Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Day 95

1/14/2014


Laghi Sibari is a small town designed so that almost every house in it backs up to one of the canals.  In the winter, I don’t think there are more than twenty people in the town at any given moment.  A small bar sells some bare necessities and if you need anything else you’d have to drive eight kilometers to Sibari.

The main port is kept locked.  It has a few long piers and a bathroom with a hot shower that I slept in.  The office gave me a key.

When I left my boat there, I took most of my electronics with me, since the thieves seem to go for that stuff.  I did not take the PLB, in the hope that if someone stole the boat, the might be silly enough to activate it from their home.

I stayed for a few days to let my hands heal.  When I left they weren’t completely better, but much improved.  I’m in no rush, since if I arrive at the end of Italy before my paddles, I’ll have to wait for them.

Someone stole my PLB.  I sent an email to the US PLB people so it’s now registered as stolen.  It hasn’t been activated yet.  When I asked a couple of fishermen if they had seen anything they claimed not to understand me, even though I’m getting pretty good at telling people my gear was stolen.

When I asked people in town who were friendly towards me if they could help, I found a stone wall.

It was time to leave.  The big metal door to the marina was closed.  I was in my boat near the office.  A fisherman stood on the dock, which was high up.  I figured I was in luck, he could pop into the office and ask them to open the gate for me rather than me taking out and putting in, considerable hassle.

The fisherman told me the port was closed and that the door couldn’t be opened.  And even if it was opened, the canal was closed.

“I can get through the canal opening.  It’s not a problem.”

No I couldn’t, he told me.  That was impossible.

“I arrived that way Friday morning!”

No, it’s impossible.

I got out of my boat and went to the office.  The woman was happy to open the gate for me. I paddled away.

At first the water was flat, but as the day moved on it got rougher.  I was beached on a bunch of rocks.  I had to make a number of support strokes in waves near the shore.

I think I’ll need to stay near the shore until I get a new PLB.  I don’t know.

By the time I arrived in Borgata Marina I was tired.  I took out on the pebble beach right next to a bar that looked closed for the winter.  There was an awning I could sleep under.

I used some junk to hide my kayak while I went into town looking for an internet connection.  People told me to go to Sport Bar.

“Hi, do you have a wifi connection?”

“There is free public connection outside.”

“Can I sit here and use it?”

“It’s outside.”

I sat outside and tried to connect to the internet, but all I got was a page in Italian asking for a username and password.

I didn’t need a connection to write my story for the day though.  All I needed was a place to plug in my computer.  No, I could not plug in my computer in Sport Bar.  

There was a toy store near where I parked my boat. The owner sat hunched over a laptop.  I told her my story.  No, I couldn’t plug in my computer there either.

I went to refill my water bag at a pump.  The police stopped me and questioned me.  I told them my story.  After radioing in my passport information, they wished me luck on my trip.

I slept under the awning at the abandoned bar.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="3450,3451,3452,3453,3454,3455,3456,3457,3458,3459,3460,3461,3462,3463,3464"]



 

Nautical Miles paddled: 17


Total since Naples:  448.5


Current location:  39.9698,16.625986


 

2 comments:

  1. I love how persistent you are; when one tells you no, you move on until someone tells you yes. A wonderful Neimand trait :-)

    ReplyDelete