42:15.04N 11:06.44E

16 July 2011

Our stay at Ostia was fine.  First couple of days the water was calm then winds out of the west created large swells onto this coast and of course into the entrance of the marina.  So looking at the large waves and knowing the depth was not great we decided to stay a few days.  The good part about Ostia is there is a supermarket within walking distance, long walk however.  Located by it is a market place that sells good produce and local wines in plastic bottles.  Always a good bet in Italy.

Spent some time repairing a few items on the boat and the radar seemed to fix itself again.  I think at time moisture gets into something and it needs to dry out.  Not a good solution but every time it acts up it works fine if a technician comes to diagnose the issue.

With the higher surf outside and breaking over the large and high seawall many super yachts sought refuge in the marina.  Good to be inside but the salt spray over the wall and onto the yachts is a pain.  Of course all the super yachts have charter guest arriving and were going crazy trying to keep the salt deposits to a minimum on the boats.  I did one washing and gave up because hours later it looked the same.

The marina also gets a surge inside with prolonged high seas so our berth became less than comfortable as it has in the past.  Now I am just looking for a weather window to leave.

Super yachts waiting out the weather, all over 100 feet long.  The one in the middle is Ocean Sapphire, a twin to Ocean Pearl.  We keep running across them.  I think they are very ugly and look like they were built by a committee which is probable since they are solely used for chartering, no private owner.  Behind it is Black & White also a charter.

So we left in the morning when the seas were down and headed off to a small island called Giannutri.  It has a horseshoe shaped anchorage on the east side which protects it from the westerlies we were experiencing.  Arriving at the anchorage it was jammed with about one hundred boats.  But nearly all are day trippers so we hunted around for a spot.  Tried one on the northern side and the anchor dragged along the solid rock bottom.  So we headed back into the center and anchored in 35 meters of water (110 feet) and put out 70 meters of chain rode onto a nice sand/mud bottom.  Winds were not bad so we settled in for the night.  A nice night with a nearly full moon and about 30 boats after the day trippers left.