A Day in Capri

  Another sparkling day in the Gulf of Naples, this time in 1983 not 1995. The USS Coral Sea had pulled into Naples the day before. Once again for R and R and to onload supplies. Naples was one of the most popular ports in the Mediterrenean for a a port visit. Sightseeing to Mt Vesuvius, or along the Amalfi Coast south of Naples, and of course the beautiful Isle of Capri were favorites with the crew. On out first day of liberty, four of us from the weather office decided to travel to Capri. None of us had done a Med Cruise before and this was new territory for all of us WestPac sailors.

   At the time the exchange rate if I remember correctly was about 700 lira to the dollar. maybe a bit more but things were cheap for four squids out on the town. Paul, Gene, Bob and I caught a boat ride over to Capri. The boat was a large ferry, obviously setup for tourists with wine, beer and sandwiches available for the hour and a half ride out to the island. I enjoyed the sunsine and breeze on the warm summer day, enjoyed the laughter of my buddies and the crowd on our boat as we looked toward the landing filled with excitement and anticipation.

   The sight of the island itself was magnificent and worth the ride. From the north Ana Capri and Mt Solara the highest point on the island slopes down to the village of Capri to the south and the Marina Grande. The closer you get the more beautiful the view becomes until your first sight of this beautiful landscape from the marina.

We walked around the marina for a while getting the feel of this small town and deciding how to proceed. There was a funiculari, a cute little rail train  that ran from the marina up to the the village, but we wanted to explore the whole island. A kindly cabbie seeing our plight and wanting to make a few dollars offered to be our ride for the day for about 30,000 lira. A quick discussion and even quicker math and a bottle of wine had us heading up the winding roads toward The Village at Ana Capri. and the Piazza San Vittorio. The four us got out to check out the sights from the mountainside with its great view of the southern part of the island, the Sorrento coast to our southeast and Naples and Mt Vesuvius somewhat lost in the haze to the north and northeast. From Piazza San Vittorio you can take a chairlift to the top of Mt Solara. Where we had an excellent view of the island. We took the chairs to the  top and walked back to rendezvous with our driver where we continued our sight seeing. This time along the way back to the central part of the island. We stopped briefly at the Villa San Michelle  for some excellent photos and made our way down to the Marina Piccola on the western side of the island.

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Stopping for lunch at the marina we treated ourselves to mussels in a red wine sauce, delicious. We then walked down to the beach, chatted with some English tourists on holiday. For our driver it was about time to call it a day. We toured a bit of the southeastern side of the island and made our way back to the Marina Grande. We tipped out driver well, he sent us on our way with another bottle of wine. We wern't finished yet. We hired a boat to take us out to the Blue Grotto. The Blue Grotto is the most beautiful site I've yet so see. Pictures don't do it justice.

   Visitors go out to the Blue Grotto in large 20 man or bigger boats where tourists like us will transfer to rowboats. The head room going into the cavern is low depending on tide. More than one person has cracked their skull on the cavern entrance. Once in it is a sight you will never forget.