Our final day in Gaeta was spent gettting supplies for 3 days a sea, 2 at anchor in Ponza and then a one day crossing to Rome. We started with the obligatory Edward breakfast on Cakes and coffee in a delightful pasticceria just opposite the marina. This was followed by buying some clams and sea bream from and equally delightful fishmonger. He couldn’t do enough for us, literally checking every clam whilst his assistant gutted our fish.

We continued our trip into town to get the local speciality, Tiella. This is a pizza that’s more like a pie, with filling and a top crust. We bought two, one with squid and one with fresh anchovies, to be consumed for lunch on our 35 mile crossing to Ponza.

We met true owner with Paula, who came from Edinburgh to Gaeta for a holiday in 1985 and has never returned.

And so back to the boat and we started our sail to Ponza. With no wind to speak of and any that we had was head on we engined all the 35 miles. Arriving at 18:00 in the pleasant bay of Frontone, just north of the town of Ponza on the east coast. We watched as the sun set and the stars and the planets came out, first Venus and then Jupiter, in this delightful setting 35 miles of the Coast of the Italian mainland.