Down! Down!

After Greece Leah and I skipped over to Naples, Italy where we met up with Emily for a few days. Though we spent little time in Naples and instead took a ferry to the Island of Capri. It was a gorgeous day and we walked around the little Island, at some ice cream, and had my first taste of amazing Italian pizza (how do they make it so good?!). The highlight of the day was for sure the boat cruise around the island. The waves crashed up around us and misted our faces as we flew across the water. The Mediterranean Sea is very salty and I could taste the salt when I licked my lips.

Then my favorite part of the day took place: The Blue Grotto. If any of you reading this have read The Christy Miller series, you will understand my inspiration for coming to the Blue Grotto in the first place. Our big, 50 person boat came to a halt in front of the island wall and at the base of the wall was a small cave hole. Surrounding our boat were small rowboats, each containing a scruffy man holding ores. One by one, each rowboat came up to our boat and pulled 3 to 4 people into the small hull. Our turn came and the three of us gingerly stepped into the little rowboats, said a prayer and off we went towards the small opening in the island cliff. We were laughing and taking pictures when our boatman yelled, "Down! Down!" and we slammed our backs down to the bottom of the boat. We had to lie down or we wouldn't make it through the small opening. Once through, we sat up and were surrounded by a brilliant, bright blue-- everywhere! The cave was stunning how blue it was. Out boatman even sang to us in Italian as he paddled us around the grotto. What an experience!