It was time to take our trip “up north” to Venice and Cinque Terre. I’d been to both before (in 2001) but Michael hadn’t been to either. I didn’t have specific memories of either place, but I had a warm fuzzy feeling that made me excited to see them again.

We’d headed to Agropoli a couple of days prior to catching the train to Venice. They have a marina that is less expensive than those along the Amalfi Coast. We needed to be in a marina for a couple of reasons: 1) we don’t leave Seahike at anchor when we go out of town for safety reasons, and 2) we were having a repaired battery charger and four new solar panels delivered to Seahike and needed a real-live address to do so.

We didn’t spend much time in Agropoli, but it seemed to be a nice city. The train station was a bit of a hike, so we were glad we didn’t have a lot of heavy luggage to carry.

We arrived with about 10 minutes to spare, only to learn that the train was 10 minutes late. We went to the correct track to board the train then proceeded to get lost in our phones. All of a sudden, Michael looked up from his phone and asked where everyone was. It was then that we realized that the train was arriving on a different track than where we were standing. And the train was already there! We went into panic mode and I tried to ask someone how to get to the track on the other side. He didn’t speak English. Michael said, “he doesn’t understand you,” and we took off. We saw the stairs that led to the underground passage. When we reached the bottom, several people exiting the train pointed to where we needed to go. We sprinted up the stairs to the train and boarded. We’d only been on the train about 30 seconds when the doors closed. Whew!

So, that was exciting.

We’d started the trip on a regional train, then changed to a high-speed train in Salerno. The rest of the seven-hour trip was thankfully uneventful.

When we arrived in Venice, we were greeted with this sight. I immediately felt like I’d come home to an old friend. It was so exciting!

We bought a ticket for the waterbus (definitely the way to travel – inexpensive and quick!) and started to enjoy the scenery along the Grand Canal.

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I haven’t talked much about Salerno, even though we have been using it as our home port (and loving doing so, by the way!!). As a city, it is a story in contrasts. Parts are modern and clean, others are dirty and old. (Not that this is specific to Salerno, but it is a bit different from some of the other “Disneyesque” cities along the Amalfi Coast.) Many of the walls are covered in uber colorful graffiti. Very few people speak English (not a complaint, just a fact). There are two marinas and ferry stops within a kilometer of each other. The city’s residents – some with pet dogs – make excellent use of the beach located next to one of the marinas (and where we are at anchor). Some residents are daily walkers – in the water. I think they use the water as a source of resistance and/or to protect their joints while walking back and forth. They are quick to respond with a smile and “Bonjourno” when you say it to them. The residents also enjoy socializing on the numerous benches located along the long promenade that is densely decorated with beautiful flowering trees.

In short, the city is both welcoming and very interesting.

My favorite day in Salerno was the day I visited the Arechi castle. I’d decided to walk, not because I didn’t know how to get a taxi (which I didn’t), but because I thought it would be a nice walk. It was. Google Maps took me through narrow streets, on wrong turns, in back alleys, etc. When it told me to turn onto a non-existent street, I just retraced my steps until I found a street going in the right direction, went down it, and checked the phone again. Once I was through the city, I followed a “regular” road to the castle.

But let’s learn a bit about this city before we talk about the castle. Here are quite a few facts and dates:

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We thought we would spend an hour or two visiting the ruins in Pompeii. We spent four. The woman at the tourist center recommended that we just visit the sites underlined in black on the map. So that’s what we did. Seventeen sites. Four hours.

The first thing we saw when we entered the ruins was the anfiteatro (amphitheater). It is the oldest among those known from Roman times. It was built in 70 B.C., on the initiative of magistrates Caius Quinctius Valgus and Marcus Porcius who also had the Odeon built. It could hold up to 20,000 people.

In 59 A.D., the cheering of the audience led to a bloody brawl between the people from Pompeii and those from Nocera. As a result of these riots, the Senate of Rome decided to close the arena in Pompeii for ten years, however, this measure was withdrawn in 62 A.D., after the disastrous earthquake struck the city.

The exterior of the amphitheater has staircases with two flights to provide access to the upper steps and a downward corridor that provides access to the lower steps.

Our next stop was the Casa di Giulia Felice. It is a large complex of buildings built at the end of the 1st century B.C., following the incorporation of previous buildings into a single building complex set as an “urban villa,” with a predominance of green areas.

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We stayed on the boat on the 23rd because it poured rain much of the day. It made for some fun pictures, though.

We were ready and raring to go to Positano the next day. This time, we took the dinghy to the marina and left it by a small quay. The gentlemen who worked there had graciously allowed us to do this before so we gave them a couple of bars of Swiss chocolate as a show of thanks. They seemed to appreciate it. Everyone likes chocolate, yes?

We went further down the Amalfi coast than we had before, so we saw some new coastline. Here are some pictures, although I cannot guarantee that all are of the new coastline, to be perfectly honest. I always take a lot of pictures. But first, here are two pictures of the promenade we take to get to the ferry:

And now, the coastline . . .

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We are on the Amalfi coast, so we decided it was prudent to visit the actual town of Amalfi. Atrani is a hop, skip, and a jump from Amalfi, so we visited both of them.

We decided to leave the dinghy on Seahike, so we did the thing where I took Michael ashore in the dinghy, took the dinghy back to Seahike, then swam ashore. I then washed my hair and rinsed the saltwater off under the freshwater showers. (In case you are wondering, I chose shorts that would dry quickly and my swimsuit top.) I put a shirt over my swimsuit top when we got to the ferry, which meant that my shirt got wet. Oh well, it would dry eventually.

The ferry from Salerno to Amalfi takes about 45 minutes, so one has time to admire the coastline. We did.

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It took two overnight sails to get from Corfu to Italy. More accurately, to get to Reggio Calabria, where we intended to check in. Before we get into that story, here is a picture of the sun peeking through the clouds on my 2:00-8:00 a.m. watch:

We’d already hoisted the Italian flag next to the Women Who Sail the Med pennant:

And now, back to our story.

We hailed the Reggio Calabria port authority numerous times before they finally answered. After talking for some time, it was clear that we needed to go to a marina to check into the country. So, we moved a bit farther down the coast and called (on the phone) the marina, as advised. They answered and told us they didn’t speak English and we should WhatsApp them. So we did. Then we waited. Then they told us that they didn’t have room for us and suggested another marina. So we called them. They answered and told us they didn’t speak English and we should WhatsApp them. So we did. Then we waited. An hour had passed by this time and we decided to head out and check in at Salerno instead. It was our next stop, anyway, and a Port of Entry. So we did.

After we’d been underway for about 10-15 minutes, the initial marina contacted us to tell us that they now had a space for us. But we were done with Reggio Calabria by that time. LOL!

The story doesn’t end there, though, my friends.

We got to Salerno and found a good anchorage right near the town. It’s open to the wind on most sides and there is rather large swell from time to time, but the anchor is seriously dug in in 10 feet of water, so we are okay. We are about 200 meters away from the dark sand beach, which also happens to have a beach bar right next to it. Nice. This is the view from Seahike, looking towards the beach and vice versa:

Back to checking in.

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Yep, we went back to Greece! You might recall that we were in a hurry to get to Albania the first time we went to Corfu. We stopped there just to check out of Greece. We expected to return to spend some time with friends who live in Corfu. And that’s just what we did.

We know people in Corfu because we served as crew on their catamaran when they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. We got to know one another other pretty well during those 22 days and we were eager to see them again. Thankfully, they were home and happy to see us as well. <3 (That is supposed to be a heart.)

When we reached out to them about coming to see them, they asked us if we would like to stay at their villa. What? We didn’t even know they had a villa. We thought we would just be able to spend a day together. We aren’t crazy (?) so we graciously accepted their offer. Oh, and they offered to let us use their car while we were visiting as well. Seriously, these are the most generous, kind, and fun souls! We were so excited to see them!

We sailed overnight to Corfu and anchored in a small bay. We made it just before sunset. It was – I think – the fourth bay we tried because the others were full. We were just glad to find an anchorage before it got dark.

Our friends picked us up at the beach the next day. Michael and I didn’t bring all of our stuff with us right away. We can no longer remember why we did that, but we did.

We all went to Corfu Town so Michael and I could check back into Greece. Then we walked around a bit, had a big lunch, walked a bit more, and stopped for groceries. Yulia and I also visited the fortress in Corfu Town, which has wonderful views from the top. Here are a couple of pictures from “below” as well as the top.

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The winds started to pick up the evening before. We knew that they were predicted to pick up a bit, but did not expect what Mother Nature delivered! We got out of bed at one point and let out more anchor rode. It was a rocky night. We were safe but very much on watch and didn’t get as much sleep as a result.

We headed to a marina for the next day on the 4th. We planned to stay there for two days, as the winds were predicted to be strong that entire time. We headed into 40+ knot winds as we motored north in the Bay of Kotor. Thankfully, we didn’t have to go in that direction very far. Once we made a “left turn,” the winds were on our beam and we made great time!

The winds were blowing us away from the dock as we tried to tie up. It took a few tries to get close enough to toss the lines to the three guys on the dock, but we finally made it.

Once firmly tied to the dock, I gently reminded Michael that I’d told him the day before that we should have gone to the marina then. I am always so thoughtful by reminding him when I am right. I am certain that he appreciates it. 😉 😉

We decided to hang out on the boat that day. And we ended up hanging out the next day as well. The main reason is because we weren’t in a hurry. We’d realized that we needed to spend more time in Montenegro so the “Schengen clock” wouldn’t start until we wanted it to start. We were thrilled to spend more time in this beautiful country!

Here is a picture of the promenade by the marina and Seahike’s location at the end of the dock.

We considered staying a third night, but the marina was quite expensive and the winds were predicted to let up later in the day. We planned to anchor near Perast, but I wanted to put out a fair amount of rode in case the winds picked up, and we discovered that the small bay didn’t allow for that.

We ended up anchoring in the northern end of the Bay of Kotor at Risen (also spelled Risan). We had read various things and warnings about this anchorage, including not to anchor right near the bridge, and that winds could be very strong coming down off the mountain. We anchored in about 15 feet of water with good holding. There was very little wind the two days/nights we were there (the 6th and 7th).

A tiny bit of information about Risen: Risen traces its origins to the ancient settlement of Rhizon, the oldest settlement in the Bay of Kotor. Lying in the innermost portion of the bay, the settlement was protected from the interior by inaccessible limestone cliffs of the Orjen mountains which are the highest range of eastern Adriatic, and through several following narrow straits in the Bay of Kotor from the open sea.

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Shortly before we left Croatia, we noticed that the U.S. flag flying on Seahike had a very ragged edge. The flag was wide enough to allow the edge to flap against the lazy jacks when the wind blew. That eventually wore out the fabric. It had to be taken down.

I knew there was a proper way to dispose of a U.S. flag and I wanted to do it correctly. Since we can’t build a bonfire, I won’t be burning it. I will probably take it home with me in October and take it to one of the approved disposal locations. I did manage to fold it correctly after about five tries.

We left our cute little anchorage in Kolocep the morning of Sept. 2.

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We had a nice sail from Mljet to Korčula. . . after the rain stopped. We knew we would be motoring in the rain initially, and boy were we! It poured! Michael was a gentleman (or, was he thinking “happy wife, happy life?”) and took the helm during the entire rainstorm, except for the times he came inside to warm up a bit.

But once we left the rain behind us, we had a lovely sail, like with the sail up kind of a sail. We anchored on the south side of a small island near the main island. It started to pour five minutes after we anchored. That timing was lucky. It had taken about eight or nine hours to make the trip, so it was later in the day when we arrived. We stayed on the boat for the rest of the evening.

This is a good time to note our progress: We had traveled 6100 nautical miles at this point in our journey.

Here are some pictures of the rainclouds and the eventual calm.

And here is a picture of the lovely rainbow that shone after the rain stopped, and the sunset from our boat.

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