A picturesque holiday town that is a great favourite with the Italians and fortunately not too crowded as we are still early in the season. We wandered around and climbed up and down stairs and watched the world go by in a sultry Italian day with the temperature reaching in the 40°. It has a very chequered history and was used, in the Roman days, as an exile for undesirables like the Caligula brothers and Agrippina. There is also a very extensive grotto system that was linked to the Summer residence of Augusto by overhanging arches complete with swimming pools and fish ponds.
In the late afternoon we were accosted by a local harbour employee who “persuaded” us to go to quay as there were strong easterly winds expected. We negociated a price of 50.00 euros which is expensive but a great deal less that is being quoted by the other pontoons. We had earlier questioned one of the pontoon boys (where we had left our dinghy to explore the town) who informed us that we could come to the quay for 80.00 euros instead of 130.00 (and this is the off season). The cheapest price quoted was 10.00 euros a linear metre. This was the first night to be spent at quay since we started and we hope that there will not be too many more at these rates.
We used the day that we spent at the quay to get to know our way around town and in the evening we decided to anchor again in order to avoid the noise of the town and the tugging of the quay. Although the wind was still blowing from the East we anchored and then to give us practice and to ensure that all was well we did an anchor watch through the night. Our method of anchoring worked fine and the boat was safe. We used the next day for Svein to install the remote control for the windlass and to fill up with fuel. Here we had a great fright. Although the wind was turning there was still a swell and it was strong enough for one of our mooring ropes to break during the fuelling. Fortunately no harm was done and we were able to complete the procedure and return to the anchorage. In the afternoon we had a call from “Anelo”, who had reached Ponza the previous day but had anchored on the other side of the island, to say that the wind was changing to West and they were coming round. They arrived in the late afternoon and we celebrated with a bottle of champagne and dinner on board. They had had a very tough time getting this far.
On Sunday Svein checked over the engine and we discovered that the alternator was not charging! He went round all the mechanic workshops but not many people were working. It is something that will have to be dealt with on Monday as all his alternatives to bypass the system did not work. Hopefully we will not have to buy a new alternator. We spent a lazy day on the boat taking up the sun and feeling frustrated as the wind has now turned and it is perfect for the next stage of the journey. Hopefully we will be able to solve the problem on Monday and leave on Tuesday.
Svein has been to the workshop and it would appear that the wheel on the alternator was loose. Something he had missed but the mechanic is repairing it and we collected it late this evening and installed it. We have used the day to our advantage to get some heavy washing done and to stock up on perishables before we move on.
We have put out pictures from the first stage of the journey as well this time. We will leave here on Tuesday and make for Capri and the Bay of Naples before heading down to the toe of Italy and Sicily. We have not yet decided if we will go round Sicily or through the Messina Strait. Time and weather conditions will decide.