Santa Maria

We spent Monday wandering Old Gaeta and discovered the Italian national pastime of closing attractions ⛪🕍🕌 and museums🏤⛲🎠 whenever it suits them! The town is a maze of alleys, lanes, staircases, arches, broken buildings and lovely homes with rooftop gardens and views. We met a German fellow who lives aboard his catamaran with his wife and 10 month baby and another baby arriving! He was busy putting nets around the lifelines. 👍A calm night and we set off the next morning for Ponza, by all accounts, a place with gorgeous water and spectacular rock formations and cliffs. Once again there was little to no traffic so a lovely transit although little wind. We anchored off a lovely beach and Bob dipped his toes while I swam around the boat. The water temp was 24C! The wind started blowing in with some waves but the forecast was for light wind and waves. LIES! We thought we were settled for the night but we got bouncier and blown so made a decision to move around to the other side of the island even though it was dark. Donned our life jackets and we motored out, bouncing, splashing, crashing in the waves. I vetoed Bob's idea of trying to lift the dinghy while bouncing in the waves and decided to go into the town harbour rather than around the island. It was still an exposed harbour but somewhat less and there were other boats anchored so we joined them. Needless to say, a rocky, scary ending to what had begun as a glorious day. No sleep 🥱for me!Read more