Letter from the Med- Amalfi to Aeolian Islands

by Ian and Andrea Treleaven on 5 Jul 2006 Hi Everyone,

What a day we had before the big football game between Australia and Italy.

As you are aware I put out a letter about watching the lead up games to Australia moving through to the next round to play Italy. That letter created a frenzy of radio stations ringing us through our publishers New Holland. In the end we did 11 live radio interviews around Australia including Alan Jones who spoke of the book as a super read!

Nothing more can be said about the football game but it was great while it lasted. I must say the Italians were unusually quiet during the whole game but when they were awarded the penalty they erupted knowing they couldn’t miss. One thing in our favour is the Italians love us even more now and every where we go they just comment, 'oh we are so, so sorry', and acknowledge they got very lucky. We will continue to follow the football as its entertaining just being in the town squares with the locals. Our coffee arrived the next day just to rub it in, see photo to see why.

Leaving the Tiber River or Grand Canal as they call it, we motored 60nm to the island of Ponza. No wind and steaming hot, even at sea it’s no relief.

Around Ponza is a diver’s delight with many grottos, caves and ruins where the Romans dug out pools in the rock to breed fish.

Only 20nm away is the island of Venetotene and as it’s been recommended several times, we decide to have a night there. A port only visited by Italians, it is very small with the quaint port dug out by the Romans.
Nero’s wife was exiled here and many of her suitors followed her. Not a lot else to do here I guess, but it is away from the madding crowd for us.

Capri is always a delight and as it’s so calm we are able to anchor off the port, a huge saving as its E130 in the marina. Our best pizza to date at ‘Ristorante Aurora Pixxeria’ I order a Caprese of mozzarella and fresh cherry tomatoes, so simple; nothing compares to a pizza in Italy. Young Ian and Jasmin are fascinated by grottos so by mid day the only thing to do is swim.

Passing the Galli Islands, the siren islands in the Odyssey, we decide to anchor. They are now the private island of the late Rudolf Nureyev. The saying goes that if the males hear the sirens as they sail past, they are drawn onto the island and never leave the beautiful girls, abandoning their wives and children. At least I tried but Ian must have wax in his ears.

Positano with its lemon scented steep steps, and over hanging bougainvillea we catch up with Terry and Robert Schwamberg with daughter Billie at the Da Adolfo Ristorante. Once again we are able to anchor off beside Rivas and other yachts in a bay that is very open to the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The Amalfi Coast to the town of Amalfi and Kevin Horne is waiting for us.
Kevin has been with us many times and is now here on another yacht. Frank Lowy is here on his 180 foot plus ‘Ilona’ flying an Aussie (blue) flag and Kevin thinks it’s us with a new boat. We can all dream but we soon arrive in something a lot more understated.

The 15 knot wind is perfect for the 130nm overnight sail to the Aeolian Islands. As we round the active volcano Stromboli at 2.00 am in the morning we see the glow of each eruption in the puffs of smoke and hear the enormous rumbles a fair distance away.

In Lipari Nick, Michelle and daughter Stephanie have joined us for two weeks; we are now seven on board for a few days. A port where new pontoons have been installed nearer to the village make this well worth a visit, I have now been here three times and every time it grows on you. I love to stock up on the locally grown produce especially the capers that are simply delicious.

Vulcano Island and a climb to the steaming top where young Ian climbs down into the crater, where the only sound was rocks falling beneath his shoes.

After a very smelly mud bath and a swim in the active bubbling sea we head for Cefulu Sicily.

Under a very hot relentless sun.

Cheers Andrea and Ian

A note for fellow cruisers. If visiting Sardinia there is now a visiting permit fee. For a boat our size we would pay E1000. A 94 footer paid E5000 the other day, not knowing this information.