Pompeii is very famous and justifiably so but the lesser known Herculaneum just 30 minutes away is a treat. Both are completely awesome in the fact of the effort at excavation that has been undertaken over the hundreds of years since their first discoveries. Herculaneum was first in the 1700s by a farmer digging a well - most of it was well under 50 to 60 feet of solidified ash and still continues on all around under the modern city now there. Vesuvius erupted in...

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 ...

Vulcano Island was our first stop from Sicily after a day long trip through the Messina Straits between Italy mainland and Sicily. We anchored here under the still active volcano which was smoking and giving off sulphurous fumes. Shaunagh and Max went ashore to take rubbish and reported back that there was not much to see except if you wanted to climb the volcano. Friends of ours did last year but we all decided not to. Not that it was a big trip as this volcano ...

There was a one day weather window to get back to Sicily so we took it. The whole Med has been buffeted by very windy conditions the last month so any opportunity to move has to be taken otherwise you end up stuck places for weeks. I'm hoping that from experience it is just the time of year and not a sign of a horrible summer to come. As soon as the weather permitted again we headed off round to the east coast of Sicily via a quick stop to get our Cruising Con...

After the two and a half days travel we arrived on time in Licata Marina Di Cala del Sole.(a bit of a mouthful to say on the radio!) Max was bringing us in stern to beautifully until the dock "helpers" decided to push the bow around with their dinghy - but it all ended well. Apart from when the helpers pulled the lazy lines up under the starboard prop! It will need diving on in the next few days. Really, some of these guys have no idea at all. Pete and...