Two Days on the Island of Ponza

Our anchorage in Ponza

Ponza, Italy??  Who has ever heard of Ponza? Well, until a few weeks ago, neither Deb nor I had heard of it. 
But, as we spoke with people about our plans to sail between Sardinia and Naples, those that had done the trip in the past all tried to convince us to stop in Ponza.  So, we put it on our list.
On the way to Naples, Gibb Kane and I were hoping to stop, have lunch and then keep going, but timing didn’t favor that strategy, and keeping our wives happy by showing up before dark seemed to be the thing to do.




With a bit of a more flexible schedule, Debbie and I decided to split our trip back to Sardinia up into two sections with a brief stop in Ponza.  That “brief” stop has now turned in to two of the nicest most relaxing days of this year!!  This place is really really nice!!  Just far way from the coast to keep the numbers under control and the water as clear as any that I have ever seen.



We are anchored right now (alone) in the bay pictured to the left!!  Tomorrow, we will head for Sardinia.  Maybe…
Click on the “Wikipedia Ponza” link just below if you are interested in more info on the island and its history.  Like everything else around here, there is plenty of history and its interesting.







From Wikipedia Ponza
Ponza is also suspected to be the island of Aeaea in Homer's Odyssey, as the island of the Circe the sorceress, where her cave or grotto was. She was said to have lived in this cave in the winter months, spending the summer atop nearby Mount Circe on the mainland of Italy. This is where the Circe turned Odysseus' men into animals and cast her spell on and seduced him and lived with him for over a year. Archaeologists are now investigating Ponza in search of evidence of Homer's Odyssey.
During Roman times, Nero Caesar, eldest brother of Caligula, was deported to Ponza in AD 29, where in 30 AD he was put to death. Two of his sisters, Agrippina the Younger (mother of the emperor Nero) and Julia Livilla, were exiled to Ponza in AD 39 for their complicity in a plot to overthrow Caligula.