us smaller yachts are around the back of the marina!

With another mistral forecast, our plan was to make it coincide with a marina visit. That way we hide from the winds and whilst there take advantage of the marina facilities given that we need to do an oil change.

We had it planned out. The wind was supposed to arrive by mid afternoon, leaving us the whole morning to motor gently across the Gulf of Naples to arrive at Marina di Stabia on the opposite side.

Unfortunately by 3am, swell rolled into the anchorage making us roll terribly. By first light, we left with 20 knot of wind blowing straight at us, coming from an easterly direction probably due to a weather front passing over. As we crossed the bay we were on constant lookout for ferries transiting between the islands and Naples - it's a busy stretch of water.

By the time we were in the middle of the bay we were heading into remarkably short and very steep waves which required us to throttle back to avoid slamming. Despite doing​ this we were still caught out occasionally and the decks were awash with water. For the second time since we've owned Flirtie we zipped up the spray hood window just to stay dry.

Thankfully the waves flattened out the closer we got to Stabia and in the lee of the land. Once in the shelter of the marina (and after breathing a sigh of relief) we noticed that the marina had both med-style moorings for the super-yachts and floating pontoons with jetties for normal size yachts so a quick adjustment of fenders and ropes was necessary before we finally berthed.

At €80 a night, Stabia is cheap compared to several other marinas along this coast but it still hurt! At this price we didn't hesitate to get on with changing the oil in the engines, wash the huge salt crystals off Flirtie, wash clothes, dust and vacuum, all long overdue. Unlike some marinas the price included rubbish disposal, oil disposal, water, wifi, electric and a free shuttle service to the town centre. The marina location also provides excellent views across to Mount Vesuvius and is the place to admire super yachts with tenders far larger than Flirtie!

Total distance this season: 710.23 nautical miles