Day 39

Today is Dad's 57th birthday! And what a memorable one it turned out to be!!

**Warning: Mom, you might not want to read this one**

We left early in the morning for Capri. As most of you probably know, this is a huge resort/tourist destination which meant we were pretty sure we wouldn't get a spot in the harbor. Especially since we tried to call ahead and they were full until Sunday. But we decided to at least go there for most of the day and then maybe sail in the evening to a port nearby.

It was full as expected and we found a buoy not far from the harbor to tie up to.



We used the dingy for the first time and Dad rowed us to shore from the boat. (please note that every other dingy in the entire country has a motor, but we have oars—something I have tried several times to address but to no avail)





Dad tied the dingy up to a buoy and swam to shore to meet us. It took us a while to figure out the bus system, but we finally got the all day pass and took the funicular (cable car) up to the top of the mountain. The view was beautiful.



We found a great restaurant and took Dad out for a birthday lunch. Juls and I shared the calamari and pasta with swordfish and mussels. Bec and Dad shared risotto with seafood and various fried fish. It was really good, one thing we have finally learned is that if it says trattoria, the food is usually good. (the view at lunch)



After lunch we headed over to the bus line that would take us to the Blue Grotto. In line we noticed we couldn't see our boat out there in the bay. For a second we thought maybe it was just behind the bend so Dad walked down a little further and sure enough it was gone.

We panicked and rushed down to the harbor, found the coast guard and told them our boat was gone. It took us a little bit to explain to them what we were saying with the communication barrier and all. Dad had found a guy who told him that it had been towed into the harbor. He was our translator. Turns out, the buoy had come untied from it's anchor and our boat had been headed to the shore, straight for the rocks. Luckily some of the locals saw it drifting and managed to save it about 5 meters before being smashed to pieces on the rocks. They used their motor boats to drag it all the way into the harbor. Once again the Italians save the Wheelers.

We were excorted to the boat by the coast guard to get all of our papers and passports and bring it to the office.



They looked over all our stuff and he noticed it was Dad's birthday. He thought that was pretty funny. They were so generous to us and didn't make us pay any fines.



It was a stressful afternoon to say the least.

We still had to get our dingy back to the boat. We were able to convince my Dad not to row the dingy into the extremely busy harbor (full of ferries and speed boats and wind). But, that meant we had to carry it back. We made our way over, Dad jumped in and swam to the dingy and rowed it to shore. The locals recognized us and told us of our near boat disaster. We got to meet the people who saved our boat and thanked them for all their help. Luckily, Geppie (one of the locals) and another guy towed our dingy into the harbor for us too. Throughout our whole trip the people here have been so kind to us. I don't know what we would have done without their help. Everyday they seem to save us in one way or another.

We wanted to thank everyone who helped us, but what do you do? We put together some gifts with our limited resources on a tourist island,



but by the time we were ready to deliver them everyone was gone for the day. We'll have to wait until the morning.

The whole day had gone by and with all the commotion, we didn't really get to see much of Capri. It's such a beautiful island. Dad decided to stay on the boat after a rough day, but Bec, Juls and I rode the cable car back up to the top. We really wanted to see the Blue Grotto but by the time we got up there it was almost dark. We just walked around a bit and headed home to our boat that was safe and sound in the harbor.