Day Tripping to Capri

‘I have never seen so much alcohol consumed in one day trip’

There is only way to travel the Amalfi Coast and Capri in style and that is by boat and being on the water allows unrivaled vantage points of the beauty of the coast.

The 4 of us were joined by an EndoTherm customer of mine from Canada, Wes and his wife Tamara. With my impending move to Vancouver I wanted to get to know Wes better as we will be working together alot over the next couple of years. Wes was in Italy for his birthday and our schedule crossed over in Campania for one day and one day only. What better way to celebrate birthdays, honeymoons and friendships old & new then on a day trip around the Amalfi Coast and Capri.

We chose to take the trip with Amalfi Charter and booked their Fiart 32 Genius speed boat. This twin-engined beast (nicknamed Louis) is over 10m in length with a maximum speed of 35 knots. The captain of the boat was a charming Italian gentleman by the name of Manuel.

Manuel met us on the harbour in Positano at 10am. As soon as we got out of the harbour a bottle of Prosecco was opened as we toasted the impending trip, good health and good friends. The first part of the trip was a leisurely cruise east past Praiano, the Fjord at Furore before arriving at Amalfi. I mentioned in my previous post (see here) that I wasn’t a particular fan of Amalfi due to its crowdiness but its beauty can be easily admired several 100m off the coast.

From here we turned back west as Manuel put his foot down. At 25+ knots the boat was alot of fun as it sliced (and occasionally bounced) through the waves. Our next pot of call was the islands of Li Galli or La Sirenuse

La Sirenuse

La Sirenuse translates as the island of the Sirens and stems from story from Greek Mythology. The Sirens were dangerous creatures (half women /half bird) who lulled sailors to their doom with their enchanting voices. The sirens appear in the famous stories of Jason and the Argonauts and the Iliad (Homer) where Odysseus ordered his men to tie him to the mast so he could listen to the beautiful voices (his men wore ear protectors) without being enticed to his death.

Now a days the archipelago of small islands are a private resident and are rented out several weeks of the year (at around £250,000 per week).

The waters around the island are crystal clear and calm and it makes it a great spot to cool down after a number of hours under the intense Mediterranean Sun. The boat dropped its anchor just off the coast to allow us to go for a swim and jump off the boat. The 3 lads took this as a perfect opportunity to mess around with the GoPro and jump/dive in.

After 30 minutes of activity, with an appetite building we hauled up the anchor and set our sights on Capri.

Capri

Isola di Capri (The Island of Capri) or Capreae in Latin is an island 4 miles long and 1.8 miles wide.  The island which was once a part of the mainland is made from a single block of Limestone.

The island eptimises the glitz and glamour of the Italian Riveria and has been the home of movie stars, aristocrats and even emperors for millennia.

I’m King of the World

One of the most famous sites in Capri is that of Faragiloni di Mezzo, a natural arch that sits within one of the stacks that lay just off the coast. The archway is famous for being a kissing gate and bringing lovers (especially newlyweds) good luck when they kiss passing through the arch. We joined the armada of boats of different shapes and sizes to get our share of the good luck being offered.

For lunch we headed to Marina Piccola which is the other-side of the island to the main town of Marina Grande. Here we were ferried aboard by the onshore restaurants who provided a taxi service for those dining at their restaurants.

Note: your driver will most likely recommend a particular restaurant and I have no doubt he gets a commission for this. Ours recommended a fish restaurant but we had a few diners who aren’t keen fish eaters so we have to insist that we were shown to a restaurant with a more mixed menu.

We ate at one of the beach clubs which had a posher seafood menu and a snack bar with more carb heavy Italian menu. I had pizza (no surprise here) but with German sausage and frites much to the amusement of my friends. It isn’t a pizza topping I would usually recommend but thought I would give it a go.

The water at Marina Piccola is a beautiful azure blue/green which has a ‘siren’ allure to it. I had to go for a swim even if my friends didn’t want to exercise so soon after dinner. There were a couple of rocks protruding with kids jumping off so being a big kid I decided to have a go.

The island is also famous for the Blue Grotto where the natural shape of the rocks allows light in the the cave making the water shine a most magnificent blue. This has become a famous tourist attraction but the price and queues (and the face we had free alcohol on our boat) meant that we didn’t bother with the wait as it allowed us to spend more time enjoying the Italian coastline on our boat.

Heading back to Positano

After lunch we took a tour of the island before heading back to Positano stopping off for a swim near the mainland. At this time the sun had cooled and the water was deeper and thus much colder so I didn’t go for a final swim. There was enough time to take some ‘paparazzi’ photos of Sam (and me haha) before cruising back to Positano arriving back in town at 6pm.

Overall this was a magical day and easily the best way to enjoy and explore the Amalfi Coast. A big THANK-YOU to Captain Manuel and I would very much recommend booking his boat if you want a day to remember.

p.s Tamara is also a keen photographer (and better at it) so I have included some of her photos below.