SAN FELICE CIRCEO AND GAETA

After a rather long stay at Porto Di Roma we faced our demons and set sail for the next port south – San Felice Cerceo, the 50 mile sail taking 7 ^½ hours  in mostly fine conditions.

Approaching Circeo

The long awaited good weather was a wonderful change from the nasty Mistral that nearly had both of us giving up and becoming landlubbers!

We arrived at Circeo mid afternoon and after rather hastily being given a ‘bad’ mooring (as the secretary called it) we headed straight for another strong Italian coffee. 

The marina

We asked about a meal at the local restaurant and were given a hand written on the spot menu. Apparently all the locals know what is 'normale' and don't need a menu.

Circeo is clearly a quaint little town that appears to have been adopted by the wealthy Italian and Russian tourists. The pontoons were very rudimentary though many of the boats moored were extremely impressive. More than once our depth sounder read ‘0’ in the badly silted up harbour. Still, we made it in and out ok.

Next morning we set off for Gaeta.

Approaching the Gaeta Bluff

 

The NATO Naval headquarters at Gaeta

We arrived after another uneventful day (wind 5 -10 kts, temp 23^o and were given assistance to enter a much nicer berth. David has nearly perfected reversing and so we had no hitches getting into the space.

Our berth 4th on the right (blue Genoa)

Gaeta is a delightful little town. Just big enough to have all the services you’d want, yet quaint enough to make you feel at home. The cobbled stone streets of the old part of the city were bustling with activity in the late afternoon, tiny shops selling everything from fruit to home made pasta and Italian high fashion???

We thoroughly enjoyed our short stay in the town and could live here in another life. Once again the coffee was beautiful and sooo cheap -1euro. 

When we left Gaeta we stopped to get diesel from the 'Gazoil station'. The attendant seemed to have not a care in the world as he rolled a cigarette and took his chances.