2,000 miles and 5,000 years in the mediterranean in alcyone ......151 2,000 miles and 5,000 years in...

151

2,000 Miles and 5,000 years in the Mediterranean in Alcyone of Apuldram

Lionel Hoare

The west coast of Italy, the Tuscan, Pontine and Aeolian Islands, a circumnavigation of Sicily and a quick trip to Tunisia made for delightful cruising, much of it in the wake of Odysseus and a fascinating insight into the past.

The start from the river Arno in early May was in unusually cold weather, with much snow seen on the hills and the Webasto working hard. Who said that umbrellas are not useful on a boat? After a day of heavy rain in La Spezia, the spectacular Cinque Terre were seen, hanging on their steep hillsides and one of them, Vernazza, we visited for lunch. The dinghy was needed, which suited later, as it was necessary to get ashore in Portofino, even though the bow was made up to the quay. The harbour was virtually empty and we were able to enjoy the village and pay our respects to St George, who lies in the Basilica named after him.

A berth in the Porto Antico was the perfect spot from which to explore the old part of Genoa. Wandering the narrow lanes and looking at the endless palazzi is a great pleasure in itself. I particularly loved the maps/charts in the maritime museum, the hall of mirrors in the Palazzo Reale and the Cathedral which wouldn’t be there, had not a WWII British bomb failed to explode.

Then, we went back the way we had come, via a night in the most charming Porto Venere with its spectacular narrow entrance and on to Viareggio for some tedious non-repairs to the fridge.

Most of Livorno’s Medici splendours were destroyed in the war.

We would not have left for the 45nm trip to Elba if we had known the true forecast. I promised a quick passage with 20-30kts from behind. The log reads, ‘One of the great sails, a surfing broad reach. Fastest surf 15kts. Highest gust 58kts. A fine dinner, followed by (too many)

Alcyone in Portofino

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nightcaps with Alan Dooley, yacht, California of London, Royal London and Bar Yacht Clubs, knew all the usual suspects!’

Portoferraio was beautiful and a morning was enjoyed walking the ramparts and inspecting Napoleon’s Theatre. Elba was much liked despite the cold; I was sent back to the boat during dinner each night to run the heater and put hot-water bottles in the girls’ beds. We circumnavigated anti-clockwise, spending the

Alcyone of ApuldramGrand Soleil 46.3

Italy

CorsICa

sardInIa

sICIly

Malta

Straits of Messina

Genoa

spezia

roma

napoli

Mediterranean Sea

Capri

Palermo

Catania

siricusa

tunIsIa Gozo

livorno

Stromboli

Lampedusa

Elba

Viareggio

Pontine Is Amalfi

agropoli

Vulcano

Egadi Is

Mahdia

agrigento

40N

5E 10E


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next night at Marina Marciana, a charming place with a beautiful, traffic-free square. The funicular - you stand in a cage - to the top of Monte Capanne provided fabulous, if chilly, views of the Island and to the snow-capped hills of Corsica.

On the next day, sailing to a lovely anchorage in a bay at Fetovaia the log reads, ‘Strong freezing N’ly on departure. V cold on arrival.’

Sailing east along the south of the island we could still see the snow on Corsica. After a beautiful, solitary anchorage off Punta Del Ripalti we ‘. . . actually felt warm for the first time in Porto Azurro’.

We headed back to the mainland at San Stefano, on the Argentario Promontory, to drop off crew. ‘Lovely sailing conditions, shame about the wind direction and the temperature. God washed the decks with torrential rain. Fridge kaput again; but fish stall provided buckets of ice’. A short hop saw us made up in Giglio, which is small and well primed for day-trippers.

We ended the cruise in Fiumicino, very close to Rome airport. The entrance was not without excitement. ‘Having stayed largely dry through 2½ weeks of heavy rain and strong winds, got soaked by a pooping wave as we surfed on the swell into the river, iPad swimming in a full cockpit…’ Surprisingly the iPad survived. It was here that we saw the only other RCC burgee of the year, and that of a Flag Officer, Tim Barker, who provided sage advice and fascinating tales of cruises past. Another expensive and ineffective fridge repair was carried out.

The culture tour really took off with two thoroughly enjoyable days spent in Rome. Guided tours of the major attractions are highly recommended, if only to jump the queues.

After 10 days at home, passage was made in early June, via Anzio, to the lovely Pontine Islands. Out of season, the Islands were gloriously un-crowded. They are unspoilt, charming and very beautiful. The log reads, ‘If we thought Ponza special, which we did; Ventotene takes the victor ludorum. Agrippa’s galley port is spectacular - a small harbour with a narrow entrance carved by the Romans from the rock, with bars around and a beautiful village above, commanding great views. One of life’s memorable experiences. No wonder Flavia, with her adulterous ways, did not mind being exiled here’.

Moving on to the Bay of Naples, Ischia was liked and Sir William and Lady Susana Walton’s gardens enjoyed. Thermal baths were taken in a spectacular hillside setting at Gombra. A pleasant lunchtime anchorage at Punta Palombara on Procida

St Andrew’s Cathedral, Amalfi

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led to Capri, which was not liked. The harbour, at €200 for an uncomfortable night, is best left to the super-yachts and the town to its hordes of tourists. The anchorage on the south of the island was equally crowded the following day and we soon abandoned it for some peace on the Amalfi Coast. A motorboat dropped

its anchor on top of ours and then asked us to move.

‘Remarkable to find a nearly deserted, beautiful bay less than 5nm from an impossibly crowded anchorage!’ We were subsequently told that we were not allowed to be in the Seno Di Leranto. It made a lovely lunch stop anyway. Sorrento was used as a base to see Pompeii on a very hot day.

‘Enjoyed a good lunch drifting past the Sirens’

Islands, Li Galli, having been asked for €50 to pick up a mooring off Cala Punta di Sogno. Worse was to come; they wanted €100 for a mooring off Positano, where instead we anchored.’ The boat was left in the modern and efficient Marina D’Arechi where the fridge was finally and expensively fixed and we returned home for two weeks in the middle of June.

A most enjoyable day was spent in Naples on our way back to the boat, taking in the Archaeological Museum to see the mosaics and artefacts from Pompeii and the Farnese collection of Greek and Roman statues, the Cathedral, the Roman ruins under the San Lorenzo Maggiore and the most remarkable sculptures in the Baroque Cappella Sanservo.

At Amalfi: ‘Best parking ever; Julio jumped on board, grabbed the helm and steered us in with great panache and his boys tied us up in a somewhat unconventional manner, but well suited to the local, very confined conditions’. Amalfi, despite the crowds, was a lovely experience and the Cathedral of St Andrew, its cloister and crypt were very beautiful.

An anchorage, for what would have been a peaceful night, off a small town called Cetara, was anything but, as a hotel ashore partied loud and bombarded us with fireworks. Thence we moved on to the pretty hill town of Agropoli for

Temple of Athena at Paestum

The Diver (fresco inside a tomb lid)


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a visit to Paestum’s remarkable Greek Temples and the museum of frescoes and the Tomb of the Diver. Continuing south we anchored for lunch and overnight in

beautiful surroundings, but very hot conditions, seeing few other boats. The Grotta Azzura and Grotta del Leone were explored by dinghy on Isla di Dino.

After a night anchored off Cetaro we set off, under power, on a flat sea, for Stromboli,

Odysseus’ lighthouse. Having rescued an inflatable Pluto, our first and only refugee, we saw a turtle en route, before arriving after dark. ‘How often does one sail past an active volcano, watching it spout fire every few minutes. Anchored in an exposed position to the west of it, we paid the price, decks covered in black grit

in the morning’. Twenty-four hours later it erupted in anger, killing a hiker and we would have had boulders on the deck.

The Aeolian Islands were utterly delightful. We went to all of them, preferring the more remote ones: beautiful anchorages, lots of swimming, cliffs, rocks, hot, sulphuric mud baths on Vulcano and some culture on Lipari.

In the Straits of Messina, ‘Didn’t see Scilla herself, which is just as well because I did not have six crew to spare. Enjoyed the town named after

her, on a steep slope with fine views from aloft and fine dining below.’ A brisk downwind sail took us past Charybdis to an anchorage at Taormina. We were pleased to have spent only four nights over a fortnight in marinas.

The old centre of Catania is beautiful with many baroque churches, a large market

Stromboli by night from one mile off

. . . and by day

Amphorae in the Lipari museum

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and some fine dining. A thermometer on the deck reached 52°C on the way south to leave the boat in a new marina at Xifonio from 10 July until 8 September.

Syracuse saw an overload of culture. The Duomo is a Doric Temple, adapted by the Byzantines into the oldest Christian church in Europe, converted into a Great Mosque by the Arabs, rebuilt as a Cathedral by the Normans and with a Baroque façade, it stands in a most beautiful square; then we viewed the Greek Theatre, the Roman amphitheatre, Dionysus’ Ear, Arethusa’s fountain, where

Nelson re-watered his fleet on the way to the Nile and a Caravaggio, the Crucifixion of St Andrew.

The Greeks provided the highlights of the south of Sicily. Having enjoyed the Norman Duomo in Agrigento we saw the stunning Doric temples floodlit under a full moon before wandering through them and visiting the museum the next day. A fine lunch was enjoyed anchored under more Greek temples at Selinunte en route

to Marsala.The Egadi Islands are a little desolate-

looking. We anchored off all three before going to Trapani for more Baroque and a morning in the lovely hill town of Erice. It was a tight squeeze into the attractive harbour at Castallamare del Golfo before leaving the boat in the unattractive marina at Balestrate to return home on 21 September.

Thence a boys’ tour to Palermo on 8 October brought a surfeit of Normans at Monreale and the churches in the city. Roger II’s tomb in the cathedral and the mosaic of his coronation by Christ in La Martorana were the highlights. Our Norman studies were completed by the beautiful Cathedral

at Cefalu and the circumnavigation of Sicily finished with a rather rolly night at anchor off Vulcano. A lot of whirlpools were seen in the second passage through

Exploring a cave on Vulcano

Scilla

Monreale Cloisters


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the straits of Messina, with stops in Messina and in Reggio di Calabria to see the remarkable Riace Bronzes. Catania and Siracusa were equally charming on the second visit.

Then we headed 200nm to Tunisia, mostly under sail, some of it into a fresh

h e a d w i n d , getting a little wet, all of it under a bright moon, or sunlight, arriving at daybreak in Mahdia, a very charming, historic and rather relaxing place, with no other yachts there. We went inland to El Jem to see the remarkably intact Roman amphitheatre and the beautiful museum of mosaics.

Plans to stay longer in Tunisia were scuppered by a forecast of strong easterlies due later in the week, so we left Mahdia for Malta via Lampedusa. The latter had a sort of worn charm around the harbour, but the main (only) street was a rather low-calibre tourist trap. We rested there for the day in between two night-sails, arriving at the Gozo Strait at dawn, anchoring off Comino Island.

Beware of anywhere called the Blue Lagoon. Vital slumbers were broken, first by officials telling us to move from the fairway, then by the endless torrent of tripper boats, endlessly to-ing and fro-ing: not a restful anchorage in a beautiful bay.

Greatly enjoyed the oldest man-made structures in the world, the Megalithic Ggantija Temples which are 5,500 years old, pre-dating Stonehenge and the Pyramids and explored the citadel in Victoria; but didn’t enjoy being charged an extra 50% mooring fee for overstaying the 1200 departure time by two hours.

The cruise and the season ended on 25 October in Valetta. The weather in October had been perfect, rarely a cloud in the sky and not too hot, with the water temperature only just under 30°. I think we were lucky; there were bad storms further north in the Med. We logged 2,007nm and loved (almost) every one of them.

The Colosseum at El Jed

Riace bronze

Norman Cathedral at Cefalu

2,000 miles and 5,000 years in the mediterranean in alcyone ......151 2,000 miles and 5,000 years in...

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