We are getting confident with our new boat, but we have a few stormy experiences that give us pause for thought as we discover the strength of the Mistral wind that blows hard over the south of France. This month, we get into some hard gambling, we meet new friends and achieve some high speeds and stay in the smelliest marina ever!
JULY 2003
Tuesday 1st July 2003 – Rapallo anchorage to Lavagna 6 Nautical Miles, 29 euros.
6 am – We are suddenly disturbed (we haven’t slept again) by the sound of a diesel engine and someone honking a horn right outside. We quickly get dressed. There is a guy on a boat shouting at us, “Move, move”. It transpires that they want to put a firework barge right here, where we are! Thanks for telling us!
So we prep the boat and pull up our two anchors while being hassled at the same time to get a move on – unbelievable! They just don’t care. There is no room in the marina, so we head for the fuel pontoon and lash up there.
There is an American-flagged boat here that was anchored near us yesterday, he dragged his anchor in the night. It’s a tight squeeze in for the three boats. We have to hold off the front of the American boat until they are secured!
Still tired, we have a quick cup of tea, and have just turned in for a quick sleep, when there is a knock at the door. The authorities want us to move again; there is a fireworks display at 9 am!? A fireworks display at 9 in the morning! Never heard of such a thing, and here we are on the fuel pontoon. We plead to stay, but to no avail, and they throw us out along with Sue and Stanley’s boat into an impending storm with nowhere to go.
As we leave the entrance to the marina, there is a tornado outside, a proper waterspout in the distance touching the water! Shit, are these people serious?
Yes, they have already started the festivities. We both anchor outside St. Margarita and figure out what to do next. The forecast is for a force 7 wind (nearly gale force). We find two places at Lavagna, 6 miles south of here, and set off, but the wind and sea are building, and it’s getting big!
The short journey across the bay is awful. It’s our first real experience of proper bad weather at sea. The sea is rough, and the boat goes over 45 degrees with each wave. We are being tossed about like a cork, and we are both the most scared we have ever been. It rains, and there is a strange smell coming from the engine space, which is just under the steps. We think it might be coolant. If the engine packs up now, we will be swept into the rocks. (It turns out that the smell is spilt cleaning fluid, as we discover 2 hours later).
Finally, we make it to the marina after one of the worst 40 minutes, and we get berthed up safely. We are thinking that we want to leave Italy now! Everywhere is packed, the weather is not great, and we have found the Italians not very helpful or even hospitable.
(We have arrived here after being awake for 28 hours, not having eaten. We feel awful and are still shaken up an hour later.)
Wednesday 2nd July 2003 – Lavagna. Day 2.
We go for a walk into the town to check out facilities, we need a laundrette, but can’t find one. Guess we will do some hand washing later.
It’s quite windy today, still, predicted force 6s and 7s.
Sue and Stanley kindly invite us over for dinner on their boat as they think they might depart tomorrow, continuing south. We have decided that we will be turning around and heading back to France.
Dinner is delicious yet again, steak with a delicious sauce.
We have had a squeaking toilet for a while. The toilet is basically a plunge flusher. You do what you do in the toilet, and there is a pump handle on the side that you pump up and down. The pull up sucks sea water in, the push-down flushes out the toilet bowl into the holding tank, which can be legally emptied 3 miles offshore. Stanley has fixed our toilet from squeaking – is there anything this man can’t do?
Thursday 3rd July 2003 – Lavagna. Day 3.
It’s still stormy, still a turbulent, frothy sea. Sue and Stanley have decided against leaving today after all (We thought they might. It’s still a bit wild out there). The boat is being pushed and pulled on the pontoon by wind and water, and the fenders are hitting the quay. We have discovered this is because we are in a berth for an 8m boat; we are 10m, and we can’t get the chain at a good angle at the front to pull us far enough away from the pontoon. Italy… Really…
We stay in today, a quiet day reading and doing odd jobs around the boat.
We have drinks on the bow with Sue and Stanley later, who show us their (in their words) useless boom tents! (A boom tent is created by using a large sheet, throwing it over the boom and fastening the sides of the sheet to each side of the boat, thus creating a nice tent to shade under.) Well, theirs were no good…
Dinner tonight: Kit pizza while watching the film “Contact”.
Friday 4th July 2003 – Lavagna. Day 4.
Yes, we are still here. The wind and sea have calmed a little, but we have decided to stay another night. Sue and Stanley are continuing south, next stop Spezia. We are going back north towards France and Spain, so we will both be leaving tomorrow, but in opposite directions.
Another quiet day in the marina today. Washed petrol off the dinghy that was spilt in the anchorage from a few days ago. We take another walk into the town and find that it is quite a pleasant little place, now the wind has calmed down, and the sun is out!
After dinner on board, we invite Sue and Stanley, around for some drinks and give them a box of chocolates, a small gift for the journey. It’ll be sad leaving them after spending the last 12 days together. Very short, but very nice. We also give them a chart of the area and a book about Tuscany. (We were maybe a bit optimistic with that one!)
Saturday 5th July 2003 – Lavagna to Genoa 17 NM, 35 euros.
We are up early this morning, at 8am. Sue and Stanley are preparing to leave, and we want to say goodbye to them.
They slip from their morning and set off. It’s very sad to see them go. We slip our berth half an hour later, and they radio us on our channel 77, they want to make sure we are alright as there are still some largish swells. Bless. Next time we radio, they are out of range – that’s it, they’re gone – off to Spezia.
We have learnt a lot from them – how to trim our sails properly, anchoring, maintenance and much more.
After a couple of hours, we arrive at Genoa again (the place where we had a large bag around our rudder), and get tendered into our berth. (It’s a bit quieter here this time; the beer festival has gone.) We have just seen more dolphins outside on the way in! Once in and settled, we go to the laundry.
There is an aquarium here, so we visit it. It’s probably the best aquarium we’ve ever been to.
We get to stroke some stingrays. They flutter their wings and let you tickle them. Dinner is veal and lentils, followed by a visit to the band in the square playing 80s hits.
The parrot is still here, asleep under a parasol. (Don’t know how he can sleep through this racket.)
(Our log reading, the distance travelled so far – 348 nm)
Sunday 6th July 2003 – Genoa. Day 2.
It’s a peaceful morning, and we have a bit of a lie-in. At around midday, we go out to search for some food in the rather seedy backstreets of Genoa, but no luck.
We give Stargazer a wash down and clean her inside and out, and just relax on board.
Dinner is vegetables and potatoes. After dinner, we get the bikes off the boat and cycle around the large marina. More music here on here tonight. There is a country and western band on.
Today is obviously cruise liner departure day, we have watched 4 huge cruise ships leave in 35 mins.
Monday 7th July 2003 Genoa to Savona 19 NM, 18 euros
We are leaving Genoa today, so we are up early. There is hardly any wind, and what wind there is is head-on, so no sails. We get the motor on.
Today we are going to a coastal town called Savona. The entrance to the marina looks very industrial, big dirty ships listing and loading up with gravel and coal. We wait for a bridge lift at 2:30pm and enter the marina. Once we get in, we discover that it’s tiny. The channels are very narrow. It’s a bit nerve-racking parking the boat, but we get in next door to some British sailors in an old boat.
This is a very friendly and very cheap marina, 18 euros, the average stay per day is 30 in Italy!
Del comes back from the office after paying, with a free guidebook and a flag that we can hoist up into our spreaders, bless. And to top it all, they deliver breakfast focaccia to your boat in the morning – now that’s service.
The town is lovely – full of character, with lovely buildings, cute backstreets and lovely gardens. We get stocked up on provisions and have a pesto feast. Too full and sleepy to go out for a walk, we turn in.
( Distance on the log shows 367nm)
Tuesday 8th July 2003, Savona. Day 2.
We are doubting this focaccia delivery to your boat thing, but sure enough, this morning at 9.30am, 2 marina guys turns up with a bag labelled ‘Stargazer’ with 2 pieces of focaccia inside – what a nice marina this is!
After breakfast, we go for a walk and explore more of the town. This is our favourite place so far – very pretty, and the people are friendly. Maybe Italy is not so bad after all.
We fall asleep in the afternoon, and before we know it, it’s dinner time, which is a Chorizo and potato fry-up. Very tasty with a 2 euro carton of red wine…
Wednesday 9th July 2003, Savona to Loano 17 NM, 29 euros
We are up at about 9am this morning. Our focaccia has already been delivered, so it’s a quick breakfast, then we prep the boat to leave on the 10.30 bridge lift.
It’s a tight departure but OK, and we motor under the bridge and past container ships. The wind is light and dead ahead, so we stick the engine on.
We arrive at Loano early in the afternoon. We need some stuff for washing the boat, so it’s off to town. Back at the boat, we just relax in the cockpit in the late afternoon sun. It’s nice.
We are treating ourselves to a dinner out tonight, a rare event on our budget. We visit the restaurant that we went to the last time we stopped here last week. We have the house starter and a plate of mixed fresh fish. After a good dinner, we have a walk along the seafront. H has brought her guitar with her, so it’s a nightcap on the back of the boat while H has a quick tinkle on her guitar, then it’s off to bed.
The seagulls are amusing here. There are lots of them, and they all sit on the wall at the entrance, all facing the same way!
Thursday 10th July 2003, Loano to Andora 15 NM, 32 euros. Fill up 35 euros
H wakes up this morning, a bit groggy after a few nightmares last night. (Might be the drink though?) We slip our berth, fill up with diesel and head out towards Andora. Hurrah! We manage to get the sails up in a nice light wind, and manage to get 3 – 4 knots. (5 miles an hour!)
We arrive in Andora and get a berth right next to the entrance. There are lots of small racing yachts prepping for a race. We watch a few races in the bay after shopping.
Dinner tonight: Turkey, potatoes and onions.
Friday 11th July 2003, Andora to Imperia (Maurizio) 6.5 NM, 24 euros
We leave Andora this morning, and there is a bit of a breeze. We manage to sail halfway to Imperia, with a good beam on wind (that’s the side of the boat), halfway on ‘a run’ goose-winged (That’s the wind behind with the two sails on opposite sides of the boat).
The sails look massive! We reach our fastest speed downwind, 5.7 knots.
We sail nearly all the way up to the marina until a motorboat with a woman driving it causes us to swerve, which causes us to gybe (the boom swings violently to the other side of the boat, you have to duck, and quickly!) We’ve found that a lot of motorboat users don’t really know the “rules of the road”. They think that they are driving a car on the water. On this occasion, we don’t think that they were even watching where they were going, so we pull the sails in and head into Maurizio in quite a stiff wind and get berthed up on the visitors’ quay.
Dinner tonight: Steak and lentils.
We have a walk on the mole and looked at the sea. It’s like glass with the moon reflecting on it. We are starting to think about anchoring again. The boat next door has two very sweet Labrador retrievers on board. What a handful that must be.
Saturday 12th July 2003 Imperia Day2
We set off for a walk around the town before getting back and cleaning the boat inside and out. It’s a little windy this morning, so we decide against anchoring. Of course, after paying for the night’s berth, the wind has dropped, and it is another lovely evening for dinner on the back of the boat.
Today we took the dreaded dodgers off from the side of the boat. They were a bit of a pain.
We buy a couple of pizzas from a local takeaway and take them back, oven fresh, to the boat and eat them on the bow while the sun sets.
We get very little sleep tonight. There is a bar behind the boat, and the locals are there until 3 am. Being quite noisy. Oh well…
Sunday 13th July 2003 Imperia to Degli Aregi anchorage 6.5 NM 0 euros
We have left at a leisurely hour today, as we are not going far. Once we are out of the marina we hoist the sails and sail all the way to a little anchorage at Degli Aregi marina.
It’s a lovely Sunday afternoon as we swim, read and drink some beer in the sunshine. We decide to stay here for the night, but move closer to the marina. We are the only boat left here now.
H cooks up some spaghetti bolognese, which is easier said than done, as there are some little waves beam on, so we are getting pushed from side to side. Thank God for gimballed cookers. Dinner is nice, later we sit watching the sunset, then retire for the night. The wind has picked up a little during the night, so we are rolling about a bit in bed.
We can’t sleep. So we decide at 4:30 am to take it in turns to be on anchor watch to make sure the anchor doesn’t drag. At 7 am, we both turn in and sleep until 9 am.
Monday 14th July 2003 Degli Aregi anchorage to Menton Garavan. (ITALY TO FRANCE) 18 NM
This morning, we have woken up to a bit of a strong wind, so we weigh anchor and depart for San Remo on a beam reach. It’s at this point that we realise that we only have three weeks before we expect to be in Spain. We are meeting an old college friend of H’s in Barcelona, so after a discussion, we decide to skip San Remo and press on further to Menton, which is just over the border in France. We stayed there on our second week out with the boat. We sail as long as we can until we finally lose the wind and motor the rest of the way.
We leave Italy and change over the courtesy flags. It’s a bit sad, really. Italy was beginning to grow on us in the last week, and was getting better on our journey west. Oh well, it’s just luck what your first impressions are, which marina you go in first and the people you meet, and so on. We had some of our best times in Italy. Sailing and dinners with our good friends, Sue and Stanley, dolphin sightings,(we saw a whale/shark thing today), anchoring and swimming off the back of the boat and many more things besides.
So we are now back in France. The next country will be Spain. It’s so hot here. What is it about the French heat? We now have the fridge full of French goodies and a baguette at last… Vive la France!
Dinner tonight: Tuna steaks (that nearly broke the bank.)
Today is Bastille Day in France, and there is a fireworks display next to the marina. Someone on the anchored boats outside of the marina is letting off flares to join in the festivities. Not the best idea… One lands near our boat. We see it fluttering down on its parachute 2m from the fuel pontoon, glowing, white-hot. Hmmm…
Tuesday 15th July 2003 Menton to Fontvielle (FRANCE TO MONACO) 6 NM, 44 euros!
We call ahead to Fontvielle Marina in Monaco, and find that they will give us a place. At last, a night in Monaco. When we arrive, we are squeezed into a very narrow, tight berth, but the surroundings are beautiful with tall cliffs covered in trees and vegetation. Very nice. We walk for miles up through the gardens where we have a peaceful lunch with the birds singing. We walk around the cathedral and the old town, then down and around the marina and end up in Monte Carlo. We will come back here tonight and fulfil another one of our dreams, and that is to play in the Monte Carlo casino… To be continued.
We have got our best clothes on, which is not much, and set off to the casino, which is quite a stunning building. A beautifully ornate building in a gorgeous square. We changed €50 of our meagre budget into chips and watch the roulette wheel, watching it carefully until we think we know what we were doing. We play, and at one point we have €70, but then gradually we lose it all…! Never mind, it was a fun night and quite an experience. Not many people can say that they have had a flutter in a Monte Carlo casino.
Wednesday 16th July 2003 Monaco Day 2, 44 euros
It’s quite windy again today, but the weather forecast is okay, so we slip the berth and make our way to the marina exit. Even at the exit, it’s quite choppy. When we go around the corner and see the sea, we find that it’s very rough, so before we even get clear of the marina, we about-turn and go back in. Parking the boat again takes a few goes as the wind is stiff. The bow keeps blowing around.
Eventually, we get in with the usual 3 inches to spare on either side of the boat. Trust us to be wind bound in THE most expensive marina in the south of France.
Since we are back here again, we set off and discover more pretty gardens and walk past the heliport, then it’s back to Stargazer for lunch. It’s very hot. We have a siesta and then visit the animal park that’s nearby. The noise of the animals has been waking up Del, so we thought we’d go and see who or what is making all the racket.
There are lots of sweet animals here to see, (the pig and a rabbit enclosure, being quite funny), a black panther, a hippo and wallabies.
Dinner tonight: Veal, lentils and salad.
We are quite exhausted. H bought some flippers today.
Thursday 17th July 2003 Monaco Day 3, 44 euros
Another day in sunny (expensive) Monaco! We have lunch in one of the many parks and feed the ducks and the terrapins who surround us and feed out of our hands.
We walk around to the old port and find an internet café. At last – Internet! It’s so hard to find… (Remember that this is the very early 2000s. Internet or email on your phone was not a thing to have, and all the lovely things we have today. Internet cafes were like gold dust and could be expensive...!)
We are researching our Spanish residency, so we need some information. The sea is still too rough. A 60-foot Sunseeker goes out and turns around and changes his mind. We walk through the Japanese gardens. Monaco is full of beautiful, perfectly manicured gardens. There is no litter anywhere; it’s gorgeous. We then go on to Monte Carlo. We must have walked miles every day that we have been here, and in 30° of heat. It is very tiring, not to mention the aching feet…!
We are really hoping to leave tomorrow, but the force 6 winds haven’t appeared yet. This is a costly place to be stranded, but we are not too disappointed, really, as it’s one of the best places so far.
Friday 18th July 2003 Monaco Day 4, 44 euros
First thing this morning, we get up and have a look over the wall at the sea state. After a lot of indecision, talking, humming and harring, and watching other boats struggle, we decide that it’s still too rough and that we will have to stay another day.
We have worked out that it will take 13 days of constant sailing, doing 20 to 30 miles a day, to get to Banyuls Sur Mer, where we have suggested that Ian and Paula, H’s friends, meet us on the 9th August. We really don’t need this strong, windy weather, but we still have some spare days in hand, just in case of this kind of eventuality.
Dinner tonight: Roast chicken followed by a walk around the marina looking at the huge boats and superyachts. How the other half lives.
Saturday 19th July 2003 Monaco to Golf Juan 21NM, 22 euros
At last, the weather is cooperating, and we leave Monaco. We will miss it as it’s beautiful, but it was draining our reserves, financially.
Outside the entrance, there is every type of big motor yacht, and the wake from all the activity is terrible. Del nearly falls off the bow. Few of them seem to have read the rules of the road at sea or even know the rules exist. On the way, we are passed by two superyachts. One has the owners sitting in a Jacuzzi, and the second has a helicopter on the back. Wow!
At Golf Juan marina, we are shown in by two girls in a dinghy, and we are given a document bag and guides of the area (we like this free gimmick thing). A very nice welcome, Del thought so especially! We finally get a chance to do the laundry.
What a relief to be on our way again, so tonight we treat ourselves to a Chinese dinner out. It’s delicious, and after dinner, we get a surprise phone call from Sue and Stanley, how nice of them. They are in Elba, a small island just off Italy, where they have had force 7 winds, so they were just checking in on us. Unfortunately, after five minutes, we are cut off. Great to hear from them.
Sunday 20th July 2003 Golf Juan to Raphael (Santa Lucia), 20 NM, 27 euros
After some difficulty getting up this morning, we slip our berth at 10:30am, and motor sail towards San Raphael, where we are allocated a berth there at 2:30pm, it’s a finger pontoon. We have not seen one of these since Port Napoleon. The marina is peaceful, and we settle down to read the Sunday papers that we have bought. How novel.
After dinner, we wander around the town, just like everyone else; Europeans come out for an evening walk after dinner to look at the market and eat ice cream. It’s all very pleasant.
To end the day, we have a quayside drink at a bar where a couple of musicians are murdering some English songs!
Monday 21st July 2003 Raphael (Santa Lucia) to Cavalaire-Sur-Mer 20 NM, 32 euros
There is a little bit of wind as we slip our berth this morning. Once we leave the marina, we find it’s more like a force 5. We put in a reef (a reduction in sail size) and set off. The waves are beam on, and we are dipping our toerail occasionally, but we decide to press on.
It calms down a little as we round the headland, and we shake out the second reef to the first. We achieve our fastest speed yet, 6.9 knots! Fast…
Cavalaire is a nice French holiday town at night. There are people playing boules, and live music plays in the restaurants. It is packed with people having an evening walk about. There are two sausage dogs on a boat opposite, they are brown and black, very lively, very sweet.
Tuesday 22nd July 2003, Cavalaire-Sur-Mer, Day 2, 32 euros
There’s nothing like the sound of someone hitting your boat to wake you up. Our Italian neighbours have left and clipped us going out. No damage. A simple rub or tap on a boat can sound quite loud and nasty inside, more so when you are in bed.
The wind has built overnight to a force 5- 6; no one forecasted this. The boat next door, but one, has swung 45° into the space next to us now, but they don’t even seem to have noticed. Eventually, they notice that they have drifted in their berth and come out to sort it out, but only after we hold off a possible collision. We have decided that one of us must boat sit all day; otherwise, we may end up with some damage, especially when we get a new neighbour. There is some dodgy boat handling around here.
We watch a boat being helped out of its berth by the marina, and they still mess it up. We are staying here today. We get a lot done, though today, phone Opal Marine, our boat dealer, as we have a few issues that need sorting out. We organise a police appointment for residency, sort out health insurance, buy a little table for the cockpit plus a fancy tablecloth for it, and finally, we find a shop that will make us a boom tent for a reasonable price, which will be ready tomorrow morning!
To celebrate, we get pizzas and eat them on our new table, then sit there all night, listening to the live band nearby and wittering. Lovely.
Wednesday 23rd July 2003 Cavalaire-Sur-Mer to Hyeres, 26 NM, 26.90 euros
No wind this morning in the marina, so we set off after collecting and testing our new boom tent. A perfect fit. We motor sail most of the way. Some strong winds are coming.
As we approach Porquerolles, we radio to check that they still have a space. We are told they have; just look for the “Zodiac” boat once in there. (A Zodiac is a make of rubber dinghy).
There is no Zodiac to be seen, so we radio again, and now we are told they don’t have space!!! Can’t believe it. We are faced with the decision of carrying on to Toulon, another three hours in a stiff wind, or going backwards to Hyères (5 miles). So, Hyères is it.
It is very windy in the marina, and it’s tricky parking, but we do it. It’s almost perfect. However, the row along the berth wall starts to fill up. Next to us, a boat trying to berth breaks its stanchions on our pushpit and scrapes on our anchor. Clumsy…
(Stantions are the upright metal posts that run down the side of a sailboat with wire threaded through them, creating a kind of fence; a pushpit is the solid metal safety railings at the rear.)
We watch cock up after cock up happen with boats hitting the quay and each other. We have a new saying, don’t relax until you have neighbours!
Our new boom tent is fab. No sun today, though.
We could be here for a couple of days. Again…
Cock-up of the day. English bloke, jumping off a Bavaria 40 sailing boat and missing the pontoon. Splash!
Thursday 24th July 2003 Hyeres Day 2, 26.90 euros
Overnight, there is rain, thunder and lightning of the likes we’ve never seen before, incredibly bright. But by the morning, it’s lovely and calm, so we go to pay and to look at the printed weather forecast. The forecast is force 7 in the afternoon. At first, we decide to stay, then we change our minds and set off for Toulon, 18 miles away.
It’s all going well, but the wind picks up earlier than forecasted, and the water starts to chop up, so we turn around and head back to Hyères marina. Our next thought turns to parking our boat in a force 7 wind and into what, no doubt, will be a tight space. We get into the berth ok, but we do get blown around a bit. Del fends us off other boats with our boat pole and hook. Oh dear, we now have a rather bent boat hook. No damage to the boat, though.
Having put us in this berth, the marina is at our door, saying that we have to move. The wind is gusting now to a force 8. They can’t be serious? We are the only ones that they are asking to move.
After discussing it in detail, with the aid of diagrams, we decide that it’s too risky. Once in the channel, we will be blown onto the other boats very quickly. We are nervous. Del goes to the Capitainerie to ask for help, but while he’s away, the marina guy returns to tell us that we can now stay. Too much stress for nothing.
Let’s hope the weather is calm tomorrow, and we can get out of here.
Friday 25th July 2003 Hyeres to Bandol 25 NM, 288 euros
We get up early this morning as we are determined to leave this damn marina. The forecast is for force 4 wind in the morning and 6 in the afternoon, so we set off as quickly as we can.
Once we round the headland nearby, we find the wind is more like a force 6 to 7, good job we are reefed in on the sails. The sea is quite lumpy, but we press on to Toulon; it should calm down once we are in the bay. The sea is now quite big, with lots of spray flying over the boat. One wave hits us and completely soaks H.
She goes downstairs to hastily change. Her hair is dripping, and the boat is slamming down hard into the water as we come off large waves. She is thrown about; soon she has the full kit on, waterproofs, harness, lifeline and lifejacket. After a couple of hours, and finally a good gentle sail, we enter the bay for Toulon but decide to carry on further to Bandol as the weather and sea has been quite good in the past half hour.
The sea is now very big again as we push head on with the wind. The boat is slamming down hard; inside, it sounds like someone hitting her hull with a sledgehammer. Poor boat. She is really taking a hammering, but we feel safe.
We arrive at Bandol after a not too comfortable ride and get berthed. The boat is a tip inside and out, safety stuff scattered all over the place, things on the floor and covered in salt crystals, even up the mast. We shower and then have our first meal. It’s now 3:30 pm; we have a sleep. That journey has taken it out of us.
Del managed to accidentally inflate his lifejacket at sea, so we play around with it for a while and find out how to recharge it. Later, we discover that we have wet bedding and mattress with saltwater drips on the inside of the bow. This is the hardest we have pushed Stargazer, and us, so we shall keep an eye on it. We are not quite sure how the water has got into the bow bedroom.
We have decided that we don’t really need a second anchor, so we are leaving it behind here tomorrow.
We also had our wind vane blown clean off the top of the mast while at sea. The dealer on delivery didn’t really secure the wind vane very well at all. We are now relying on Del’s super stick-on tell-tales (bits of strings on the sail that indicate the correct angle of the sail).
Earlier, we helped a lone French chap with his red and green boat (painted on each side) to get berthed. He comes over to our boat to thank us, and he brings some rather ropey rum with him. We politely accept his kindness, even though the ‘moonshine’ is burning our throats. A nice chap, we chat for a while about the Mistral wind and other such weather matters. We are sailors now…
Saturday 26th July 2003 Bandol to Cassis 12 NM, 37 euros
Another early start today as we leave Bandol via the diesel pontoon and a fill-up.
There is quite a swell on the sea outside the bay remaining from the previous day’s wind, but it is okay. We can do this… Cassis, our next stop, is not too far, and we motor for a couple of hours. The wind is head-on again, and we enter the marina in Cassis at about midday.
This is another tight marina with a lot of traffic. Our berth is an add-on to the end of a pontoon, so we have to jump off onto the corner of the pontoon as there is nothing behind us; it’s a bit of a rip-off for €37. Found a great place in town, though. A “cyber laundry”. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. We can do the laundry and get some internet time.
After all the hassle with berthing, getting a water and electric connection, etc., we are too tired to clean the boat today, which she badly needs as she is encrusted in sea salt from all the recent heavy seas, so we say “sod it!” We can’t really afford it, but we’ll treat ourselves to a meal out tonight.
The town is lovely, very neat, with a nice beach and a bay with restaurants along the quay, and some of those lovely French patisseries with cakes in the window that are amazing works of art.
Sunday 27th July 2003 Cassis to Port Bouc 28 NM, 18 euros
The weather is good today, force 4 to 5, so we get out at 8:30am and head for the Port Napoleon area, the place where this journey started back in mid-May.
It’s quite a swelly sea, but the waves are almost behind us; sometimes big ones twist us. As we turn the corner into the Bay of Marseille, we see our ‘old friend’ Port du Frioul. It’s a relief to us as it finally disappears behind us in the mist; we won’t be going there again. We were wind-bound there for 5 days. Our first real stop after getting the boat, not a great experience.
We decide on to go on to Port Bouc, and 10 miles off, we put some sails up. This is much more comfortable now, and we actually get an amazing but brief 7.9 knots out of her. Unfortunately, H misses this as she is on the loo! C’est la vie. Heading up the Gulf de Fos towards the marina, we get 6.8 knots on a run.
The marina is next to an oil refinery, very picturesque (not) and smelly. We don’t know what to expect here. Once settled, we get off the boat and go for a walk; amazingly, we discover a ‘Festival of Sardines’, an array of fish stalls, food tents and music. We shall have to check this out.
It’s fabulous. We have muscles, calamari and fried little fish, delicious. There is also a singer here, and it is packed with locals. Where have all these people come from? A little cat and a huge dog are living on the boat next door to us tonight.
Monday July 28th 2003, Port Bouc Day 2, 18 euros
A Mistral wind has come, so we are stuck here for at least the night, but we make the most of it and shop for provisions and sort out various issues and stuff.
Del cleans up the bikes, and we have a bit of a cycle about the local area. The fish festival is still on; it’s on for another month, and it’s packed again. There is nothing here, just a marina and a smelly oil refinery. And it is smelly. Where do all these people come from?
A boat we saw in Cassis has berthed on our pontoon, a rather nice 49-foot blue hull boat with British registry. H helps them with their lines and gets them tied up.
We have a chorizo fry-up for dinner tonight that has been postponed every night until now.
There is a colony of cats living on the mole. They look a bit underfed. Poor things.
Tuesday July 29th 2003, Port Bouc Day 3, 18 euros
Still here after a night of really vicious winds courtesy of the Mistral, which kept us awake all night. It looks like we will be here tonight as well, so we pay for another night. The weather is not too good for the next few days. Our margin of safety for arriving in Banyuls is decreasing day by day.
The boat gets a comprehensive waxing today, mostly by Del. She is so shiny that she is slippy. We get chatting with the people from the British boat who are, in fact, Danish, but they speak perfect English. They invite us for a beer later, so we take some Belgian beer; they live there. We have a nice pre-dinner chat. The boat is beautiful and fully automated (Anna II).
Dinner is at the “Festival of Sardines” again, a massive plate of all sorts of seafood. The refinery glows in the sunset. Lovely.
After dinner, John and Lena, from Anna II, invite us for a drink at the festival. Far too much drink has been had!
Wednesday 30th July 2003 Port Bouc to Port Gardian 31 NM, 27 euros
Got up, reluctantly, mouth is dry after those drinks last night. The weather is okay today, so we say goodbye to Anna II and head off.
We are reefed to the red reef (large reduction in sail size), followed by the blue (less reduction is sail size), then none. We have full sail up! Soon, we have to put the reefs back in as the wind picks up again. The wind is up and down, and we are having trouble progressing 10 miles into the journey, so we motor. The waves are slamming into the bow again, which could mean a wet mattress again, but 10 miles later, we manage to sail again, which is fantastic. A real good sail. She’s heeling and flying along.
We enter Port Gardian and get tied up quickly with some help. We have just finished washing the boat when Lena from Anna II appears with Isabel the dog, along the pontoon. They overtook us at sea and got in half an hour before us.
We invite them for a beer and later, after dinner, they come, and we have a nice evening with a few drinks, again. These Danes like a drink! They have offered us the use of their internet, as we are finding it a technological desert around here.
We are eaten alive by mozzies as we sit outside. There are hundreds of mosquitoes. The Camargue is a large lake area, and there are also 2 to 3-inch-long blue flying things. Scary.
Thursday 31st July 2003 Port Gardian Day 2, 27 euros
After looking at the weather report, we decide to stay. We both need internet access, so we pop over to our new Danish friends, Lana and John’s boat and use their laptop. H needs flights back to the UK, and Del is waiting for some important emails. We are unsuccessful however as Del’s mail hasn’t arrived and H fails to find flights.
Their boat is huge inside, with everything from radar to a freezer. We sit around on the boat, the wind grows again towards the evening, and it’s another fierce Mistral. Other boats are coming in and really struggling in the wind. We hope it will die down as it is tedious being buffeted about and listening to the howl of the wind through the masts. Very desolate.
We are still hoping to leave tomorrow, but if it is like this, we will have trouble leaving the berth, never mind the next 30-mile journey.
We have found a fantastic restaurant that does paella and garlic squid, so we have these with a delicious salad.
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