The Tremiti Islands

Pearls of the Adriatic

Bothered and bewildered, but not entirely beaten, we are marooned on the quay of San Nicola, one of the Tremiti islands. It’s a perfect summer’s day with a light salty breeze lifting off the sea. Around us and across the quay, excited tourists are scattering like marbles towards the small craft they’ve reserved for inter-island excursions.

With no booking and no boat, we are going nowhere.

Going it alone

It’s not really our fault. The package deal we’d booked fell through at the eleventh hour, leaving us to fit together all the pieces of our day trip by ourselves. 

So far, despite our misgivings, all has gone swimmingly. The early morning drive to Termoli, just south of the Abruzzo/Molise border, and parking at the port presented no problems. Even buying ferry tickets, which we’d feared would now, at the height of the tourist season, be as scarce as hens’ teeth, was not an obstacle. The sail to San Nicola aboard a ferry crowded with other day trippers like ourselves, as well as longer-stay tourists, was slightly boring but not unpleasant.

The last piece of the puzzle, though, is missing. A visit to the Tremiti Islands is nothing, we have heard, without some island hopping, but all the guided inter-island boat trips, including, sadly, those offering lunch on board, are fully booked.

It is the skipper of a glass-bottomed vessel who finally comes to our rescue. He has either taken pity on us or decided his life will be easier if he gives in to our pestering.  Apparently some booked passengers have failed to show up and he can fit in our little party of four. 

We slather on the sun cream, adjust our hats and position ourselves up front. We want to see everything there is to see. And so as our boat pulls away from the quay, our eyes are out on stalks and our ears tuned in to our guide.

Celebrity Island

There are four other islands aside from San Nicola:  San Domino, Capraia, Cretaccio and Pianosa. As we chug around the coast of San Domino we and the boat’s dozen or so other passengers listen politely and with languid interest to our guide’s history lesson. It is when he mentions the home of a celebrity – the late singer/songwriter, Lucio Dalla – that we all perk up and lurch over to one side of the boat, cameras at the ready.

I look over to where he is pointing and I see a white villa, partly hidden by pine trees, on a hill that slopes down to the sea. I’m not sure if I’ve located the right place but it doesn’t matter: the scenery is enchanting. The coast curls into sandy coves, or calette where small craft and swimmers bob in the limpid turquoise sea. It looks idyllic. I can see why the Tremiti islands are among the many spots along the coast called the ‘pearls of the Adriatic’.

Although we left the mainland from Termoli in Molise, this tiny archipelago actually belongs in the region of Puglia. It is, though, a favourite destination of sea-loving Abruzzesi: near enough for a day trip yet sufficiently distant for an exotic change of scene away from the regimented rows of umbrellas on local beaches.

These islands once served as a penal colony, our guide informs us, most recently for political prisoners under Mussolini. We are just rounding the headland and as if to illustrate that confinement here was no holiday camp, the sea suddenly becomes choppy, the landscape more forbidding. In bad weather life here must be pretty bleak.

A boat is like a magic world

Back in smooth, sheltered waters once more, we drop anchor for the first of three swim stops. Our boat not only has a glass bottom, it also a water slide, mostly for the benefit of small passengers. We join the line of chattering kids and when it’s our turn, whoosh into the cool deep sea.  We are immediately surrounded by shoals of  tiny, exquisitely coloured fish, their translucent fins alight as sunbeams hit the water.

There’s a sticky moment after one stop when the anchor refuses to be dislodged from the rocky seabed. The skipper doesn’t seem remotely worried – it probably happens all the time. He deftly shifts the boat to and fro until we are free.  He then manoeuvres us into shallow waters so we can admire the seafloor through the glass bottom. Shoving each other out the way to get a better look, we gawk at the contours and colours of the rocky seabed, exclaming at sightings of starfish and sea urchins.

Our visit to the underwater statue of Padre Pio, however, has to be abandoned after several attempts because of the high risk of injuring one of the many divers around the statue.

After a tour lasting more than four hours, we head back to San Nicola quay, passing on the way the eleventh century abbey, Santa Maria a Mare, open to visitors.

Back on terra firma we decide to while away the last few hours till our ferry departs at Cala delle Arene, the only sandy beach in the vicinity. Everyone, it seems, has had the same idea. The free beach itself is so narrow and crowded that we can find nowhere to lay our towels. But the crystal clear sea stretches out towards the horizon, and there is ample space for everyone. We float happily and marvel at the beauty of the place until it’s time to board our ferry for the mainland and home.

We left for the Isole Tremiti from Termoli, Molise, after buying our day return ferry tickets directly at the port, and toured the islands aboard Aquarius. Price for adults (2022) 32 euro per person for a four hour trip. Dinghies with outboard motors are also available for individual hire. Overnight accommodation is available.