Days 150 to 152: 11th to 13th November Cetraro, Vibo Valentia, and the arrival of Roger

Saturday: Camerota to Cetraro

Early morning again and I definitely wasn't feeling the love for sailing. Esmé had been not feeling well and I had been up in the night with her. Ideally we would have stayed another day but we only had 2 days good weather to get us down to Vibo Valentia before the weather turned for a while.

It was a strange old day and after I'd done a long stint at the helm I decided to get my head down for a while and catch up on sleep. After a while I was vaguely aware of the motion changing and after asking Patrick what was going on he told me to take a look. The wind had increased from a measly 5 knots to nearly 30 knots and although the sea was luckily still relatively flat, there was definitely more chop. AJ was starting to get concerned but Patrick did a great job of calming him down, and once we had thought a little, we realised that the wind was funnelling down a valley, and we could see an area a mile or so ahead with decidedly less white horses. As we crossed the line in the sea, the wind changed direction 180 Degrees and decreased from 28 knots to 8 knots. All good.

Patrick had phoned the harbour but the conversation consisted in Patrick speaking in English and the guy replying in Italian, I'm not sure anything was really understood except that they guy might have had a heads up a boat may be approaching. On entering the harbour we hung around for a while and then saw a guy walking towards us who guided us into our berth. We were told the office wasn't open until 6pm but when Patrick walked down he was told nobody would be there until 8am in the morning. Apparently when Patrick said we'd be gone by then the Italian said something that sounded like Transito which Patrick took to mean we had a free night... result!



Sunday: Cetraro to Vibo Valentia

An even earlier morning and very soon I broke out the emergency Coke Zero to hopefully give me enough energy for the day. After a while AJ popped his head up and asked if we were going to put the mizzen up. Patrick told him no, as there wasn't enough wind to make it worthwhile. My response was a little different, and I told him if he wanted it up he could put it up if he wanted. He disappeared down below and reappeared with lifejacket on, and then set to. It was lovely to see how much he knew and soon he was looking at his lovely mizzen!

Breakfast followed and then we enjoyed motoring on a glassy sea.

And then the dolphins came.... see video here.

We enjoyed them playing with us for about 20 minutes before they said goodbye and were on their way.

Onwards to Vibo Valentia where we got a lovely welcome and were well ready for a rest.

 Monday

Boatschool, tetchy kids, unsuccessful shopping, then our good friend Roger arrived! Lunch, chatting, weather watching, and planning before Thai green curry for tea.

Just had a little excitement with swell coming into the harbour and the boat next to us snapping a mooring spring. After taking a while to work out what had gone bang we quickly managed to re-secure the boat and phone the Angela at the marina who will send someone down to put something stronger on. All fun and games!

Day 149: 10th November 2017 An unexpected stay in Camerota

We woke early as planned, but to the sound of thunder and the drumming of rain on the deck which was definitely not planned. After a look at the updated forecast we decided sailing in a thunderstorm was not fun so we would stay put for a day. However we were now left with a problem in that we had told the fuel guy we would be off his pontoon by 6am! Patrick took a walk and found a night watchman in the marina office who said he would come and help us at about 7:30. Another 1/2 hour and we heard a fishing boat approaching and on sticking our heads out we saw they wanted to come alongside the fuel pontoon!

Very quickly the night watchman appeared with his umbrella and indicated he would help us move. Waterproofs on we motored across the harbour and contemplated another med mooring experience when we were met by a flurry of Italian and arms waving madly that we should just come alongside (so he could get out of the rain ASAP). This done he insisted on holding our boat documents hostage until the day guy arrived, which was a little uncomfortable but we had no choice. A little later Patrick retrieved them having paid 30 Euros for one night which was 5 Euros less than we had been quoted for the previous night before we stayed on the fuel pontoon.

As we were up early, boatschool happened very quickly, with the kids choosing to read more Harry Potter in the time they were working independently of me. After Maths and English we went for walk to the shop to top up our supplies. It was a 15 minute walk up a very steep hill with lots of complaints from Esmé. On our return AJ did his online GoZen programme and Esmé her Nessy online learning before I made lunch. At this point Esmé said she didn't feel good, didn't want to eat and spent the afternoon collapsed in front of a movie. AJ read more Harry Potter while I made soup for tomorrows passage and caught up on some paperwork.

I was just about to start contemplate cooking dinner when Patrick called me on deck to say there was a yacht aground in the entrance to the harbour. There is a silted up area on the way in that is marked by small red buoys, and a yacht had managed to get in there and was pounding on the ground. Very quickly there was a small fishing boat and the marina rib out trying to help but in the end it took a long time and a much bigger fishing boat to pull her off. It was heart breaking to watch and there was realistically nothing we could do to help. We could see her pivoting on her keel as boats tried to push and pull her off and rope after rope broke under the strain.

As if the job wasn't hard enough, the heavens then opened and there was full on thunder and lightening. 

All the land based spectators rushed for their cars, but the fishing boats battled on and eventually the yacht was free, and the sound of engine horns hooting echoed around the harbour in celebration. Unfortunately however, she had lost her throttle lever when one rope parted so had to be towed into the berth opposite us. We welcomed them in with offers of help, luckily there wasn't any water ingress although if it were me I would be lifting the boat for a look underneath. 

With all the drama over, and Esmé now asleep after having been dosed up with Calpol, I cooked dinner and we are now enjoying a quiet evening reading more Harry Potter with AJ.

Also today we had the great news that our friend Roger will be flying out on Monday to help us with our journey to Ragusa. It will be so lovely to see him and to have some more company!

Day 148: 9th November 2017 We finally escape Agropoli

Another early start and this time I was determined we would leave. There was a 10 knot breeze blowing us towards the harbour wall that threatened to cause us trouble as we needed to allow time for the lazy line which was holding the bow off the wall to sink before I engaged gear. Last time we were in this situation we had held on to the boat next door using our jousting pole of a boat hook but this wasn't an option today. In the end it went surprisingly well and we were soon on our way, out of the harbour and into the swell. 

I was actually rather pleased that we had waited a day as the swell was rather noticeable and although it wasn't a real problem for us, any bigger and things may have been uncomfortable. The kids were up relatively early too, however they very quickly decided returning to bed was a smart move with all the rocking and rolling. AJ, having a renewed enthusiasm for Harry Potter since Leonie's visit grabbed the iPad with the library download app on his way back down. A while later I went to check on the kids and found them taking it in turns to read to each other, however it wasn't much longer before AJ was on deck looking a little green. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I tell them they still try to read and watch the iPad when it's rolly.

After a handful of ginger biscuits and the strategic placing of a bucket things were looking up and I did some mental arithmetic with AJ. Esmé meanwhile was down below watching Bill Nye the Science guy talk about Space, one of the YouTube videos I downloaded whilst we had great wifi at Agropoli. However it wasn't long before she twigged that we had ginger biscuits out and was suddenly feeling a bit seasick herself. We put the times tables songs on the iPad, and blasted them out of our Bluetooth speaker. As it often does, the music distracted them enough to forget about the bucket and enjoy singing.

The journey seemed to pass quickly and with the swell dying down AJ went back to Harry Potter.

I contacted the marina at Camerota and let them know we'd arrive at 1pm but would go to the fuel pontoon first, and then we enjoyed the view as we closed into the town.

It was a little shallow on the way in but as East Coast sailors, we weren't phased. On to the fuel pontoon where yet again the nozzle was too big for Laurin so we had to use a funnel. 60 litres later we were done so tried to contact the marina guy again. I was under the impression he was on his way but after waiting a while Patrick thought maybe the "30" he mentioned wasn't 30Euros but 30 minutes. After an hour had passed Patrick went for walk but found out nothing other than there was a coastguards door with closed until 4pm written on it. He also said the toilets and showers were closed. I then went to look for a grocery shop but was unsuccessful. 4pm came and went and the Marina guys phone went straight to answerphone. We began to resent the idea that he may now turn up and request payment when we hadn't even been able to leave the boat unattended for a family walk. In the end Patrick took the kids for a walk to the beach while I got on with preparing dinner. After a while a  fishing boat came to get fuel so I walked Laurin back a little. When the Fuel Guy turned up I told him we had been trying to contact the marina guy... he said to try VHF at which point I asked if we could stay the night on the fuel pontoon. His English wasn't much better than my non existent Italian however he pointed at the sign on the wall that said he opened at 7am. I told him we would leave at 6am, gave him a beer and we were all good!

So, another early dinner, trying to get kids to bed early so that we can too get an early night ready for another early start, however the boatyard has started lifting boats out in the dark! Still, it's a free night so we can't complain.

 

Day 147: 8th November 2017 Frustrating day in Agropoli

The weather was supposed to be improving today so we set an early alarm. However during the night there were horrific thunder storms and so when the alarm went off at 6am I wasn't filled with enthusiasm for leaving our safe harbour. Patrick was reasonably keen to go but although the wind strength wasn't too much, there was due to be a large swell and as both the wind and swell were from the south early in the morning we were somewhat sheltered in Agropoli. I was worried for when we rounded the point and had another 30 miles to go! After numerous walks up to the sea wall the decision was made to stay put, although to say Patrick was frustrated was an understatement! We have a rule that if one of us doesn't want to go then we don't leave harbour, but that doesn't mean everyone is happy about it!

After breakfast Patrick went for a walk to burn off some of his frustration while I did school with the kids. It was a good morning with both kids working well and we were done by noon. A quick lunch, a few pages of "Swallowdale" and 1/2 hour of electronics and we were ready for some exercise. We went for a walk up the hill to find the castle!

 Esmé was the first reluctant climber and we had to wait on several occasions, with the boys further frustrated that I made them wait an extra few minutes so that Esmé could rest and catch her breath too.

At the top of the first section we found a church which Esmé wanted to visit. She really loves the calm atmosphere of churches.



AJ preferred to pretend to shoot ships with his stick!

Next it was AJ's turn to flag and Esmé strode ahead trying to figure out a route through the many mediaeval passage ways between houses.
















Finally we reached the castle with amazing views to match.

After a brief explore, we wandered down the hill again, stopping for gelato on the way back to the boat. The kids have been reading Harry Potter to each other the rest of the afternoon and we had an early tea in an effort to fool the kids into an early night as we'll have an early alarm call again tomorrow!

Days 142 to 146 : 3rd to 7th November 2017 Visitors, Pompeii and Paesteum

Friday: Pompeii

We woke reasonably early as Leonie and Ross were arriving at about 10am to dump their bags before we headed off to Pompeii.  I wanted the boat tidy by at least our standards, and for us all to be ready to go including having a packed lunch made....we had some misguided ideas about visiting Herculaneum as well!

After a quick turnaround we were on our way to the Station where Leonie and Ross introduced us to the complexities of Italian Rail travel which we found to be extremely efficient and cheap. On exiting the station at Pompeii we ran the gauntlet of all the guides, taxis and ticket touts trying to extract Euros from us and instead followed the crowd to walk to the ruins. AJ was a little over awed by the hustle and bustle after so long in quiet coastal towns but once we arrived he was fine.

We were all impressed by the amphitheatre. AJ even made a tellagami about it, you can view it here but I think you can only view it on a tablet or phone.

As we wandered around the streets of Pompeii I was amazed at how engaged the kids were. Like when we had read living books prior to visiting Pegasus Bridge, the kids had prior knowledge of Pompeii both from books and from BBC documentaries I had downloaded from YouTube so that the kids could watch them during travelling days. This really helped their engagement with the site, and I was both surprised and delighted when AJ pointed out what had been a pool in the entrance to one of the houses, saying he knew what this was and that there would have been a hole in the roof to allow it to fill with water. The scale of the site and it's completeness amazed me and although Herculaneum is supposed to be better in terms of what has been preserved I was completely blown away by Pompeii.

The kids had a great time running around the ruins and role playing in the street food shops and when, on occasion, the adults wanted to linger a little longer than the kids we were more than happy to let them chill out with electronic devices.

After a while we were all tired and hungry so took a break for a picnic lunch where the kids fooled around with Ross who was a great hit! We had some great conversations, including debating whether all of this stone fountain was old and why!

At the end we also spent time thinking about the poor people who died in 79 AD. AJ had been a bit unsure of visiting because of how sad it was so I'm glad this conversation was kept until the end so that he could spend time appreciating how Romans lived as well as learning of their ultimate fate.

Saturday

A pre dawn start as we had about 50 miles to go to Agropoli. Leonie and Ross were both tired but wanted to take photos of the sunrise so we agreed I'd wake them when we could see first light. It started off as a normal day, motoring out of the marina in the dark and as usual motoring as there was too little wind/wind in the wrong direction to sail. As requested I woke our guests and they enjoyed taking photos as the day dawned, followed by breakfast with the clan.

Travel day boatschool started with musical times tables and Esmé getting out the instruments.

AJ spent some of his downtime designing and building a lego plane which he explained was to scoop spilled oil out of the sea and recycle it for use on land.

By mid morning we were passing between Capri and the mainland, with photographers both taking stunning photographs.

It was then that the sea began to change and we encountered steep choppy waves which were both uncomfortable and reduced our speed from our usual 5.5 knots to less than 4 knots. AJ was completely in panic mode and a couple of us were a little green around the gills. Esmé however was suitably distracted by the prospect of "surfing" the waves, clipped on, stood on the seats and holding onto the sprayhood with the wind in her hair! She even requested her nails painted despite our protests that it might be better waiting until we were more stable! As our progress slowed, we realised that the motion was much better heading along the Amalfi coast towards Salerno so we diverted. An hour or so later things calmed down and again we changed direction, this time for our original destination of Agropoli. It was like a different day again, very soon we had sails up and enjoyed the best sail of our trip yet.

On arrival at Agropoli we were met by the guy we had been emailing waving us over to his pontoon. He pointed to a tiny gap which I attempted to reverse into... not a bad effort but the gap was so small we had to push the other boats out of the way to get in. Once tied up we realised that the passerelle would clash with the electricity feeder pillar. The guy was none too pleased and wanted us to move. The first place he suggested would have been impossible with our prop kick so we negotiated and I managed another successful stern to mooring. 

As we were finishing tying up Esmé had other things on her mind and our cockpit table soon became a nail salon!

After a brief tidy up, and the discovery that the land based showers were closed, we all took turns to shower on Laurin which is tricky when it's not just family as there is no space to put dry clothes in the heads compartment. We finally came up with the solution of non shower participants chilling out in the cockpit tent with the hatch shut and a towel over the Perspex so that whoever was having a shower could have some privacy below. It worked quite well and I think the shower wasn't quite as bad as our guests anticipated.

Out we went for a lovely meal courtesy of our guests which was a rare treat in a very nice restaurant overlooking the harbour.

Sunday

Today we headed to Paesteum, which is a site of Roman ruins and Greek temples. The first challenge was to find either a bus stop or the train station. It was quite a hike for either and we never did find the bus stop. Once on the train it was a quick ride to Peasteum and then a short walk up a country lane to the site which was really impressive.

We spent a good couple of hours exploring the ruins and hunting for lizards in glorious sunshine. As it was the first Sunday in the month, entry was free so it was quite busy. Our photographer friends liked to get photos without people in so we got into a routine of taking photos of the kids in front of a ruin (people understood this and got out of the way) then getting the kids to run out of shot so that we could take photos without people!

 

We then had a pleasant and cheap pizza lunch at one of the tourist restaurants near by before heading back via the Gelato café in Agropoli which was enjoyed by all.

More photo opportunities followed by Esmé and Leonie glitter glueing the pinecone Esmé had collected before a "picky" dinner in front of Harry Potter!

Monday

Leonie and Ross were due to leave today but they kindly stuck around and helped a little with boatschool. It was a bit of a shock to the system as it was the first time we had done full boatschool in  a while. It wasn't without problems but we made a start in getting back into a routine and both kids enjoyed learning about photo editing.

 After and early lunch we all walked up into town where AJ and I said our goodbyes to our guests and went food shopping while Patrick and Esmé walked up to the station with them to help with bags. We returned to the boat with groceries and then chilled out while a storm rages all around us. It was pretty uncomfortable on the boat and tempers were frayed well before bedtime.

Tuesday

A fresh start, too wet and windy to sail but a good morning of boat school and Patrick managed to get the Laundry done although the dryer wasn't quite as efficient as we'd hoped so the boat looked like a Chinese laundry as we turned up the chillies and tried to finally get sheets dry.

It rained pretty much all day on and off so I didn't even leave the boat. Watching the weather forecast, trying to judge what is an acceptable amount of swell, waves and wind is getting tiring so we reached out to our Facebook friends and hopefully have some new crew coming to meet us in Vibo Valentia to help out and raise spirits! Hopefully onwards tomorrow if the wind dies down as promised, otherwise probably Thursday!

All the good photos courtesy of Leonie & Ross!