September 28, 2024 was a post-tour rest day after we completed the north to south version of the Italia Unite Wild Trail. Santa Maria Di Leuca is a small but scenic town, at the intersection of the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea. Wytze had rented us a boat for the afternoon so we thought all was set. During breakfast or the bike cleaning session that followed, we heard from the boat guys that we had to reschedule for the next day due to high wind conditions. We were leaving and couldn’t reschedule, so we had to cancel it. But Daniel, always thinking, checked the weather and found a different place that had no worries about the wind.
So it was that at 11 we found ourselves buying provisions for the day, then walking down to the dock. The boat was a Speedy Cayman 585 with 40 hp, nothing fancy but it came with two complete SUPs and snorkeling gear. The guy gassed it up and we took off, Captain Daniel at the wheel.
First we turned right (direction La Spezia we said) into the Ionian Sea. We anchored at a great set of grottos (caves) and explored them by SUP and swimming. The water was perfect and it was great with long fins, mask and snorkel. The anchor came up easily and we continued up the coast to another similar spot. More swimming etc and again the anchor worked perfectly. We continued but then turned around to try the Adriatic side to maybe find a more sheltered place for a late lunch.
Daniel found a great little cove and we anchored again. This one seemed more popular with the tourist boats, lots of activity. We had olive bread, onion bread, anchovies, cheese, tomatoes, cold beer and cold sparkling rosé. Just great! This was my favorite swimming spot. I went really far underground in the cave, it was so dark I had to take off the mask. I sat on a submerged pedestal and just tried to absorb it all. I swam out through a very skinny channel full of fish. Daniel told me he swam down under a rock and into another chamber. What a place!
When it was time to leave the anchor did not release its hold. We tried all directions but it was stuck. So now there is one more anchor on the bottom there, I wonder how many?! We continued a long way up the coast, all the way to Baia del Ciolo where we first hit the coastline riding yesterday. That was scenic and we went a bit further then turned around. I took a nap on the way back and Andrew drove while Daniel napped too. There was never any wind to speak of. Strava shows we cruised 28 km.
We met our guy, paid for the 10.5 liters of fuel we used and fessed up to the lost anchor, he laughed but we had to pay €20 which seemed fair. We headed back home and wow did that air conditioned house feel good. It was supposedly only 25° but it’s humid and it felt hotter to me. I can’t imagine what it was like for our Bike Dreams buddies here over 10° hotter. Four naps were had and mine was so deep that when I woke up at 7 pm I thought it was 7 am! We were a few minutes late to our dinner reservation but it’s Italy so that’s ok. I was proud of our restraint at dinner, only three appetizers, salads for all, then less than one dish per person, a small dessert, and only one bottle of wine, a delicious white frizzante.
At dinner Wytze asked how far we had ridden. I checked and it was exactly 1,999.43 km, with 31,481m or 103,284 feet of climbing. Tomorrow we hit the road together for one last bonus stage to Lecce. The next day, we take the train to Bari.
Nathan's Blog 
Quite a well-deserved and watery rest day you had–I’d like to see a photo of you lying down on that SUP.
Ma
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