Baia di Napoli

I’ve just been reading through our logbook in an attempt to catch up with our adventures and found our overwhelming view of the west coast of Italy was it was full of swelly anchorages and was much greener and more treed on shore than expected, however, there were some highlights and occasional insights.

 

From Roma we headed south towards Napoli; crisscrossing our way between the mainland and the islands offshore. 
Nettuno treated us to a night of fireworks (I swear they have them every night we are in town because they are so excited to see us!) and a parade of the Madonna between its main churches.  Un fantastico spettacolo… even if we didn’t understand the religious implications and I particularly liked the fact that the Maddonna had a fire extinguisher strapped to her back (Our aim; NO flame!!)

An interesting story here about another Parade of the Madonna held in Reggio Di Calabria later in the year… As the Maddona is carried through the streets She is bowed every so often at points of significance or to special people, well in Reggio they made the mistake of bowing her to a an old mafia boss under house arrest for, among many other things, feeding a live man to a pig and as a result Il Papa has now banned religious festivals there and excommunicated the mafia.  What a man!

The islands of Ponza were nice, if rolly.  Be prepared to move around the island as the wind changes to avoid the worst of the swell.  We caught up with Nocturne, Jupiter and Fubbs in Cala Frontone and had a great few day and a very tasty BBQ.  Anchoring is no longer allowed in the main harbour (surprise surprise??!) but it’s not a bad spot on the fringes.

Isola Ventotene was also a delightful spot if marginal as an anchorage.  Loved the old roman stone quarry come harbour, but not at €40/night and also chose to pass on the possibly free berth in the bumpy new harbour.  We had some great walks and got to know the place quite well.  Couldn’t understand the friendly locals however as they seem to speak some sort of dialect with Arabic overtones.  Most frustrating!

Ahhh now this was an amazing day but unfortunately I was so excited I forgot to take pictures… we saw two Mediterranean Sperm Whale in the “whale corridor” (an area of slow speed for power boats – good work people) between Isola Ventotene and Isola Ischia!!  Now you might not think that is so amazing coming from a place swimming with whales, as it were, but there are only about 800 Med. Sperm Whale in the entire Med and we saw two at once!  Incredibile!!  Stupendo!! 

They were lolling on the surface preparing to dive when we slowly drifted by under cruising chute – WOOH WOOH alright – then they slowly huffed and puffed then up-tailed and dived soundlessly into the deep – Awesome!  All that was left was a lazy sea of panty liners (what’s up with that, Italian ladies??) and swarm of Sailor by the wind jellyfish.

Too common a sight to be called a "awesome"!
(Why is it the camera is never handy for the cool stuff??)

 

Not much of note in the logbook for the next few days.  Although there are some well protected anchorages north of Napoli they are just not that inspiring onshore so we continued on to south of Napoli and into Castellammare di Stabia. 

 

Unfortunately Napoli has a bad reputation for safe places to leave your boat, (and many other things that I remember from the early nineties but I will come back to that!) however; C. di Stabia was great and right on the circumvesuviana train route meaning it is linked to everything you want to see in the area.  Discounting (no pun intended!) the marina at €100/night (we will never know if they have gold plated taps in the shower block for that price!) we headed into the old harbour and after a bit of fierce negotiation in Italiano secured a fabulous spot for €70.  I know, still ridiculous price wise but the guys were so helpful and fun it was worth it and there was no way our boat would be messed with, with Paolo in charge – a scary ex-policeman of some sort - there are four types of polizia in Italia you will be pleased to find out. 

So if you need a place to hold up while seeing Pompeii etc “Ai Vecchi Pontili da Paolo” is our pick… info@ pontilidapaolo.it  - well protected mooring, top notch security (including two pitbull-type softy guard dogs), free water, showers and toilets (complete with cute Italian lads to ogle you while you bath should you require it – no I don’t think they were interested in you, Murray…), no English spoken but plenty of inspired arm waving guaranteed, helpful advice on all matters if you are patient and laidback enough to wait around till someone remembers you asked (Pietro was an excellent fridgeman – and secured us a warranty claim for a leaky evaporator in no time flat) and all prices negotiable if you are prepared to smile charmingly, flirt outrageously and then play hardball and threaten to leave!  We spent a lovely few days there and took in the sights of;

Pompeii – still stunning but literally falling down around the curators ears

Vesuvius – a unimog/ hike escursione to the top that is not as steamy as it was; not a good sign??!

Erculano – again, still hauntingly amazing but most of it closed due to lack of funding to maintain it

Castellammare di Stabia – an underrated area of the world!

 

I have to say I think this neck of the woods has improved out of sight and I would gladly come back and even venture into Napoli itself now… something I said I would never do again after my last visit.  This time I found the people fantastic, full of life and really friendly.  A complete contrast to the drug using, threatening bunch of spitting arseholes I encountered previously and to know why the changes have happened I suggest you all read “Midnight in Sicily” by Peter Robb.  I know I found it absolutely fascinating, if horrifying in parts, and a real eye-opener as to what has been going on (and still is) in the mezzogiorno.  Until next time – happy reading!