Before setting sail from Amalfi for a weeklong voyage across the Gulf of Naples with the Sailing Collective, we stopped in a ceramics shop a thousand feet above sea level in the charming town of Ravello and learned the significance of the donkey to this verdant and vertiginous coastline. The donkey is the symbol of Amalfi, the shopkeeper told us, it’s how we once got supplies up and down the steep hills. Soon, we noticed donkeys everywhere, primarily as adorable ceramic figurines or painted on decorative tiles plastered to walls alongside addresses shaded by bougainvillea.
That evening, setting out to explore the area before dinner, we embarked on a path winding down towards the small seaside town of Minori, the Mediterranean Sea spreading out before us in endless turquoise sheets. At what felt like the halfway point, we did an about face, trudging back up the steep, stair-laden path, feeling like Amalfi donkeys, ourselves. It would prove an apt metaphor for our forthcoming week at sea, hoofing it up and down trails through sleepy residential neighborhoods and uninhabited jagged islands rising precipitously from the sea.
This was my second group sailing charter with the Sailing Collective. I’d previously sailed with them on their Sardinia-Corsica itinerary and also on their maiden charter to the Galapagos aboard the classic motor yacht Grace. A New York-based travel company founded and operated by a pair of step brothers, the Sailing Collective arranges both group and private sailing charters manned by a captain and chef. Summer is for the Mediterranean, winter for the Caribbean, and they also explore destinations as near as Nantucket and as far as French Polynesia, Madagascar and Thailand.
This summer in Amalfi, we were welcomed aboard our Dufour 44 sailing catamaran by our captain and chef with a chilled bottle of prosecco and a freshly baked cherry tart. Along with my party of four, we spent the week sailing north past Capri to the somewhat lesser known islands of Ischia, Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene with a couple from Austin and a solo traveler from New York.
A typical day would begin at the dining table on the back deck over an outrageously delicious breakfast: zucchini blossom frittatas, a bitter green salad, grilled bread with mascarpone butter, nectarines, green grapes. The Sailing Collective operates with the ethos that food is just as important as the itinerary, employing top tier chefs with deep knowledge of the area who provision locally and create transcendent meals that reflect the region’s culinary traditions. On both of my voyages, the quality of the food our chefs prepared on the boat surpassed anything we ate at local restaurants on land.
Soon, we’d all find places to sprawl out—the forward deck near the netting, the top deck beneath the boom, at the helm with the captain in the shade—lounging like languorous Odysseuses out for a pleasure cruise, taking in the astounding scenery of the rocky, green coastline and dramatic islands rising against the emerald green-deep blue sea. Eventually, we’d anchor in a picturesque cove and take a dip or dock at a local marina and set out to explore.
Ischia is the largest and most cosmopolitan island that we visited. With the newly minted Mezzatorre hotel, situated on a rocky cliff and occupying a curious red stucco, fortress-like 16th century watchtower by the hospitality group behind Tuscany’s fashionable Hotel Il Pellicano, it’s also the island that’s beginning to land on the radars of savvy travelers in search of paradise’s next frontier.
Ponza is a glorious island for emulating Amalfi donkeys. We hiked through sleepy commercial districts to sleepy residential ones and then agrarian hilltops with spectacular views, later rewarding ourselves with seaside spritzes and gelato. On its largely uninhabited sister islet Palmarola, we hiked to a summit with an alter and incredible 360 degree views that made us feel a little closer to the gods, then we splashed around on the rocky seashore after our descent. And dreamy, salty Ventotene, with its vibrant marina carved into a cliff and history of exile, inspired in me a desire to live there in obscurity for a time and simply write and work on boats as I once did in Key West. For the most part, each of these islands felt like places filled mostly with Italians on their summer vacations as opposed to mobs of American and international tourists.
On our final day, returning to port in Salerno, we anchored offshore near Sirenuse and tendered in for a lunchtime feast at legendary Lo Scoglio with highlights including their famed spaghetti with zucchini and gorgeous seafood towers with sea urchin resting in their shells, spines still moving.
We’d all be sad for the voyage to end, but we also knew that, with this trip, summers on the Mediterranean were becoming a tradition for us. We held the prospect of future adventures together dear. And after a week at sea, there was also something freshly compelling about life back on solid land.
