An overnight sail of a little more than 150 miles, sailing most of the first day, motoring lots of the second brought us to the Island of Ponza. We were going to anchor on the west coast, but nobody was there in a “favored” anchorage so we figured they must know something we didn’t. We were right – when the swell comes up, make sure you have protection by being on the right side of the island!!! Instead, we ended up anchoring in 14 meters in a very crowded anchorage on the east coast near the town of Ponza and had power boats all over us. We didn’t have swell, we did have wakes! The following day we moved closer to land and got some reprieve. If the boaters in Sardinia are nuts, these guys are on steroids!

The coastline is pretty dramatic and the town itself cute. We were able to bring the dinghy to a dock and get provisions easily. We also found an excellent chandler – who had everything tucked away in draws – ask him for something unusual and he was able to put his hands on it quickly!

A scooter ride the length of the island (there’s only one road) was fun and gave us a good feel for the place. We had a nice lunch at the restaurant at the end of the road ‘Ristorante da Anna’ – delicious. Italian cuisine is excellent! During our three day stay we had numerous Italian snacks from various places in town – all were very tasty!

Our next passage (about 175 miles) will take us to the Aeolian Islands – and I’m hoping to arrive during darkness so that we can see the spectacular view of Stromboli’s eruption. The wind is forecast to be light but in the right direction for us to sail…