Another early start, a little bit rocky and rolly but not too bad. After several failed attempts at communicating with Gaeta I finally hit gold when I noticed a Facebook post from somebody currently in Gaeta. Within 15 minutes we had a berth secured!
On arrival we radioed the port control who immediately told us we were "in danger". "Go to your right". It was getting a bit shallow but us East Coast Sailors don't panic easily, even with only 1.5m under the keel but we gratefully followed the broadcast instructions until we were safely in the harbour. I needed a couple of goes to go stern to on the pontoon but eventually we were tied up.
Once settled we went looking for the office and failed miserably so went looking for cruising association boats instead. We didn't have to look far before we saw Val's boat and went to say hello, enjoyed a drink and a chat, and decided tomorrow would be soon enough to go to the office!
Monday
AJ really didn't feel well so he stayed in bed most of the day, with Esmé doing a little boat school before coming shopping with me to get some food for the day. Gaeta is a lovely town with some really narrow alleyways where you can find very small stalls selling fruit, vegetables and meats. Christmas decorations were being erected and Esmé especially liked the woolly mammoth.
This was the second Monday of the live aboard kids culinary challenge where they needed to make a meal for under 10 Euros. As AJ wasn't feeling well Esmé did all the shopping and volunteered to make desert which took up more than 50% of the budget!
We got some laundry and cleaning done and both kids spent time watching Pompeii documentaries on the iPad ready for our field trip next week before Esmé started on her creation.
Tuesday
The wind had picked up and we had been rocking and rolling all night. The mooring lines had been snatching and I had struggled to sleep. When we woke Patrick found the marina guys doing something with our lines which to our horror were all frayed and would now need replacing!
We used the marina's lines temporarily and I marched the whole family over the road, complete with some school work to find a café. The constant rolling of the boat was getting to me! We spent some of our precious budget on hot chocolate and pastries for breakfast while doing a little school work.
On our return to the boat Val dropped round asking if I wanted to go shopping with her so I dragged out the shopping trolley and went. Val showed me all the good places to go shopping and we finally parted company in the Conad where I was trying to stock up for our upcoming passages. It was lovely to have somebody to chat to again. I also arranged to drop some sweets round later so the kids could come trick or treating!
After a lazy lunch, a trip to the chandlery to buy new mooring lines, and some planning time for Patrick and I, the kids got dressed up for Halloween. After visiting Val and a couple of other boats we went into town and also got some booty from some of the shops by carefully watching where the Italian kids were going.
I showed Patrick the butchers shop with great vats of wine in the window and decided to try some. The vendor went out back, got an empty 1.5 litre water bottle which he filled with merlot and charged me Euro 2.90. We then got take a way pizza and rushed back to the boat to enjoy our purchases!
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