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| The Isle of Capri, as seen from a wave-tossed little boat deck |
| Erin's Positano Journals 5-18-02 This was our boating day. We got up and mustered our energy for a day on the water, putting bathing suits and sunscreen on first and bringing long sleeves just in case we got overexposed while out in the reflective glare. First stop: grocery store. We needed food and beverages to keep us busy on our long day on deck, so we got a bottle of wine each, water, soda, and snacks, as well as sandwiches for our planned picnic on a remote beach somewhere. We met up with Radha and Amon at the store, and headed down to the beach to get our boat and driver. While we waited for the boat to be prepped, I quickly ran up to the internet cafe to see if there was a chance at meeting my friend Jana, who was in town from Seattle on a 2 1/2 week trip through Italy and staying in Sorrento. But she and Ray had headed off to other parts for that day, and would be moving north the next morning, so we wished them luck (via email) and ran back to the boat. We set out for Capri. Our driver was a great little Italian guy, probably in his late teens, who was clearly used to being on boats. He didn't speak English, but throughout the day had fun pantomiming his meanings to us as we tried to ask or tell things. He was nice enough to try to reduce any large waves by slowing the boat down to ride them out, which helped Radha a little. She was almost immediately not feeling well, and Marile ended up tying on some pieces of cloth to the pressure points on the wrists, which helps reduce seasickness. I was having a blast with the waves, and lay out on the cushioned bow along with Glenn, Dave, Marile and Amon, while Radha watched the horizon to steady herself. We saw some great islands right off the coast from Positano, then made our way to Capri. Capri was larger than I'd anticipated, and very pretty on approach. We arrived in the port around noon, parked the boat between a couple of huge yachts to disembark, and arranged to meet our driver again at 1pm. We set off to find the center of town, and ended up fighting our way up a long, winding set of steps that seemed never-ending, especially considering that we had been doing this in Positano already for 2 whole days and were already rubber-legged! After getting all of us completely breathless and sweaty, we arrived in the city center and stopped in the shade to get a break. Then we walked around a little, took a few pictures, and said 'good enough.' We staggered back down all those stairs to the docks, found the driver, and asked him to find us a nice little beach somewhere so we could have lunch. He parked the boat in the water nearby, instead. We shrugged and pulled out the food and a bottle of wine. After eating a bit, we found the water to be a gorgeous shade of blue and very inviting in the direct sunlight, so several of us went swimming right off the boat. I stayed behind to document the event. Aren't you glad??? Otherwise you wouldn't have these wonderful photos!!! Nah, that water was COLD! But I did swim later. After drying off and opening the 2nd bottle of wine, we headed back across the water to slowly trawl along the shoreline, seeing some gorgeous cliffs and secluded coves. We all just lay back, sunbathed, and enjoyed the feel of being with friends on a boat in Italy. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking short breaks to jump in the water and cool off, then lay out some more. Finally, we were getting back to Positano and took some great shots of the city from the boat. After thanking the driver, we headed up to clean off and dress for dinner. We'd agreed to meet at a pizza place near our pensione to get some take-home food, then play Shanghai Rummy until bedtime. We got 3 huge pizzas between the 6 of us, and couldn't finish them all. We played a long but rousing game of Shanghai Rummy to its conclusion, then had time for a few rounds of Spoons, which is a more fast-paced game I'd introduced to the group. As it turned out, Marile has hands faster than a striking snake, so she was the winner of every round, even when she didn't have the winning hand! Congrats! What a great day! |
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| Action shot of Dave joining Glenn, Marile and Amon in the water off Capri |