This is supposed to be a sailing holiday not a test of endurance!

Finally we have decent WIFI again, hence the delay in our blogging, so where were we?

Thursday 31^st, we woke up safely moored up in Porto Turistico di Roma and waited patiently for an engineer to come to see us about our alternator issue. Having checked it out he quoted us 1000€ for a new alternator plus fitting, Ouch, big ouch, so having been able to source parts in the UK far cheaper than the Italians quoted,  we once again got onto the internet to find a supplier to ship the part out to us. So we did just that, for half the money including shipping, so with 3 days to wait, 3 days to explore Rome, we put the matter out of our heads, but more on this later.

Steven decided to stay with us longer as he was due to go back to the UK on the 3^rd August, so we rescheduled his flights for the 18^th August from Naples instead.

Friday 1^st Aug – Having negotiated our way around to the local bus, where we realised that we were the only people on the bus that had actually bought a ticket,  and then the metro system, we arrived just outside the Colosseum, and from there started exploring. After getting stung 56€ for 3 drinks and 3 panninis with a view of the wedding cake, we knew we had arrived in Rome !

We thought a good way to get around the city and all the sites was to get on a hop on / hop off open top bus, ha ha ha,  after buying tickets, another 60€, we then spent 30 minutes trying to find the first bus stop… after getting on the bus, the next stop was the central train station where it stopped for 30 minutes, in about 38 degrees of heat. Not wanting to die of dehydration, we decided that the tour would take a total of 2 hours, but that probably 75 minutes would be baking at different bus stops where we didn’t want to get off, so we jumped off and decided walking was actually quicker and had we known before buying the tickets, cheaper as well !

So a quick run through of what we saw, and to anyone who has been here before, I apologise as you know all this already !

The first thing to note is that clearly the best trade to be in Rome at present is a scaffolder.

The Colosseum, queued for 30 mins, but not a disappointment, amazing place, no sign of Spartacus though, or any lions, although Chantal did get a kiss from a Gladiator!

We were amazed how non-pc the write ups were… spot what the UK would surely have had removed!

The old ruins of the Forum, masses of excavation continuing and the sheer size of what they had built many centuries before, clearly evident as more and more is uncovered.

The Victor Emmanuel Monument, nicknamed the wedding cake. Just stunning, no matter how many times you see it!

The Trevi Fountain, such a disappointment… The once beautiful fountain is currently surrounded by a plastic and wire 10 foot fence, with a glass walkway that you had to pay to walk through, plus they were clearly cleaning the fountain which was switched off and covered in scaffolding.

The Spanish steps… funnily also covered in scaffolding at the top, with the fountain not working again, we began to think there was a water shortage in Rome !

Shopping in Via del Condotti….. down to Piazza del Popollo.

Exhausted, but with an Armani sweatshirt for Steven and an Etro shirt for David in hand, we stopped for dinner, managing to take the last table outside at a nice restaurant just before a Russian family  tried rather rudely, to beat us to it and then weaved our weary way home.

Sat 2^nd August, the Vatican… Queued for about 30 mins to get into St Peters, which always impresses.

And Inside… wow!

We then climbed the 500 odd steps up inside the dome in 34 degrees of heat, surrounded by lots of sweaty tourists, who I am sure do not shower everyday.. Still worth it for a close up of the Dome and the mosiacs on the walls, together with the most spectacular views of Rome and the Vatican Gardens.

We then walked across the Ponte St Angelo bridge to Piazza Navono, where we saw real water coming out of the fountain,

and then to Piazza Della Retondo and the Pantheon,

where we stopped for a bottle of wine, people watched, listened to some street acts and watched some acrobats. Back home the usual way, as we were now skilled at navigating the metro system , almost like locals, but without the colour and the Italian accents to get the train and bus home.

Sunday 3^rd August – Rested our poor feet and chilled.

Monday 4^th August … Having ordered the alternator last Thursday, we found out it had not shipped until today from the UK, bloody marvellous !  David & Steven decided to have a boys day out, Steven wanted a picture of the Hard Rock Café in Rome, as he did in Florence, and if they had one in Sienna, I am sure he would have had one of there as well !  So into central Rome for about a 10 minute walk up the Via Venetto, we found the Hard Rock Café, funnily enough, opposite the American Embassy, took the picture and then back out of Rome to a shopping centre where we found a Hollister shop with a sale on, bought some clothes and also a nice top for Chantal, so she knew we hadn’t forgotten her.

Tuesday 5^th August – Chilled

Wednesday 6^th So finally the alternator arrives, then we organise a guy to fit it, but, it was the wrong alternator, even after giving the UK supplier the serial number of the engine it was fitted to, to make sure that this didn’t happen., so they took the current alternator away to test it. He came back and to our surprise advised us that the connectors were just oxidised and it was ok, so it was refitted, tested, all seemed ok, so we were ready to depart the following day.

Sail repairs – In parallel to the alternator repairs, the genny needed some patches to the UV strip, so the sail was taken down, a quote given for the work and the sail taken away to be repaired that evening for re-fitting early the next morning so we could finally set sail after now 8 days in this marina. We thought at this point that a refresher course in how to sail was in order, but decided against it.

Thursday 7^th ….  Rigged the patched genny which arrived back to us late and double the quote, so very Italian, still under debate and negotiation and left Porto Turistico di Roma at midday to get further down the coast to be able to then set off for the Pontine Islands. No wind, typical! Halfway through we checked that all the batteries were being charged by the alternator, only to discover that the service battery was still an issue. We moored in Nettuno, rather than staying on anchor, all safe and sound and proceeded to stop the engine, which somehow managed to re-start with no human intervention. We then could not stop it in the usual way, so tried to stop it with what is meant to be a failsafe switch on the engine itself, to no avail….very quickly, a burning smell was being emitted, and no real help on hand, we cut the fuel feed and disconnected the batteries. Finally we managed to get the engine to stop, but not after a lot of damage to the electrical system….

A lovely chap called Vicenzo was on hand the following morning, although with no Italian between us and no English on his part, google translate, and hand signals became a necessity. He established that the MDI unit, ie the brain to our starter system was completely fried. Vicenzo left us to our frustration, believing we would need to wait another 3 days for the part, but he returned 2 hours later, miraculously with the part in hand which he promptly fitted. We then tried to start the engine, absolutely nothing! Next thing was the starter motor itself, which he took off and once again disappeared. A few hours later, he came back, shaking his head, now clearly as frustrated as we were, and having showed us the starter motor which was in 2 parts so we could see that the internal workings have been completely shredded, managed to tell us that it was now in the hands of the Volvo Penta guys who needed to order the part from Sweden!

Of course this would happen on a Friday, and the earliest we could expect the part was Monday.

To make the best of the situation we were in yet again and not to be downhearted, we set off on Saturday to explore Nettuno

and neighbouring Anzio, which is where the British and American forces landed in 1943 to begin to push the Germans back out of Italy. We could see the old German battlements on the beachhead, very sobering to realise what the troops had to go through to take the beach and at such significant cost to life. Lest we forget.

We also spotted just why the Italians live their Smart cars….

Sunday, we hired a car, fortunately not another Kangoo….but a Hyundai ix20. We got up early and left to get to Pompeii before all the coaches and organised trips arrived, spent 3 hours strolling around this amazing town and its ruins, with its demise bought about by Mt Vesuvius in the background before heading off to Herculaneum.

 Pompeii

New Pompeii

We then drove the Amalfi coast road from south to north, and it is fantastic, lovely towns every 3 – 4 miles, great scenery of both towns and views out to sea, and then made our way back to Nettuno, covering some 600 kms in the day.

Monday 11^th,early afternoon brought the welcome sight of Vicenzo with a new starter motor in hand. Our smiles soon departed when, having fitted it and started the engine, a symphony of alarms were triggered and the engine was stopped! On checking the alternator, he found that it was kicking out 16 volts, which, as much as we could discern from hand communications, had sent the MDI mental, which restarted the starter motor, giving it a turbo boost until it shredded itself ! Great, more good news, we now needed a new alternator. Another day to wait.

Tuesday, brought Vicenzo with a new alternator, the correct one this time which he fitted. With abated breath we started the engine again and for 5 seconds we waited, in silence, for the alarms. Sadly they did not disappoint! Engine stopped again, this time Vicenzo had a look at the battery isolator switch which directs the charge to the engine and service batteries and yes you guessed it, it was buggered too!. Much to our relief however, as by now we really had had enough of Nettuno, and the soaring costs of the repairs and parts, a phone call brought a friend with a box in hand, a new  isolator which Vicenzo promptly fitted. This time the engine started to a welcome silence, the batteries were fine, and on testing were being charged correctly. Finally we had got to the bottom of it, sadly too late in the afternoon to depart and much poorer in the pocket.

Before departing Nettuno, we went to solve the issue with our wi-fi and at the WIND shop we were told that a spurious game had used all of our 12GB allowance for the month in 3 days!. Fortunately they were kind enough to restart it, or so they said, although it would take 24 hours!

Wednesday 13^th, we set sail for the island of Ponza, the largest of the Pontine Islands. But, you guessed it, strong winds against us, we couldn’t get there so headed further down the coast to the one place we thought might be sheltered enough to stop the night. However having dropped anchor sheltered from the winds but not the swell, our boat became a washing machine and we couldn’t even cook for being thrown around. Giving up on the Pontine islands and conscious we had to get to Naples for Steven’s flight home on the 18^th, we upped the anchor and decided to do a night sail to   Islo DÍschia.

It was actually a great sail…. The boys did the first watch and I was on from 3 till dawn. We were all up at 7am a couple of miles out from Ischia where we dropped anchor at a place called Lacco Amena and jumped in the dinghy to go exploring, and as our wi-fi had not been reinstated, a Wind shop! At this point I feel it necessary to advise you that we did not run out of fuel!  Anyway back to WIND and our wi-fi, finally found the shop, via a bus and a long walk, only to be told that unless we had a passport as ID we could not be helped, adding to our delays in updating you on our blog. Given the journey there, it was only fair we got a taxi back to where our dinghy was moored, and didn’t return.

Lacco Amena and Porto DÍschia

Thursday 14^th, we departed for Sorrento, lovely sail but strong winds and swell, fortunately with us, but sadly that did mean shelter for the night was going to be hard to come by. We tried Sorrento, no room at the Inn, we then sailed off for another hour to Capri, again no room at the inn, sailed round to the east coast believing that we would find shelter there, sadly not, it was as if the winds were spiralling round the island!. Giving up we went back to Sorrento where there were fixed moorings outside the harbour to tie up to. This we did, mooring fore and aft in the hope that might help us against the swell, jumped in the dingy and found a small bar playing lots of old 80’s songs and promptly had a few drinks! The row back was surprisingly fast, vodka turbo charged me thinks.

However even the vodkas didn’t dull the pain caused by the boat rolling most of the night! We gave up just after dawn, and got back into the dinghy to go visiting Sorrento and yes, you guessed it, find another WIND shop!

Sorrento

 After a whistle stop tour of Sorrento, we headed back to the small harbour where our dinghy was, with the intention of setting sail around the headland. However,  having all but got into the dinghy to go back to the yacht, I realised that a small bag containing my passport, driving license and credit cards was still on a table at a café at the top of the town. Racing back up the steps and the hill back to the café, we were met by our waitress looking at me and saying don’t worry we have your bag! Thank god, shows how well you can react in a crisis, and how badly on a few hours sleep!  We will return to Sorrento again this trip, hopefully in better conditions, but we bugged out to head round the corner into the Amalfi coast. David on the helm, sails set perfectly we had a great sail around the headland, where we hoped to be able to drop anchor, spend an afternoon mucking around in the dingy and the beach, and when the wind dropped the following day, head over to Capri, our last chance for Steven to see the Island.

Best made plans and all that, 20 knots of wind, we tried to bring the main sail in, to an almighty twang, and a useless in-haul rope. Up on deck, opening the access panel it soon became clear that the rope that ties the bottom of the sail to the drum that is turned when putting the sail away had snapped. Worse still the metal tube inside the mast that the sail wraps around had completely dislodged itself from the drum. Trying to stay calm, but on top of everything that has happened, failing, I said to the boys that we needed to drop the main sail completely to the deck and set about doing so. It would only drop a foot however, misleading in itself, so I assumed it has jammed. We managed to secure ourselves to a mooring buoy in the bay to buy us some time, whilst we lifted the sail again, and tried to lower it again. It jammed, or so I thought, in the same place…… Completely confused, we decided to wait until the winds dropped later that afternoon, the buoy seemed to be holding us well, and try again. Seemed a good idea until the guy who organized the buoys told us we could not stay with the sail up in these winds.

So with the bottom of the sail lashed to the boom as best we could, we set off for Salerno… thankfully the winds were right behind us, so we were able to keep the boat and sail stabilised for the 3 hour sail.

During the sail both David and I tried to get hold of someone, English speaking in Salerno port to ensure we did not get a no room in the inn response, and for help mooring with a sail up!! Something I really was not looking forward to. 8 different people, 8 different phone numbers,  and finally we had some joy, or so we thought. We were told there was a mooring for us, but when we asked if they had a rigger on hand to help, we were told we could not come into the port with the sail up!!! Great, we were really not loving the Italians at this point.

We next contacted a marina 2 miles south of Salerno, Marina dÁrechi, who could not have been more helpful, perhaps something to do with  my white lie of saying we had a minor on board, but I did tell Steven he needed to act 14 not 16 when we got in, which at 6ft 2ins is a pretty tall ask. 7pm we arrived outside the marina, to be met by 5 guys on hand to help in 3 ribs, and whilst we got some protection behind their breakwater from the seas, the winds were still 20 knots. Challengingly, we managed to drop the anchor whilst 3 guys came on board to try to help us get the sail down…

10 minutes later, after pulling and tugging, one of the guys, applying logic, instead of desperation, followed the point of resistance, and released a brake on the mast, and 2 seconds later the sail was on the deck. Oh I was so embarrassed, why didn’t I think of that! In my defence, the sail did drop a foot, which it shouldn’t have given we had the break on…. There is a technical reason why it did do that, but I won’t bore you with the details….

With the sail strapped to the deck and escorted by the ribs, we safely got into the marina  and  now moored up. The rigger arrived at 8.30am  Sunday morning to help to sort out the issue. The sail is now fine and all is well, how long for who knows, but we have our fingers crossed that the remainder of our trip, without our additional crew member, Steven, who flies home tomorrow, will be a more pleasant experience than the last 3 weeks have been. For now, relief and joviality took over….

and we had a date  for this evening to buy all the marina staff a beer or 2, or 3, or 4 for their help last night, not sure how we are going to sell them the idea of buying a 14 year a beer mind you!

PS… just to add insult to injury, on the way back from the bar, we grabbed 3 of the marina bikes, David’s chain wasn”t even connected, Steven’s & my brakes didnt work, as a consequence, Steven collided with a metal sign and I, with a  concrete bin!. Nothing to do with the alcohol consumed previously!!! (No injury’s sustained!) Oh and dinner that night in the marina restaurant was timed well, no fish, no beef, no pork, they had sold out of it all, but they do make very good pizzas, thank god !!