We sailed 6 hours from Sorrento to Isola Ventotene. This is the first of the Pontine Islands and it is a direct line on our way to Sardinia, so why not. We are approaching Ventotene and this place has an interesting history. This update could also be titled "You Want Rocks, We Got Rocks". Very catchy title.
First we tie up at the harbor dock in exactly this spot (from another sailor) - or so I thought. I originally pulled up by that brown structure and used the lines laying on the dock. Jenée asked if they might be for another boat and I said nah, this is the place I was told to go. Within minutes an old guy comes up and suggests we move Jungle back to where she is in this photo. His English is almost as bad as my Italian, but I gather I pulled into the ferry dock. Whoopsie.
We are in the newer harbor which is connected to the old harbor seen here. This place was featured on a Discovery channel feature about excavating Roman ruins from the sea. The harbor was reportedly built by Agrippa, right hand man of Ceasar Augustus, some 2000 years ago. It was cut out of solid rock, including the harbor bottom, quite an engineering feat when yo figure they used sticks to carve it out (ok, I'm guessing). The funny thing is the wall seen here looks like one of those fake rock walls you see at the mall. How did they do that?
This is the other side of the very small and ancient Porto Vecchio.
Here is the harbor entrance and a view across to San Stefano. Another piece of history is that these islands were used in Roman times as a place of exile for mostly royalty and connected people. Mussolini used both islands to send everyone who was not a good fascist. The facility on top of San Stefano was used as a prison until fairly recently.
Now looking down on the rock cut Porto Vecchio, the Roman story gets wackier. One of the early Roman exiles was Julia, daughter of Ceasar Augustus. She was exiled here because she liked men, lots of em! Her second husband was Agrippa, the supposed architect of the harbor, who built this in part for his lovely bride. Can you imagine? Breaking rock all day, coming home and having to knock on the bedroom door "Honey, I'm home, are you busy?" I'm just glad Jenée wasn't exiled. Lets move along.
We walked around the island a bit to another cove and another view out to San Stefano. By the way, it's starting to feel a bit more like autumn, with temps around 20 degrees C, lower 70's.
Quite pleasant, but Sweat-ah weath-ah, for my bride.
Evening is coming on as we look out over the old and new harbor. Oh, look at that, a ferry is in my original docking spot.
The lesson as always, don't argue with the admiral.
The town of Ventotene is quaint and quiet. We were looking for a place for dinner and the old guy that helped me move the boat strolled by and signaled us to follow him up the hill through a more residential area, obviously to a restaurant. I figured it would be some nice little "hole in the wall".
Boy, was I wrong! The place was beautiful, with a gourmet menu and not too bad on pricing. This is stuffed zucchini flower, lightly fried. Unbelievable.
This is a special rolled pasta dish with cheese and local fish. Also unbelievable. Jenée had a great fish and pasta dish as well. Everything was a first for us and delicious. Of course we had to get dessert. I love that old guy.
The next morning we sailed out of Ventotene for another 6 hour sail to the island of Ponza.
This is a Rome holiday spot, but we are off season and only a few boats. For now.
We pull in close and drop anchor.
We read that Ponza is an island of remarkable geological formations. We look around and see its true.
We hop in our dinghy to go check it out, close up.
Quite pretty.
We are on the other side from our anchorage. Jenée just digs rock formations. She gets that from her Dad.
We see another anchorage over here.
Now we motor back through our anchorage and into the town of Ponza.
Looking back at Jungle, we see another boat, or two pulled in.
The town has a nice buzz to it.
We walk around for a while and enjoy the afternoon sun.
Back on Jungle, we see more and more boats piling in. We surmised that this Rome holiday spot was still hanging in late in the season. It was a Saturday after all and by nightfall the place was packed.
And boats were facing all different directions in the light winds. It all worked, not problems through the night, although I came up top to check more than once.
The next morning we sail out of Ponza for our 36 hour sail west to northern Sardinia.
We notice how beautiful the rock formations are on this island - as reported.
Jenée keeps snapping photos as we sail out. I'm glad she did.
This vintage motorsailer blows past us, headed our way maybe?
Nope, headed for the other side of the island. 98% plus folks we run into sail in fairly local confines. Nothing wrong with that as we've done lots of that before and will do it again.
A last look to Ponza and Italy as we sail off. Very beautiful. Ciao
Taking photos at sea is much like taking photos of ski trails. They look to the naked eye as rough, foreboding and steep, but just do not translate to a picture. We had a particularly rough crossing and at one point Jungle was slowed to 1.5 - 2 knots (crawling) in head-on and side-to seas of 4-8 ft waves and 25-30 kt winds on the nose. Unfortunately, this went on for 10 hours through the night and early morning, so we only made 20 miles where we should have made 60. This is the not so fun part of sailing. The next day we did experience better seas and a favorable wind and sped up to 6.5-7 knots to make up some time. Regardless, Katie the love fluff, was pissed.
Any passage is a great passage when you drop anchor in a comfortable spot. We landed just before sunset in a pretty little cove behind Isola di Porri. Buona Notte (good night).
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