05/06/2022: Sorrento (3)

We finally have run into some rain. It rained quite a bit overnight and this morning it is sprinkling and is quite overcast. But no matter, we didn’t really have anything special planned for today. We had a couple of ideas, but with the weather forecast unpredictable today, we kept it low key.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m the neighborhood watch. No matter where I am I like to look out the window to watch the comings and goings. And this morning there was a lot going on in Marina Grande! A large truck made it’s way down the narrow main passageway, I can’t really call it a road, and then made the sharp left turn right below our window onto the passageway that goes out to the boat launch place. What tricky maneuvering. And a first boat was delivered and dropped into the water by a small crane on the truck.

Then the truck has to back out around the corner and down the passageway and through the pile of cars parked at the bottom of the hill.

Before I knew it, the truck returned and delivered a second boat and again backed out.

And then the truck returned with a third boat. Each boat was a little larger. The whole process of unloading a boat off the truck took about 5 minutes. Obviously these guys are experts. it was quite impressive and fun to watch. The delivery of 3 boats took less than 30 minutes

Another very interesting (to me, anyway) thing was watching a fisherman remove his fishing net from the back of his boat. He brought a dolly cart out, stood on top of it, and started pulling his fine mesh fishing net out of the boat by hand and piling it onto the dolly cart. He had a motion with his hands that laid the net down in a circular motion. He kept this up for about 90 minutes straight, stopping only twice, to take off his jacket, and to tie up his pants. He would pull the net from the boat with one hand, transfer to the other hand and twirl the net onto the dolly. The shoulder and arm strength he had was incredible. He must have pulled a thousand feet of net off his boat onto the dolly. Just looking at this series of pictures shows how much net he piled onto the dolly.

This little video shows the movement to pull and twirl the net. It may not load for you, but I hope it does.

Sorry to bore some of you with this boat launching and fish net twirling, but I find this stuff fascinating to watch.

And as we saw in Corniglia, a van pulled up below our window and announced over loudspeaker that he was there to sell the locals supplies.

This is why we loved staying in Marina Grande. We got to see a bit of how the locals live. For example, each evening, in the area of where the fisherman was winding his net, several old guys come down and sit on the pile of nets and talk well into the evening. These guys have probably gotten together every evening for decades. It’s great to see.

The weather brightened up late morning so we decided to walk into Sorrento for lunch. We ate at a little cafe and while we were there a bride and groom walked down the street with their wedding party. Everyone along the street applauded the happy couple. And we saw another wedding party shortly after, too. Here are some final photos from Sorrento.

We had our final seaside drink and light dinner along the seawall. We chatted with folks at neighboring tables, a physician from Sarasota, FL here on her honeymoon, and a couple of young women from the UK. Before long, though, it started to sprinkle and we headed to our apartment to start packing. Off to Malta in the morning.