The sail from Eastern Sardinia to the Italian mainland is about 200 miles, one of the longest ocean passages in the Med you can make. But you can reduce that to 160 miles if you stop at Ponza, a very worthwhile stop in its own right. This was the first night at sea for the Admiral and she came through with flying colors! I had ordered up champagne sailing conditions and for once, the order went through. The Admiral likes reaches - there is a breeze over the deck that cools her favorite reading spot on the aft deck cushions - and she likes flat seas. So 7 to 13 knots from the South-South East with only a slight chop was acceptable with a compass course of 68 and Kincsem moved nicely along. Even the Code Zero came out after a while! But this is the Western Med and we were sailing towards a massive high parked over the Italian mainland, so at 10 pm the breeze was down to 6 knots and 0050 in the morning it was down to 2 knots so the Volvo came on then. The highlight of the passage was the dolphin show I managed to put on just before sunset: five dolphins and then one more, jumping out of the water and racing along the bow for quite a while!

Ponza is truly spectacular. The Heikels say: "a geological feast of metamorphosed rock twisted and compressed every which way and then eroded by the wind and sea to further effect." True! We anchored just North East of the only harbor initially. Here, the obligatory land excursion pleased the Admiral and everyone else - what more to ask? Back on board, however, the traffic of tripper boats from the harbor to the beach went right by our stern resulting in many noisy encounters between Kincsem's ample butt and the wakes, so we moved on to the next bay, Cala Inferno, later on that day. There paddle boards came out and the water was crystal clear. When we awoke the next moring, here was MY "Venus," the 50 m Philipe Stark designed yacht built for Steve Jobs which was completed one year after his death. Timing is important in life...

We also liked Ventotene, the next island on the way to Naples. Much less touristy and the people were much friendlier than in Ponza. Ventotene's claim to fame is the old harbor, which was built by the Romans and is still intact. Too small for Kincsem, but Sea Biscuit fits just fine.