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Salerno

When you arrive in the bay of Naples in July you start to look around for
somewhere to moor up and do the sights that you can afford. We learnt
slowly that the place to stay was probably Salerno which is just round the
corner from the bay. From Ischia to Amalfi this is a very interesting and
picturesque area of Italy. We arrived from the Island of Ventotine and spent
our first night in the bay at anchor in the ancient anchorage at Miseno. You
enter the bay of Naples through the Procida strait where you meet all the
ferries coming from Naples. The navigation channels seem a little confusing
and trying to get in to the head of a hydrofoil captain is even more difficult.
When they say 'See Naples and die' I think they could have been talking
about the hydrofoil captains.
There is no where you can go round here without
bumping in to the past and we discovered that the
Roman fleet was anchored at Miseno in AD 79
under the command of Pliny the elder who, on
seeing Vesuvius erupting and being a bit of a
naturalist, went to take a look. He'd also heard
that a mate and his wife were stuck at Stabia
South East of Vesuvius so wanted to rescue them.
He apparently got there but years of Corpulence
and forgetting to take his blood pressure pills in all
the excitement got the better of him and he died probably of a heart attack
on the beach.
We sailed across the bay the next
morning probably taking the same
course as Pliny to spend a couple of
nights at Torre Del Greco a suburb of
Naples and a reminder of how much
the ancient Greeks settled in Italy.
Hermione is tucked up second from
the end at Circulo Nautico sailing club.
A good spot and reasonably priced for
that time of year. You have to book as
most boats belong to locals. Here we

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