09/10/24

The time was fast approaching for Muskie to have her winter lay up and us to do a few jobs on her before we come back to the UK, like take out the engine (for a complete overhaul) fit a new windlass, etc, etc, only small jobs!!

So reluctantly we decided to push on north towards Pisa. 

We left Porto Messina for Gaeta on the  24th September. Gaeta was a lovely sheltered harbour with good holding for the anchor. We only planned on staying for a couple of day’s but again the weather had other ideas. With the wind constantly from the W/SW blowing F5+ there is very little shelter for anchoring or bolt holes on this part of the west coast of Italy. The marinas are mostly full at this time of year and some of the smaller ones prevent us getting into because of our draft and the silting of the harbour entrances. 

So we spent a few days in Gaeta looking at the narrow medieval streets, visiting the museum and walking in the  nature reserve around the old ramparts and forts. One of the most interesting sites we saw was a roman theatre in Formica that was built as an outside theatre except it had a courtyard and a 3 storey building built in a semi circle with archways. We stumbled upon it while walking through the narrow streets looking for a Roman cistern. the theatre now looks as though it has been converted into flats.

After a few days, the wind finally calmed down for us to sail to Anzio, a large sweeping bay that was very shallow for a long way out to sea. We only spent one night in Anzio before sailing  on to Fiumicino.

We managed to get the Parasailor up for a while, making use of the southerly winds. Fiumicino should have been a one night stop to break up the long passages you have to do along this coast. But again the weather had other ideas and we found ourselves in an unfinished, unused, harbour; the only thing that had been built was the breakwater, so we anchored behind it to see out the next lot of bad weather. There was no way to get ashore and even if we had, there was nothing for miles along the coast or walkable distance inland. Frustratingly it was only 18 miles to Rome, so near yet so far. There was a marina just south of us, but by the time we realised we were going to have to stay, it was too dangerous to enter the marina entrance with southerly winds, so we had to ride it out at anchor.

The wind increased to gale force and the huge swell, unfortunately, found its way round the breakwater ( as well as over the top) so the next few days we were back to rocking and rolling at anchor for 4 nights. Typically, the Gauardia Finanza found us, so we had our first visit from the Italian authorities that patrol the coast of Italy. They came into the anchorage at night with no lights on until they got closer when they lit up Muskie with a huge Search light and came and tied up to us. We were a bit concerned because their very large patrol boat was now sharing our anchor. They were very polite, asked a lot of questions about our intentions and where we had come from, then took our ship's papers and passports to examine them. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only about 20 minutes, one of them boarded Muskie to have a look around. Satisfied that all was in order we got our ships papers and passports back and they left, bidding us a safe onward journey. 

After 4 nights we got up early to start our passage to Port Ercole. We got on deck to hear the waves crashing over the breakwater (it was still dark so we couldn’t see them) and the surf rolling into the bay with breaking waves despite the fact the wind had now dropped to a relatively good sailing wind. So we reluctantly decided to stay one more night to allow the sea state to calm down rather than head out into breaking waves not knowing how long we would be in those conditions.

We finally managed to escape and sail to Port Ercole where we spent one night in a lovely calm anchorage with no swell and no wind - bliss.

The next day we set off on the 55nm passage to Elba. Typically the wind had now deserted us completely so we had to motor all the way. Thankfully we had some current behind us that helped the speed get up to 7kts. All the same it was very frustrating having had so much wind for past 8 or so days, now not having enough to even get the sails up, not even the spinnaker. We arrived in Elba and anchored in the bay for the first night, before securing a berth in the marina to get some rest and visit the sites of Elba.

Gaeta

The Roman Theatre in Formia. Now flats

On passage, before the rain storm.

Elba in the distance

Elba with the storm clouds gathering

Napoleon’s summer residence

Napoleon’s bronze death mask