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Date: 19 May 2010 11:01:18
Title: 42 23.513N 011 12.490E Porto Ercole, Italy
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Made port in Porto Ecole. A really nice little fishing village north of Rome and a little south of S. Stefano on route to Elba Island. Looks like we have some weather comming in tomorrow and at 20 Euros a night this looks like a great place to tie up to wait it out. Two forts here one on each side of the harbor entrance one on each mountain/big hills. We came in during the cocktail hour and I had a great audience to watch me back the boat into the slip. Fortunately the Austrians in the boat next to us got on the dock and helped - made it look easy... we are getting better as well. After saying that I will likely crash and burn next time.

I was eating a piece of caramel that George left behind and pulled a crown loose yesterday. (we now get to blame all misfortunes on George for the next two weeks) Found a dentist last night and this morning she glued it back in; 50 Euros for instant dentistry in Italy. We confirmed taking the boat out of the water in Rome with the marina guy their by phone and e-mail. They are closed on Mondays so we will try for Tuesday the 2nd. Antony booked a flight back to London for the 3rd. I am out on the 8th. I may take a train to Florence for some non-boat R&R if everything goes smoothly or I could just hang with the boat and fix some stuff. Always stuff to fix around here these days. Using the boat hard every day makes a big difference. I have started a list of stuff to buy and bring back when I get home.

Antony is getting over cold/bronchitis/pneumonia he has had for a month now. On his third course of antibiotics finally and the coughing is slowing.

We had a pretty good day yesterday. We were able to beat (sail with the wind comming from in front of the mast) into the wind and get about 5 kts out of a 15 kt head wind, get where we were going, and made pretty good time. The sun was shinning and that always makes everything look better. Met four Austrians (not Germans - big deal with them) in the Greek rent-a-boat next to us. Nice guys. Their English is so so and my German is about as good as my Italian... nil. For some reason they do not think much of Arnold and referred to him as 'President'. One of the guys came from the same home town as Arnold.

We asked a gray haired Italian guy standing on the street corner for a place to eat and later after the place packed out, saw him and a fried with two bottles of Grappa sitting on the table. His friend asked if I was really from Chicago and when I said yes, proceeded to pull out a harmonic and blast the restaurant with a pretty good blues number. The whole place applauded! We talked to them for maybe 15 minutes and got the location of a dentist, a warning that another sirocco was due in the next day or two' and that we would enjoy it here as we waited for better weather. I think the friend was or had been a fisherman at one time because when I asked about Italian fishing methods... I was interested in being able to avoid getting tangled up in nets, etc. when I met them on the water, he knew everything and I ended up with a 'tour of the fish cannery'... more later.


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