Gaeta/Formia

We spent the remainder of Thursday in Gaeta and Formia where we lived from 1989-1991.  Much is as it was then but there are fewer Americans in town than when we lived there (smaller flagship with some portion of the crew being contract civilians).  Our old house looks much the same except for the big yard in front which looks better.  The castle above our house can be seen now as someone has been clearing off the land.  We were told (we think as Italian is not our best language) that someone renovating the castle and plans to turn it into a Hotel/B&B/Inn.

We ate dinner at a restaurant that was one of our favorites when we lived there, La Valetta, which isn't easy to find, being out in the middle of some fields and orchards.

     It is larger than it used to be though, so I guess enough customers find them.

We spent that night at the Hotel Serapo, on Serapo Beach in Gaeta.

The next two days we planned to spend on the Island of Ponza, a little ways off the coast from Gaeta.  We did not take our car to the island but instead left it, and most of our luggage, in the parking lot on the small Navy base in Gaeta.  This picture shows the Bay of Gaeta and the hill that our old house is on across the bay as seen from the base.

We had another rainy night here and the next morning it was very rainy and windy which changed our plans a bit.  We spent the morning in the library on the base and then when we got to the ferry landing we discovered that our ferry had been canceled due to the weather.  We caught the next ferry two hours later but had a long rough trip out to Ponza.  The ferry was supposed to make the trip in a little over an hour but actually took close to three.  Every so often, one of the engines would shut down which really slows down a hydrofoil.  I suspect the engine was overheating because the rough water was interfering with the cooling water intake.  Of course, it might have been something else altogether.

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