Swallow's adventures

On Monday 8th May at 0900, with a tear in our eyes, we finally cut the apron strings of Gaeta to embark on the next leg of Swallow’s adventures. For most of this 30 mile, slightly swelly, passage to Ischia the wind was on the nose, not as predicted; with just after 6 miles to go we managed to turn the engine off for a great beam reach. We sailed between the islands of Ischia and Procida heading for the promontory of Ischia Castello; there was quite a lot of commercial traffic and we had to radio an Italian cargo vessel whose captain was very obliging and said he would take action to avoid us. At 16.30 we found a spot in the anchorage south of the castle and enjoyed a peaceful night. The following day we paddled the dinghy to the quay whilst bailing out water all the way; unfortunately in Gaeta we decided to fit an air deck into the dinghy- this was kindly donated to us by a fellow sailor. We were delighted that the floor would be more stable; the following morning we realised that the air deck had blown the seal on the bottom of the dinghy! So now the floor is sealed with lots of glue but is very leaky! Paul assures me that we won’t sink but will just have to put up with wet feet; sadly a new dinghy is not in our budget at the moment! The small part we saw of Ischia was beautiful; the locals were friendly and the shops not too touristy. We bought some carrots and the owner let us have them free- it’s the small things! The wind was changing direction so once back aboard Swallow we motored around to the North anchorage for more shelter, an equally beautiful view of the island and castle.


After two nights at Ischia we weighed anchor at first light and set off for Agropoli; Paul’s already loving the new windless which he fitted in Gaeta- no more hauling up the anchor chain by hand. Ten minutes into the journey and the Guardia Costeria raced over to us to let us know we were in a restricted area- oops, we hadn’t noticed that on our chart plotter! Today we managed to have the engine off for an hour of our ten hour trip, for this time we enjoyed a great beam/broad reach; the rest of the time we motored into wind with just the mainsail up. I called the port, using my best, well-practised Italian and asked for a transito berth, this was free for the first night and an astronomical €50 after that- well we are in Italy! Consequently we only stayed two nights but we managed to squeeze in a visit to the ancient Greek temples at Paestum (10 minutes by train); these temples, of Hera, Athena and Neptune, are three of the most preserved of their kind in the world. It was a magical feeling to be able to climb up into these impressive structures and wander around where the Greek Gods were once worshipped. It’s at times like this that I wish I knew more about Greek mythology. Later that evening we walked up to the medieval town; on our way we stumbled across a taralli shop; we have become very partial to these Italian, cracker type, snacks. The owner let us try various sweet and savoury ones and we bought some with roasted onion in them, delicious! The old town is at the top of quite a few steps and through an archway which leads to the winding passageways. The castle was still open at 1930 so we walked through the tunnels and looked out past the turrets like two big kids exploring! The castle and town offer fantastic views of the bay and there are lots of little shops and restaurants in which to while away the time. As always, the locals were friendly and the fishermen along the quay were very interested in where we were from and where we were heading. We also managed to catch up with our friends from Gaeta, Janet, Horst and Polly, enjoying a quick drink aboard Tutunui .


On Saturday 11th May 2018 we gently motor sailed for 37 miles, in the sunshine, down the luscious green coastline which has villages nestled into the hills and lovely sandy beaches. We edged around Capo Palinuro and anchored in the stunning Buondornire Bay, which, as the name suggests, gave us a great night’s sleep! We had the anchorage to ourselves, with only the roosting seagulls for company; literally hundreds of them flew out of nowhere, past us and over towards an outlying rock, they circled on a thermal, soaring higher and higher; some were gliding in silence above us- it’s a miracle that we didn’t get guano bombed! Suddenly a pair of egrets flew through the melee and headed for the hills. Then all the seagulls peeled off to head for their chosen roost for the night; we were truly surrounded by the beauty and noises of nature. We awoke the next beautiful morning to the sounds of the sea lapping on the beach, the seagulls squawking and the sparrows tweeting. The craggy, limestone cliffs (or maybe sandstone, not sure) are so striking; the caves are so colourful and the beach is golden; it’s not high season yet so there are no swimming buoys out. Watching the sea ripple across the bay is hypnotizing. It’s so idyllically calm and peaceful here but not to be underestimated as any wind other than from the north can set up quite a chop in here; sadly strong winds and rain were coming the following morning so it was time for us to be on our way. We had hoped to do a night passage down through the Aeolian Islands to be able to sail past Stromboli , the oldest lighthouse in the world, and see it erupting but strong north westerlies were to be coming right across the islands , so instead we headed for Vibo Valentia, 86 miles south.


We left Palinuro at 1400 on a smooth sea with a tiny amount of wind on the nose; this was going to be a bit of a slog but a necessity so as not to get caught in what was coming. Early evening I commented “wouldn’t it be lovely to see some dolphins now”; within a minute I nearly jumped out of my skin as a single dolphin leapt out of the sea next to me, he then doubled back and went to join his mates who were playing in our wake, incredible! Well it added a bit of excitement to our monotonous passage. After eating our airplane style dinners we donned our warm clothes and lifejackets as it was getting dark. We worked out that Stromboli was 45 miles away on a bearing of 210 degrees so we were keeping our eyes peeled for any flashes of light. I was lucky enough to see a small red ball in the sky before I went below deck for a sleep. I awoke a few hours later to the sound of the coast guard calling us asking if we’d seen a small lost aircraft; of course then I was worrying that we’d crash into debris! Paul had had an eventful watch with lots of lightening, a few Stromboli flashes, three pods of dolphins and lots of sail trimming! We arrived at Vibo Valentia at 0600, a lot earlier than planned, so we had to wait on the fuel berth until the ormeggiatori were out of bed; we had pre booked on the phone, so they were expecting us and Danielle jumped aboard and sorted our lines. The marina, Stella del Sud, is so friendly and has possibly the best showers I’ve seen since we left the UK, so at €25 a night (with our CA discount) we were sure we’d stay here a few nights before deciding our next move; this would give us a chance to do the laundry and stock up ready for some more anchoring. This was a pleasant, old working town with a nice seafront but not much to see; consequently we got a lot of chores done here and stocked up at the discount supermarket, Qui.


After four days in Vibo Valentia we decided to head for Tropea which would be an ideal point to head off for the Aeolian Islands. We fuelled up before leaving, €1.62 a litre, ouch! Only 12 miles along this luscious green coastline today, but we had a great downwind sail with the genoa. Unfortunately the rain followed us all the way. The entrance to the marina is really shallow on the starboard side so they have laid buoys which are quite confusing but realised that as long as we kept them to starboard we were fine. We stayed here for two nights and walked up the 200 steps to the old town which was very rewarding. What a beautiful old town with a vibrant atmosphere, full of upmarket shops but reasonably priced restaurants; the views up there were fantastic; the buildings are embedded into the cliff. Everywhere was selling red onions with which they make a great relish. We spent an evening enjoying a pizza and planning the next part of Swallow’s adventures.