Travel – Sailing Azure Seas

Change of Course

Originally, we were departing Seward and heading to Aialik and Holgate Glaciers, but the Captain said a front was moving in and we best try the less visited Hubbard Glacier instead. We sailed into Yakutat Bay, with the imposing Mount Saint Elias acting as a beacon, making it easy to find the bay.

From a distance of five miles you can see the glacier. It is imposing. The ice face of the glacier is six miles wide and 400 meters high. It is not far from the Malaspina Glacier, on the next headland.

We could hear massive cracks and groans, even when we didn’t see the actual calving. Ice would float out to the ship and you could see a dinghy sized piece of ice just beside the ship.

The next day found us anchored off Icy Strait Point and we went looking for Eagle’s nests and visiting the town of Hoonah. The industry here had been fishing with a handsome cannery, which has now been turned into a museum and gift shop.

Walking back from the town, we were almost at the cannery and an eagle swooped down from a tree and majestically flew over the beach. Looking up into the trees we could see an immense nest and wonder if it belonged to our eagle. Eagles are important to the Tlingit people but I am not sure if this is an eagle or a raven. With the blue skies, the red school-house and the colourful totem poles really stood out.

Please note the blue skies, wish I had been fast enough to catch the eagle in flight.

Anchorage to Seward

Where to begin? Our DAR friend Gayle was talking to me for months about the Captain James Cook Society, a world-wide society who study Captain Cook and his travels. When we said we were coming to Anchorage, Gayle said she would be our tour guide.

Our first port of call was the statue of Captain Cook overlooking Resolution Park and the silted waters of Cook inlet.

Followed by an informative tour at the Anchorage Museum, with erudite docent, Nancy Britton. If you can visit the Anchorage museum and have a tour with Nancy, your appreciation of Alaskan First Peoples’ live before and after First Contact will be greatly enhanced.

Literally at dawn the next day, we boarded the train to Seward. We had booked the dome car, with 270 degree views and plenty of scope to go outside to see the verdant or frozen Alaskan landscape. We passed several glaciers and learned that there are over 100,000 glaciers in Alaska. There are 616 officially named glaciers.

The photos of the lakes and icy water were taken from the inside of the train and are not photo-shopped. It is cold in Alaska but it isn’t windy like Sydney. The water of the lakes were perfectly flat and acted like a mirror.

Gayle took us to Sea Life in Seward and it was great to see puffins, otters and seals. The seals seem to interact with the children.

This beautiful seals seemed to react to the children

Thanks to all the lovely people in Anchorage and in Seward who showed us such wonderful hospitality. It was special.

Ua Huka and the hand brake turn

The Aranui 5 is 126 metres long or about 413 feet. The harbour of Vaipaee on the island of Ua Huka is about 50 metres wider than Aranui is long. Docking a ship in these conditions is not for the faint of heart. The Aranui crew put on a complete spectacle for us, bringing their best game to dock in Vaipaee.

Heading into the narrow bay, Aranui drops the anchor then pivots 180 degrees bringing the stern into place.

Barge being lowered to act as a bow thruster

The barge is in place and the long boats with the shore crew are in the water, taking the stern lines to the headlands either side of the bay. The waves are substantial enough that the men might take more than one attempt to jump ashore.

Getting stern lines out has more to do with tying down a bucking bronco than a tying into a dock.

Disembarking the passengers is equally exciting. (No photos because of the roughness.) We were wearing wet shoes today because as you walk downstairs to the passenger barge, the water is spilling in up to your knees and the crew are lifting you in. Trust is the word. You stand in front of four or five muscular men who are gauging the thrust of the barge and waiting for the entrance to the barge to line up with the entrance of the ship. All you can do is trust them to get you on the barge intact and sit down immediately once you are on this bucking bronco. Oh, and keep your arms and hands inside the barge. This is an adrenalin start to your morning.

We go to a food producing Botanical Gardens and see orchards of citrus and breadfruit. We hear about native trees and also about how much food can be produced on the islands. Some items may have been introduced thousands of years ago with the first visitors.

The 4 x 4’s then take us to the Handicraft centre and Sea Museum in Hane Village. The models are rustically exquisite and the carvings are intricate.

After lunch, we hiked up to a meeting point and our guide told us the history of the people here. The views were spectacular over the coast.

This is the reason you hike up 1.5 miles

Ua Huka has miles of winding road, which you can see hugging the coastline. What you don’t see are the wild horses and goats that are often near the road. The goats are wild and harvested by locals for milk or meat. They are not indigenous animals but the locals are happy for the food source. Since the Aranui is the main avenue for supplies to arrive on the island, having a ready supply of dairy and meat seems more than reasonable.

I had one favourite view which I found just splendid and reminiscent of the California coastline.

Last photo, of the bargemen negotiating Aranui out of Vaipaee Bay. Discernible difference between Vaipaee Bay and Hokatu, isn’t there?

Lake Iseo and Val Camonica

Our next journey was to Lake Iseo. Of the Italian lakes, Lago Iseo is the fourth largest; it is the lake that charms Italians. Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the small island of San Paolo and you could literally walk over the lake between Sulzano and Monte Isola. Look online for the photos, I am so sad I missed it.

It is quieter with no tourist buses, yet with some wonderful guest houses and restaurants in the midst of the central Alps. Our real reason is because it is a great stop off point to Val Camonica to see prehistoric petroglyphs.

Since I can’t pretend to be a scholar, I will just advise you to google Val Camonica and rock drawings to find information on this prehistoric site on Wikipedia and UNESCO.org. Briefly to give you the Cliff’s Notes on the drawings from UNESCO: Val Camonica
“has more than 140,000 symbols and figures carved in the rock over a period of 8,000 years and depicting themes connected with agriculture, war, navigation and magic.”

We left Lake Iseo very early to take the train up to Capo di Ponte and on arrival, had to find the way to get on the other side of the train line. Just then someone popped up from underground and we were able to see her subterranean passage.

Running Man looks a bit like Kokopelli, a petroglyph from the American Southwest. Running Man may have been a priest or a man with feathers in his hair or a man blessed by the sun. Kokopelli is always portrayed playing a flute but the resemblance is striking. Perhaps Running Man is a younger Kokopelli, before his back hunched.

This took us right off the beaten track but the journey was fascinating. We took the train to the northernmost point of Lake Iseo and caught the ferry back to Sulzano by way of Monte Isola.

While it is fascinating to view the hundreds of rock drawings easily found walking around the National Park, the countryside is beautiful. Chestnuts, birch, pines and beautiful alpine flowers and mosses. It is a truly beautiful area.

I don’t think these are Portobellos but they were beautiful.

Sirmione, Lake Garda

Lake Garda is so large and so Mediterranean in climate, we feel there might be a boat waiting for us. Yet while there were only ferries, we were still happy on the water. We only travelled to the lower lake because there aren’t ferries going everywhere and returning on the same day.

When you are deciding where to stay, if you are getting about without a car, then our suggestion would be in the Centro Storico or Old Town. Sirmione’s Centro has Roman ruins, museums and castles. The castle even has a drawbridge, which incites a romantic notion of knights and jousts. The swans gliding through the moat was quite picturesque.

Probably the best way to arrive at Sirmione is to take the train to Desenzano del garde, the bus down the hill and jump on the ferry to Sirmione. Unless you come by ferry from another town, this would seem the best option. Once you know when your ferry departs, if you have time, you can have a coffee or some wonderful gelato in the piazza.

There is a spa that you can visit and also you can walk or take the Nonno’s train to the Roman ruins. Catullus is said to have had a villa here. He certainly seems to write a poem about coming back to the peninsula of Sirmioni.

Every night there seemed to be a free concert both of a more classical style and also jazz on the beach full of drums and even a didgeridoo. In the evening a lot of the crowds would leave and it was wonderful to wait and stroll around town from cafe to music. Like Catullus, we might try to write a poem about returning to Sirmioni.

Feeling happy escaping the crowds, we would walk and wander waiting for the twilight. More on the Roman Villa tomorrow.

Boat Spam in Genoa

This one is for the sailors, who read this blog. I wanted to call it boat p orn but James said that might be unwise. We have been in two ports Viareggio,Tuscany and Genoa. This is boat building territory, La Spezia is in between these two ports and another boat builder’s paradise.

While we were there we saw this boat. We thought Frosty loves sailing in this part of the world. He can work two jobs and buy this boat, then we will visit him. I am not sure even a big lottery win would help.

Just the boat for Frosty and his friends. — Just the boat for Frosty and his friends: Rosehearty 56 metres

Viareggio looks like a carnival town, lots of fun fair rides for the children and a beach covered with umbrella and deck chairs for the family. Italian is spoken here and sometimes a bit of German. There was a Bubble man, whose photo I can’t show you because he was surrounded by children. But here is one of his bubbles in the sunset sky of Viareggio.

Gigantic Bubbles – Viareggio, port of Lucca

We left early the next morning and there were dozens of fisherman on every surface of the three moles that make this a protected harbour.

More eye-candy on the way to Genoa.

Rosehearty, 56 metres long — Another 56 metre leisure craft

Finally, we reached Genoa and sailed into a huge bay, past the Costa Concordia being dismantled, warehouses in various states of ruin but handsome nonetheless.

View of the Duomo from the port — View of old and new Genoa from the boat

But have I finished with my boat spam yet? Decidedly not, here is the beauty just moored across the channel from Mercier at the Marina Mole Vecchio. The staff here are great, especially considering Mercier is the same size as this yacht’s bow.

More on Genoa the town later, but I had to thank my sailing friends for following Sailing Azure Seas and boat spam seemed the best way to do it.

Favourite Sons – Portoferraio, Elba

There are some remarkable places in Italy, the island of Elba is quite interesting, historic and gorgeous.

First of all, this island is so full of iron that one can not rely on a compass for a true reading. Climbing up to Fort Falcone, one of three fortresses protecting this city, you can see the earth is rusty with iron. The Etruscans mined here, the Romans vacationed here and Cosimo built forts hereto protect his iron mines.

The two favourite sons of Portoferraio are Cosimo l de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, founder of Portoferraio and Napoleon who was a prisoner here and spent every moment on Elba trying to escape.

Napoleon's Villa dei Mulini — Napoleon’s Villa dei Mulini

I am not sure I would spend my time trying to escape from this paradise, but Napoleon certainly did. He is said to have written on one wall: “Napoleon can be happy anywhere.” Seriously? Most of us would be very happy to spend a few years here.

Watch Tower from Cosimo's fort — Watch Tower from Cosimo’s fort

Like Sydney, Portoferraio has a Martello tower, built by Cosimo, to protect the entrance to the small harbour. A fleet of pirates came and terrorised the populace and may have been the impetus behind all of these forts being built. Heikell said it was a fleet of 42 sail. This is more than my mind’s eye conjures up when talking about a pirate raid of about three ships.

Bay of Portoferraio with Martello tower, Tower della Linguella at the entrance — Bay of Portoferraio with Tower della Linguella at the entrance

Most visitors come for the beautiful beaches in and around Portferraio, others go fishing. We walked up to the Tower Falcone and the museum, watched the very fast three man soccer set up in nets, in the piazza, while we ate our gelato. We would be happy to come and visit again in a few years.

Beauty Spots, Italy

Let’s face it, as countries go, Italy is bella; beautiful and glorious. Here were are racing by its magnificent coast to meet a ship in Genoa that will bring Mercier to Oz. We had a wonderful day in Ischia after saying goodbye to gorgeous cousins in Minori and Sorrento. Ischia is one of our favourite islands because people are just as likely to break into song as to say ciao.

Waterfall & mosaic of King Neptune at Poseidon Thermal Spa, Ischia

The Thermal Spa is wonderful, with mineral springs running hot and cold. The waterfalls act as massage therapists.

The next morning we sailed past another favourite, Procida, because we just didn’t have enough time to stop. We are already planning another Italian sojourn, using ferries and pensiones. Procida, Ponza and Ventotene are three of the Pontine Islands, south of Rome. We anchored in nearby Ponza and had a wonderful swim.

From Ponza, it was a nine hour day sail to make it to Porto Turistico, because we had a lovely south westerly breeze to help us on our way. You know there has to be a reward for that much sailing. A day in Rome, with shopping at Castrioni, scrumptious lunch at Romeo, a stroll down the Pont S’Angelo and a gelato fix.

Gelateria del Teatro, watching them ready the fruit for the ices.

Two days ago, we were stopped by the Guarda Finanza or border patrol of Italy. We were just motoring past Cittavecchia, we were asked quite a few questions. “Where are you going?” “Ercole”, we answered, he looked confused. More questions about our intended trip, while the other officer was checking us through their computer. He asked again,”Where are you going?” “Ercole” we said smiling. A few more questions, then he says “erCOle”. Si, mystery solved.

There are not a lot of ports or anchorages north of Porto Ercole on the mainland coast, so we sailed out to Elba, This is a wonderful Tuscan island and we have been here three times.

Yesterday, we arrived to about 8 yachts at about 3PM. By the time we went to bed, there were literally 100 yachts in the anchorage. not counting the boats in the marina. It was like the Sydney Harbour Bridge at 8:00am, just about bumper to bumper. Many yachts had their fenders out at anchor, just in case.

Off to Portoferraio!.

Maratea, Basilicata

We sailed into small harbours along the Calabrian Coast, finally arriving at the captivating and picturesque town of Maratea, Basilicata. It is two towns in one, Maratea marina, which is the area near the sea and about three kilometers straight up finds the hilltop village of Maratea.

Beautiful wooden boats at Maratea Marina

We arrived in time for a wonderful lunch at Clubbino, best panini in Italy so far with a very friendly proprietor and staff. Then we walked around the area and found a spring of beautiful water which supplies the town, gargantuan caper plants cascading down stone walls and several restaurants. I led the charge on a path to the north of town, passing small mansions along the coast, but Frosty said let’s go down this little lane and it took us to a paved path along the sea.

We followed it back towards the Marina and it ended in a rock pool, which looked very old and very weather-beaten, but surrounded by ladies lying on the flat rock platforms or boulders along the path.

After siesta, we decided to wait for the bus to go up to the hilltop village. The bus never came and the friendly proprietor of Clubbino found a ride for us, as there were no taxis around either.

The old town was beautiful and still at siesta, but we wandered around and took copious photos and called a taxi to go back down.

No one answered the taxi phone number and so we walked at least about four kilometres, although we tried to get Eagle Man to give us a lift. (He was making eagle sounds as he soared along the valley.)

Messina Straits to Tropea

Two years ago, we sailed from the Aeolian Islands through the Messina Straits going south. This morning at 6:30am we sailed the straits going north, sailing from Reggio to Tropea. The Strait is 20 miles long and from 2 to 10 miles wide, funneling the Ionian Sea into the Tyrrhenian Sea and vice versa. You are able to see the energy in the water. look long enough and you are bound to see a whirlpool forming. We began so early because we knew the current would be flowing south by 7:30am, 4.5 hours after high tide in Gibraltar.

Frosty was a bit skeptical at being underway by 6:30 am, even with a Nespresso in his hand but soon we were surrounded by the ‘passarelles’ or felucas, for the swordfish fisherman. Watching them move towards a sword fish at a rate of knots is quite startling.

Felluca or passarelle, a swordfishing boat

The boats are about 40 feet long and the mast is about 50 feet high and the skipper steers from that lofty position.

Captain and first mate up 50 feet into the air, Messina Straits

The harpooner walking out on the passerelle — The harpooner walking out on the passarelle. Look at the rooster tail.

After getting through the Messina Straits with a sighting of one swordfish( or was it a tuna?), a slight whirlpool trying to form and quite a bit of current. We sailed up the coast to Porto di Tropea. Only 30 miles from the Aeolian Islands and a charming, neo-classical town, in a slight state of ruin, there is a lot to like. The outstanding feature has to be the beaches. Surrounded by tufa, the beaches are superb. Odysseus never talks about beaches, does he? The beaches here are sensational. There were incredible beaches up the coast from Reggio di Calabria.

I tried to get James and Frosty smiling while in the Messina Straits, but in that photo they looked liked they had seen Charybdis. They liked the beach though.

Our journey so far (sorry, you have to copy & paste the link)

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zkkfRzDGj2mE.kO4m-3hTL-cs

Category: Travel