Day 104

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2/27/2014

When my GPS broke a few days ago, I put it in my rice box as I had a number of times before.  But after a few days, it still didn’t work.  Maybe my rice had gotten to old and lost it’s magic.  I bought new rice.  After a day, my GPS was covered with rice dust, but still not working.

This morning I brought it to a nautical store that told me there was a chance they could get it fixed.  I got to the store at 9:00 and they opened around 10:00.  After walking back to my boat and getting my gear together, I launched at noon.

The day before my camera ran out of batteries before I had a good view of Gallipoli.  Paddling away I tried to take a picture, only I couldn’t since my camera wouldn’t turn on.  It still doesn’t.  It doesn't charge either.  Who wants to donate a new camera so we can have more wonderful photos!

The sun shone and there was a mild head wind.  I began by crossing a bay for an hour.  I only had about four hours to paddle today, but I was working with an extremely late start.

At the end of the crossing I found a tiny cove where I practiced a couple of rolls.  My seat broke.  When I first got my Nelo kayak, without the seat I had asked for that had been promised, the seat back was attached to the seat by two bolts.  The first one came out a while ago, and the second one today.  I paddled the rest of the day without a seat back, but I didn’t mind at all.  I think my back has grown stronger.

I paddled along very low sand cliffs.  I passed a few beaches and a lot of porous jagged rocks forming an abrupt shore line, maybe a meter high.  Mostly, the ledge dropped away, sometime twenty or more feet deep, sometimes only a couple.

I could see all the way down.  Rocks of all sizes sat and plants grew at the bottom.  In other places, the bottom was sandy.

The water was so clear, that if a monkey dove off my boat down to the distant sea floor, and held up all eight of it’s fingers, I would be able to tell that it had lost the other two in a tragic accident  involving a blender, a prewar can of tuna, and a power surge.

When I pulled up here in Torre San Giovanni I was immediately invited to stay in the Lega Navale, without any prompting from me.  They don’t have hot water so I showered with cold.  It’s been a long time since I’ve had a hot shower, but I think the cold ones are good for me.  They acclimate my body to cold water and make me stronger.

The LNI here is one of those enormous square towers that used to guard the coast here.  The ceilings are high, the walls are thick enough to withstand the cannon fire of the time, and the plumbing doesn't work.

On to Leuca.  It looks like I’ll be arriving well before my care package from the states and I’ll have to wait for it before I can make the crossing from porto Badisco.  I hope that will give me time to look for and find an escort.

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Nautical miles paddled: 14

Total since Naples: 572.5

Current location: 39.88651,18.113893