Very bad news

Cathe has jumped on a plane and is back in Sydney because her father, Dick Stack, has had a massive stroke and is in critical condition in RNS Hospital. We got the call on Tuesday and had her on the plane ASAP the following day. At the moment we are waiting to see how he goes but so far the news is not great. The family is rallying around but everyone is terribly upset and this is worsened because no-one yet knows just what the outcome will be. For us here on the boat it is difficult because we are powerless to help. The boys are out of sorts and very emotional with their mother being away and grandpa so ill: and so am I.

We have been staying in the sleepy and perfect town of Chiaiolella on the island of Procida. A 50 m walk from the pontoon brings us to a little black sand beach facing out into the Tyrrhenian which the boys love. But despite being in a magical location the sparkle is gone from the trip, although I am very glad Dom and Suzie are here to provide emotional and practical support. We have been doing our best to entertain them and so after a couple of morose days we have continued to see a few sights.

We decided to press on to the famous Isola Di Capri for a look at the Blue Grotto. At 4pm the approach resembled nothing more than an aquatic shopping centre carpark, but at 5.30 pm after a short recce along the coast, all the tripper boats had gone, so we swam in for a totally surreal experience on our own in this most famous of caves.



Underwater and alone in the Blue Grotto at dusk





A crack in the cliffs - Capri

Spurning the offer of a berth in the port for a mere 190 euros, we headed for a tiny crack in the cliffs in the remote west side of the island, making fast with anchor and ropes out of the worst of the surge. In the morning we headed to the south side and threw out the anchor, calling one of the restaurants who picked us up for lunch. The location was complete rich + famous lifestyle and the 4 euro per head coperto ( cover charge) was the most usurious we have yet struck: alas the seafood menu was a bit lost on us.

We are heading back to Chiaolella for some more downtime while we wait for news of Dick. Our thoughts are with him and the Stack family. 



Dick and Cathe - our thoughts are with you both.