Capri, beautiful Capri

Everyday so far has been unbelievable and then we discovered Capri.......  

Our taxi picks us up at the front desk at 930, along with Robert and Karen Bradford from oklahoma and Judith and Tim from England. Sitting on the front of the boat were 6 kids from Calgary and Vancouver.  One of the young couples were on their honeymoon.  The new husband had been playing baseball 2 days before their flight and tore his acl, etc. he was in a cast and not allowed to bend his knee for 5 days. His lucky new bride had to push him all around Rome in a wheelchair.  lol.  Luckily for the boat ride he was finally on crutches.  

Our captain was Mario, he is also a race car driver and according to him and the pictures he showed the single Lianna from Vancouver, an idol in Sicily.  Would recommend him to anyone, he was just charming and a great guide.

Our first stop was the Red Grotto, basically a hole in the cliff where the water is just dazzling.  

Before we get in to the grotto, one of the littler boats from the fleet was towing out one of the bigger boats.  We all look at each other and definitely start thinking, Gilligan.  Mario now informs us that we have to tow the boat around to the Grande Harbour.  So we attach the boat and off we go.  

Thirty minutes later we continue on our way.  The next site are the Fragaliano rocks,  these are three rocks that stick out of the sea with a little passage through them.  

Our tour group are very fun.  Robert used to be a colonel in the American army and is now a federal prosecutor.  He was responsible for the conviction of the man who starved his young son to death.  Needless to say he is used to taking charge and getting everyone yakking and talking about themselves.   He even managed to bring Jim out of his shell.  :)

This is where we went for our first swim.  The water was quite warm, salty and crystal clear.  There were tons of little fish swimming with us. 

Capi is basically a cliff coming out of the sea.

We stop at a small port called Porto Piccolo which means little harbour.  We are given a packed lunch and off we go to explore for 3 hours.  Robert becomes our tour guide and on the local bus we hop, up the mountain, down the mountain,  over the mountain and back up again to Anacapri, a beautiful little town almost at the top of Capri.  

    

Now you get on a tiny chair lift and go to the very top.  My eyes were closed most of the way up,  worse on the way down.  The view was spectacular, you could see the whole island.

On the way down after watching them put around 30 people into this little bus that only had seats for 10, we decided to take a cab down.  A much better way to take all those ess curves and only cost 25 euros for 5 of us.

Back in the boat and off to the green grotto.

We decided to jump in and swim through.  The water was amazing, Jim could be heard all over the island with the wonderful echos lol.  Our boat took off to meet us on the other side.  What fun!!!!  Then Zappa, one little baby jellyfish zaps my right arm.  I start yelling at people that there are jelly fish.  Liana starts hyperventilating, the boat is 30 feet away.  All the people with snorkels take off.  I get thrown a snorkel, put my head under the water and right in front of my eyes another baby jellyfish.  I pop to the surface gulping water, frantically yelling, bring the boat closer.  they are all being so helpful, just swim this way there is onlly one little one, oh no look another one.  i have given jim the snorkels with intense directions to get me back to the boat.  i am holding onto his foot.  he is swimming away from the boat, i start tugging on his foot,  where are you going, i keep tugging, he keeps ignoring me,  zap a bigger jellyfish has now got my right wrist.  My arms are stinging like heck, but I haven't died, yet.  No numbness.  Well to heck with this, I let go of Jim's foot and head back to the boat like a water buffalo trying to get away from a crocodile.  Robert also got zapped.  There was lots of talk about peeing on my arms,  I passed.  Mario had some cream which definitely helped.  So FYI they sting like a wasp bite, just bigger depending on how long the tentacles are, according to the web page NEVER pee on a jellyfish sting.  The sting I could handle, the fear is another story.

Now we are off to the blue grotto.  You have to actually get off the boat onto a little rowboat and duck under the rock to get in.  There are lot of days when it is closed, waves too big, no go in.  The water was fluorescent blue.  Jim and I didn't go in.  I was still recovering, and 25 euros for a 10 minute boat ride, oh yeah don't forget the tip.  Lol

The trip cost 75 euros each, great value, left at 930 back at 6.  Great views, on the water lunch, beer. A must do...

A great ride back to port, a hot bath and we are off to dinner, more pasta please.

Ciao