Our Wakes: 2017

At the end of April we had some very unpleasant weather in Rome that made us wonder if we were going to leave in April. Finally, the weather improved and we decided to leave Rome and start our third season with Terus. Our first leg was a straight course along the coast until we reached the harbour of Nettuno,  25 miles away from Rome. Nettuno is well known in Italy as it is there that the US soldiers landed in 1944 to liberate the country. The city was totally destroyed and today only a few parts of the old buildings remain. So the city has been totally rebuilt. The battle was fierce and more than 6,000 US soldiers are buried in the military cemetery. While we were in Nettuno, there was a medieval celebration and more than a hundred volunteers participated in the event. The 1st of May we left Nettuno early towards the island of Ponza. Unfortunately, the mooring we found for the night was very uncomfortable due to a western swell that got stronger during the night. After a bad night, we went to the other side of the island and discovered the nice village of Ponza. On both sides of the village, there are impressive cliffs. We should have anchored on the East side. Not only would we have slept much better, but the landscape was also significantly nicer. After Ponza, we aimed towards Ventotere, another island. Honestly, not worth the visit and the only thing we liked was the free jetty where we could spend the night. From Ventotere, we moved back to the mainland towards Gaeta. This city has a well-protected harbour and has a rich history with many churches. The first thing we saw when approaching Gaeta was the fortress that dominates the city. But soon after you notice a military harbor, a commercial harbour and finally a little marina for leisure boats. Besides the fortress that is currently a military base, the city has at least 5 churches including a Basilica. The Basilica dates from 1100, but underneath the altar they later built a crypt that is interesting to visit as a lot of marble of different colours makes beautiful designs. The Basilica also contains the relics of St Erasmus as well as the remains of a few bishops. Another interesting church is the church of the Annunciation which also has a chapel under the altar called the golden Chapel due to its beautifully decorated ceiling. But Gaeta is not only historical buildings. Close to the marina there are a lot of shops selling typical local products such as olives, cheese and meat; all delicious and worth replenishing the fridge with for a couple of days. After one night in Gaeta, we set sail for the island of Ischia. We had perfect sailing conditions and the boat moved at about 7 knots to its new stop. The first night was in the marina as we saw on the charts that everything is heavily regulated, especially if you do not reside on the island. But we soon found out that the regulation is no longer enforced as long as we behave correctly, they told us. We therefore spent the second night just below the castle of Aragon located on the Eastern tip of the island. Absolutely a very nice mooring with a fantastic landscape. The city had nothing special except the castle but it is in very bad condition so we did not visit it. We moved the next morning to the island of Procida, only a few miles away from Ischia. As strong winds were announced, we decided to stay for 2 days in the marina and take the time to visit Procida. Procida is easy to reach from Naples and many ferries arrive there. Of course, you find a lot of tourist shops, but they do not deface the island. No modern buildings and now a lot of effort is being made to restore some older buildings. On top of the island is a big fortress that was once a palace then a military school but it ended its career as a prison until 1988.  After that, it was abandoned and today a lot of restoration is needed. Let’s hope the entrance fee for visitors will be sufficient to quickly restore the buildings. If you visit the old prison, you have a superb view of the surroundings, including Naples bay, Capri island and Vesuvius. Near the prison an old church contains a beautiful maquette of the village of Corricella. Outside the church, you can see the real village and you then realize how well this work has been done. This little fishing village is well preserved and the little marina contains many little fishing boats. Finally, when visiting Procida you notice a lot of information panels about a movie that was made on the island. The movie Procida was famous at the time and still today people come to visit the place to recognize the various places were the movie was made. To conclude, we like Procida very much because it is very well preserved and you do not have the impression that you are in a place that is one of the big tourist attractions of the region. After 3 days in Procida and the strong wind was over we moved towards Capri were we hoped to find a nice spot to anchor. Unfortunately the swell was comming from the wrong direction so we decided to move to our next stop Positano.