Manfredonia to Giulianova.

Oh dear! Remember that nice safe anchorage in Manfredonia we were going to stay two days in? Well after the first (very peaceful) night, we were visited by two policemen in a Guardia Finanza Rib. They were very pleasant and all they wanted was documents. No problem. However, the also told us we should ask permission from the "Capomare de Manfredonia" to anchor - clearly expecting that permisssion would be given. It wasn't. We were close to lot sof unoccupied permanent moorings and well out of the way of fishing fleet traffic but - no explanation but we must either go in the Marina or on the Lega Navale Pontoons. The latter €40 per night and we didn't even ask about the marina. So off we went to Vieste against my better judgement. The journey up to cape was fine but as we approached Viesti we were bashing into a force 5-6 on the Nose with 1 meter waves from the North East. Very unpleasant!
And Viesti was completely untenable in that wind & swell. We could have anchored south of the town but it would have been very uncomfortable with the wind holding us broad-side to a swell. So we decided to go on through the night and  next day to Porto Vasto via the Tremiti Islands. By then the wind was a solid force 6-7. I beat for nearly three hours out of Vieste and moved 3 miles. There was a 1 knot current against us as well as the wind and swell. Fortunately, the wind and swell moderated and turned a bit and we were able to motor sail through the night.

By morning everything was much calmer and we reached the Tremiti Islands at about 0800. It appears from the charts that anchoring is now prohibited pretty much everywhere and there are no visible mooring buoys so we cruised on by. They're very picturesque - and we took several pics. Would have been nice to stop for a day and paint - but without information on where, if anywhere, mooring/anchoring is permissible we gave it a miss and continued on to Porto Vasto.
About 10 miles out, we hit a sharp boundary between clear blue water and green, opaque coastal water - a boundary marked by an unbelievable amount of rubbish. A lot of plastic but also lots of vegetation including uprooted tress - a couple of them huge and weighing several tons. If we had hit one in the dark, it would have done some serious damage! We can only assume it was a result of flooding in one or more of the many rivers on that coast.
Porto Vasto was a very pleasant change. It's mainly a small commercial shipping port but with a small yacht club (Circolo Navtico di Vasto) occupying a sheltered basin.They were difficult to raise on VHF but the harbour master was helpful and after several channel changes (to avoid fishermen with verbal diahorea) we made contact. They were very friendly and gave us a nice berth for €35 including water & electricity. The town itself is a long way away so no real facilities other than the club bar.
From Porto Vasto, it was an easy days sail to Giulianova. We tried calling on VHF and lurked around for 15 minutes with no reply or contact at all. In the end we tied up at the (closed) fuel berth and I walked around the harbour till I found Mauro cleaning the gates. From then on, everything looked up. It's a lovely little town. Backed by the snow-coverd Appenines, it has plenty of shops and we had an excellent and very reasonable meal at "Caeribi"in the piazza. The marina is huge and has good facilities - water, elec, showers but no Lauderette. We had noticed water under the engine, and were able to diagnose the source as thw engine water pump. A neighbouring boat with a lovely coupel called Bruno & Antonella called an engineer for us (he has a boat a few berths down teh pontoon and he fixed it in a couple of hours for €20. Excellent!
We liked it so much (and at €27 per night it was starting to feel reasonable) we stayed 3 nights. So now we're off on a 30 hour leg to Fanno. More in a few days.

East Italy sucks for yachties

I know we shouldn't let it get to us but we're getting very tired of the East Italian Coast. We've both tried very hard. We've spent 100s of hours and lots of pounds learning the language (C'è bellisimo e non è dificile).
We've met some lovely people. We've seen some lovely old towns and, at least for the past two days, we've even been warm and seen the sun.
But
Officialdom is such a pain. Rules and regulations seem to be made in the most awkward way possible and with the intent of forcing us into the hands of those who will extract obscene and unaffordable amounts of money from us for nothing useful in return.
We're just ordinary folk with a limited income. We just happen to have a boat as a home instead of a house. But petty officials treat us as if we are made of money (or at least are on holiday for a week or so - so there is no time to lose in getting that dosh.
Take anchoring.
First there is rule that you aren't allowed to anchor within 300meters of a beach. Any beach. Never mind that there is no possibility of anyone swimming that far out, especially in these temperatures, and never mind that there isn't anyone on the beach anyway.

Why 300m? Apparently because we might rush around and catch swimmers in our propeller or we might shit in the water! Well some might but Rosa moves at a fast walking pace at best and we take it as a matter of pride to always manoeuvre carefully and to dump in the holding tank, not the sea. So why not just ban the things they are worried about? Lord knows - probably because it would be harder to enforce. But the effect is that, because anywhere 300m from the shore is likely to be exposed or just plain too deep, we are forced into harbours.

In the harbours there is often plenty of room to anchor safely or to tie up on the quay. But oh no, petty officials will insist on us going to expensive marinas or pontoons. Why? I'm probably being too cynical in thinking it's because they've been paid off by said marinas who - because we can't vote with our keels - can and do charge extortionate prices.

So what do we do? In the short term we pay up - we have to sleep somewhere. But in the medium term we have to cook on board instead of enjoying wonderful Italian food. We only see the sights if we can walk to them. We don't hire a car to visit further in land. All this diminishes our experience of what I believe to be a wonderful country. In the longer term we just go elsewhere - like Greece. And then Italy gets nothing.

Bari to Manfredonia

Our earliest plan had been to go straight from Bari to Vieste - it's a longish hop but it's a straight line. With the delays at Bari though, we would have got there in the dark - which is not normally a good idea in an unknown harbour, especially if you are planning to anchor. But we did want to get out of Bari! A quick look at the Pilot fingered Barletta - 6 hours up the coast and with a huge anchoring area.
It was cloudy and there was little wind or swell so we had an easy motor. The sky was grey (same as usual) but we led a charmed life as rain storms passed us by on either side without actually hitting on us.
Barletta looked a pleasant enough place so we went ashore on Saturday (next morning). We chained the dinghy up securely then headed into town. The old town looks attractive although I'm sure it is a lot nicer in sunshine and when tourist season is upon it. L had read that there was a launderette though and had the bit between her teeth. After a lot of asking and tramping we found the "Lavanderia" in Piazza St. Antonio but unfortunately it turned out to be a full service laundry - €3 per tee shirt. But they were incredibly nice and helpful. Nancy - one of the owners - took us on a 15 minute walk to the commercial center where there is a "Lavanderia a Jeton" or coin operated laundry right next to a Hypermarket. We had left the dirty washing in the dinghy to save lugging it all around town so we trogged back to where it was moored - planning to go back to Rosa to get the granny trolley then moor on West side of the harbour - much closer to the Launderette. The bloody motor wouldn't go! I had to row nearly a mile.
We got everything done in 3 hours and just clambered back on board Rosa before the heavens opened.
We spent a comfortable night but in the morning a nasty swell was coming into the harbour and the wind was blowing us sideways so we were rocking side to side - not very comfortable! After a check of the forecast, it was clear that this was just the start, it was going to get a lot worse! We made a snap decision to brave the rain, swell and head winds to get to a safe harbour at Manfredonia before things really set in in the afternoon and made Barletta very uncomfortable and possibly dangerous.
What a horrible journey - 5 hours that felt like we were back in the English Channel in winter. But we made it and now we're safe and comfortable. We'll stay here for at least a couple of days until the wind calms down before we head for Vieste.

Brindisi to Bari

Savelletri

First stop was Savelletri, a small, very friendly fishing village with a safe but shallow harbour. We spent a relaxing couple of nights there at anchor which always makes Lucifer happier as he is free to run around. The shopping is pretty limited since many of the little shops have closed because customers use the bigger shops in nearby Lecce or Monopoli. There is still a mini market, a butcher and an amazingly good chandler as well as lots of restaurants and ice cream shops. We used the dinghy to get ashore. Unfortunately, our trusty Torqeedo electric outboard stopped twice and we had to row back to the boat. No idea yet why but it's very worrying as we are going to depend upon it when we get to Venice.

Polignano

We set off towards Bari but expecting that we might stop at Mola di Bari or Polignano on the way. In the event it was cold and raining for much of the way and neither of us felt like stopping and doing the tourist bit. From the sea, Polignano reminded be of Bonifacio on Corsica - looks very pretty.

Polignano Marina

We did go into Polignano Marina to have a look although it was a weird experience. It's large, we'll sheltered, brand spanking new, with all facilities but totally empty. Not a single boat and nobody on land either. It felt like one of those post-apocalyptic films.

Bari old town

We went on past Mola di Bari in a thunderstorm, and got to Bari in the evening. A French boat we had seen several times was already moored side-to so we joined them. No facilities and a bit grubby but well sheltered and free. Bari old town is beautiful - although much of the rest of the city seems like a concrete jungle. It's all very prosperous looking with lots of swanky shops and department stores. We took the opportunity to get a proper Internet contract sorted out.  We now have 20Gb  per month from TIM in exchange for a years pre-payment of €199. Pretty good! That afternoon a chap from one of the local boat yards offered us some hull treatment. We didn't need it but he seemed really nice and we chatted for a couple of hours. He suggested going out for a meal in the evening which was excellent. We went back to Rosa for a night cap but then things got a bit strange. I suspect he had had a little too much calvados as his hands got rather too active for L's comfort and he started telling us that he and his wife were swingers. A little later, the suggestion came up that we get naked! We are both pretty open minded but all this made us both rather uncomfortable so we ended up drawing the evening to a rather abrupt end.

Next day was May Day and the phone shop was shut so we had to hang around till May 2. I went out at 0800 to find the lock on my bike had been cut with bolt cutters and there it was - gone. Welcome to Italy!

After a long yomp to the police station opposite the castle and another to pick up our SIM, we finally cast of at 11:30