Coastal Weekend: Mass, cliffs, and the Grotto

Saturday
June 12, 2004

A large, almost unreal, horse fly that insisted on buzzing directly over my head woke me up at approximately 6:30 a.m. I had slept wonderfully, considering our rigorous hike the day before. We headed down the mountain (much easier than going up) and straight to a complex complete with pool and cliffs...as well as showers and toilets, but who really needs those anyway?!?!

The day was really quite relaxing. I stayed in the shade the entire day because of my sunburn, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

The pool was saltwater (who makes saltwater pools?) and after I got in, I thought it would be an appropriate time to check out the cliffs. Since everyone was gathered around and jumping at that time, I decided "Why not?!". And then when it came time to decided between the 10 foot cliff of the 60 foot cliff, guess which one I chose?? Yup, the BIG one!! So I climbed over the railing, stood on the 2-inch ledge for about 20 seconds, and flung myself over the railing. Plop...less than 1.5 seconds to hit the water 60 feet below. Ouch...kinda landed wrong and forgot to make my body still. Still ouch...today I have a baseball sized bruise on my buttocks and a bruised tailbone...oops!! But it was worth it, and I do have record of it on film :)

At about 5:30 p.m., after all the boats were finished ripping tourists off, we swam (illegally swam) into the blue grotto. If you haven't seen pictures, go to Google, click on images, and type in Blue Grotto. It is one of the 7 wonders of the Natural world and let me tell you..it is quite a wonder. You wouldn't even think it was anything. The entrance is an unmarked cave on the side of one of the tall cliffs. There is a staircase right next to the complex where we spent the day that leads to a platform where you jump into the water and swim about 10 feet into the cave. A chain is available to hang on to because the sea water is rough against the side of the entrance and barnacles are at the bottom and cut quite deeply into the flesh on your feet (personal experience). I swam in and wasn't at all impressed until someone yelled to turn around. When I did, all that was visible was the entrance to the cave and clear blue--the clearest blue I have ever seen--water. Somehow, I don't know exactly how, the light that comes in from the entrace reflects off the bottom of the cave and makes the water directly in front and throughout the entire cave bright bright blue. Look at the pictures--it is amazing. Toward the back of there is a platform that people gathered on to examine the grotto from an angle outside the water. Since all my friends were standing there, I decided to join them. As I swam over, one of the girls yelled something. The sound echoed off the walls and mixed with the other voices and what I heard was "Watch out, you'll start to see sharks". I immediately freaked out and started clawing the side of the platform to get up on it. About 3 seconds later when my legs were a bit scraped from the rocks, I found out that she really said "Watch out, it'll start to get sharp". She was right and my legs were bleeding. Better listening ears next time.

The tide was coming in and we weren't allowed to stay in the grotto much longer, so as I was swimming out I found that my timing was completely wrong and ended up shearing my parts of my feet with the barnacles on the bottom of the entrance. But bleeding legs and feet were totally worth it...and great that the salt water numbs the cuts you get, huh?? I didn't even feel them!!

We caught a boat at the dock headed to Capri at 6 p.m. and set up camp on the beach again. I enjoyed an amazing dinner with friends at a local restaurant but went to bed early because we had to get on a boat at 7 a.m. in the morning in order to be at Pompeii by 8 a.m.