9 May 2026 - Porto San Giorgio

Chris was still sleeping when the lines were slipped at Pescara, although he did appear on deck soon afterwards.  As is often the case in this part of the world, the depth counter was reading 0.0 as we left, but we did not feel any touch on the bottom. The route away from the harbour led us away from most of the fishing pot markers that we had avoided on our entry, so it was soon unto a more relaxed mode.

For the first few hours there was insufficient wind, and so there was a mixture of pure motoring and motor sailing, in order to maintain our target speeds. Later in the day, the wind came in and we could sail properly, and it was glorious.  We were aware that Chris had missed out on any time on the water while he was with us at Easter, so it was great to give him a long time on the wheel, in great conditions.

We had to go a fair way offshore, as this part of the coast is littered with fish farms and oil platforms. Both have exclusion zones around them, for everybody's safety. We had not been aware that there was any offshore oil in Italy, so seeing the platforms was interesting. We found a route that did not cause us too much of a diversion, while passing between the inshore facilities and those further out.



There had been a number of communications with the marina at Porto San Giorgio, questioning whether there was enough depth for us.  One of our charts showed zero depth at the entrance. The initial reply to "is it deep enough?" was "it is being dredged at the moment". Eventually, about 3 or 4 conversations in, they assured us that is was deep enough. There is a very narrow channel to enter, and the marina sent out a boat to show us the best line in. All was fine until they tried to have us moor 20 metres up the jetty, to be near the electricity connection.  We came to a halt, touching the bottom before we got there.   It was just a gentle touch, and we were able to reverse away, back into slightly deeper water. Our final position was at the end of the jetty, with just enough room for a gut to fish behind us.  They were so concerned about us being too far from the electricity connection, but seemed relieved when they saw just how much length of cable we have.

We had left enough time for us to move on to Ancona if it had been impossible to get in to Porto San Giorgio, so there was plenty of time available in the afternoon. As we have guests coming tomorrow, Chris and I walked into town to find the railway station that they will arrive at, and work out the logistics in advance of them coming.

So long as we manage to get out of the marina again tomorrow, Mission Ancona is now firmly back on track.  

Miles today              56

Miles this season   437

Steve (and Tricia & Chris)

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