The gulf of Naples is difficult in August and HOT. There is no or little wind but the boat and ship traffic is incredible. Sometimes it feels like every single resident of the city is out on an overpowered motorboat, screaming along at full throttle right at Kincsem only to turn sharply at the last second. Add to that ferries zipping along right by us every few minutes at 30 knots and you get the idea. The Admiral was not too pleased and concerned about wakes flooding the decks and spilling seawater all over the forward cabin, as occurred in Elba. Good fortune and closed hatches, though, avoided that situation.

Our first stop was the island of Ischia, where we anchored right underneath the beautiful Castello di Ischia. The setting was fantastic but it was like anchoring and sleeping in a washing machine! One of the highlights for me was watching a British motor yacht and a British large Oyster sailing yacht crossing anchor chains and the mess that ensued. Great Harbor cinema!

Rieke and Benno were brave enough to get on the paddle boards in spite of the chop. With difficulty, we launched and explored the area with the dinghy but there seemed to be no place to land. So we left the next morning to go to Procida, the neighboring island. Less dramatic and touristy but most importantly, the marina where we were headed had a mechanic who had promised to perform the needed 400 hour oil change and engine service on our Volvo main engine. Maintaining the warranty requires that the service be done by a professional - so I stayed on board the next day to observe - from the air conditioned salon - what Luigi and Carlo (names fictional), two brothers, where doing in the engine room. Luigi was the elder and the boss and Carlo’s role was limited to handing tools to Luigi, fetching oil cans, etc. They didn’t have any parts (of course I did), but otherwise, they did a nice job and left the engine room clean and the engine working!

Nicki, Rieke, Benno, Almut and Rainer spent the day on Ischia, taking the ferry over. Given the 95 degree heat, I was happy to stay behind in the AC, although I missed a bus ride over the island to San Angelo... The next day we motored to Santa Lucia, which is a small harbor right in the center of Naples underneath the Castell dell’Ovo, a stark looking fortress which now houses a museum. We were moored on a small pontoon operated by a group of Ormeggiatori (dockers) which led to the outside breakwater and nowhere else. The breakwater was topped by a high fence. The only way to get from the pontoon to the shore was by small wooden boats run by the Ormeggiatori. All in all, this was a nice enough place given that we were in Naples and close to the airport. The little harbor faced a row of large and beautiful old hotels, where we had a wonderful welcome dinner for Dan and Marla at a rooftop restaurant. We pointed out our Kincsem far below to the maitre’d who was visibly impressed.