41:44.34N 12:14.48E

11 July 2011

We departed Gaeta with the Star Spangled Banner playing as we cast off the lines.  Thank you USS Mount Whitney for the send off.  Actually it was the 08:00 flag raising ceremony but it was nice.

As typical the winds were nothing and we had another nice boring hot, hazy motor up to Ostia.  75 nautical miles and 11 ½ hours.  The radar has decided to stop working so lookout for the small Italian fishing boats in the haze required a little more diligence.  Once off the coast a little the water quality is good so running the watermaker to refill the tanks was appreciated.  Normally I keep about 500 liters of watermaker generated water onboard in one tank and use the other 500 liter tank for marina water.  Marina water varies in quality so it is good to keep the separate.  In Italy, especially the mainland, the water quality is very good and they have very high pressure to make boat washing easy.

So back to Ostia where we started this trip.  A place we know well from spending many months there while we were living in Switzerland.  Now it was just another stop on the way north.

Approaching the marina the water depth is shallow.  This part of the Italian coast all the way up to Genoa (Genova) the coastal waters are shallow.  We got so used to having more than 100 meters of water everywhere that seeing 20 meters of depth miles offshore is a little alarming at first.

We entered the marina at 17:00, through the entrance that must be dredged to maintain the depth.  This time it was 4 meters of water, not bad.  The marina staff on the radio did tell me to keep to the right where the water is deeper.  Tied up at the berth waiting for us and settled in for the night.  Easy trip but consumed around 100+ liters of fuel at Euro 1.50 per liter or about 200 Dollars to go 80 statute miles.

So now back at the start of the Appian Way.