Amalfi Coast - By Sea

Day 17 - We were so excited to wake up to good weather and fairly calm seas! Scott had a wild ride a few days ago when he went scuba diving, so we were a little worried...but it was for not!

We set sail this morning with our captain, Carmine, in a gozzo (a type of boat) for a day of cruising around the island of Capri! We were happy to have a Captain named Carmine, as that is our grandson's nickname...but now we have to pronounce our grandson's name in Italian, "Cahrrr-Meenie"!

What a wonderful day on the water!! We were in awe of the deep blue of the water as we crossed towards Capri.

The closer we got, the more the hues of blue in the water changed. Capri is primarily limestone, which is different than the volcanic rock found nearby. The results are a stunning array from turquoise to royal blues we've ever seen!

We docked in Capri, and disembarked long enough to explore the town and grab a sack lunch. The town square is pretty far up the mountain, so we took a convertible taxi (20 euros) up the mountain, and rode the public tram down (2.50 euros each). That was a good decision, as the lines to come down on the tram were short, but the lines going up were REALLY long!

The views from on top of Capri were beautiful!

After getting back on the boat, we weaved our way through the many yachts outside the marina! Capri is definitely a port for the rich and famous, and we had fun imagining who might be on the mega-yachts that were anchored here!

After lunch, we had lots of time for swimming! Carmine provided swim noodles, and even a snorkel! We all took turns with the snorkel mask and were in awe of the crystal clear water!

We made our way around the island, with Carmine navigating us into limestone caves, letting us swim, and even taking us to the Green Grotto, where we swam through a tunnel across to a cove on the other side of the mountain.

It was such a beautiful day on the sea!

On returning to Sorrento after a full 8-hour boat excursion, we waved goodbye to Carmine and headed back to our rooms to clean up for dinner.

We had to make a quick stop at a pharmacy before dinner as Dan got water in his ears while swimming and went completely deaf! This is not good when you have to listen for motorcycles and scooters around every corner! The local pharmacy came through again, and gave him some prescription ear drops! We're hoping they work as quickly as Lori's eye drops did!

After our last dinner in Sorrento, we stopped for...you guessed it, gelato!

Scott had Chocolate Chip, Gayle had Dark Orange with Vanilla-Ginger, Lori had Milky Cherry with Salted Caramel and Dan had (drum roll please)....vanilla! He did go with a cup instead of a cone, so he's really branching out!!

We have an early start tomorrow, with a driver picking us up at 7am to take us to the train station in Naples. Then a 5 1/2 hour train ride to our last stop for the trip...Venice!

Tours: All-Day Private Boat Tour of Capri by Gianni's Boats

Step Count: 7,976 steps or 4 miles