Equinox 2025

This will be last last update to our blog for the year. Our time until we leave will be filled with preparing the boat for the winter and arranging the necessary maintenance.  There is plenty of time, so we may be able to have a further trip by land somewhere, but there are no plans yet.  These are ready meals Italian style. You can see someone out the back preparing it from first principles. Delicious!  While in the city centre, we discovered another fabulous looking deli. How much can we carry home?  Distance today  -            0  Nautical   miles  Distance this year - 1918 Nautical miles  Steve  ( and   Trici a ) 

 More pictures than words today.  We visited Monopoli and Polignana a Mare, by train southwards along the coast. Tricia and I have been there before, but not Chris, so it was a very pleasant last full day with us for him.   Not advised. A train driver going the other way was screaming at them Christmas must be coming, although in t shirt and shorts, it doesn't feel like it Distance today  -            0  Nautical   miles  Distance this year - 1918 Nautical miles  Steve  ( and   Trici a & Chris ) 

 The hope had been that we would be able to stop off in Trani en route to Bari, but the weather forecast was not favourable for us to be there overnight. It is only marginal that we can get in and out, and with any sort of waves running in the harbour, the boat will be bouncing off the seabed, which we obviously want to avoid.  The weather forecast for Sunday was also for quite a lot of wind, so with the deadline of being in Bari by Sunday night we decided to head straight there and plan an excursion for Sunday when we got there.  The exit from the marina in Manfredonia has many (MANY) tiny buoys marking fishing gear, and it is necessary to keep a very sharp watch on both sides and to be ready to change course at a moments notice.  The sailing conditions were near perfect, with the wind coming from the land, so flat water and a good breeze from abeam. In the course of the 9.5 hour trip we only used the engine for two hours, which included the warm up and cool down ph...

 A shorter day's sailing today, so it was a later start. The wind was blowing from the direction that we wanted to go so the first period was spent motoring into the wind and waves. Not too bad, but the inevitable headland effect where the wind is stronger than in other places. View of Vieste on departure Once clear of the corner and heading more south and west the conditions eased.  The wind also came round and for a while we had great sailing conditions. Our arrival into Manfredonia was in time for a late lunch and a short rest before we headed out to stretch our legs and buy provisions. The main church in Manfredonia Chris said that we were doing a gastronomic tour of Italy, and we seemed to know where the best place for bread, focaccia, vegetables, fish, gelato etc. were in every place we had been.  Manfredonia was no exception, in this case a fish shop.  It was closed when we first got there but was due to reopen within 30 minutes, so we did some other shopping ...

Another day of motoring, taking us to Vieste on the tip of the "spur" of Italy. First, however we had to negotiate the fishing boats.  This corner must be a prime spot for fishing as up to 15 fishing boats were visible in site. They move in unpredictable fashion, starting and stopping, presumably to deploy and recover their nets.  We kept our distance as there is nothing good that comes from getting entangled in their nets. We noticed that one of the fishing boats was called Kevin.  It's a perfectly normal name, but it seemed rather odd for an Italian fishing boat. Another sign of the abundance of fish in this area was our first sighting of dolphins since we arrived in the Med in August.  This was a pod of at least 10, and we were treated to seeing 2 spectacular leaps completely clear of the water. The scenery of this region is very beautiful and there are towns hidden in the folds of the land. The town of Perschici, from the sea.  Too shallow for us to stop the...

 Time to head back to our winter stopping point at Bari. This is also where Chris' flight will depart from, so there is a time constraint on getting there. We slipped out of Pescara just as it was getting light, and had to motor in no wind all day. Fortunately, the current that we had to fight while heading northwest was now pushing us in the right direction. The plan is to stop at the same places as the previous journey, but maybe add to extra stops when we are sure that the weather will allow it.   The view of Termoli on approach. The walls of the old town clearly visible We arrived in time to walk around the old town and part of the town, seeing rather more than we did before. This ancient rudder is on display outside the marina There are breakwaters off the beaches all the way up this coast The Duomo The old town is full of narrow alleys The marina The castello (castle) While walking through the main shopping area, we noticed various statues / sculptures of the notabl...