Agropoli was a nice stop all alone in the anchorage looking at the 450.00 per night marina berths nearby. The old town was enchanting up on the cliff behind us and was lovely all lit up at night.

Salerno was our first stop along the Amalfi Coast. It looks from the sea to be quite a built up area but on closer inspection it turns out that lots of the big old buildings are old mansions, most I think converted to hotels and apartments these days but still quite grand. The town is a mix of local people going about their business, high end retail and tourism. We really liked the old town just a few streets back from the waterfront.

We then proceeded to travel along the Amalfi Coast proper passing Maiora and many other little villages tumbling down or climbing up hillsides and mountains. We anchored in the bay right in front of Amalfi itself. Going ashore was a nightmare of choking crowds, delivery vans, taxis, buses, motorbikes and yet more people!! Buses, day tripper boats and ferries arriving every minute to bring more people who are "doing" the famous coast towns of Amalfi, Positano, Sorrento and the Isle of Capri. It was exhausting and not at all nice. We completely lost interest in going to these other places and if this is what it is like in early May - I can only shudder to imagine from here on. We will look at them from the sea, they may be a trip for another time in the winter! Hiring a car is even worse than trying to do what we are doing by boat. Not very good anchorages with limited ability to get ashore and viciously expensive marinas. Capri Grande quoted 1000.00 euro per night not including power and water.

One evening after having watched the day trippers all leave Peter and I decided to give Amalfi another chance and went ashore after dinner about 7.30. What a difference - a lot quieter but still busy in the restaurants. We were able to walk comfortably around. The shops started shutting up at 8pm on a Friday so it's obviously a day place for most tourists.

So, we motored the rest of the Amalfi Coast and Capri just for a look from the sea and headed to Castellemara di Stabia to stay at a marina there to go to Pompeii and Herculaneum.