Yesterday’s sail to Fiumicino was quite emotional. I knew it was the last big sail I’m going to do for a while. I am going to a marina in the Fiumicino canal later today where Lady Cindy will stay for up to three years while I complete a work contract in the UK. This is a pause in the journey not an end. That Atlantic ocean will still be there in three years waiting to be crossed. The weather is definitely starting to turn, its been windier and cloudy the last two days. Its still warm though. I will spend the next two weeks working on Lady Cindy. There are a few jobs i have put off needing pa ..read more

Dotty and I have been slowly heading North back up to Fiumicino to dock the boat from the 15th. Most of my free time, and there has been a lot, has been spent working on an Android app. More on that later.. I was woken this morning with a call of ‘hello there’ bleary eyed, i popped my head out the open hatch above my bed to find a swimmer next to the boat. He asked to rest against the boat, he had swum well over 300m from a hotel complex ashore. I invited him aboard while i made coffee. His dry bag, which was full of water, contained his now wet cigarettes and a bottle of wine , did i mention ..read more

We called this the “pink hour” Hammock, kayak and a line to help us float in placeExploring the river Views from the “castle ruins” We hike up, but saw no ruins… We really liked Palinuro. We had pristine water for swimming, breeze at night for comfortable sleep, and shops nearby. A little bit of paradise… Since there were no winds predicted we decided to hang out there, initially for 5 days, but then we extended it… John set up all the water toys, so we swam, cooked and explored. John worked on his app and, as most of you know, had a successful job interview. He got the job offer just 2 days ..read more

Dinner with Liz and Peter My pink flamingoOur neighborhood todayExploring the cavesReturning to Lady Cindy Before leaving Agropoli we had a wonderful dinner with our friends Liz and Peter at La Ruota in Perdifumo. Excellent company and meal. There isn’t a picture of my face when I had the first bite of steak, but everyone commented on it (pure bliss!!). Good beef is not an easy find in Italy. Appropriately cooked, even less. This happened to be American beef perfectly medium rare. YUM While in Agropoli, we entered a shop to get some sundries and we left with an inflatable flamingo… The back st ..read more

We set out from Salerno a week ago with the intention of making progress South toward Sicily. We only got as far as crossing the bay to Agropoli . We were waylayed by good company and bad weather. However, that’s one of the things we both love about this lifestyle; the freedom of not having to rush anywhere. We initially stayed because we met Liz and Peter and enjoyed socializing with them. Then the weather (winds) hit and we hunkered down on LC. We were well protected, the anchor held, and we finished seasons 3&4 of the series we were watching . We also made a good dent on the refrigerate ..read more

On August 18th we left Torre Annunziata with the goal of reaching Salerno by the 22nd since I had to be in Barletta by the 24th to pick up my EU passport. We sailed past the Amalfi Coast. It’s beautiful, but so full of boats speeding by that it’s hard to enjoy it. We found a spacious bay to anchor just off Salerno, we were there for 8 days (well, I was in Barletta from the 22nd to the 25th…). John and I liked Salerno. A big enough city to have amenities, but still holding a small city vibe. It has an extensive coastline, so we’d come ashore at different points, depending on where we wanted to ..read more

Happiest with JohnWatching JohnOnce she’s sure John won’t leave, she’ll grudgingly accept a substitute For those of you asking about Dotty. She’s doing fairly well, given her age, the space constraints and the fact that she doesn’t like swimming. She is finding it harder to come up and down the steps, but so far manages with a bit of help. Otherwise, as long as John is close by, she is happy. She gets anxious when he’s moving about the boat, worried he’ll leave. And she cries/whines when we are both in the water; but the one time I brought her into the water with us she scratched John attemp ..read more

We have reached Salerno where Patty needs to leave for a few days to go back to Barletta. I will probably stay here and work on a phone app I am developing but may move South toward Scicily. The weather forecast is all over the place with some models predicting more storms. One unforecasted storm blew through last night forcing us to leave the anchorage to seek shelter in Salerno harbour. Salerno This coast would be beautiful and well worth visiting if it were not for the Italian boaters. I would strongly advise any cruisers to avoid this coast in July and August. The marinas are stupidly expe ..read more

Terme di Baia Fig tree growing upside downPompeii Vesuvius crater While the ankle is not 100% back to normal and I’m wearing a brace, we have been able to start exploring. While we were anchored off of Baia we were able to visit the site of the baths. They’re well preserved, but there wasn’t too much information, and what there was lacked organization. We also loved that there weren’t too many people visiting. We were able to stroll around at leisure. We then moved Lady Cindy and are currently anchored near Torre Annunziata. First order of business was to visit Pompeii. It was great. Google Ma ..read more

Venus Temple and baths, BaiaView of BaiaThe Pontine Islands Bacoli As John said, we chose to detour to the islands seeking some solitude after Fiumicino. Well, in addition to arriving on the weekend (honestly, with this lifestyle we generally don’t know what day of the week it is), it appears to be a popular vacation destination for Italians. The pluses: pristine waters, caves, the town was pretty (the little we saw, it was hilly and my ankle was still mending), and there was an ice cream boat!! The minuses: when we showed up there were several hundred boats anchored off one of the smallest i ..read more