Chioggia -> Alberoni

Where's my gelato?

We allow ourselves a lie-in since yesterday was a long day of traveling, and we're on holidays after all. Eileen and Laura want to get some bread and a few other things before we head off, so they walk into town to find a pasticceria.

The boat next to us is preparing to leave. We see the husband showing the wife how to fend off with a boat hook. They are an older couple and I ask the man if I can be of any help. He says he thinks they should be ok. He explains that they have been canal-boating before, but always with a group of other people. This is the first time they've been by themselves and his wife is not very experienced. We tell him that we don't have much experience either so we wish each other good luck and they head off.

We have breakfast, planning where to go. We are being lazy and taking our time, but we'll have to speed things up a bit. The man in the boat next to us said that if you stay in Chioggia you will be charged and it's quite expensive. There is a stiff breeze blowing and I think they might have preferred to stay put.

Laura has big swollen mosquito bites on her ankles. They must have bitten through her socks! We tidy up and prepare to leave. I had been thinking of maybe heading for Torcello on the first day, with Alberoni as Plan B. Given our late departure, it's definitely Plan B. Alberoni is a fishing village on Lido, about half-way to Torcello.

There are four thin strips of land that separate the Venice Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. They are Sottomarina, Pellestrina, Lido, and Cavallino. Pellestrino and Lido are islands. Sottomarina and Cavallino are connected to the terra ferma (mainland). These strips of land generally have sandy beaches on the Adriatic side and small fishing villages on the lagoon side.

Between the four strips of land are three entrances to the lagoon where the tide flows in and out twice a day and ship traffic passes. These are Porto di Chioggia, Porto di Malamocco, and Porto di Lido. They are in the process of building barriers called MOSE across these entrances to hold back the water during extremely high tides, and hopefully save Venice from the damaging Aqua Alta. Having to worry about tides is quite rare in the Med, but I think the tides here are due to the water sloshing up and down at the end of the Adriatic. Then the narrow entrances to the lagoon make for strong flows in and out.

We leave Chioggia, passing a long line of moored fishing boats. We follow the briccole to the end and then are unsure where to go. We are about to cross the Porto di Chioggia which is a wide expanse with no briccole. By watching other boat traffic we figure out that there must be sufficient depth to cross pretty much anywhere here. The tricky bit then is finding the dama on the other side that marks the beginning of the channel leading along the inside edge of Pellestrina.

Pellestrina

We motor along, passing Pellestrina Town, S. Antonio, and Portosecco. Each village has it's own church and fleet of fishing boats. As we come to the end of Pellestina we have to cross the Porto di Malamocco. Once again we are on a sharp lookout for ship traffic as we cross, and careful of the mighty tidal streams that flow in and out of these gaps.

Soon we come to briccola number 25, which is marked as being opposite Alberoni harbour. It is a small public harbour and is recommended for mooring overnight. It turns out to be smaller than small, it is in fact tiny. And there are several boats already inside. It looks like there might be room for us along the pontoon just inside the entrance, but we're not even sure we'll be able to turn the boat once inside. And the entrance is very tight.

Just to add a bit of pressure there are two bar/cafés beside the marina, and lots of Sunday day-trippers milling about waiting for something entertaining to happen. They won't be disappointed. There is a fairly stiff breeze blowing across. We go in and turn sharp left at the entrance, hoping to get a bow line to the pontoon, and then have the stern swing in. Eileen manages to get the bow attached, but the stern blows off. I take a line ashore and try to pull the stern in but there is too much wind. Two guys come over to help, then one of them says "motore, motore". I realize that he's right, I need to spring the stern in using the engine. It doesn't quite go as smoothly as planned but we get it done eventually. Stern is safely tied off, even though there is not much of a gap between us and the boat behind. We thank the two men and go below for a celebratory drink.

Rain is forecast for early evening but we're hoping to have a look at the beach on the other side of the island. I had read a bit about the beaches around Venice, and this one is supposed to be one of the more natural, wild ones. But first things first. We stop for coffees and ice-cream at one of the cafés. Then, taking the first road we can find that goes perpendicularly across the island, we soon arrive at the beach. Over a giant sand dune and down to the water's edge. The water is still quite cold at this time of year, the wind is blowing sand in our eyes, and we can feel the rain coming so we head back to the boat.

DANGER, KEEP OFF!

All the other boats have gone and we are alone in the harbour. We soon realize that the wooden pontoon we are tied up to is falling apart. Every time a boat goes by in the channel, the middle section of it rocks back and forth alarmingly, creaking loudly. Bits of wood have broken off. And there are lots of ferries and vaporetti (water buses) passing on a Sunday evening. We decide that it will probably hold together until tomorrow, but surely it should have a "Danger, Keep off!" sign on it? Laura is not reassured. She wants to move the boat to the harbour wall. With the wind blowing across the harbour I feel we are better being blown off a rickety pontoon than onto a stone wall, so we stay put.

Eileen prepares some pasta with pheasant sauce, which tastes delicious. After dinner we play Go Fish (I'm pretty good at this), a Memory game that Laura bought in Hyères (Laura is very good at this), and Scrabble (Eileen is very good at this)! The rain comes, wind is blowing, boat is rocking but at least the ferry boats have stopped for the night. Eileen squirts some dish soap on a particularly squeaky bit of the pontoon. It seems to help. We get tucked up in bed, but soon the "clack clack clack" noise of the bimini has me out, tying bits down. I get up several more times during the night to tie things down. It also occurs to me during the night that it would be a very bad thing to find oneself standing on that pontoon when a boat passes. You would be bucked off like a wild horse. Must be careful of that.


Log Entry for Sunday 5 May 2013:
From: Chioggia (depart 13:00) Towards: Alberoni (arrive 15:30)

Tides
▲ 0835 0.6m
▼ 1405 0.3m
▲ 2045 0.9m
▼ 0330 0.2m

Baro: 1017 hPa
Wind: 10 kn gusting to 14 kn
Temps: Low 15° High 23°
Rain forecast from 17:00

Engine hours: 542.9 - 545.6
Water: 4/4
Battery (12V): 13
Battery (24V): 26