Using the dinghies to move Impavidus
Bit more a push needed
Once all the action was over Captain Ant from Impavidus dived under his boat and confirmed that the propeller had indeed gone to visit Davy Jones, luckily he had a spare, although not as nice as the one that was lost. After rest and showers we took a walk up hill to see the castle and the old town.
Lots of steps
But a great view
With some unique features
More features
Still going up
The castle
More castle
It was Ant and Cid's 37th Wedding Anniversary and although it was a good climb up to the castle there was a restaurant so we all piled in to have some celebration drinks and a meal.
All dressed up for the celebration
Nice views from the table
More
And another
Thésée on the free Transito berth
Statue on the end of the break water
Oscar and Saffy looking for some shade
Cabo Palinuro headland
Cliffs and caves in the anchorage
There was very little wind along the way so the motor was on for the 30 miles, 6 and a bit hours. The water here in the anchorage looks like it has been dyed blue. It's also flat calm which is nice for a change. We took Saffy ashore for her evening ablutions and found a beach resort place.
Welcome to the beach
Wandering about
Unusual toilets
Interesting signage
More
Strange fruit
Nice Mediterranean vegetables
The ladies get a free lettuce
Then back to the boat to watch the sun go down.
Waiting for the sun to set
Writing yesterday's blog while en-route
Sunday 21st June... Midsummer's Day has come around quickly with our late start to the sailing season this year. It's been great so far though with all but one night at anchor so far. This bay we are in at the moment is called 'Baia del Buondormire'.... the Bay of Good Sleep. And it definately is living up to its name. It's a super anchorage and has almost everything we could wish for....good protection, easy dinghy landing, doggie friendly beaches and bars, countryside walks, scenic views, clear blue clean sea, loads of space, good depths for anchoring in sand, warm weather.
Today was another chill-out day.
Saturday 20th June... Morning walkies and the gates across the little river were open, so we had a look about. Then back to the beach bar for coffee and croissants.
Dean and Cindy on the bridge
Frog in the river
Breakfast
On the dinghy ride back we took a little detour into a lovely little cove. Later on Dean helped Phil to try and fix his outboard engine, but it seems that he needs a new carburettor. Then after lunch the girls got energetic and got on their paddleboards. The water is so fantastically blue and clear. Linda was having fun and enjoying herself and then she even swam around the boat.
The little cove
Cristina getting the hang of it
There goes Linda
Now for a swim
After we came back from evening walkies, Dean noticed there was some stringy stuff trailing from underneath the boat. We thought it was stuck around the rudder but it didn't want to seem to come loose. We couldn't leave it, so Dean had to snorkel under the boat to have a look. Good job he did as it was wrapped around the PROP. Thank goodness he noticed it.
Sunday 21st June... Midsummer's Day has come around quickly with our late start to the sailing season this year. It's been great so far though with all but one night at anchor so far. This bay we are in at the moment is called 'Baia del Buondormire'.... the Bay of Good Sleep. And it definately is living up to its name. It's a super anchorage and has almost everything we could wish for....good protection, easy dinghy landing, doggie friendly beaches and bars, countryside walks, scenic views, clear blue clean sea, loads of space, good depths for anchoring in sand, warm weather.
Today was another chill-out day.
Morning walkabout by the Wishing Well
It kind of reminds me of Wales
Half a mile down the coast, arch through the rock
Getting ready to fly the drone from the boat
It's up, so far so good
After the drone flying, Eternite had offered to lend Bora La their spare outboard engine, so we used our davit to lift the engine off Eternite and lower it onto Bora La. Good idea Dean. This afternoon we did some boarding again while the conditions are good. Dean just gets straight on it and off he goes. Linda likes to ease into it gently, but did manage to stand up for a circuit of the boat without falling off. Practise makes perfect. We all met up ashore at 7pm for a beer/wine/catchup, and more photos.
Easy
Saffy's not interested in the boarding life
Getting better
Coming in to land
Loch Ness is a long way away
Bermuda Triangle even further
We had a chat on the VHF between the four boats that are traveling together and decided that we will try a little bay about 7 miles further on down the coast, there are buoys there and as the weather is forecast calm for a few days it should be fine, at least a change of scenery.
I managed to build up enough courage to fly the drone from the boat again....yikes!
Anyway all went well and I managed to land back on deck after the flight...phew. I took some video and a few snaps.
Another breath holding moment
Another shot
More views from hippy beach
Marina entrance
Walking towards town
Tuesday 23rd June...On the move today. We walked Saffy quite early and had to go the the hippy beach because of the 5 euro now required to leave the dinghy.
Hippy beach landing
Rock tunnel
Hippy cave
They use these cliffs for climbing
We all weighed anchor at 10.30am and headed south(ish), the intention was to go into a nice little protected bay, double protected really as it's in a marine reserve and also protected from the weather (swell). Anyway when we got there to have a look the buoys that were supposed to be laid were nowhere to be seen. Except, we could see some about 2 meters below the surface! Weird.
Anyway to Plan B except that in that bay also the buoys were below the surface, there were a couple of boats tied up to them, even weirder! We decided to leave and find another area in which to anchor....Italians nothing more to be said!
The trouble was the swell had built by this time and as the coast here is quite exposed there was nowhere to anchor safely so we headed for a marina luckily only 50 euro a night. Quite a nice town. Maratea.
Believers come here!
Wednesday 24th June... It's been a hot day again today, no wind here in the marina, or elsewhere outside either. We took a walk into the village again to the little food store and got most of what we needed, also a fruit and veg van on the quay so we topped up with bananas, kiwis, apricots, and cucumber. Some of it mushy, some OK. The van man was a nice guy anyway and after giving us an orange and apricot to eat, he took us to a hose pipe to wash our hands.
Linda decided to take some photos of our lazy lines. As we've said before, here in the Med it's all stern to the quay mooring so the bow of the boat has to be attached to lazy lines as shown in this first photo. They are attached to chains on the seabed and you have to pull them as tight as you can and attach them to the bow cleat on the boat. They are hard work, heavy and backbreaking sometimes. When not in use they lie on the seabed and of course all sorts of sea creatures attach themselves to the lines. The lines can be very slimy and rough if not used regularly. Here in Maratea they are particularly slimy and grotty so i thought i should take a couple of photos to show you.
Lazy line coming up from the sea bed
and attached to the port side bow cleat
A closer look at what we have to deal with
....and even closer..... DISGUSTING
Apart from the lazy lines, it's a lovely little place with nice views inland and a statue of 'Christ the Redeemer' looking down on us from the mountaintop above. He even lights up at night. Cristina (our Brazilian friend) says he's not a patch on Rio de Janiero.
Views North
You can just about see the statue on top
That's a bit clearer
Looking South
Our back yard
So we had a bit of a drinky get-together tonight after being invited onto Bora La, where we all got bitten by mozzies when the sun was going down. It's David's birthday tomorrow and Caroline had made Chocolate Brownies that were delicious, so David got an early birthday celebration. A good night.
Thursday 25th June, & Friday 26th June 2020...
DEAN... So today (Thurs) we left the marina and headed further south towards Cetraro where there is an anchorage just outside of the marina, which looks good for a couple of days.
Very nice coastline here
That's the road!
More coastline
Ancient ruins
Hilltop town
Home sweet home for the next couple of days
So we arrived at the anchorage and found another boat here and a fishing pot buoy in the best place! We dropped anchor in 4 meters with 22 meters of chain out. The water is quite clear and the anchor can be seen from our bow. A few fishing boats come and go causing some swell but otherwise it's calm and very, very hot. Inside the boat at the moment (Friday 12.30pm) its 30 degrees, the windows are covered and the fans are on. We did a quick trip to Lidl this morning for a few bits. Most of the surrounding area is very run down and tatty except for a couple of houses here and there which are immaculate.
I have been "nominated" by Gavin from Midtherm to do 25 press ups (push up's) each day for 25 days. I commented on how he was doing his and now of cause I have to make sure mine are perfect! Anyway it's for a good cause so Ill see how I get on, I think the hardest parts will be posting on facebook as the internet is a little dodgy as we go along.
The challenge to hopefully raise awareness for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), anxiety and depression that drive people to commit suicide.
Let's reach as many people as possible. Let's hope by doing this we can build awareness for anyone who is suffering from a mental illness, you are not alone and we are here for you.
“It takes strength to speak out not weakness”
Cindy and her shopping trolley on the beach, lol
Bora La came to join us yesterday in the anchorage. Most of the afternoon was spent on the paddleboards. It's lovely just to sit on them, drift about, and chat with your feet dangling in the water. I'm getting more confident now at standing up and i even managed to circumnavigate three boats without sitting down or falling off.
We have realised that we are now in the Italian region called Calabria, and most of the foot of Italy is in this region. The next step tomorrow will be 40 ish miles or so as there's nothing inbetween. Let's hope the plan A anchorage will be a good one.
By the way, i counted my mozzie bites from the other night and i have 46 bites!!! 24 of those are on one leg.
Dean is doing great with his push-ups, i think this was day 3. He's a bit restricted in places to do them on the boat so he's getting inventive.
Saffy and I used our MOB warning fobs today as it was deemed too hot for life jackets. They send a signal to your phone if they go out of range.
Sporting MOB fobs
Views along the way
Approaching our anchorage
Here we are
Anchor beer
Kite surfers near the anchorage
When we arrived at the anchorage I noticed some wind turbines dotted about the big valley sides. They're put in the area because it gets windy of course, so after motoring with no wind for hours it started to blow at about 15 knots. It was still comfortable on the boat, in fact we were hardly moving. We checked the forecast again, but the gusts were due to die down by 7.30pm, just in time for us to get Saffy and Oscar onto the beach for a run-around before sunset.
Monday 29th June.... *** HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAN ***..... Yes today is indeed the Skipper's Birthday, and it was definately another hot one. Summer is here with a vengeance and we are trying to keep Saffy as cool as possible.
We woke at 6am to a gorgeous calm morning and wonderful sunrise. A great night's sleep after yesterday's gusty afternoon. There's not much here and it's very open so really only good for a one night stop-over. Gusts predicted again for the afternoon, so we decided it was time to head 13 miles south and into Marina Stella del Sud at Vibo Valentia to meet up with Bora La again. We did manage to sail for half the journey which was really good for Dean to be able to do that on his Birthday.
Monday 29th June.... *** HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAN ***..... Yes today is indeed the Skipper's Birthday, and it was definately another hot one. Summer is here with a vengeance and we are trying to keep Saffy as cool as possible.
We woke at 6am to a gorgeous calm morning and wonderful sunrise. A great night's sleep after yesterday's gusty afternoon. There's not much here and it's very open so really only good for a one night stop-over. Gusts predicted again for the afternoon, so we decided it was time to head 13 miles south and into Marina Stella del Sud at Vibo Valentia to meet up with Bora La again. We did manage to sail for half the journey which was really good for Dean to be able to do that on his Birthday.
Birthday Morning has broken
Mild gusts predicted for pm
Impavidus leaving the anchorage
Dean's Birthday Sail
Approaching the marina we saw this huge road bridge
We're here.... Marina Stella del Sud
We've heard some fabulous reports about this marina and so we were eager to come and see for ourselves. It's another family run marina, with husband and wife in charge... Angela who is Canadian, and Tomaso.. Italian. On arrival in the harbour the staff came to meet us in a rib and show us our berth, then four of them (including a little lad) helping us berth and even came on board to do the dreaded lazy lines, which made Dean very happy. It's is indeed a lovely place, beautiful views, friendliness, laundry, chandleries, and a few shops nearby. They even gave us a welcome gift, a jar of Piccantino & Golosi (whatever that is).
Our welcome gift
You don't see the Canadian flag in many marinas in Italy
This evening we invited the gang onboard for celebratory Birthday drinks. It was such a warm night (and no mozzies either). Linda made Dean a birthday trifle, (no sherry though) his favourite, and we all sang Happy Birthday finally retiring to bed at around 11.30pm. A great day.
So i got the numbers the wrong way round !!
That's the way you like it Dean
Birthday drinks
Noah's Ark ?? Hope not
Another view of the marina
Admiring the view
Look at the size of that loaf
The bread is sold by weight mostly, which is why you see huge loaves with bits cut off, you just have as much as you want.
Afternoon doggy walks with the gang
I'm sure there was sign which said bike and pedestrians only but cars (that fit) kept coming through!
Low bridge
Very nice apartments
We feel quite at home in this family run marina and the small town is quite pleasant also.
Entrance to the marina
Wednesday 1st July... LINDA - Two nights here in Stella del Sud at Vibo Valentia, and it's moving on time. We think this marina is super, and we are also falling in love with Cantabria. Dean carried out his monthly maintenance checks and after filling up with fuel at 3pm (open again after siesta time) we moved along the coast 18 miles to Capo Vaticano, which will give us a good stepping point for the crossing to the Aeolian Islands tomorrow.
Near the fuel berth in the harbour, loads of room to manoevre
On the way, and more beautiful countryside
Some of us didn't see the beautiful countryside
.... zzzzzz
This is Tropea
So we arrived at our overnight anchorage at 6.30pm and when we had all anchored Dean dived in and checked the anchors. Then it was mass attacks to have dinner and get Saffy onto the beach before dark. The daylight is shorter here and by 9pm, well that's about it.
There's a lot of rocks in this area so we had to be careful about where to anchor. The beach was so lovely and sandy, only small though but very picturesque. And the sunset over Stromboli (almost) about 40 miles away was wonderful...
Navionics showing our anchor position (red arrow)
Notice the rocks to our north, east, and south
Fabulous beach landing place
Oscar having a run about in the sand
Stromboli is on the left
Can just about make it out in the haze
Stromboli close up zoomed in
This is the last blog post entitled 'South towards Sicily'
The next post will be entitled 'The Aeolian Islands'
