Castellammare di Stabia - Valletta

On the 7th early morning we hoisted anchor and set course for Valletta, Malta for a little downtime. More maintenance and jobs to be done as usual. My old Bosun once said: "the work is never completed on a ship" and he was right to his words, once you get to one end you can start anew from the other.

Last view of Capri 

Our route took us by Capri Island down South along the Italian boot in the Tyrrhenian Sea and through the Strait of Messina. We pass there during night time and there is a small "S" curve to do at the narrowest point. The whole Strait is VTS controlled and separated by a TSS so there is very little cowboys mixing the pack so to speak. However when we round the"S" we encounter some weird currents and we have to keep a close look at the autopilot lest it would lose the plot.

View over Valletta

After the Strait we are already in the Ionian Sea, we sail around around the boot, Sicily, and there we were at Malta. The ancient massive fortifications of Malta are still impressive to look at. We make the approach towards Manoel Island and it always looks to me like we are sailing into solid bedrock until the channel opening is discerned and one can see that there is more to it than the wall. This time though we make a compass swing before we enter.

Cruising Italian riviera

On the 30th we depart Castellammare di Stabia for Naples. It don't take us many hours before reaching there and we anchor off "Molo Luise" (Mergellina Sannazzaro), the local yachting mafia's marina. They claim we could come alongside but all publications we have suggests a maximum length of 70m and I'm also agreeing seeing the small rathole and how packed it is with yachts. 

"Molo Luise" (Google satellite)

San Martino National Museum in Naples

The Borgo Marinari Fort in Naples

Naples city view

Later in the evening we heave up anchor and sail down South to anchor off Capri Island. Due to the weather we do it on the South side of the Island at the Marina Piccola.

Cruising points (Google maps)

The 1st is spent at Capri Island, the swell could be quite rough at times and we roll as we don't have zero speed stabilizers. Capri is historically renowned for Caesar Tiberius who lived in Villa Jovis for 10 years in political exile from Rome. Tiberius was said to have had wild debaucheries going on Capri but nowadays these stories are regarded by many modern historians merely as slander. We are also joined by 3 other yachts, m/y Glaze, m/y Odessa and m/y Capri that are following us. Surprisingly they are all Captained by US nationals.

Li Galli Islands (Google satellite)

Li Galli Islands 

On the 2nd we sail to Li Galli Island (or Gallos, or Le Sirenuse) where according to legends several sirens were said to have inhabited the islands, the most famous of whom were Parthenope, Leucosia, and Ligeia. One of them played the lyre, another sang, and another played the flute. They are mentioned in the 1st century B.C by Strabo. 

Capri Island 

Local cruise ferry for the masses, they seemed to have a very good time with music and everything 

On the 3rd we sail back to Capri Island and anchor in front of the Marina Piccola. The historian and Greek geographer Strabo thought that Capri broke off from the mainland. His theory has been confirmed recently, both from geologic findings that link the island with the Sorrento Peninsula and from archaeological discoveries.

Positano 

On the 4th we sail from Capri Island to Positano, after that we shift to Nerano. In Nerano there is an excellent restaurant worth visiting called "Quattro Passi". For the evening we sail in front of Naples and by midnight we are back at Capri Island.

Nerano 

The 5th we stay anchored off Capri Island. To give a picture how people (or yachts) are charged I could mention that a Doctor's visit onboard to look at a sprained ankle cost 300€, without medication.

IE in front of Capri Island 

On the 6th we sail to anchor in front of Sorrento and by afternoon we anchor in front of Naples. I might add that the cliffs of Sorrento were holed by caves like an Edam cheese, quite quaint actually. Perhaps natural formed caves that had been additionally carved up by people. For the evening we go and anchor in front of Castellammare di Stabia. There is transport for the crew to go ashore but nobody has any interest to go.

Sorrento 

Sorrento 

Islet in front of Marina di Stabia

Next morning we heave up anchor and set sail for Valletta, Malta for some downtime.

Pompeii

As I walked out of the port in Castellammare di Stabia I was trying to look for a taxi but there was none at all. I was a bit perplexed as it was my first time walking about in Italy. As soon as I asked someone for directions I almost burst out laughing as their English sounded exactly like the Mafioso's in the Godfather movies. 

IE at Castellammare di Stabia

Rubbish collectors on strike...

I walked quite some distance until I got to somekind of stop and these small small minivans kept coming and dropping people off and taking other on and they also had a "taxi" sign on top. Finally I mustered my courage and asked fro Pompeii, the old guy who was driving said "Scavi?" and motioned me to get in. There was no meter to mention of.  

Reminds me of Asterix comics

Italia...

The old minivan kept going and going up and down steep and narrow roads and dropping people off intermittently after they called for it. After some 20minutes I was alone with the driver and he said "momento" and stopped the van outside a shop. He got a couple gallon jars of table wine from the shop and we continued the trip. After some 10 minutes more we arrived the Pompeii archaeological site. 

 

The ancient Circus

The Circus arena and lecterns

Pompeii was buried in ash and pumice in AD79 from a violent eruption from the Vesuvius volcano. The town city itself was founded around 8th - 6th century BC by Greeks and Phoenicians. At the time of the eruption the city was a considered somewhat of a Roman holiday resort. 

The House of Venus 

Venus herself

The site was still open although the clock was ticking at 5pm, the personnel at the gate told me I'll have 2hrs to have a look around. So, in I went and started walking, the area is actually huge. At first I barged into an ancient Circus where people had been thrown to the lions for fun and gladiators had bashed skulls in. After the Circus followed some other public building and then the city started. 

More wall art

Ancient censor? 

 

...and more art

I was passing several buildings of which few were open for public display. The houses did not show much else than the walls and the rooms people had been living in those days, AD79. I guess they did not sport much furniture either. The other was the graffiti of the times that we today call art. There were in many places paintings of different motifs in many places. Many times it was with religious connotations and you could see that Roman Gods as well as Egyptian Gods had been worshiped in ancient Pompeii. 

 

Pompeian cobble stone street

I was running out of time and did not have enough time to walk the ancient town so I had to call it a day and go back onboard. The taxi was still waiting for me as agreed on before I went in and without further ado I asked him to take me back to Castellammare di Stabia.  

The park outside the excavation area

That he did the fast way this time as he took the highway and got me back in 10 minutes or so. He left me at the gate of the port and I was wanting to have a beer at the local tavern so I went across the street to a one table, one chair bar. The barman did not want to notice me so I stopped trying to get his attention and walked back onboard where I enjoyed a Kold Kingfisher instead.

Valencia - Castellammare di Stabia

Having our business in Valencia concluded we leave on the 27th for Italy for our next engagement. The weather is fine and we embark pilot as usual and clear the "S" bend without any hitches. Soon we are on the high seas setting engines on cruising speed and heading for Italian riviera. The trip is uneventful and we make good speed for our ETA.

Castellammare di Stabia (by Google satellite)

On the 29th morning we arrive Castellammare di Stabia roads and wait for pilot. He eventually embarks and we proceed inside the port. There we make to the jetty on the East side of the harbor. The pilot assures us there is 5m water at the end of the mole. We make sb side to as to make sure there is no possibility of damage to our propellers. 

The outer breakwater and ferry jetty

After making fast the provisions circus starts with several trucks bringing in water, soft drinks, bonded stores, fruits, meat, vegetables, frozen stores etc. We make a chain and everybody pitches in so the galley is soon piled up ceiling high with crates and the Chef's are busy sorting it out and stowing their fridges and freezers.

Our jetty from the outside

Entrance to harbor and Mount Vesuvius in the distance

Having the practical issues dealt with I leave the ship late afternoon to nip into historical Pompeii for some sightseeing before nightfall. The roads in Castellammare di Stabia is full of rubbish, eventually it turns out that the rubbish collectors are on strike. Sounds a bit like my time in Greece.

Castle overlooking Castellammare di Stabia

 

Day on the beach

This Saturday I was invited by Sasha, my Carpenter from Ukraine to join him on the beach for some sun bathing and sea bathing while getting out of the ship to prevent cabin fever. To make matters easier we had also a few pegs of Russian Standard to grease the wheels and soon we are on our way walking to the "playa".

View of America's Cup basin from our agents rooftop office terrace

Visiting cruise ship in the commercial harbor

Sasha on the beach enjoying Kingfisher

Beach

Beach 

Building sand castles can be fun too...

Sasha

Valencia Science Museum

This day decided to visit the Science Museum of Valencia. As it was close by we decided to walk over there, the museum could be seen far away. The pedestrians were not very much favored as we ended plodding down paths in no mans land but eventually we made it on the road to the museum. 

Science Museum

Science Museum

The premises were nice but in the end it turned out not be much to write home about. The exhibits were more directed for kids and not really "museum" like at all. Entrance fee was high considering what was on display and for other interesting exhibits, like the IMAX shows cost additionally on top. 

Grabbing the bull by the horns

Art in front of the English mall

Eventually got fed up and we took a taxi to go see a movie in the old city but all movies turned out to be voice overs so we skipped that plan too as no one fancied listening to Spanish. Then we idled around and ended up walking by the bull fighting arena (Corrida) and the trainstation and then we found ourselves in Chinatown where we stopped in a local bar for a few drinks watching the locals spending time. 

Old town again

The "Corrida" and trainstation

After that we felt hungry and checked out a Chinese restaurant for a feed. The staff was Chinese the food looked Chinese but it wasn't very Chinese if you have been to China and seen what the food is there like, but nevertheless the taste was good.

Beer shack in Chinatown

Valencia streetview