Ponza of the Pontine Islands Thursday, 23rd JuneWe can't keep away from them - we always gravitate to islands. Ponza is one of the Pontine Islands and is really the rim of a volcanic crater. It rises out of a very clear turquoise sea and is noted for its unusual rock formations, including great pillars, arches and grottoes. Trying to find a piece of pumice small enough to keep on the boat! We have spent a wonderful few days here, staying this long because it h...

When in Rome…. Saturday, 18th JuneOne forgets. We have been on islands and remote places, with space and clean air and clear water for some time now. Made our way to Rome, via 2 other Tuscan islands - Giglio and Giannutri (weird little isle) - and a stop just 25nm north of Rome called Santa Marinella. Now in a little ramshackle Darsena yacht club in the Fiumicino Canal, a stone's throw from Rome's Fiumicino airport. And being in Rome, it suddenly hits you - t...

"Able I was ere I saw Elba" - Saturday 11th June Or some such palindrome - "unable we were to see Elba when we got here a week ago". It's the largest of the 7 islands that make up the Tuscan Archipelago Nature Reserve and obviously famous for looking after Napoleon for a while. We had a good crossing from Corsica, about 32nm, but as we approached the west of the island we heard coastguard reports of boats in difficulty and of thunderstorms off the N of Corsica....

pre-s. Off Exploring forgot to mention the previous lot of photos, but there is an album from the nature reserve and Calvi itself Bastia - and Au Revoir la Corse And we have moved on. If you imagine a "thumbs up" - a fist with a little thumb sticking up - well that is a bit what Corsica looks like. We were on the NW Coast - we have done an "up-and-over" that thumb to arrive in Bastia on the NE (the capital of north Corsica) and our last stop here.The gales sub...

Calvi, Last day of MayIt's quite a weird sensation, seeing snow. The last couple of days - feeling hot, the sky blue, people on the beach and swimming in the water. Mountains rising inland and on top, very clearly, there is snow. I didn't believe it at first, but the peaks are between 2,500 and 2,700m high, so as high as we were skiing in March.But to backtrack, the Scandola nature reserve is very red, very craggy - the only breeding ground for a bald-headed buzz...