Salerno from the anchorage

Apparently anchoring off Amalfi is prohibited, despite what the online apps and pilot book say!

After spending the morning ashore we returned back to find Flirtie all on her own. We thought it strange but didn't think anything more of it as yachts come and go all the time along this coast. We'd just put the kettle on when a patrol boat approached. The official onboard shouted over to us that we had to move "NOW" as we'd anchored on protected Posidonia grass. We were taken aback as earlier we'd checked the seabed to find only sand. If the opportunity had presented itself, we would have mentioned that our pilot book showed an anchorage and that we'd anchored on sand but they sped off before we even had the chance to say anything - probably a good thing as the last thing we wanted was a fine or to be thought of as arrogant British!

Suddenly we were all of a dither as we were going to stay another night before pushing on south early next morning. With it being mid-afternoon there weren't enough daylight hours for us to head off towards our next planned anchorage over 40 miles away without arriving in darkness. Going into one of the marinas in Amalfi wasn't an option if that's what they were hoping for so we decided to continue along the Amalfi coast to anchor off Salerno instead. It was a good decision as we can now officially say that we've seen the whole of the Amalfi coast and it certainly lives up to its well deserved reputation - beautiful and another highlight. It also allowed us to experience first hand two fire fighting seaplanes at work, scooping water alongside us as we motored along. Absolutely fantastic to watch but really disturbing to see so much forest destroyed by fire (whether naturally or man-made).


a fly-by... his intentions are clear...


steady now...


... and scoop away

Total distance this season: 755.77 nautical miles