The sun decided to take a break and we awoke to a gray and cloudy day. As we were leaving the harbour, we saw a Navy Destroyer with a helicopter chaperone also heading out and it wasn’t long before they were out of sight. Well, that is until we saw them on the horizon a couple of hours later, and of course right in our path. Unsure how much distance is appropriate to leave between ourselves and a ‘Destroyer’ we veered off course in front of its bow (it appeared to be stationary, at that time anyways). We decided that a couple of miles was polite but it then became difficult because the ship kept changing it’s heading and appeared to be moving some. At one point, the helicopter decided to do a fly by right over our heads and after getting a good look at us returned to the ship. All seemed well and we were finally able to make some progress with getting across its bow when someone started to attempt to hail another vessel on the VHF, in Italian. They kept trying different channels but we couldn’t understand what they were saying. That was when we noticed the ‘Destroyer’ flashing some very bright lights on their port side, directly aimed at us. At this point we were getting suspicious that they were actually trying to hail us. Traudi wondered aloud if the voice on the VHF wasn’t calling a “red sailing boat”. We immediately responded, and a very polite man who spoke good English informed us that we were in a prohibited area (not clearly marked on the charts) and we were right in the middle of their torpedo practice! What? That is a little scary. So Mike asked them which course we should take and we followed that for awhile until it seemed that a much greater safety zone was placed between us and the big ship firing weapons.
After about an hour and a half diversion, we had a (thankfully) uneventful motor the rest of the way to Sibari, Independence’s new home. Our only concern was that the marina entrance is about one mile up a river and has been known to silt to shallow depths. And there are stories about some boats not being able to get back out and having to be shipped over land. With an escort from the marina, we were just happy to make it to our slip without getting stuck! I guess we’ll worry about the getting out part later. And this is an interesting place, a whole different story from Yacht Marine. The whole complex is made of man-made lagoons that are fringed with condos, hotels and restaurants. It seems like a great place for a summer holiday if you are into boating and we are hoping that we arrived after the summer season ended. Because right now it all feels a bit empty, desolate and run down. After strolling around we did manage to find one restaurant that was getting ready to open. So we sat on the deck outside enjoying the evening until the mosquitoes chased us inside just in time for dinner. Then it was a chilly walk back to the boat, but not too chilly for gelato!
(Sorry, no photos of our friendly Navy Destroyer. Didn't want to push our luck any further!)
John playing Sudoku once we out of harms way!
Home Sweet Home
hilarious.
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