Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
After just over a week of speed-socialising which included a 1st birthday party, Harding Christmas and a trip to The Netherlands, we flew back to Naples on 23 April. Our journey to the marina in Salerno was slightly more painful than we'd anticipated since the brand new metro system (which had opened a few days before we tied up in November) has now closed down due to a lack of funds...our first reminder that we're back in Italy! When we did eventually get back to the boat, we were pleased to find that it was actually in the water (we'd received an email to this effect but based on the Cagliari experience, we'd still had our doubts). Less reassuring, when we tried to get into the boat we discovered that the lock on what is essentially the front door had rusted shut - with our handy can of WD40 ironically trapped inside. Fortunately Gerard managed to break in (so easily in fact that it led us to question the point of the lock) and, with the help of the aforementioned can of magic, I managed to coax the padlock open again. And we still had to fill up the water tank before we could even have a cup of tea - the joys of boat ownership!
We then realised that the windows of our sprayhood were torn and that this was going to be a pricey one to fix. The marina quote was beyond offensive and the repair would take a week so we decided to cycle to a nearby industrial estate just in case we could find a better offer. On our 3rd unsuccessful loop, an Italian man waved us over (he also has a boat and had recognised our bikes from the marina) and offered to help us. Within about 10 minutes, we had the repair booked in with collection and drop-off, to be ready in 3 days and 75% cheaper than the marina price. Another (more positive) reminder that we're back in Italy - the people here are so incredibly friendly!
Besides that, the wind speed saga continued, this time ending more finally. After hauling Gerard up the mast twice and him spending the afternoon servicing the sensor, the reattachment didn't quite go to plan resulting in the whole thing now being irretrievably broken. So we're now without electronic info on wind speed or direction (the latter is new) but fortunately we still have eyes - looks like we'll be doing it the old fashioned way.
In more exciting news, we had our first visitors! Mark and Yvanka stayed with us for 4 days, of which unfortunately 2 were rainy. Luckily they'd ignored our advice that they wouldn't need one and had hired a car so we took a trip to Pompeii and the next day into the hills nearby. It also proved helpful when we discovered that the asparagus we'd counted on for dinner turned out to be (well) past its prime - fortunately you're never far from good pizza in southern Italy. As soon as the weather improved, we set off to Amalfi; it was a bit of a chilly ride over there but the second we arrived, the sun came out and we got to enjoy the town in its full glory. This included oversized food, notably ice cream and lemons, and a visit to the cathedral. So first visitors was a success - from our perspective they were dream guests and it was lovely to have them here, and hopefully they enjoyed themselves as well. Looking forward to our next guinea pigs!
- comments
Vincent Pieters Nice story, enjoy italy!