GAETA, NAPLES AND THE AMALFI COAST

After leaving Gaeta we were heading for Naples.  It was another slow start to the day with the engine chugging away until later after lunch we put the headsail out and eventually got the main sail out for a short while.  When we were approaching the large bay where Naples is situated we had to play dodge the ferry so we dropped the sails and were all eyes.  There are two islands very close to Naples, Procida and Ischia and the ferries run continually back and forth so although the bay of Naples is big there's always some boat moving around.
We found a spot to anchor and with the looming Mt Vesuvius overlooking the bay we settled in for the night.
The next morning we made our way across the bay, dodging the ferries and headed for the Amalfi coast. There was a constant stream of pleasure craft heading in the same direction and as we got to the outside of the bay the boats either headed for Capri or rounded the headland to the Amalfi coast.
We were not planning on anchoring anywhere along the coast as we had heard stories of lots of boat traffic and hence rolly conditions but as we came close to Positano Tony spotted a safe looking spot and we thought "why not?"
Later that afternoon we got the dinghy down and decided to head to the town. Now to put some perspective on the scene there are a few things to understand.

• The mooring and anchoring around Positano is pretty controlled so any mooring ball located in the mooring field in front of the town has to be paid for and we decided we still needed both our kidneys so chose to anchor further away.  
• There are taxi boats from the local restaurants that pick you up from your boat (if its much bigger and much ritzier than ours) to reduce the number of tenders on the beach.  I even saw the boat next to ours getting food delivered to their boat.
• If you do take your tender into the beach you can dock at a small jetty and it's like valet parking and your boat will be taken care of, of course for lots of $$$$$.
• OR you can head around to the small bit of beach next to the ferry jetty and pull it up on the beach for free.  Sounds easy, right?  Lets factor in the wash and waves from all the taxi boats and then the ferry coming in and don't forget the other tenders coming into the small area as well.  Tenders come in different sizes, ours is a modest 3m but bigger boats have bigger tenders and yes we were all in there together. It was pretty hectic but we were still able to go "WOW" look at that view during the hecticness.

Once we had secured the dinghy, on the rocky beach, squeezing through the sun bathers we got up to the promenade and were assaulted by the sheer numbers of tourists.  It's a busy place but you can understand the attraction.  We headed off and went up, as that's the only way to really go from the beach and went through narrow lanes and streets all crammed with shops selling beautiful things.  The first few shops were selling dresses, shoes, pottery, limoncello etc  and then there were just more shops selling different variations of that.  Also there were beautiful people, beach people, tourist people all mingling together along the streets and in the restaurants.  It really is a place for everyone.  
We managed to get a table at a beachside restaurant and continued the people watching over dinner. We also witnessed two marriage proposals over our pasta!
With a gelato for dessert we headed back to the dinghy and a much quieter entry back into the water and went for a cruise around the bay before heading home to Phantomas.
We woke up the next morning to find we were the only boat in our little corner so I jumped in for a quick nicky swim before heading off further along the coast.
We spent the next hour or two just marveling at the feats of engineering that allowed some of those homes to be built on the face of sheer cliffs and remain there.  We got to Amalfi which is more spread out than Positano and decided not to stop but cruised slowly past and then were able to sail to our nights anchorage of Agropoli.