Porto Vecchio ( Ventotene)


Our little harbor

Saturday, we left Ponza and made our way to Ventotene Isola which was about a 20 mile ride. We arrived in Ventotene which is one of the largest of the Southeastern group of the Pontine Islands mid-afternoon on Saturday. The old port is called Port Vecchio and very small and built around rock and manmade jetties. We tied up bow in due to the protruding rock ledge under the water at the quay side. Busy dive area and the port was mainly comprised of dive shops and dive boats coming and going. The Captianarie in Italy is more commonly called the Ormeggiatori and it is never truly clear which person holds that title. We had a lovely afternoon visiting the town and hanging out in the main plaza drinking cassis. We had filled the water tanks so we could take hot showers on the boat. One of the true pleasures of this boat when you have water and good shore power is our shower!. Ken and I found a pleasant restaurant and made plans to have a dinner date Saturday night. Page cooked back at the boat for Mike and Alan.

Pontine Islands – Ponzi Harbor May 20

Ponza harbor village is very busy, but very small. We had a great dock, tying up along side the pontoon. Again, electric, but undrinkable water. We washed down the boat, along with dockside showers and laundry and then set off to check out the local provisioning options.


Where this hilltop cemetary, La Rotonda della Madonna, once stood a prominent Roman’s villa. Below, where the openings at the water level are, you can still find the swimming pool for the rich man’s family where fresh sea water moved in and out.

In the afternoon, Ken, myself and Mike took the local boat tour through the natural and manmade viaducts along the rocky edges outside of the harbor. The rocky cliffs had mix of lava and natural rock. It was quite impressive and the water was sparkling and clear. On one cliff where once a proment villa stood, now housed the town’s cemetery. Below, was a grotto that contained a man-made seawater swimming pool for the Villa’s wealthy resident. We were not sure how they made their way from the top of the cliff where their Villa once stood, to the waters edge below and into the grotto where the swimming pool was.

In the evening Page and I decided to go off and have dinner of good Italian Pizza. The guys stayed at the boat and Ken and Mike later went off to dinner somewhere. From what they said, they were “over-fed”! Page and I had a lovely time and continued to catch up and reminisce about our families and the wonderful childhood times we had at our cottages at Devils Lake.

Putting up at Genoa


Crew on overnight

Set off putting the main and the Genoa up. We sailed most of the afternoon and into the evening about moving along at an average 7 knots. Our shifts for the night established. Page, 6-10, Kristine, 10pm-2am, Alan 12am-4am, Mike- 2am-6am, Ken-4am-8am, & Page-6am-10am.

On my shift, around 11pm, the moon started to rise. There was only one boat in sight and the moon rose behind it. It started out brilliant orange and finally settled to its lovely bright self. By this time, we had only the main up and motored through the remainder of the night. We arrived at Ponza harbor on Ponza Island around 7:30-8am, or so. As we approached the marina, we ran out of diesel, put up the Genoa, and put the 2.5 jerry can of fuel in. Our first stop at the harbor was the fuel dock and we filled it up. 300 Euros for 120 liters plus the 9 liters in the jerry can.


Mike helping Page with Clovehitch lesson