Our 15 mile journey from Chioggia to Venice took us along one of the channels of the venetian lagoon, past small towns of brightly coloured houses all lined up along the water's edge. We wound our way around the twists and turns of the channel and turned one corner to see the skyline of Venice a short distance infront of us.

The channels are much wider than we expected and are well defined by wooden posts on either side. Some are large enough for cruise ships to use whilst others have less than a metre depth at low water. Once we were within close range, the whole area came alive with ferries, water taxis, hotel boats, water buses, local boats and gondolas all of which seemed to be shooting around in all directions but which seemed to have a controlled order about it too. Before we headed into our marina, we did a quick trip to the entrance of the Grand Canal and past the waterfront of St. Mark's Square and the Palace of the Doges to take some once in a lifetime photos. It took a lot of concentration on Chris's part to keep out of everyone's way and steer us through the wash from all the boats around us.

We stayed at a marina on Certosa Island, just east of the main island. The small marina was really moorings along a channel which had depths of less than 2m at low water. As we need 2m to float, we awoke each day to find the boat leaning over slightly as we sat on the sticky mud bottom until the water level rose again and we could float. The island's history goes back to 1199 when a Cistercian Monastery was built, with vineyards and vegetable gardens. For many years it was then used as a military base until 2004 when it was restored and developed as a centre of learning traditional boat building skills as well as offering moorings. It was a haven of peace and tranquility after a day spent exploring Venice itself with friends Ian and Jan, who joined us for a couple of days, having driven over from the UK.

Venice is 4km from the mainland and 2km from the open sea. It is made up of 18 islands, interconnected by waterways. The longest canal is the Grand Canal which divdes the city into two parts that are interconnected by three bridges; Bridge of the Scalzi, Bridge of the Rialto and Accademia. Insular Venice covers an area a little over 7 square km. In the time that we spent there, we visited the famous landmarks of St. Mark's Square with it's tall campanile, and from where you can also visit the Clock Tower, Palace of the Doges and the Basilica. The exterior of the Basilica was breathtaking with colour marbles, gold statues, mosaics and ornate paintings. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to go inside on this visit so we will just have to come back again.

Getting around Venice is an experience in itself. The water buses cover all the main areas and steam ahead keeping to their timetables. When they arrive at a stop, they seem almost to crash into the sidings, bounce off them a few times which creates a huge wash, and then once everything has calmed down slightly, the conductor opens the gate for everyone to jump on and off. If you do get the chance to visit, you can take number 2 bus from outside St. Mark's and go on a round-trip that includes a journey up the Grand Canal.

Behind the main waterfront is a rabbit warren of streets, alleys, canals (some of which are only wide enough for a small boat), bridges and normal life. Because everything happens on the water as there are no cars or bicycles, you can see workmen mixing cement on the back of a boat as they renovate a building or a courrier boat with DHL and TNT parcels piled high ready for delivery.

There were lots of tourists taking gondola trips on the narrow boats that are today painted in contrast to year's gone by when they were painted very brightly and highly decorated as a show of wealth by noble families but the Senate decreed that ostentatious ornamentation had to stop, hence the uniform black colour of today. The gondolier wears a uniform of a striped jersey and beribboned straw hat and all look very smart as they propel the boat with the use of just a single oar.

It is truly an amazing and unique place to visit and a milestone for us on our journey as every yachtman dreams of taking his own yacht to Venice. We had a lot of fun, ate ice-cream sundaes whilst watching the gondoliers setting off on another trip and yet were able to get away from it all each night on Certosa. We took lots of photos which can be seen by clicking on Gallery/Italy/Venice.

CRUISERS NOTES
Marina Vento di Venezia www.ventodivenezia.it
65 euros + 20% per night 14m July 2009 + water/electricity which was a couple of euros
Marina has washing machine (4 euros & dryer) & offers free water taxi pick up in evenings from S. Elena stop
Provision before you get to Venice as there are not many places to shop and, as you can't take your bikes there, you have to walk a long way.
After leaving the marina we anchored with local boats off Isola Poveglia (45 22'.9N 12 19'.7E) about 2 miles from Venice.