Isle of Capri – October 19, 2012
My goal was to visit the Blue Grotto and take photos of the
blue waters, a place where I had never been.
Owen and Judith, friends from the ship, had also never been there, and
we decided to go together. Everything
worked perfectly. We met at breakfast
and decided to leave the ship early.
That decision was very fortunate, as our timing was perfect. We were able to get a tender from the ship
quickly, as a ship tour was just leaving, and the tender had a few extra seats
left. When we got to shore, we quickly
purchased ferry tickets to Capri Island, and the next ferry left in only five
minutes; the next ferry was not for another hour. When we got to Capri, we quickly found the place to purchase
tickets on a small ferry to the Blue Grotto, and again, we had to wait only a
few minutes. Most important of all, the
seas were very calm, so the Blue Grotto was open for visitors; it is closed to
visitors if the sea is not calm.
Everything worked perfectly.
As the ferry left the dock, three small rowboats hooked
their lines to the ferry to be towed to the Blue Grotto, evidently a common
practice, and it was amusing to see the line of three row boats following along
in a train to the grotto, which was about 15 minutes from the dock. When the ferry arrived at the Blue Grotto,
small groups of people were helped into the small rowboats; the three of us
were helped into one of the boats, and we were instructed to lie back almost
flat to enter the small opening into the grotto. The boatman pulled the small boat into the grotto using a chain
that was attached to the wall. And then
it was dark.
Inside the grotto, we heard other boats, and it appeared
that about half dozen boats were inside the grotto at a time. Some of the boatmen were singing “O Sole
Mio”, and our boatman joined in as he slowly rowed us around in a circle inside
the grotto. At first the darkness was
pretty overwhelming, but slowly our eyes adjusted to the dark. Soon we could see that the cave was
completely black, while the water was a light blue color that was amazingly
luminescent. The sensation was
wonderful. The water glowed bright
blue. What an amazing sight and
sensation.
Then my problems arose.
My camera would not fire in the darkness; it would not focus, and so it
would not fire. Sometimes I feel
completely inept with my camera, and that was one of those times. I quickly adjusted my camera to different
settings (in the dark), and finally I was able to get a few shots; however,
they were out of focus because of the slow shutter speed. I wanted to shoot at a fast shutter speed in
order to get photos that were in focus, but I was not able to make that
happen. So the only photos that I was
able to capture are out of focus. The
color is correct, but the photos are out of focus.
And then it was over.
The entire time inside the Blue Grotto was only two minutes. The boats slowly make a circular path inside
the grotto, and then they go out again as others enter. The sensation was wonderful, but it was also
very short. Still, it was worth the
effort. I will never forget the
luminescent color of the water inside the grotto.
Capri Island is large, and there are two towns on the
island. The island is tall on the two
ends, and less tall in the middle, forming a notch. The first town, Capri Town, is located in the notch, at a lower
level than the second town, Anacapri.
After the ferry boat arrived to the dock, we took the funicular up to
Capri Town, and walked the length of the one street in the town. The street is narrow with souvenir shops
along both sides. When we got to the
end of the street, we took a city bus up to the second town, Anacapri. The bus ride up the mountain was along a
very narrow switchback road along the edge of the mountain, with barely enough
room for two vehicles to pass. It was a
harrowing ride, made more anxious by the fact that the bus was packed, with
most passengers standing and almost falling down as the bus swayed and turned
on each switchback curve. When we
reached Anacapri, we walked the length of the one street in the town. Again, shops and sidewalk restaurants filled
both sides of the street; however, many of the shops were upscale clothing
shops rather than souvenir shops. We
walked the length of the street, looking at the few interesting buildings along
the way, and then we walked back to the center, where the bus stopped.
After getting a gelato, Owen and I walked in another
direction to the end of the sidewalk, out to a spectacular overview of the
harbor below. The walk was beautiful,
with elegant pottery and clothing shops lining the walkway, and evergreen trees
forming a canopy above it. The walkway
led to a large mansion built by a very wealthy man a hundred years ago, and now
open to the public (with an admission charge).
We did not enter the mansion; we only wanted to see the scenic overlook,
and it was spectacular.
The bus ride back down the mountain was equally harrowing,
but we arrived safely. Then we took the
funicular back down to the dock, where we found the place to catch the ferry
back to Sorrento. We had to wait for
half an hour to catch the ferry back, so we found a shady bench. Then when we went back to the dock to catch
the ferry, we found that several tour groups had formed a long line, and we
were at the end of the line. We ended
up getting less than desirable seats on the ferry. The ferry ride was only about 30 minutes, and I decided to stand,
giving my seat to a young Japanese girl who did not want to sit in the sun (my
seat was in the shade, but faced a wall, rather than the sea). Another seat soon opened up, as someone else
decided to stand, so both of them were able to sit together. Afterward, as we exited the ferry, both of
them bowed to me for giving them my seat, which I thought was nice.
The weather was sunny and beautiful, and the day was
perfect.
