David's Diary: Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Brindisi to Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy

After our late night on Saturday, we all slept in and took Sunday off. Yesterday was a school today, but today we were up at daybreak to continue moving along the east coast of Italy. It took us a half-hour to motor out of the large harbour of Brindisi, but we put up our sails once we cleared the harbour mouth. Our goal was the very tip of the boot of Italy -- Santa Maria di Leuca.

Dragonsinger at Santa Maria di Leuca

As we rounded the coast south of Brindisi we passed the port of Otranto where we were on Saturday with Maurice, Cinzia, and Maurilio. As we passed we could almost taste the dinner we had enjoyed. The wind died down, but there was a huge Mediterranean swell as we motored our way along the coast. Twelve hours after we left Brindisi we made our way past the Santa Maria di Leuca lighthouse and into the harbour. The quay was lined with people fishing and they slowly parted as we found a spot to tie up on the dock. We made dinner and settled down for the night on the southern-most tip of the east coast of Italy.