The anchor came up just before 07.00hrs and we spent the next 6 hours motoring along in F2 winds and a fairly flat sea. Chris got enthusiastic at one point and put the main sail up thinking the wind was increasing but Aeolus chortled and reduced the volume again. The sail acted like a flag whilst it was hoisted and eventually we conceded and took it down again. There was little traffic though we did see dolphins in the middle distance and a couple of large fish jumping – probably to escape the dolphins.
We had decided to explore mooring at the town quay in Brindisi as we had read blogs that said it was free and right in the middle of things. They were right on the second count but it is now a franchise and costs E29 for us to just moor with no facilities and the pleasure of being bounced madly by the ferry every 30 minutes. What puzzled us was the quay was deserted apart from an Italian yacht who left 10 minutes after we arrived. The rest of the day we were alone. The alternatives here are the main marina (E102pn for us) or the small ‘marina’ further down the quay where you get power and water and some slight security during the day for E60. As we didn’t really need power or water there was no point in us paying the extra.
We spent two days on the quay, had a look around the town which has some nice buildings, ate at the restaurant opposite the boat ‘Bettys Cafe’ which was fine, particularly as we could keep an eye on Splice in her lonely berth.
About 25m from our berth was the steps marking the end of the 'Aspian Way'. This was the Roman trade route from Rome to the East. The two columns are said to mark this point but historians now think they had a different religious purpose
The second morning there was a call of ‘Splice ahoy’ and George, who had been our neighbour in Cagliari, was there with his two crew - Kelsey and Tyler. We arranged dinner that evening which followed on from them joining us for a drink on Splice. We had an enjoyable evening catching up on journeys so far, plans for the remaining season and putting the world to rights.
Dinner on the quay with the crew from 'Calm'
There were strong winds coming so we didn’t fancy being on the somewhat exposed quay so motored out to the yard where we have arranged to lift Splice out hoping they had a berth on the pontoon there. We had to go rather than phone as the only person we had found who could speak English was off sick. Unfortunately the pontoon was full so we had to moor in the expensive marina. On Friday we managed to find someone in the yard who had a good command of English. Giuseppe was very helpful and offered to lift us on the Saturday morning as the winds on Monday when we had an appointment were forecast at 30 knots! We hired a car and planned to have the weekend touring inland whilst Splice was on the hard.
We were to be the last activity before they closed for lunch so we prepared and, despite the 20 knot gusts, got ready to go. Then the port engine wouldn’t start, the starter battery had given up the ghost. We had noticed the last time we started it that the battery was reluctant but now it was dead and we don’t have a switch to share battery power or any jump-leads. Starter batteries were one of the items on our ‘fix list’ for the week as they are old, but it beat us to it. Managing with only one engine in the conditions wasn’t possible and their engineer had gone home so the lift was called off until Monday.
So we have had to spend a further two days in the expensive marina and getting into the hoist for Mondays lift could be challenging!
Main Photo: Splice moored on Brindisi quay with the evening promenade in full swing