Cruising on the Fringe

43 36.68’N:13 28.95’E

May is considered a “fringe” month for cruising. It can still be a little cool and windy, but sometimes that beats the summer heat and dead calm conditions that require motoring.

The crowds are less in May, which leaves plenty of space to anchor or dock. But towns and marinas are often in a state of disarray and construction, with many sites and restaurants still closed for the season. That said, May offers interesting opportunities to see places from a different, more private perspective. This May, we cruised up the East coast of Italy with the goal of taking Berkeley East to Venice. Many cruisers choose not to take this route because there are very few anchorages. Moving on and off docks can often be more difficult than simply dropping the hook, not to mention the high cost of marinas that do not seem to recognize May as a “fringe” month. But we found that in the right weather conditions, we could anchor BE behind marina breakwaters, and when conditions weren’t ideal, we just spaced our marina stays at a comfortable, and somewhat affordable, distance. This gave us the opportunity to see some wonderful, less traveled areas of Italy.

Bari is a large city with a quaint historic center. We never seem to tire of quaint Italian towns, old palaces or beautiful churches. There were few tourists here, which gave us the chance to see how the locals live, and eat where they eat.

One of our best, and most fun, meals in Italy was a lunch in Bari where they spoke no English and simply brought us food that they thought we should eat. None of it was anything we would have ordered had we been able to read the menu, but all of it was delicious.

We couldn’t reach the Trani marina on the telephone, so we just pulled into the harbor and circled until someone came out to the dock and motioned us to a slip. We squeezed BE between two very tall motorboats so we could explore the small port.

This was one of the cleanest towns we have ever seen, with large open squares and an exquisite Norman Duomo.

It was a Friday, so the locals came out at night, but it still wasn’t crowded. The restaurant we chose for dinner didn’t even seem open. We were the only ones there except for the owner’s daughter, who watched cartoons while we ate fish.

Vieste is a beautiful whitewashed hill town that made us feel like we had crossed over to Greece. We anchored in a large bay with a view of the town, and took the dingy in to wander.

While wandering through the back allies, we were called to by a woman on her terrace. We braced ourselves, assuming we weren’t supposed to be there, but she just wanted to talk, in Italian. We smiled and nodded. Then her husband came out to join in. Between Italian, English and lots of pantomime, we had a very nice conversation. Due to its close proximity to the Parco Natzionale d’Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise, Vieste is clearly a popular tourist area. It is surely crowded with hikers and bicyclists “in season” but in May, it was quiet and peaceful. A great place to base from one day when we have time to visit the park.

Off the Gargano coast, Isole Tremiti are the Italian islands least visited by foreigners. Berkeley East was the only cruising boat in the anchorage. There are two main islands, San Nicola and San Domino. San Nicola is home to Santa Marie a Mare, an abbey -fortress founded in the 8th century. While people live on the island, there is little else there other than the abandoned fortress.

It is obviously set up for tourism, but in May they were working on repairs. We were the only visitors.

San Domino is a beauty, with hiking trails and pines forests. For two days, we motored around the island in the dinghy, and hiked all over, seldom seeing anyone else. Even the beach was empty, something you rarely see in Italy.

There was a large sailing regatta the day we entered San Benedetto del Tronto, so we could not get the attention of anyone at the marina. Luckily, they have a very nice breakwater there, so we just anchored behind it and took the dingy to shore. It was crazy, with little kids and little boats everywhere.

We were at the end of May, June 1st is the beginning of the season and we could see the beach clubs getting ready for the summer rush. Along the harbor mole, artists have carved sculptures in the limestone creating an outdoor art gallery.

We took Berkeley East into the marina at Ancona to leave her and take a land trip to Umbria. The docking was challenging because there were so many boats, local boats, coming and going from the marina. We had arrived on Saturday and there was a yacht club race. It was a “parade of boats” the entire day and again on Sunday. It was also June 2nd and the Italians were beginning their summer, what fun.