Kansas is lost in the distance...

Agropoli was the first place Dad and I sailed to just the two of us.

We left Amalfi at around 8am when the fuel dock opened and I steered us out of the marina spot for the first time ever, without running into anything I am happy to report.  €250 later we had full fuel tanks and set the auto pilot to Agropoli.

We got the sails up and took advantage what wind there was.  Granted we went about 20 degrees off course, but we were going 5 knots while doing it and it was a lot of fun to be able to get the sails up and actually sail without the motor.  We left early enough that we going have some fun and go off course for a little while.

I was really nervous about docking just the two of us.  It works best with 4 people because Dad was working the helm (steering), we had John working the bow line, I took one stern line, Jenny took the other one, and we could all take a moment and fend off if we got too close to the boat next to us.  Well take two of those people away and there are more jobs than people.  Dad and I had a crew meeting on our way in and decided I would grab the bow line with the hook and pass it his way while he was easing the boat into the slip, then I would throw the person on the dock our stern lines and we would just hope we weren’t going to run into anything.  The guy at the marina showed us the spot which was a night tight fit and we got lucky.  There was only one instance where we were coming too close to the German boat next to ours, but their fenders bounced us off and we were able to correct and then just wedge our way into the spot.  Nice and slow so we could tie off and not worry about going anywhere.  Pretty darn close to perfect docking.

These signs are posted all along the “road” next to the docks.  You can see the scooter passing on one side and then the boat passing the other side.  It made me giggle.

This is where our boat is docked.  It gives you an idea of how when you squeeze into a spot, how our boat just sort of parts the other boats and wedges in.  I have learned how important fenders (the rubber bumpy things hanging off of the side of the boat) are to the safety of the crew and to avoid damage to the boat, or any boats around us.  The town of Agropoli is in the background.

We put the gang plank down, opened all of the hatches, and put everything away, which also took a little bit longer with only two people, but we managed and then decided to go to shore in search of a bus for the following day trip to Paestum and a possible internet connection.

We realized that we were as far from Kansas as humanly possible.  The further south we got in Italy the more remote places we were visiting, and the more we had to rely on our broken Italian.  Pretty much nobody spoke English so we had to say “Dove, autobus Paestum?” which is “Where, bus Paestum?”.  Luckily some people understood what we were trying to achieve with that terribly broken sentence and we managed to find the bus stop after walking in a nice circle around town.  What made it worse was we were doing this at around 3:00pm which is siesta time for everyone.  The streets were pretty much deserted with the exception of old men and café owners.  It was great to take it all in though and struggle through the communications.

Another cultural difference we noted later that night was that the younger crowd drove out and hung out on the docks at night.  Now younger is defined as 30s and below.  The older people hang out in town as do the families.  It was interesting seeing cars rolling up on the dock and people getting out with the sole purpose of talking and socializing.  In America this would be more of a drug deal situation and they wouldn’t hang out there.  Something else I noticed in Italy is that after dinner everyone goes outside and takes a walk.  They stroll and socialize and enjoy the cool evening together.  Cafes with internet only generally have tourists sitting there with their computers unlike a place like Panera where there is also a person hooked up to a phone or computer even if they are sitting with a group of people.  The lines of communication are very open here and people talk, with their hands, at the same time, and about things I can’t even identify, but they just sit together and talk.

These are the empty streets of Agropoli at around 3:00pm.  When we went back at around 9:00pm the place was packed with people.  It was a really pretty city and very pedestrian friendly.

This is a pizzeria we went to that Dad had been to before.  A lot of the buildings here were surprisingly modern inside.  This was a great example.  We went for dinner the night we arrived and then went for lunch the next day before we set sail.  The pizza was really good and almost rivaled Renna’s from home and it was just a fun place to eat.  We also got to watch some sort of Italian game show which is always fun.