{"id":891,"date":"2013-07-24T15:59:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T14:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/merrington.net\/?p=891"},"modified":"2013-07-24T15:59:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T14:59:05","slug":"marina-of-roccella-ionica-and-santa-maria-di-leuca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/?p=891","title":{"rendered":"Marina of Roccella Ionica and Santa Maria di Leuca"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had a stopover in Calabria at the Marina of Roccella Ionica.\u00a0 We had heard that silting to the entrance of the harbour could be a problem and we should stay to the left.\u00a0 Since a yacht, just about the same size was stuck in the middle of a sand bar, we thank Heikell for the information.\u00a0 He is rather like a patron saint of yachties in the Med.\u00a0 On this approach, you could see who read Heikell and who was stuck on a sandbar.<\/p>\n

Upon entering, we found a small tidy marina of Roccella Ionica run by Francesco Lombardi.\u00a0 We were assisted with getting our documents stamped by the Coast Guard and information given about the nearby restaurant.\u00a0 Since we had arrived just hours before sundown, we were in a queue of boats. It was like Friday night on the harbour bridge.\u00a0 He did get everyone\u2019s papers processed.\u00a0 There was a great energy and a great welcome to Marina of Roccella Ionica.<\/p>\n

We dress and walk around the marina to the restaurant. There were hundreds of people from the local community as well as many yachties, sitting under a large waxing moon at the outdoor tables. There were tables for twenty and tables for two, children and puppies wandered through the table. Pizza was served, not by a slice or a pie but in either a half metre or metre, on a long narrow board.\u00a0 We had fish and pasta but everyone\u2019s food looked good. The camaraderie of whole families in the restaurant, children playing clap hands and dancing, wishing Auguri for someone\u2019s birthday, made for a fairytale evening.<\/p>\n

\"Lighthouse<\/a>
Lighthouse and full moon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another early start found us sailing for ten hours to Santa Maria di Leuca.\u00a0 We all keep watch for lobster pots and ships, but James and Louise do Sudoku.\u00a0 Louise is also sketching every day.\u00a0 Frosty and Gaila are writing and journaling. We also listen to talking books and podcasts. There is no small amount of chatting and cooking going on.<\/p>\n

\"Louise<\/a>
Louise and Frosty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>
What does it take to do ten hours of sailing a day? Chocolate and fruit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We arrive at Santa Maria di Leuca about 5:00pm.\u00a0 As we sail in, the brass band strikes up an Italian song and we are wondering why they are so excited by our arrival? Ah, but no.\u00a0 It is the boat behind us with a large number of Italian Youth Sailors, who are circumnavigating Italy and being feted at different ports during their summer holidays.<\/p>\n

We shower and go straight out to a lovely restaurant, walking under the full moon, which was extremely large and beautiful.\u00a0 As we go, we pick out the house we want for our Italian fixer upper.\u00a0 There are some beautiful houses here and lovely gardens too. We all have a favorite, each usually a bit run down but quite grand with colonades.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>
Our last meal in Italy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mussels<\/a>
Mussels for lunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next morning, James goes with all our paperwork and hands in our Italian cruising permit.\u00a0 The border patrol actually drives to us from about sixty minutes away, saving us a long sail to Brindisi. They stamp us out of the EU, we are off to Montenegro.\u00a0 Just one last gelato before we go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had a stopover in Calabria at the Marina of Roccella Ionica.\u00a0 We had heard that silting to the entrance of the harbour could be a problem and we should stay to the left.\u00a0 Since a yacht, just about the same size was stuck in the middle of a sand bar, we thank Heikell for … Continue reading Marina of Roccella Ionica and Santa Maria di Leuca<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VxXq-en","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":899,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}