4/28/2024 Geata, Base Nautica Flavio Gioia, Italy
Up early with the sun, clear skies and warm. Sorted out the
laundry, filled the wagon and walked to the laundromat. It turned out to be
full service and they could not have the laundry ready before Tuesday, this was
Sunday. The next laundromat looked promising, but it turned out to be on the
military base, no civilians. Last chance was a hike up the hill where we found
two washers and two dryers! A great way to spend a beautiful Sunday morning in
Italy. I wonder what the status of my generator is?
While waiting on our laundry a young Italian man walked in
to do a load. He was studying English, he had his study guide with him, but he
was more than happy to practice with us. He had crewed on a sailboat and
traveled to a number of places in the world. We told him where we were headed
and he was excited to give us a list of his favorite places. We did not have a
pen and paper so he ran home and returned with pen and paper. He must have
listed 20 places we need to go. Once finished with our laundry we bid good bye
to our new friend Fabrisio and thanked him for his recommendations.
By 1230 we had the laundry hung out to finish drying and we
set to work on a few maintenance chores that needed to be done. The day was hot
and dry making it a good day to open up and air out the boat. Shorts and tee
shirts for a change. Suzette made up the pizza dough and we left it in the
cockpit to rise in the warm sunshine. We closed up the boat at about 2000, more
for bug prevention than warmth. We both woke up hot in the middle of the night
and opened the hatches in our stateroom to cool off! Otherwise, a quiet night
at the marina.
4/29/2024 Geata, Italy
Overnight there were two new arrivals filling the berths
next to us, both race boats coming in for the weekend race. As the American
Navy ship raised the colors at 0800 they played God Bless America over the
loudspeaker, it makes me very emotional to here that in a foreign country like
this. The weather looked good in the morning for sailing so we squared away the
boat, paid our bill and got underway by 0930.
The wind was 10-12 from the east and made for a perfect reach as we sailed to Isola di Ishia, an island that forms the NW edge of the bay of Naples. We were happily enjoying our sail and I was watching a boat that seemed to be tracking my bow from starboard, a Gaurdia Coasteria, Coast Guard. He passed close but kept going on his way. About a half hour later a boat came speeding up from behind and sure enough it was the Guardia Fienza, the tax man. He waived us to slow down and I pointed to the sails and shrugged. He came close and I yelled to him that they had boarded us 2 weeks ago. He asked if we had a “paper”. I went below and retrieved the paper given to us by the last Fienza and he came close enough to grab it from me while we were both underway. They went in the cabin and reviewed the paper. He returned to the deck, passed the paper back and said have a nice day. Happily, we never slowed down or left our course.
The wind hung in longer than predicted, but at 1300 it shut off and we furled the sails. The sea was nearly flat and the breeze was light from the south as we motored to our anchorage. Upon arrival there were a few day boats milling around, but we had plenty of space to anchor off of the resort beach with many beach goers relaxing in the sun. We anchored easily in 8m of water in sand and settled in. The only disturbance was the occasional ferry, but they stopped by about 1900. A very calm and quiet night at anchor, good to be on a hook.
4/30/2024 Isola di Ishia, Italy
Up early to enjoy another beautiful warm day. We launched
the dinghy and toured the cove and the adjacent marina. Lots of rocks hidden
below the surface as we approached shore, but not many fish as usual.
The anchorage is just south of Punta Caruso on the west side
of Isola di Ishia. We departed about 1030 for the short trip into Naples.
Ironically the place we were able to reserve is Powerboats Italia. The wind was
out of the south so we enjoyed a quiet sail across the top of Ishia, tacking to
get to the south side of Isola Procida. The towns on the island were fabulous,
old and colorful. The wind died so we motored the last hour into the marina.
Entering the marina, we could see that it was very tight, but well protected by a castle that flanked the west side. We were looking for the fuel dock and proceeded very slowly. Fortunately, there was no wind. The fuel dock was at the very end of the fairway and we had to wedge into a dock with another boat on port creating a vee. It was getting shallow and a guy on a sail boat near the dock warned that it was shallow, “go slow, stay to the left as you go in”. We managed to get in and top off the tanks. Since guests were arriving, we wanted to be full and ready to go.
From here we were directed to our berth across the fairway
between two power boats. As we backed out of the fuel dock and across the fairway,
I could see that it was a very, very tight spot. There was a Marinaros on the
boat to starboard, a brand new Tiara, and a guy on the boat to port that was
moving the boat to his port using his bow thruster. We shoe horned our way in
with additional Marinaros on the dock. I failed to account for the port side
boat’s powerful bow thruster as I rubbed a couple of my stanchions on the
starboard side boat’s rub rail. When the boat was wedged in and lots of bumpers
were in place the Marinaros was all excited that we had damaged the new boat.
There were phone calls to the owner, long faces, head shaking and an angry Marinaros.
The only real damage was a rub mark in my stanchion. We checked in with the
office and by the time I returned to the boat the angry Marinaros was on my
boat gesticulating with his hands and very angry as the owner arrived. I
invited the Marinaros to leave my boat and invited the owner on board. As it turns
out it was the Owner’s son who came from his office to inspect. He looked at
the rub rail and took a couple pictures, but did not see any damage. He called
his dad and reported accordingly. He was a little upset because the marina
called and said that someone had crashed into his new boat and he needed to
come right away to inspect. We shook hands and he went on his way, no harm
done. The Marinaros slinked off and everything was right with the world once
again.
Naples is known for their pizza so we decided to walk the
city and have Naples's pizza for dinner. There was a highly rated place off of
the beaten path in a neighborhood, Pizzeria Pavis, that sounded promising. We
walked through some back streets, past apartments and up the hill, everything
is up the hill. We arrived about 1930 to a small restaurant with maybe 7 tables
and a fabulous wood burning pizza oven. The tables were half full, but quickly
filled after we sat down. As one table emptied it was quickly filled. People
came and went with takeout boxes and the kitchen was working hard. The pizza is
thin crust with a smear of Marzano Tomato sauce and light toppings. It was delicious,
but I like my thick crust pizza that we make at home. The beer was delicious, N’artigiana
Rossa, and Suzette enjoyed the house wine.
We wandered back by a different route and stumbled on the Piazza
del Plebiscito with the Royal palace at one end and the Basilica Reale
Pontificia San Francesc da Paola at the other end. Around the corner and
connected to palace we found the Opera House; this is the oldest opera house in
the world still in use today. We have tickets for Romeo and Juliette on
Thursday. We walked the galleria that was next door, everything was closed, but
the architecture was fabulous, very similar to the galleria in Milan. From here
it was short walk to the waterfront and back to the boat. A very quiet night in
the marina.
5/1/2024 Porticciolo di Santa Lucia,
Naples, Italy
Up with the sun and ready to get busy preparing for guests.
To us it was May Day, for the Italians it was Labor Day, no work and all play. We
walked to the grocery store for a short list of essentials and few specific
items to fill out our menu. On the way we stopped for a Coffee at a café. The staff
there were very friendly and sang a little song about the cappuccino as they
pulled our espressos. The wind was already starting to build and a little rain
was starting to fall as we sat out in the piazza under a canopy and enjoyed our
coffees.
The market was a real market with great selections,
beautiful vegetables and most everything we needed. We carried our groceries
back to the boat with the expectation of putting them away and then walking the
city. As forecasted the wind and rain started so we postponed our walk and
seized the opportunity to do some chores down below. The wind was expected to
gust to 25 from the south and rain for a couple hours. We were well protected
in the marina, but happy to keep an eye on the boat in the high winds.
The weather moderated about 1500 and we went for our city
walk. We headed east, inland and up the hill. We passed beautiful water front
hotels, the haute couture shops, the huge old apartment blocks and the
beautiful homes nestled in the hill side. The streets turned to alleys and then
into stairs as we climbed to about 250m of elevation where we found Castel
Sant’Elmo a hilltop 14th century fortress and prison. The views were
spectacular, from here it looked like a beautiful city, but close up it was
dirty and chaotic. We made our way around the castle and back down another set
stairs that descended for a long way before becoming actual roads. As we
returned to the busy part of the city, we noticed significant military and
police presents keeping an eye on things, but no issues. It was 1830 by the
time we returned from our 8 plus kilometer walk, half of it up hill.
Suzette made our favorite, pasta primavera and we opened a bottle of wine from Montepulciano, it seems like it was a long time ago that we were in Montepulciano tasting wine with friends Bonnie and Don. Another quiet night.
5/2/2024 Porticciolo di Santa Lucia, Naples, Italy
Up with the sun, but anticipating another rainy windy afternoon. We tinkered about on the boat until it was time to go to Pizza making school. We found our way to the restaurant near the Galeria where we were ushered into the lower level where there was a beautiful and ornate room with a small stage. Supposedly a place where the queen would come and be entertained. Our chef instructor, Gabriello, was very entertaining and knowledgeable as he walked through the history, ingredients and intricacies of the Naple’s Pizza. The Margarita pizza being the simple, but most popular version, named after the queen at the time. We had a great group, 2 Americans, 2 Canadians and 2 brits, plus ourselves. It was interesting to see what everyone was planning for Naples. Ironically, most of the planned activities were outside the city; Pompei, Mount Vesuvius, Amalfi Coast, etc.
We made our dough and learned a few tricks. I asked at what
point we throw it in the air and I got detention…never throw it in the air! We
were surprised that they let the dough rise for 12 to 36 hours before using it.
Our dough was consolidated and used later to bake bread that they donated to a
shelter. They brought out dough for us that was ready to use and we proceeded
to make our simple Margarita pies, sauce (San Marzano Tomatoes squeezed with
the seeds and skin removed, not cooked), cheese (A type of dry mozzarella cut
into small pieces), 1 large Basil Leaf (do not tear it, this is where Suzette
got detention, at least I will have company) and finally, a drizzle of olive
oil.
We took our pies up to the wood burning pizza oven where they were cooked for about 1 ½ minutes at 900 degrees F. At this point we sat and enjoyed our pizza, beer and wine. The flavor was fantastic, but I think I would have cooked it longer, 2 minutes?
We dodged rain drops and tried to keep our umbrella right
side in with the wind as we made our way back to the boat. We relaxed for the
afternoon as we were stuffed with pizza. We received an email with good news on
the generator. The new electric motor would arrive at their shop by Monday.
They would then reassemble and bench test it. If all was good, they would
coordinate with us to install it.
Fortunately, the wind and rain were dying off as we made our
way to the Opera House in the evening, Teatro di San Carlo. The exterior was
being renovated, but the interior was beautifully maintained. They say this is
the oldest operating opera house in the world. I am not sure how this is
measured as the building was built in 1737, then rebuilt in the early 1800s
after being burned down by fire. The interior was opulent to say the least. We
had great seats in the center on the floor. We learned our lesson in Milan at
La Scala, only get a box seat if you are in the front row of the box. Also, the
seats in the box are not very comfortable. The presentation was Romeo and
Juliet ballet and the performance was full of grace and beauty. Suzette felt
that it was the best ballet she had ever seen.
Fortunately, the rain and wind had stopped making a walk home very pleasant.
5/3/2024 Porticciolo di Santa Lucia, Naples, Italy
A few last minute chores for our guests in the morning and
we were ready. We spent most of the morning cooking so that we could have a
spectacular lunch on board to welcome Bill and Owen. They arrived right on time
and we had plenty to talk about and catch up on. They are friends from our yacht
club, Shoreline Yacht Club in Long Beach. They are salty sailors and have spent
several seasons sailing their boat in Mexico. It was another rainy windy day so
we were content to linger below and enjoy the conversation.
After they were unpacked and settled in, we walked the city showing them the highlights. We stopped for more Naple’s Pizza at a restaurant called Gusto Marigliano Pizzeria, another highly rated restaurant. The restaurant was subterranean, but beautiful with 2 grand pizza ovens with polished stainless-steel vents bringing warm air into the restaurant. Great cocktails, wine and pizza.
On the way back to the boat, in the big piazza there was an
amazing dance show going on. It had an asian feel with colorful costumes,
elaborate masks and the dancers were on stilts. It reminded me of the Moko Jumbies
in Caribbean. There was a crane that lifted a lighted ring that looked like it
represented the moon with a woman doing acrobatics in and around the ring.
There were performers on bicycles with fireworks and a pinwheel of fireworks. A
very fun surprise.
A late night for as we crawled into bed about 2300, for a quiet night.
5/4/2024 Porticciolo di Santa Lucia, Naples, Italy
A lazy morning as we enjoyed coffee and conversation. We got
underway about 1100, a much calmer exit in a light breeze and sunshine. We
motored into the breeze and a bit of a swell to show Bill and Owen this
fantastic town on Isola di Procida. Then we unfurled the sails and enjoyed a
broad reach towards Sorrento. It was great to have sailors on board who
interested in tweaking sails and talking about tweaks to make onboard life
better.
Arriving in Sorrento we found a very small marina, Marina
Piccolo, at the base of a huge cliff. The Marinaros were very helpful and we
were quickly settled in time for 5 o’clock cocktails. Suzette and I went ashore
to organize a car for the next day to tour the Amalfi coast by land. Dinner was
easy as we cleaned up the left overs from yesterday. It was warm, sunny and
calm making dining in the cockpit a pleasure.
With the sun setting we retreated to the saloon enjoying some of Suzette’s homemade cookies for desert with evening cocktails.
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