The Vanabond Talesvideo
Sailing Puglia: What's Italy's Adriatic Coast Really Like
14 July 2025 · 7 min · 1K views
What this video covers
A crew of three adults and a baby sails Italy's Adriatic heel — Viesta to Otranto — finding the coast's reputation for scarce anchorages and long port-to-port distances accurate. Nearly every passage runs eight to thirteen hours, well beyond the crew's self-imposed four-hour maximum for sailing with an infant, and stops are almost exclusively marinas rather than anchorages. Bari's marina sits inside an industrial port but is cheap and welcoming, with a strong old town. Monopoli offers free docking on a public quay in the old town center. Brindisi is gritty and functional, and it triggers a near-crisis: Schengen visa pressure and anxiety about reaching Greece in time to file digital nomad paperwork leads to a panicked decision to book a ferry and leave the skipper Eddie to solo the final 30-hour crossing. The crew reverses the decision at the end of the dock, waits out the weather together, and presses on. San Focca, eight hours south of Brindisi, serves as the penultimate stop before the Otranto Strait crossing to Greece. The coast is uncrowded and warmer than expected, but the long inter-port distances are the defining challenge for passage planning, especially with a baby aboard.
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