16 June 2016
1200 Departed Salerno Marina and anchored outside the shipping harbour intending to stay overnight. Dropped Jenny ashore in the rubber ducky and returned to Elixir for some sleep catchup. The wind changed from being a wafting breeze to a strong and gusty 30kts. The sea built up and Elixir kicked and bucked in the waves as it became quickly untenable. Jenny turned up on shore so I had to pick her up without drowning the groceries and return her and the groceries to elixir which by this time was leaping up a metre at a time so we used a sort of throw and hope with the groceries then a timing pulling and pushing to get J on board while I juggled with the tender and outboard. Finally we had everything on Elixir but clearly there was not going to be any anchoring there for the night which was approaching fast.

1800 we retrieved our anchor, discarded any thought of returning to Salerno Marina as our space had now been taken and there was no other room. Decision made to make for an anchorage on Capri 25 miles to the west. Blowing 25 knots from the north west it was a long and wet trip through the first part of the night until we reached Capri. The anchorage marked on our chart that we intended to go to was not an anchorage at all and was being buffeted by waves and sea so we made our way around the northside of Capri in complete darkness relying heavily on our GPS systems to keep us safe. When we finally arrived off the main town on Capri there was nowhere that we could go however, alongside the cliff on the southern end which was affording quite good protection from the prevailing outside conditions looked okay.

2230 We anchored 20 metres deep, 30 metres off shore, I slept the night in the cockpit relying on the anchor alarm to warn if we were dragging. Dropping off for a fitful but welcome sleep.

Capri, what is the fuss all about???

Leaving our overnight anchorage which was under the cliffs right behind Jenny
17 June 2016 0600, We decided that Capri sucks , there being no facilities or any good anchorages for cruising yachts so we really had no choice but north once again. Our destination now de Ischia 15 miles away. SWMBO conveyed to the skipper that she was not at all happy about leaving Capri without, at least, going ashore for a look at the privileged classes! But she soon got over it!

1300 we anchor under a magnificent Castle on a spit out the west coast of de Ischia. The chart says that only local boats can anchor here so, me being forever trying to comply with regulations, decided that we had been in Italy long enough so that we were now locals thus we dropped our pick but made our NZ flag disappear. Funny how our Irish flag also seemed to find itself wound up on its stern pole! Nobody challenged us and we stayed there with all sorts of fizzys with arrays of outboards on their sterns and large luxury motor vessels with day-trippers from Naples and a few local yachts like us.
18 June 2016 1130 Departed heading north again, destination Gaeta.


Gaeta, so why do people flock to Capri ????

This little car with one boy onboard is attempting to sail right around Italy.. My goodness gracious me and I thought we were being adventurous!
2000 Entered Gaeta and expressed our wonder that more is not written, or spoken, about this place. It is dominated by an imposing and well kept castle complex giving great shelter to its harbour that is large and thus protected. It is said that a Pope once tried to claim its Cathedral as his home away from home. I can't blame him the whole area is astounding in its beauty. Not only the buildings I might venture to add but the People, what a gracious and friendly population, dressed as if everyday meant something to them. Even the labourers working in the streets seemed to have a fashionable look to their clothes and manner.


We anchored out for the first night


Woken early by the arrival of the navy..







Just relaxing in the cockpit watching the boats go by.






19 June 2016 1300 We paid for two nights in the marina at 83 euro a night.

While in the Marina we were invited to happy hour with a real lady called Jane, an ex American, who it turned out had the task of greeting visiting yachties to make them feel welcome. A job which she takes very seriously so we felt very welcome indeed and enjoyed her company immensely. Jane owns her own yacht, at 45ft Sparkman and Stephens which she from time to time cruises around the area in, so she is well versed in the challenges and needs of the visiting yachtsmen and supplied us with all of the local knowledge that had been missing elsewhere. Due to her endorsements we decided to spend more time in the area than we had anticipated and in particular to visit the outlying islands of the Pontine group, Ventotene, Ponza and Palmarola.
21 June 2016 We moved out into the harbour anchorage under the loom of the castle. It was just magic to sit on Elixir in this ancient port sipping Italian wine and enjoying all of the comings and goings of a busy metropolis's seaport.
26 June 2016 We left Gaeta and visited the outer islands. It would take a whole book to cover the history and delights that these islands have to offer, suffice to advise that if you are interested then go to Google and look them up as they are too amazing for me to do them justice. Please do not visit this area without taking the time to do this little tour. Ventotene in particular.
29 June 2016 1230 Arrived back in Gaeta and our favourite anchorage under the castle.







Small harbour in Ventotene that was carved out of the rock to moor galleys in back in the early times. Elixir fitted in quite well

Palmarola overnighter









30 June 2016 0600 Departed and headed North. As we sailed along or, rather motor sailed as there was little wind, we failed to notice that we had wandered into a live firing zone out in the ocean off the Italian coast. First we wondered what the big bangs were then approaching us fast was a naval vessel with big round lights flashing. We were quite politely advised to hurry up and head due west out of range of the big guns. Needless to say we complied immediately!
1500 Arrived at the marina in Netturno near Anzio.
01 July 2016 we took the train into Rome and did the touristy thing. The ride took about 1.5 hours so was a very stress free way to get to Rome central, Jenny just loved Rome. As for the Vatican I found the most welcoming and wonderful relic of them all was the joy and hope as portrayed by the green neon exit sign. I have never in my life seen such monstrous relics of misery poverty and torture and such a vivid history of mans' unrelenting inhumanity to man.
02 July 2016 0530 Headed north again.