Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Bye Italy

On last Wednesday morning we again checked the forecast and the wind was still too strong to sail NW. So we decided to stay another day.
And it wasn't very hard, we got a visit from a crew from another Slovene boat that was in Otranto and had a nice chat in the afternoon on board of Heron and decided to make a trip to the lake together. The anchorage was full of boats. In comparison to previous days, when we were alone.
We were happy with a prospect of having a good walk and an ice cream.
We got ice creams in the camping site for divers and finish it off by the time we got to the lake. It was really stunning.
We met some people on horses.
Lake from the other side, with sea in the back. As I understand it is made by mining for bauxite, that is a main source for aluminium.
The land around it was pretty dry, with thistle growing everywhere.
On the way to our dinghy we spooked a pretty moray eel in shallow water.
We had a nice evening with our friends, and then again a coffee the next morning. Then they returned to Otranto. That evening we sailed off towards Monopoli. There was less and less wind, and luckily the waves weren't too big. But it was still a bit of work, there were a lot of fishing boats and ferries on the water. We were motoring the whole time and around noon of next day, the Friday, we reached Monopoli.
The visitors pier was empty and Heron had plenty of space.
We called the port captain and after a while the officials came to the boat and gave us couple of forms to fill out, one about the boat for port captain and one about our health for health officials. Last year the formalities were practically non existent, but Covid changed that.
At around 2 we brought the forms to port captain and it was really hot. This is the view to Heron over the old port.
On our way we saw this cat, complaining at the door, that her people didn't let her in.
On our way back we found this maritime themed fountain in park.
Monopoli was just as charming as I remembered - with narrow streets and many old buildings.


We had a panzarotti for lunch, it is a fried folded pizza dough filled with different things, mainly cheese, and tomatoes. It is delicious.
In the afternoon we were resting a bit on the boat, we were quite tired of sailing all night. In the evening we went shopping and then we had some snacks and a glass of wine in one of the bars.
Next morning we went shopping again, and at around noon we sailed off to Mola di Bari. We motored the whole way, but at least there were no wind or waves against us. We anchored behind the breaker in the early afternoon. In the evening we rowed the dinghy to the town and visited our favourite pizzeria in town - Angelo's. We were lucky to get the table, and had some panzarotti and pizzas again. This time I definitely had my share of pizza-things while in Italy. And after that we had some gelati and a cannolo.
In the evening wind started to blow harder again, but luckily we were tucked in as far into the port as we dared (it is quite shallow), so we were able to get some sleep.
In the morning we sailed off early. But it was really wild outside, after quite strong wind during the night, the waves built up, of course on the nose. And the wind was still strong in the morning, although it should have been long slowing down according to forecast. We were pounding into waves, with engine and the sails, and were struggling to make progress. In couple of hours we managed to reach Bari and Captain had enough - he wanted us to make a stop there and maybe continue in the afternoon, if wind and waves calm down. But right then it got a bit less wild and I pushed to continue towards Manfredonia, we still had a lot of miles to sail. After some rest Captain's mood improved and in the meantime wind turned a bit and I was able to sail without the engine. Wind got stronger again, but at least it was a bit from the side, so we were sailing with good speed, which made Captain happier. It was still a hard ride, we were pounding into the waves and the boat was heeled over quite a bit. We ate just crackers and cheese, it was too wild to cook or spend any time inside of the boat
Along the way we saw a flock of tunas hunting and birds soon joined the fun. We know they were tunas, because we saw them jumping out of the water.


Luckily in the evening it got calmer and we motored last two hours to Manfredonia, where we anchored near the breakers of old port, well protected from the waves. We had some nice dinner, a glass of wine and went to bed early, pretty tired of a long hard day. We made almost 70 miles that day.
The night was calm and we slept well. In the morning we didn't have the energy to row into the town, so we just sailed Heron into the port and made some photos of the old fort.
We sailed East along the South shore of the spur. It is very pretty, with white cliffs, forests and white beaches. Just the water is not very clear, since the whole bay is sandy and very shallow.
We anchored in Mattinatella, a bay with beautiful cliffs. We swam, read books and rested. After what we've been through the day before, we deserved it.
In the evening we rowed alog the shore to see the cliffs...

...the overhangs,...
...and caves from up close.

Luckily the loud Italians on two motor boats left in the evening, so after the good dinner it was quiet and calm and we had a good night.
Next morning we left at 7, we again had some 70 miles to sail, we planned to sail across the Adriatic sea all the way to Lastovo in Croatia. At the beginning we were motoring, but after a while wind picked up and we were already sailing as we passed Vieste at the end of the spur.
I was a bit sad to be leaving Italy, it is such a nice country, with delicious food and warm and friendly people. If it only weren't so difficult to find a protected anchorage... There is one more thing that was bothering me - the trash. We haven't seen so much trash and plastic in the sea, but also in the streets of towns or along the roads, anywhere else. It is not so bad in some parts of Sardinia, but Sicily, Calabria and Puglia are terrible. And it is difficult to find a trash cans in towns, ports and on the beaches. I hope it will get better soon. One of our last views of Italy was this one with a styrofoam box that fishermen use to store caught fish, floating on the sea. It was one of many we saw in last few days.


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