Amalfi and Capri

Pioppi might not have had a great appeal as a town, but the anchorage in front of it was well protected and we slept well. In the morning after a short swim we sailed off. Despite the weather forecast we had decent wind and sailing was good, in the afternoon wind got stronger and we even had to reef the sails. 

We arrived in Amalfi at around 5 in the afternoon. It was incredibly crowded with vessels of all sorts and sizes. We tried to figure out where the best place would be to anchor and decided for the W side of marine entrance beneath a steep cliff, where two other sailboats were already anchored. The day was very hot and we decided to eat on the boat and in the evening, whet it gets cooler, go into the town. The two hours on the boat were unbelievably rolly, solely from the hundreds of boats speeding by and the wash they made. We've never experienced anything like it, not the harbour that would be so busy, nor the captains that would hit full throttle 5 meters from the breakwater. We were just hoping that the madness stops at night and that we would get some sleep.

We were lucky that there was a beach in the corner of our anchorage and it wasn't far to row the dinghy. At around 8 in the evening nobody was there, we even found the people who worked there to ask if we can leave the dingy on the beach and they were quite surprised that we asked. And said yes, sure. We walked into town and the light was already fading. This is the Amalfi marina, not very large.

The whole town is built into cliffs and there are many interesting and pretty buildings.

A mural on Grand Caffe, we had pizza and a beer there on our way home, and weren't too impressed. But prices were very reasonable.

Some walls are overgrown with plants.

There is barely a room for a narrow road, and you can see vespa drivers, pedestrians, cars, big tour buses and tourists taking photos, all on it, but seemingly without anybody getting hurt.

We walked around the bend and there was another town, Attrani. To us it was even more pretty than Amalfi.

This looks like a church but actually pavement is running under it. If the space is scarce...

We wandered through the narrow streets...

... where the laundry was drying - as it should in Italy...

... and with every turn you are wandering if you're not at someone's door.

Evening ended with pizza and a beer and afterwards we rowed back to the boat. Night was not too rolly and we slept well until 8 in the morning, when the heavy traffic begun again. So after a coffee we sailed off. We took some more photos of the cliff with hotel Miramalfi under which we anchored...

... the pretty terraces with lemon trees...

... more cliffs surrounding our anchorage...

... and Amalfi itself.

This is the bend...

... behind which Attrani lies.

Then we turned W and sailed along the coats towards island of Capri. The coast is very scenic and wild, with lots of caves.

Many buildings are built into the cliffs and have different ways of getting to the sea.

We made a turn to take a look at Positano.

After short sailing we reached Capri. These are the famous rocks on the South side...

...and this is the view from the West...

... from the bay where we anchored. Under cliffs again and in beautiful turquoise water. And among hundreds of boats and even more were speeding through the anchorage. It was even more crowded than Amalfi. I have never seen so many super yachts in one anchorage. This photo was taken a bit later already in the evening, that's why there are so few anchored boats on it...

... and I had to wait quite a while to get this view almost empty of boats.

A while ago, in Golfo Squillace we fished a bright pink swimming noodle out of the water, captain thought it might come handy and we were getting some plastic out of the sea, so double profit. On this afternoon it somehow got out of the dinghy and nearly escaped, and Captain swam to get it back. So it's not like Captain forgot how to swim.

In the evening a rolly anchorage got quieter. We wanted to go on land, and the village was a bit further away, so Captain put the tubes on the dinghy, inflated them, then put the engine on so we wouldn't have to row. In the evening he went exploring many holes in the surrounding cliffs and he motored away, but returned rowing. Engine died and he was quite upset, engine was checked and serviced before we left, so it should work well. It was getting late and I was not in the mood for a long rowing, so we stayed on Heron.

Next morning though I thought that since we are leaving Capri that day, it is worth to row almost half a mile, who knows when we will come back again. So we rowed into the village, on the way there wind helped, and once there we tried to tie the dinghy to some pier or somewhere. But everything was fenced, we tried in a restaurant that had a pier and they said certainly not, the port is behind that rocks, and when we got there, there was a note that said it was forbidden to leave the dinghy there. We asked anyway, but everyone said try the North coast where the main town is. The rowing back was much harder, with wind and waves agains us and I was getting angry. It seemed to me that everything was tailored for the big yachts with the crew that would dinghy the masters directly to restaurant and then return to the yacht and wait until they were called to picked the masters again. So we had a feeling Capri doesn't want us. And suddenly, I didn't want it either. So we lifted the anchor and sailed around the island and took some photos. This is the village where we couldn't get on land.

There are many cliffs and caves there, in some you can see stalactites.

This was a crowd in front of the Blue Grotto.

And this is the view of the main town on the North coast. Even if we forgot our resentment and would be interested in exploring it, by the time we got there it was blowing so hard from the South we wouldn't have been able to row to the shore.

But, anchorage was very nice and there were many swifts living in the caves in the cliffs around it and they were chirping and singing long into the night, alone for that it was worth coming.