We left Giulianove with some regret - a nice, friendly little place and went straight to Fano as we knew strong Northerlies were due and we wanted to beat them to the punch. Had a long but uneventful run up with little wind so it was motor all the way.
Fano marina is Huge but by no means full. The staff are very friendly - particularly Sara, the receptionist who speaks excellent English. They even lend bikes free for use around the marina and town. It's a bit shallow near the fuel berth but no problem for us.
They did us a good deal and we stayed for 5 days while we waited for a nice Southerly wind to blow us up to Venice.
We started at 10.00 and ran through the night to Chioggia. We normally plan on an average of 4.5Knots and expected to get there an hour or so after dawn. The wind was so lovely, and the sea so calm that we did over 6 knots with the Spinnaker until I had to take it down at 16:00 so that we didn't get there in the dark. We soon realised we also had to put two reefs in - not because of bad weather but again to slow us down.
We went through the Chioggia entrance to the lagoon at 07:00. We had intended to stop but the passage had been so good and we were impatient to reach Venice that we just carried on. The early morning lagoon was lovely and peaceful - just the occasional rowers.
After about 3 hours, "La Serenissima" hove into view. Squeezing up our courage, we took the grand tour to the mouth of the Grand Canal and Piazza St Marco doing our best not to get in the way of Vaporettos, Taxis and Gondolas who all have roght of way and hindreds of small private speed boats who think they do. Peacful it is not but it's magic!
After giving Venice the once-over, we headed for Burano, where we intended to anchor, via St Elena, Certosa and Vignola.
Anchoring was a bit iffy to say the least. There is a lot of wash from motor craft, the edges are shallow and there was a fishing net obstructing the best place. The holding was adequate at best.
Next day, we looked for a place to stop on Burano and Mazorbo but no luck - and without our outboard, we didn't fancy rowing the dinghy across such a busy waterway. So we explored the channel behind Torcello. Lovely, peaceful, and stopped totally without warning at the entrance to a shallow lake. We ran aground while taking photos of a fishing hut - and thinking it was just a shallow bit, I foolishly raised the keel and then ran aground again - this time for real! We were well stuck and the engine had sucked up mud.
We took the bow and kedge anchors out in the dinghy to stabilise ourselves as the small tide came up and then cleaned out the engine. After two hours, we managed to winch ourselves into slightly deeper water and got away. Phew!
We had had enough. We called Marina Vento di Venezia on Isola Certosa and they had a place and would do us a good deal for a month. So counting us as 10M and with a 10% CA discount we paid €530 and now have a fixed abode until the last week in June - we expect to leave on 22nd. We found an exellent deal for Vaporretos if you are staying for a month or more. You go to the Vaporetto ticket office number 1 at Rialto and get a card (Cost 40.00 for 5 years). This can be charged each month for €30.00 giving unlimited rides. Fantastic value.
Fano marina is Huge but by no means full. The staff are very friendly - particularly Sara, the receptionist who speaks excellent English. They even lend bikes free for use around the marina and town. It's a bit shallow near the fuel berth but no problem for us.
They did us a good deal and we stayed for 5 days while we waited for a nice Southerly wind to blow us up to Venice.
We started at 10.00 and ran through the night to Chioggia. We normally plan on an average of 4.5Knots and expected to get there an hour or so after dawn. The wind was so lovely, and the sea so calm that we did over 6 knots with the Spinnaker until I had to take it down at 16:00 so that we didn't get there in the dark. We soon realised we also had to put two reefs in - not because of bad weather but again to slow us down.
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| Lagoon, Early Morning |
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| Piazza St.Marco from Rosa |
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| Burano from the Anchorage |
After giving Venice the once-over, we headed for Burano, where we intended to anchor, via St Elena, Certosa and Vignola.
Anchoring was a bit iffy to say the least. There is a lot of wash from motor craft, the edges are shallow and there was a fishing net obstructing the best place. The holding was adequate at best.
Next day, we looked for a place to stop on Burano and Mazorbo but no luck - and without our outboard, we didn't fancy rowing the dinghy across such a busy waterway. So we explored the channel behind Torcello. Lovely, peaceful, and stopped totally without warning at the entrance to a shallow lake. We ran aground while taking photos of a fishing hut - and thinking it was just a shallow bit, I foolishly raised the keel and then ran aground again - this time for real! We were well stuck and the engine had sucked up mud.
We took the bow and kedge anchors out in the dinghy to stabilise ourselves as the small tide came up and then cleaned out the engine. After two hours, we managed to winch ourselves into slightly deeper water and got away. Phew!
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| Part of the Marriage of Venice & the Sea (from Certosa) |
