War II and the subsequent military occupation caused additional serious damage.
Today, the palace and adjacent grounds house the famous “Teatro San Cario”, the smaller “Teatrino di Corte”, the “Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III”, the museum of the restored Royal Apartments and offices, including those of the regional tourist board.
Satisfied that we’d enjoyed the highlights of “Napoli”, we returned to Paw Paw, but not before completing a quick provisioning trip to a local supermarket.
After a late afternoon nap, we dinghied back ashore to enjoy dinner at Mammina Napoli on the waterfront, where Roy had his long anticipated Napolitano pizza and Elaine decided on the scrumptious Mammina Special pizza, since she doesn’t like anchovies. This was followed by a gelato from Desìo Gelato & Pastry, before retiring for the night.
Back on Paw Paw, we made the difficult, but prudent decision, to skip our tour of Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius after Elaine’s minor medical incident, brought on by the sudden increase in temperatures we’ve experienced and that occurred as we were leaving the “Basilica Reale Pontificia San Francesco da Paola”. Besides being extremely embarrassed, we were pleased to learn there was nothing obscure or sinister going on, but we would like to extend our thanks to all the very kind folks who helped; the lady who gave Elaine her bottle of water, the gentleman who helped Roy get Elaine back into the coolness of the church, the gentleman who gave Elaine sugary sweets to suck, the doctor and his wife, visiting from Sicily, who rendered assistance and the efficient paramedics who arrived in a flash on a motorcycle. We would would also like to extend our thanks to the “Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia” that allowed us to leave our dinghy on their dock and afforded us the opportunity to explore “Napoli”.
