Monday, 4th July Independence Day in US, Very quiet day in Agripoli

It's been very very hot with light and variable winds. We have done a lot of motoring, in between odd bouts of very slow sailing. Spent a couple of days anchored off Capri - the so called "jewel of the Mediterranean", where for decades anyone who was anyone came to build their luxury villas and Be Seen. Mostly American film stars, with a few British and Italian thrown in for good measure. And Axel Munthe if you are a fan. It is a lovely craggy island, but there was a lot of swell, we had a very rolly couple of nights, and it is so steep to and rocky, it made landing ashore difficult. Well we couldn't get the outboard down onto the dinghy really. We did swim to the shore. Should have gone round to the harbour side I suppose….. Somehow Ischia seemed more jewel-like.

Further south to Agripoli, now about 150nm SE of Rome. We wanted to come here to go to Paestum - one of the best preserved Greek classical sites in Italy. It did not disappoint. The low ruins of the houses with some mosaic flooring, and the pools and public places really only give an indication of the scale and layout of the town. The notable features of Paestum are the three temples that are still standing and largely intact - they are vast, huge stone pillars and halls standing tall against the backdrop of the hills. They are the Temple of Athena, Temple of Poseidon (Paestum originally called Poseidonia) or Latinised to Neptune, and the Temple of Hera, wife of Zeus. They are incredible feats of design and engineering.

Agripoli itself is much nicer than expected. We are stern to the quay with an anchor off the bow - this is a free mooring for a max of 3 days for "transitos". First time we have done this, all of the moorings so far have had a lazy line you pick up to take to the bow or stern depending whether you go in forwards or backwards. We actually prefer bows to, but we have not yet rigged an arrangement for our stern anchor - it is buried somewhere deep in the cockpit locker. Must sort that. So W did the backwards driving this time, while R did the anchor dropping. There was an Australian boat next door, who kindly also helped us with lines. And Mrs Aussie's first comment to me was not - hello, where have you come from, or some such usual - but: "are you on the look-out for a self service laundry, because I found one, here is their card and a map of Agripoli, showing where it is!" Turns out she actually had a washing machine on board and a water maker (obviously a bigger boat), so why the mania for laundries I do not know. Did we look that dirty do you think? As it happened, it has been a useful stop in that regard and yes, I have caught up with the washing…..

And the girl in the Tourist Office is exceptionally helpful with good English, turns out she is an American from Chicago, not far from where I lived in Barrington as a teenager! Small worlds.

Two problems vexing us: First the grill decided to perish. Have already sourced replacement parts online, but will have to wait until we get home to deal with it. So no toast and no grilled sardines unless at anchor and can barbecue. And secondly, we have a fuel problem again. The engine coughed on our way here, filter was blocked with a clear slime - inspecting the tank shows more of the dreaded black stuff. The lady on the fuel berth is bringing a 20 litre can in tomorrow so we can carry spare diesel - asked how much she wanted for it and she said nothing - she had lots of them! We have spare filters, but it looks like a more major attempt is needed to combat the problem. If we can only get to….Malta maybe?

So heading off tomorrow, trying to make tracks down to the Aeolian islands, praying for some helpful wind. Really want to see Stromboli in action!