40 32.553N 014 14.015E Island of Capri
Pipedream
Mon 13 Sep 2010 07:23
We muscled our way in between several of the larger boats and found what looked like a likely spot. The depth sounder never did wake up correctly again after being cleaned in Rome during our haul out, and I never installed the new one I had brought from the states, so we had to guess at the depth. This is the first anchorage we have visited in a while and the first order of business was to square away the anchor chain. I moved it to the forward lazerette (storage locker) so it would run in and out of the storage locker without getting jammed and it was buried under a half ton of cruising sailors stuff... water hoses, extra anchor line, anchors (we have five), etc. We got the anchor down, the dingy over side and pumped up fully again and then the outboard on the dingy. As we were lowering the 75 pound outboard suspended by the main halyard I was sitting in the dingy looking up at the descending outboard thinking "If that thing comes loose this is going to be just like the old days when British seamen dropped canon balls into the small boats of the bad guys trying to board their ships." An hour later the newly rebuilt outboard actually fired on the first try and ran very well. Geno, my Roman mechanic, knew what he was doing.
I dropped John, Jenny, and Katie off on the island where there is no real dingy dock on this side, and returned to the boat. The captain, at least this one, is usually pretty nervous when first anchoring. You're (did I get it right this time Ann?) never sure if the boat is going to stay put. Pipedream could become a 22 ton steel battering ram sweeping through a field of plastic boat if it ever really got loose...
I cleaned up a bit and stored all the extra gear we had 'discovered' when we anchored. Everyone had a great time ashore... Jenny remarked, "What a great place!Two Pradas, and a Valentio." (for my male readers, these are high end retail stores ) Next stop is Amalfi. I think John and Jenny will take the bus into Pompeii from there and hang out for a few days before leaving for Rome and a few days of site seeing before flying back to Minneapolis.