JUNE 2003
Sunday, 1st June 2003, Cannes (Day trip to Monaco)
With Del in the UK, I left the boat at 8 in the morning to catch the 8:33 to Monaco. I could tell I was on the right platform by the sea of red (Ferrari t-shirts). The train is packed, so much for my 1st class ticket – I ended up standing on the 2nd class stairs all the way!
Monaco is a beautiful town, especially up in the old part of Monaco, with beautiful gardens.
It seemed, though, that my idea of casually standing next to the track would not happen – every bit of view of the track is fenced off, even from the hill – you have to have a ticket, and they cost hundreds of euros!
So eventually I found a bit of the hill where I could see 30m of track from half a mile and stood and waited for the start. What a racket – forget Concord taking off – this is the loudest thing I have ever heard, ever…
Then, just as I am about to lose interest in the dots moving around the track, somebody opens up the barrier, and we all dash it. Now I have a view of most and the track and the marina – absolutely stunning! I can’t believe I’m here watching the Monaco Grand Prix – Live!
After a while, I walk down the hill to get a better idea of the noise. Wow, and I’m standing next to the gate for the seating (trackside) when a man comes up to me and says, “Here, take this ticket. My grandchildren have gone back because they don’t like the noise – just follow me”! What…? Really?
Before I knew it, I was trackside with some earplugs and 10m from the action (3 rows from the front). I have never quite seen anything like this; the noise is immense even with earplugs. We are after the hairpin where the track forks to the pits – and we see Schumaker have a pit change. (He has been and gone before my camera was ready!).
I can’t believe my luck. I will never forget this! Or the kind man (father of the inventor of the ‘Pharmajet Injection’, who is also a sailor – from Lymington).
It’s only when I return to the boat that I notice my ticket value of 390 euros…! I’m so grateful. What a nice man.
(Oh yeah, the blue and white one won!)
Monday, 2nd June 2003, Cannes
A quiet day today. I’ve done the laundry and walked up to the local church on the hill. I go back and sat on the back of the boat and sunbathed. It’s a nice day today
There is a traffic jam of superyachts trying to squeeze into the port – wonder where they’ve come from…? One has snagged his anchor and needs rescuing.
I get my hands dirty, oiling and cleaning my bike
Dinner tonight: Pesto on deck
Tuesday, 3rd June 2003, Cannes
I take a bike ride west out of the marina; there’s another beach – Cannes is huge, lots of shops, Lots of lovely beaches. It’s so hot this afternoon that I have to shelter inside the boat and watch some films until it’s bearable outside, which is around 5 pm. Phew! It’s so hot…
Tonight, I am going to try one of those Chinese food places that have an endless counter of goodies laid out, buffet style. A staggering 10 euros for a salad, 3 spring rolls, red Thai curry and vegetable rice. A quarter litre of rosé, Bargain! With the added entertainment of a fight right outside, the police turn up and send a bloke packing. He comes back, and some undercover police turn up with nasty batons. Time for some dessert. I think the chap had lifted someone’s bag, then the victim argued with a different man. Complicated – oh well, it passes the time.
Wednesday, 4th June 2003, Cannes
I’m off to the beach this morning with my bag of essentials. I have a paddle, but it’s not quite the same on my own. I walked all the way to the next marina and back, but it’s so hot. (29 degrees C in the boat).
There is a siren going off, like an air raid siren, all over Cannes, and it’s very loud. 15 minutes later, it stops – no idea what that is about.
I have a new friend, a seagull who stands on the pontoon near the boat and makes seagull noises occasionally. I tried to give him a bit of sliced bread, but he’s having none of it. He is, after all, a French seagull – a gourmet seagull no less.
The guy next door is giving him a bit of his lunch. I think he prefers ham and foie gras to manky old sliced white! And who can blame him? He could teach the Brighton Seagulls a thing or two. (French seagulls don’t whine as Brighton ones do).
Friday, 6th June 2003, Cannes
I’m back on the beach again today. We need more supplies on board, so I head off for an exciting trip to the local supermarket, followed by some lunch, and a sunbathe on the back of the boat. It’s been a miserable life so far… It’s so hot here, though, and I have taken to taking a siesta recently as the boat temperature is 31 degrees C in the afternoon…!!!
There is a film shoot on the pontoon, and they keep blocking our way. It’s probably someone famous. No idea who it is.
Friday, 6th June 2003, Cannes
Phew, it’s even hotter today – it’s official; according to the radio, it’s summer. (And National Day, Sweden, of course). I’m going for a wander this morning. After a coffee, I buy some boules. We will learn to play petanque when Del gets back.
There is a baby dead shark in the marina this morning – and next to him a jellyfish (no doubt alive, unfortunately). I am beginning to wonder if our swim ladder will get a lot of use…?
Another quiet day – I want to go sailing – never has the weather been so stable! It’s very bouncy here, moored in the marina – not looking forward to tomorrow. Saturday is the bounciest day as every man and his dog break the speed limit in the harbour.
(The temperature in the shade today is 31 degrees C.)
Dinner tonight: Shark and lentils. Kidding… Steak and lentils
Saturday 7th June 2003 Cannes
Del comes back tomorrow! So it’s off to the laundry and to the supermarket.
Everything is closing early today, maybe because it’s a bank holiday weekend here – Ascension or something. I even wash the boat whilst not trying to soak the neighbours; it’s not as good as Del’s effort, but it’ll do until he gets back. It has reached 32 degrees in the shade today – I just can’t drink enough water, and when I was spraying the boat with not much on! I’ve noticed that the water is quite warm, so I could just spray it on me.
I’ve just watched a fantastic fireworks display tonight on the beach.
Sunday 8th June 2003 Cannes
Dels back today! It’s very hot again; Del is surprised by the increase in heat since he left. The heat here is just incredible.
We treat ourselves to an expensive dinner tonight at a seafood restaurant near the beach. Lovely. We play Pétanque with the boules I bought the other day. We don’t know quite what we are doing, but I won anyway.
Monday 9th June 2003 Cannes
It’s a bank holiday in France today. Most places are shut.
We actually go out sailing today, which is nice. I have a paddle sitting on the swim deck. On the way back, we see a shark swimming in the bay. We make our way back into the marina, where the wind picks up, and I do my worst attempt at berthing yet…!. We are doing well… Not. My first attempt was spot on, but we have to come out and try again; the next time, I trashed the life ring on the bow of another boat. It’s wrecked, polystyrene gouged out and the cover split wide open. Oh dear. No damage to anything else, though.
Del has an awful headache, so I am left to eat delicious veal, lentils and courgettes on my own tonight. Shame.
Tuesday 10th June 2003 Cannes – Golf Juan. 9 miles (the long way). 18.60 euros (6-night deal)
The knees are knocking this morning as we prepare to leave our berth in Cannes. H’s confidence is faltering after yesterday’s mess-up, when we just went out for a potter. But it is a success, as we leave and negotiate the exit to the marina with no problems!
We have a good sail around the local islands and then set off towards Golf Juan. We gently motor into the marina. It is quite pleasant here, and much more protected and more comfortable than Cannes. We have managed to secure a 6-night deal as Del leaves again on Thursday (until Sunday) to do a “Westlife” video at the O2 Arena.
It’s good old kit pizza night tonight!
The dinghy has been blown up, ready to play on! Thanks, Del. After dinner, we zip across to the beach in the dinghy and have a cold beer.
Wednesday 11th June 2003 – Golf Juan day 2
It’s another hot day today, which means we didn’t sleep last night as we couldn’t open the window properly because of pesky mosquitoes. One got in anyway and kept flying past our ears, so the first thing we buy today is some net for the hatch and botch a way of creating an anti-mossy net. We’ll see how that goes later
We do some laundry and set off for a quick sail, which is nice and refreshing as it’s much cooler on the sea. It’s lovely.
A successful boat berthing on our return! We are doing better. It takes practice. H does the steering and all the controlling of the boat into a berth, which is not easy; it’s nothing like driving a car. There is wind and water current to deal with. Del does all the rope work, which requires leaping about the boat, securing fenders and jumping on and off the boat. We watch other people berthing where it seems to be the man doing the steering and the berthing, while the woman is expected to do all the stuff that requires strength etc. We think they have it wrong.
Tonight we plan to dinghy to a restaurant on the beach, which we do, but the only one that is open is very much way out of our price range, so it’s back to the marina to haul out the dinghy before we can walk and to find a cheaper restaurant.
Diner tonight: Calamares in sauce and fruits de mar spagetti.
Thursday 12th June 2003 – Golf Juan day 3
Del leaves again today, but we wake to news of strikes here in France, luckily not the air traffic controllers, but this time the buses and trains are not running today. Luckily, the airport bus turns up..
H goes off for some shopping, but everything is closed. It’s a very hot day today.
Dinner tonight: Steak and aubergine
Friday 13th June 2003 – Golf Juan day 4
Friday 13th! Today is supposed to be a lucky day in France, so there’s a big queue at the lottery vendors. It’s also the hottest day yet at 35 degrees C in the boat with the fan on and the windows open!
We need the first engine service, so I try to book an engine service, but no one speaks English or understands my poor French.
I’m going to walk to Vallauris tomorrow. Picasso lived there for a few years. Maybe there is an internet terminal there, ‘cos there sure ain’t one here!
Dinner tonight: Steak and veg
Saturday 14th June 2003 – Golf Juan day 5
I tried to walk to Vallauris today, but I’ve had to give up in the stifling heat. It’s two miles up a hill and a dual carriageway – I think I’ll skip that.
I need my internet fix!
Sunday 15th June 2003 – Golf Juan day 6
Del returns today, which means it’s a cleaning day. Launder the sheets, clean the bilges, wash the boat – it’s too hot.
I actually see Dels’ plane flying over and putting its wheels down. The airport is not far from here.
He’s back – with sunglasses at last – except the sun’s gone in! Since we started, he has not had any sunglasses. The boat is white, and the sun has been strong every day, so he has suffered a bit.
Dinner tonight: Lobster.
Monday 16th June 2003 – Golf Juan to Nice. 25.60 euros.
That’s Golf Juan done. 6 hot days there, Del went to do a job in the UK that he was committed to, which is good to keep the money tin topped up! Today we are going to Nice. We manage to sail a bit with a little bit of motor while keeping an eye on the engine hours; we are due for our 50-hour service soon, which we have to do to comply with the warranty.
We finally arrive into Nice. The harbour has big ferries in so we feel quite small. On a second attempt, we find our pontoon opposite a stunning super yacht called “Perfect Persuasion”. We have seen her a few times pottering along the coast here.
We have our first ‘hands-free’ shower in a month, at the marina showers. We have a wet room on board Stargazer, which has a hand shower. It’s good, but it’s nice to be able to stand under a shower for a change and not have to kick out and dry out the wet room.
We have a walk along the seafront for a while. Nice has a rubble-type beach – funny, we always imagined it to have long golden sand.
Tonight we have a steak dinner before another walk. Later, we sup wine on deck, but the fumes from “Perfect Persuasion“, who are running a generator, gets to much for us, so we call it a night.
Tuesday 17th June 2003 – Nice to Menton Garavan. 27.50 euros.
We have a good sail all the way to Monaco where we plan to stay. A few phone calls later we realise that it’s not going to happen, everyone is full (this is only 2pm). So we speed on under motor to try and secure a place at Benton Garavan – the last marina in France and I mean literally, the border is 200m away!
I think we shall walk to Italy after dinner!
Found a bloke to do our engine!
Walked to Italy! But it was shut, nowhere to get a drink, so we had drink in a candlelit waterside place in France.
Wednesday 18th June 2003 – Menton Garavan day 2
I have been bitten badly last night, damn mosquitoes.
We have a ride around but get back as the engineer may come at 2pm.
He doesn’t so we just laze about and sort out our paperwork.
Dinner is tagliatelle and seafood.
Thursday 19th June 2003 – Menton Garavan day 3
At 9:25 our engineer arrives and services our engine. Very efficient – 2 and a half hours and he has fitted our new replacement vacuum valve as well.
We wash the boat down – the heat is too much for me and I wear my bikini and get a hose-down – ahhh the relief.
There are four planes flying low over the bay and returning over the hills repeatedly. We think they are seaplanes that scoop up the seawater and dump it on forest fires. This is worth a look, so we cycle at high speed to the beach area. They dive down quite near the beach and slide along the water, still fast, then take off – quite something! They’re not kidding when they warn you about this on the chart. Pity any poor boat coming around the headland!
Have a paddle at 9pm, the water is still warm.
Friday 20th June 2003 – Menton Garavan to San Remo. (Porto Sole). 35.00 euros
*FRANCE TO ITALY*
It’s goodbye France – hello Italy today!
Better get the flag ready.
We cross the border and the flag goes up. You can notice already the different styles of buildings even from the sea.
We arrive at Port Sole – San Remo and after a hair raising experience trying to get off the leeward waiting pontoon, we are piloted to our berth.
We’ve never had the honour of a pilot boat before.
Our first attempt to park goes wrong, the wind is beam on and we swing around when we slow down.
The second attempt is ok until we swing around again and nearly gouge someone’s boat with our anchor.
Eventually, we are pulled around with some help from marina staff. Feel terrible, lose all confidence and I’m embarrassed at terrible parking skills until some Swiss neighbours turn up and do exactly the same thing. I’m not so bad after all!
Dinner is pasta. (Well we are in Italy)
Saturday 21st June 2003 – San Remo Day 2
A quiet day after a bad night sleep.
My feet still look like elephants feet after being bitten a couple of days ago.
We manage to get Del in the dinghy to wash the hull at last.
That’s it! I’ve had it with these dinghy letters, there’s only two left – pull them off.
Pizza out in a return tonight.
Sunday 22nd June 2003 – San Remo to Loano 1st night free! 32 miles
FUEL FILL-UP: 40 euros
Up early this morning and slip from the berth at 09:10. We intend to go to Alessia, 24m away. There is no wind but the sea is quite swell. We motor all the way and park up in Alessia to get fuel. The marina is full tonight. Oh no!
The next marina along is Loano. We get a berth here – 1st night is free, maybe because it’s a bit of a building site, they are double the size of the marina.
We are down on provisions, nowhere is open, looks like another meal out. How ostentatious.
The Swiss are here, they see us and wave us over to park with them.
Del has made friends by sorting everyone’s electric and water out for them – and I thought we were the inexperienced ones.
A British couple arrive, rather fast, 3 boats down,
Monday 23rd June 2003 – Loano Day 2
Everyone has departed this morning except us and the British boat. We get talking and find that they are going the same way. We have decided to carry until Pisa.
Later we invite them for drinks on the boat, we learn off them a good idea – a parasol fits perfectly into the top of the winches, so it’s off to the town to buy a snazzy blue and white one.
Today it is two years exactly that Del proposed to me, so we have a drop of Italian sparkly on the bow.
Dinner is pork and lentils and after we pop out as Stanley and Sue have invited us to drinks at a nearby bar.
It’s about 12:30 by the time we get back to our boat (after a nosey around theirs) (X-Yacht 332) and we have agreed to get up early to sail to Varrazze.
Tuesday 24th June 2003 – Loano to Varazze. 19 miles. 28 euros
Both boats slip at just before 9:00am. It is a good wind today although Sue and Stanley burn us off in their yacht which is more of a racer. We end up reefing with sails and still getting 6.5 knots out of her. Sue and Stanley turn back a few times to let us catch up and to see that we are alright. Bless.
There are quite large waves hitting us beam on and we are not far away from dipping the toerail in the water!
Saw our first dolphins on this trip! About six of them, quite small, but beautiful, surfacing and diving together, but they don’t stay long.
Get into Varazze together. God it’s shallow here, just 20mm under the keel in some spots – half expecting ‘Harve’ to ground with her deeper keel.
Berth is quite bouncy but definitely calmer than the ride here.
There is nothing here except lumps of concrete and diggers.
Wednesday 25th June 2003 – Varazze to Genova. 21 miles. 30 euros
A late sail today, left at 11 as we only have a short hop to Arenzeno. Del rings up and reserves our spaces and we’re off.
The sea has calmed a bit but we still get a good wind in patches. We break our record for shallowed depth yet! 10cm under the keel! (Coming out of Verazze).
When we arrive at Arenzano we are told there is no space! Del has an argument with the marina guy (different one from this morning) but to no avail so we decide to press on to Genova another 10 miles (more by the time we have tacked!)
This Marina is like a maze! I’m following the plan but thinking of turning around as the deeper we get inside the more ferries, but we find it eventually and get piloted in. I’ve noticed that the rudder is pulling hard to the right but carry on as there is nothing I can do yet. So I nose in to turn round and back into the berth, go into reverse and the engine vibrates and packs up! We must have had something around our rudder after all, because now it’s wrapped around prop! We have to be towed in.
Tomorrow we are having a diver to investigate.
Sue and Stanley take us to dinner to console us.
Thursday 26th June 2003 – Genova. Day 2
We’re not having a diver after all, but tomorrow.
They’re setting up a beer festival here for the weekend, should be interesting.
Tonight we are having Sue and Stanley around for dinner. Decide to simplify it to pasta as cooking a big meal for 4 in our galley is a struggle.
A good night, however, was had.
Friday 27th June 2003 – Genova. Day 3
Get up at 9 am after last night’s drinking on our boat because we expect the diver anytime in the morning. This being Italy though, the diver arrives at 1 pm, and spends about two minutes underwater. Feel like we are getting value for money though as he has flippers and tanks and the whole works. Plus the water stinks here, or I might have tried it myself.
Anyway, he pulls out a huge blue bin bag from our prop, we take some pictures and ten minutes later he’s gone and we’ll 50 euros lighter.
Sue and Stanley have invited us to dinner. Beef stroganoff – absolutely delicious!
Also, today had a look around ‘Neptune’ a huge galleon – a set for the film “Pirates”. There is a very sweet parrot here (blue and yellow) who lives on a boat nearby, he sits on the shrouds and squawks and travels on a perch on his owners ‘Go-Ped’.
Saturday 28th June 2003 – Genova. Day 4
Walked around town a bit, and eventually found some nice bits.
Clean the boat and then have dinner aboard – peppers and potatoes and aubergines etc.
We have a wonder to the beer festival where a group is playing. After about an hour the wind picks up and the lighting is flashing like a strobe light.
The poor band, It then proceeds to pour it down – a proper rainstorm.
Sunday 29th June 2003 – Genova to Rapallo (anchorage) 17 miles. 0 euros
It is a little fresh after the rain. We depart Genova at 9 am but quickly find, by phoning, that there is no space for us at any of the marinas ahead. We decide that we will try our first anchoring.
While on route we try to empty the holding tank but find that it is blocked and nothing will shift it.
Turn up at an anchorage near St. Margarita and actually anchor! In 10 meters – quite deep.
Sue and Stanley come over and we all have a swim. It’s lovely and warm and I swim around the boat. This is great.
A little later, however, after a failed attempt to get to shore, we decide that it’s kicking up a bit and move to an anchorage inside the breakwater of Rapallo. This is gorgeous, peacefully anchored – a lovely town – the sunset and a lovely pesto dinner, what a great day.
To finish off Stanley plays his pan pipes, that drift over from their boat. Nice.
The Mediterranean dream.
And the holding tank has fixed itself!
Monday 30th June 2003 – Rapallo anchorage
A peaceful night at anchor.
We need some provisions so we hop across in the dinghy to the marina. This place is expensive – good job we’re not paying a mooring fee!
After lunch, we potter round the place where we had a swim. We dinghy across to shore to get ice-creams and then back to the boat before they melt.
Manage to get a little sail in on the way back to re-anchor. After a bit of dragging it bites and we lay the second anchor just to be sure. There is a force 7 forecast for tomorrow with no time given.
For the meal tonight we dinghy ashore with Sue and Stanley and have some pizzas.
On the way back we are aware of a swell and one at the boat this proves to be a bit bumpy. The wind has built, then drops, so we turn in.
I can’t sleep. I am rolling back and forwards on the bed, it is quite uncomfortable.
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