Days 140 and 141: 1st and 2nd November. Goodbye Gaeta, hello Porto del Greco

Wednesday

Val had told us that today was market day and that we might get some spare shoes for AJ. At the moment he only has one pair which is a bit of a problem when he does something silly like going in the sea in them! I still had to buy fruit and veg for the next few days so we all set off, with plenty of bags. AJ and Esmé appear to have got rather more enthusiastic about markets after San Remo so we all enjoyed choosing some foods, and browsing the other stalls. There were plenty of shoe stalls however only the very last one sold kids shoes. It wasn't particularly cheap but I suspect they were designer Italian brands. AJ walked away with a lovely pair of boots and I got some new walking trainers as mine had given up!

Late afternoon we motored round to the fuel pontoon to stock up on cheap diesel, and then invited Val and John over for some pre-dinner drinks to say thank you for all their help. We had a lovely time talking about our travels and plans before they left so that we could eat and then get an early night as the alarm was set for 5am.

Thursday

An early start again, past the US warship and out into the bay. As the clocks had been put back it wasn't quite as long until sunrise but I took the first watch again.

There was a reasonable amount of wind, in a reasonable direction so once Patrick was rested we put the mizzen and headsail up and enjoyed an hour or so of sailing before the wind dropped and we had to put the engine on again. As we motored between Procida and the mainland, Vesuvius came into view and we motored towards the volcano.

We motored into the marina, trying to find Julius who had been texting us in broken English with berthing instructions. We eventually found a guy, not quite sure if he actually was Julius, who directed us in and took our lines. After a celebratory beer and another load of hand washing Patrick went to find him with our boat papers which have been required at every other stop. He refused them... I think Patrick thought he was refusing payment but unsurprisingly this was not the case. He gestured that he wanted 40 Euros per night at which I said no way. He very quickly reduced the nightly rate to 30 Euros which we thought was acceptable and paid in cash. 

After dinner I had a lovely phonecall with my friend Leonie who had just landed in Naples and will be joining us with her partner Ross tomorrow for a few days. Looking forward to having guests!!