Santa Maria de Leuca

Early on the 27th of April we slipped quietly out of Crotone to cross the Gulf of Taranto.  We were on our way to the heal of Italy with a reservation in the marina at Leuca.

Favourable conditions saw us get off to a flying start with a very civilised ETA.  Dragonfly cruises under wind or engine about 3 knots faster than Bumblebee could. This makes a big impact on our daily range and crew morale. 

Zefi was first to wake.

After a brisk first half of the crossing we eventually resorted to motor sailing before becoming totally becalmed.  This is actually ideal for us as the full speed sailing is exciting but gets tiring. Motoring along on a pancake flat sea is more conducive to home schooling and turtle spotting.

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We also avoid marital friction by refueling and mooring in very calm conditions.

We visited Leuca before but my memory was hazy so I skipped back ten years on this blog. I discovered we only stayed one night and that was on the fishermen's quay and we were asked to leave. It quickly became apparent that we missed a gem!

The water quality is visibly cleaner than our previous two stops.  Within minutes of leaving the boat we found a lovely little beach where the children played happily in the (cold) water.

We saw these curious cut-outs in the rock all along the seaside. Luckily AI was on hand to explain.

Leuca has some interesting villas and a wonderful cascading waterfall that runs down long steps leading to a monastery.  This and remnants of bathing pools suggests this was a popular destination during the Victorian era but has been slightly forgotten since.

We found a sea pool which Julia couldn't resist dipping into.

As we set off from Leuca on the morning of the 29th of April we officially crossed into the Adriatic.  With the currents helping us along we hit 10.5 knots over ground. Next stop Brindisi.

There is a curious error with our mobile contracts which we are benefitting from greatly.  We should only have 14gb of data abroad but our phones don't realise we are abroad so we are chugging through unlimited data and saving lots of money.  This started in Warsaw -I got in touch with the provider as I was worried about getting a huge bill, they made a note on my account not to charge and said carry on!