After a few weeks back in the UK we are back “home” and hosting more visitors. For weeks now we have been in the Barcelona area, and we are starting to make it a more permanent place as there are lots of places to visit in the city as well up and down the coast.
We spent a lot of weeks exploring this part of the coast
Tuesday 16th September 2003 – Handforth to Barcelona.
We have done all our jobs this month, which included a flight to Tenerife to check up on our flat out there as well as pay a visit to H’s parents, who are very kindly looking after Colin.
Colin and H together
Colin is a beautiful black moggie that we took on when we lived in Harrow. We got him in August of 1998 from a cat rescue charity; we think he was born in January of the same year. We love him dearly, but of course, it was going to be a problem if we were to sell up and sail the Med. What do we do with him? We did, at one point, consider cancelling the whole idea of sailing. We couldn’t take him with us, although as we discovered last month, people do take their pets, including cats, on the sea with them. ‘Jack the cat’ was a perfect example, but back then, we didn’t know the ifs and hows.
We did think about asking H’s Mum and Dad if they would take care of him, as they too were very fond of him, so one day Del plucked up the courage and asked them. They didn’t hesitate and agreed to look after him while we were away. It was a relief. The plan was back on, and we moved full steam ahead knowing that Colin would be in safe, loving hands in our absence...
… So, it’s goodbye to Colin and ‘see you again soon’ to H’s parents, who we will see very, very soon. Dad drives us to Liverpool, after an uneventful flight, always the best way we find, we are soon back ‘home’ in Barcelona. The hotel for tonight is nice, and we have late tapas and beers at a local bar just around the corner. Tomorrow we will be reunited with Stargazer.
Wednesday 17th September 2003 – Masnou to Port Vell Barcelona. 12NM, 25 euros
Today we have the most uncomfortable part of the journey, up and down steps on the Barcelona metro with our heavy bags. It’s a nightmare. Stargazer is already in the water when we arrive at Masnou marina, so we settle our bill with the marina office and sort a few things out on board. She’s so filthy, but apart from that, everything is okay.
The sea is flat, and it’s a lovely, warm, sunny day for our trip to Port Vell, 12 nautical miles south of here. Two hours later, we are making our way up the very long entrance to the marina. The entrance is shared with huge container ships and cruise ships in and out of Barcelona, and the Port Vell marina is just tucked away deep inside.
It’s much nicer here than Port Olympic, plus we are right in the heart of the city. We have a lot to do. There is, of course, as always, laundry to do, and the boat needs cleaning. There are three trips to the shops and so on. A big reset.
It takes a while to do the reset; we are constantly traipsing up and down the pontoon, when suddenly we are shouted and waved at by a familiar face on the pontoon opposite. It’s Paul from ‘Antigua Lady‘, Jack the cat’s boat. What are they doing here…? It turns out they’re staying here for six months, and they pop round for a drink later with Jack to tell us all about it.
Dinner on the boat tonight: pasta and salad.
Thursday, 18th September 2003 – Port Vell, Barcelona – Day 2
Today we get visitors… Again… H’s parents are arriving today to stay with us for a few days in the boat, so while Del sorts the boat out for visitors, H sets off to the airport early to meet them.
They are more or less on time, and they head back towards the boat by train and Taxi, getting pickpocketed on the way! They love the boat and the marina, so after a welcoming drink of cava, we take them out to sea for a sail after unpacking.
Mum and Dad get a go at steering the boat just outside Barcelona.
We have dinner on board and then turn in for the night after a stroll around the marina. Our bed is in the bow, the parents are in the back bedroom, which has a double bed and plenty of cupboard space. Hope they sleep ok back there.
Friday, 19th September 2003 – Port Vell Barcelona – Day 3
We are touring Barcelona today with our day passes for the Barcelona Metro.
It’s tiring work this tourist thing, but we see the Sagrada Familia, Arc de Triumph (yes they have one here too) the park and Plaza España. We get back to the boat exhausted.
Dinner on board tonight.
Saturday, 20th September 2003 – Port Vell, Barcelona to Premier de Mar, Barcelona. 10NM 24 euros
Barcelona is setting up for one hell of a party starting from today. It’s the La Merce Festival, a celebration of Catalan culture. There are stages, marquees and market stalls and fairs all over town. We are leaving the marina today to go to Mataro, which is just north of Port Vell. We will be able to see some of the activities just outside the marina.
We see two jet fighters and then the Spanish equivalent of the Red Arrows.
Six of them are flying and we have a great view at sea as they perform their display, fab. We decide to go to a different marina, Premier de Mar rather than Mataro as there is a lot of talk about big investment there. We shall see.
Oh dear… This place is a bit of a disappointment, no facilities, a dirty closed pool, one part of the marina filled in. It looks like a project that will never be finished.
For dinner. We eventually end up at a local beach restaurant after walking around town and finding nothing there. We have Escalivada while mum has half a cow!
Sunday, 21st September 2003 – Premier de Mar to Arenys de Mar. 35NM, 27euros
We are up early today. We set out at nine. We are heading to Blanes, 23 miles away. The wind is patchy so we motor most of the way. We arrive at Blanes, eventually and radio in asking if they have a place for us to stay the night.
Sadly there’s no space for us unless we want raft and we don’t fancy that at all. (Rafting is where boats are tied up side to side, which means that you could be climbing over other people boats and they over yours, to get on and off!), so we fill up with fuel and head back to the nearest marina, which is Arenys de Mar, a favourite of ours. Its only 12 miles away. We sail for a while but the wind is too much on the nose, so we give up and get the motor back in.
The pool at Arenys de Mar is closed, which is a shame. We have dinner on the boat. The parents seem to be enjoying their temporary mariner life…
Monday, 22nd September 2003 Arenys de Mar – Day 2
As we can’t get into Blanes by sea, we will get there by rail. We have a nice lunch in Blanes while we are there, and look around the town and the marina. It looks like they have spaces today.
A busy Blanes
For dinner, we find a great local restaurant in the backstreet run by one man, H has stuffed peppers with cod followed by prawns flambéed in brandy. Del has a delicious butifarra and a potato starter. Tonight there is a storm which appears very quickly out of nowhere with heavy rain, thunder and lightning.
Tuesday, 23rd September 2003 Arenys de Mar to Mataro – 5NM, 20 euros
The sea is calm today. Visibility is good after the storm last night we anchor for lunch outside the town of El Balis before heading to Mataro. This is a nice marina, compared to the disappointing Premier de Mar a few days ago. It’s very neat here with new buildings and facilities springing up. It’s just a shame we are berthed on the far wall with about 1 mile to walk until the start of the town.
The Knight family at sea…
Dinner is on board tonight. Del has left the SSR (boat registration) papers at the last stop, Arenys, so he has to take a train to Arenys de Mar to get it back. We have solved a small gas problem. We had French bottles which is a different shaped bottle.
Wednesday 24th September 2003 – Mataro to Masnou. 6NM, 27 euros
It’s very windy today with a heavy black sky, so we decide to head to Port Olympic. At first it’s all fine, we have the red reef in and are moving along somewhat ponderously, but suddenly the wind and sea pick up and it’s a moderate sea with winds of force 6 to 7. Mum seems to be enjoying the journey as the spray washes over the deck, she has her Pac-a-mac on, while dad chooses to stay below decks keeping out of the weather.
We decide, as the sea continues to build, that Port Olympic is maybe a little too far, mainly because we don’t want to scare the parents, so we bail out and to Masnou.
Oh well, no matter. There’s a good paella restaurant here which we do indeed visit that night.
Thursday 25th September 2003 – Masnou – Day 2
At last Masnou is open for business and the chandler that was shut on our last visit in August is open to sell as a local sea chart and a new Windex, at last. We have been without a windvane since ours was blown off in our second week out during a strong wind.
We book the marina to fit the new windvane tomorrow. We visit Barcelona by train and see Port Olympic. The bikes that we left there, against a lampost many weeks ago, are still okay.
We have a nice cheap Chinese lunch together then walk the full length of la Rambla before heading back. We are all tired today so we have takeout pizza on board which is very nice, then to bed early-ish. It’s the parents last night tonight.
At 4 am we are woken up by the sound, and feeling of the rudder scraping the rocks below, so we get dressed and go out and loosen the back ropes allowing us to drift away from the wall. It turns out that it’s spring tides tonight and we were obviously on the borderline of scraping. No harm done, we think.
Friday 26th September 2003 Friday Masnou to Port Vell, Barcelona. 12NM, 25 euros
H leaves for the airport with her parents, early. Del stays behind as the new windvane is being fitted today… When H gets back she’s disappointed that she has missed the excitement of that as we set off for Port Vell.
Getting our new windvane fitted…
We are planning to stay in Port Vell for three weeks while Del works and we will have another new visitor in a few days. Natalie, H’s best friend from school is visiting us in time for her birthday in October.
There is a largest swell out in the bay and we achieve 7.9 kn motor sailing. We are hoping to get a long stay at Port Vell, but unfortunately they can’t give us many days as they are full. The boat show is approaching so we book 2 days and start to think what to do.
We do the laundry but Del isn’t having a good day. He loses the laundry token in the machine then loses a towel which is now recovered as he is walking from the showers. He is now banned from doing stuff for the rest of the day. He also has his first taste of washer rage in the gents. oh dear.
Dinner is pasta pesto and salad.
Saturday 27th September 2003 – Port Vell– Day 2
It’s raining today – Brighton style – (just dull drizzle). There are great big black clouds surrounding us and it looks like the the rain is on for the day, so we get our ‘oilies‘ (sailors waterproof coats), and head for the dryness of the local IMAX cinema. We see a film called Space Stations 3-D and Alien Adventure 3-D both very good.
We are already soaking from our walk. H’s shoes have pools of water inside them, so we decide to walk up the la Rambla to the Easy Internet and have some tapas on the way. We end up in a basic fisherman’s bar with sawdust on the floor. where we have a delicious and differently done Patatas Bravas.
We get back to the boat and get dry clothes on, at last. Del goes to the marina office to try again and get more stay days form them. He is successful in persuading them to let us stay until he gets back from a job in the south of Spain at Benalmadena with Ian, the friend who came with Paula a few weeks ago.
Dinner is a Spanish stew. Yes it’s still raining.
Sunday 28th September 2003 – Port Vell – Day 3
The rain has stopped and the sun eventually makes an appearance. Today we are going to head off to Port Olympic to pick up the bikes that we left a few months ago. H’s shoes are still wet and they’ve started rubbing her. The bikes are pretty rusty now but we spray them up with a few squirts of WD-40 and pump up the tyres. Good as new. Well not quite. Del keeps skidding to a halt when he tries to coast. His chain has seized up, but we get back safe.
We think we may dump the bikes when we leave Barcelona as they will drip rust on the boat and that’s not good.
Monday 29th September 2003, Port Vell – Day 4
We are taking the boat out to sea today for a potter about, so we can empty the black tank ready for my few days alone. It’s a good sailing day and we get 5 knots out of her, but the best bit is that we see some dolphins, about 10 of them ,they’re beautiful and graceful and a couple approach the boat surfacing just 10 m away. This is the closest we have seen them in the wild. They hang around at a distance almost all the time until we go back in when they jump clear out of the water in front of us.
When we get back to the marina we clean the boat, she’s filthy from the rain. We take a walk and a train up to Park Guell. How do tourists find this place. After a kilometre trek and a slog uphill we arrive and it’s packed, we see the tile lizard and the pillars. There is a great view over the city today.
The tile lizard
We order a TackTick wireless wind indicator. Dinner tonight is with Paul and Karen, who have found an all you can eat Japanese restaurant, a kaitensushi. What more could you want? What a great find…
Tuesday 30th September 30, Port Vell – Day 5
Today Del is off to work in Benalmadena. He leaves early. H goes back to bed once she has seen him off.
All my plans for the day are binned off as it is pouring down, the heaviest I’ve seen it yet, it’s relentless until about four when it eases to a normal rainstorm…!
I seize my chance to pop to the supermarket. I get my oilies and wellies on and head off to the local supermarket, but half of it’s flooded out! I have dinner with Karen and Paul on their boat, “Antigua Lady“, a very nice spaghetti bolognaise. The rain has finally stopped just long enough for us to eat outside. I get to see Jack the cat as well. All very good…, until it starts raining again…
We have come a long way this month, as we are to meet some good friends. We leave the Camargue area of the south of France and sail to Barcelona in Spain. Along the way, we meet some new friends. This month sees Stargazer being taken out of the water for a month.
Port Gardian to Barcelona
SPAIN, HERE WE COME!
AUGUST 2003
Friday August 1 2003, Port Gardian to Narbonne, 60NM, 0 euros (a free night!)
The weather seems okay today as we wake rather later than we wanted, so we slip our berth at 8:30am, just after Anna II.
Our Danish friends are off to Port Vendres, which is 80 miles away. The sea is flat, and there is a nice wind. Perfect, we sail as much as we can, then put the engine on after Camargue.
As we near Sete, our intended destination, we decide to go further; the sea and the wind are in our favour, so we will try to make Cap d’Agde, which is another 10 miles, so 40 in total.
We begin to sail well at a comfortable 5.5 kn. As we near Cap d’Adge, we question whether we should push on for Narbonne; we would arrive at 8 pm, almost 12 hours at sea. Surely we would be mad, 12 hours sailing and 60 miles, but hey, what the hell, the weather is holding good, so why not.
We sail the rest of the way, even through a near fishing pot flag disaster as they loom out of nowhere in their 10s. There are lots of flags bobbing about here that mark lobster and crab pots, and if you are not careful, you can wrap the line around your prop. Some are marked properly with flags, others are marked badly with old plastic bottles. Narbonne is in the distance, not too far now. We drop our sails at the entrance and motor in. It’s very shallow here; we have a 0.1 m reading on the depth log, so we try again. It’s shallow everywhere. We get in, just, with a reading of 0 m inside the mole. We actually have a 50 cm offset, but that is close enough.
We get in, and the berth is posts to attach to, just what we have been dreading, but it’s okay as there’s no wind.
(Some of the mooring that we have been doing has been side on, a finger pontoon, very easy if the wind is in your favour. Other, more common, moorings have been ‘Med moorings’. This requires you to reverse into a wall while picking up a line in the water that you connect to the bow, stopping you. Once in, you tie the back of the boat with two lines to the wall. H does the steering, and Del does the leaping about the boat, securing lines and setting fenders. It works. We are a good team. Sometimes.)
We have a delicious spag bol, and then wash the boat. Time we stretched our legs so we have a walk around the local area, then it’s off to bed. We are exhausted, but it’s been a good day. 60 miles!
When flushing the loo tonight, we get phosphorescence, little specs of bright green marine organisms whizzing around the bowl and up the pipes!
Saturday 2nd August 2003, Narbonne to Port Vendres 38 NM, 24 euros
There is little wind today as we leave and brave the shallows of the entrance again. The sea is like a lake. Amazingly, it’s the same water that a few days ago was moderate and bumpy, and gave us a rough, soggy ride
It’s Saturday, and there are quite a few boats near shore, but there are only one or two near us, so not too much wake. We are heading due south and a couple of miles from shore. We would like to sail, but there’s not quite enough wind. We must keep at 5 knots to keep the journey to a manageable eight hours, so it’s on with the motor again.
It gets rather busy with boats as we near Port Vendres, which seems to be cut into the rock. The marina is very protected and lined with restaurants, a bit like Cassis.
A night cap before bed…
We treat ourselves to a fish dinner tonight. I have calamari, and Del has Dorada.
There is an English boat next door to us in the marina, and they have a cat on board, a black-and-white moggie called Jack. Very sweet. The guy is from Cheadle Hulme. It’s a small world. They will now be called “Jack the cat’s boat”, as we don’t know the names of anyone else in the boat.
Sunday 3rd August 2003 Port Vendres to Llanca 10NM, 39 euros
FRANCE TO SPAIN
Goodbye, France, hello Spain.
We set off at about 9:30 this morning with our new shiny, unused Spanish courtesy flag at the ready.
We are going to sail to Llanca, which has been a bit of a dream of ours as we used to visit there on holiday and sit watching the boats come in.
We try to sail on a broad reach but aren’t getting anywhere very fast, so we take in the genoa sail and motor the rest of the way. It’s very busy with other boats around here, but finally, we reach Llanca. We’ve never seen it from this angle before, but we recognise it immediately. We pick up some diesel first before heading to our allotted berth.
The channel into the marina is like the M25, with boats coming in and out all the time.
There are a few cats near our boat, so after a nice “kit pizza”, we tempt them with a tin of cat food that we just happen to have on board. (Don’t ask). They love it. Even though they already have food that is brought in for them by a kind German lady who looks after them every day.
We wander around and then head up what we have called “Cat Mountain” due to the number of cats on it. We watch some boats come in as we used to when we came here on holiday by car, this time we won’t be going back to a hire car, but to our own lovely boat right here in the harbour.
The Jack the cat’s boat from our previous stop, Port Vendres, are here today as well.
Monday 4th August 2003 Llanca Day 2
Today will be a day of jobs. We need to do the laundry, phone people and use the Internet, if we can find some. We do find a great Internet café and manage to get all our flights booked for jobs back in the UK and to Tenerife to check on our flat.
A productive day today. Tomorrow we will anchor somewhere.
We have a delicious Spanish stew on board just as the sun is going down, the sky is red-tinted, and the water is like glass, reflecting the shore lights. It’s so beautiful.
Tuesday 5th August 2003 Llanca anchorage 0 euros
We head towards Port De Selva this morning. We want to drop anchor and have lunch there.
Nicely placed for lunch at sea
It looks like another pretty bay on the Costa Brava with a little town. We ‘drop the hook‘ and stop for an hour. After a good lunch, we motor back the 3 miles towards Llanca and pick our anchoring spot for the night.
After repositioning, we settle, and H tries out her new flippers, mask and snorkel. It’s great, she can see the sandy bottom much more clearly now without the mask filling up with water.
Okay, so it’s not the best diving spot, but she gets a good look at the boat keel and the prop once she gets her confidence up.
At 6:30pm, we jump in the dinghy, leaving Stargazer at anchor to go to the hairdressers. At last, a haircut after three months. Feeling more presentable, we have a dinner of pork and mushrooms in the twilight on the back of the boat. Del needs to check his email later, so H will taxi him ashore in the dinghy.
Wednesday 6th August 2003 Llanca to Empuriabrava, 22NM, 39 euros.
The sea is like a mirror today, and there is no wind, so it looks like a long day on the motor as we go around Cabo Creus. There are lots of boats out today, even though it’s midweek. This coast of Spain seems busier than the Riviera (and more expensive).
As we go around the last corner of the headland, I can see the tower of the Empuriabrava marina. It’s strange seeing from this angle, as we enter the marina wall, people are sitting watching us just like we used to when we came here on holiday.
The entrance is busy, lots of boats nose to tail, but it’s even worse in the basin where we have to pull up at the fuel pontoon. We need to turn around, and boats are coming from all directions. It’s quite windy, and the depth log now shows 0.0 at the pontoon. We have to hover to wait for someone to move with only one foot clearance behind us and little in front. This is a mad place.
Boats are just inches away from each other in some cases. Finally, we get allocated a berth and managed to get parked. It’s mooring poles again, but we now know how to handle these. They are quite easy.
We set out for a walk and get some provisions. We repair the lifejacket that was set off the other day. We have decided tonight to revisit the El Moli hotel in a town called San Pere Pescador. We miss it, it was a regular place for our summer holidays. We shall go for dinner, the food there is excellent.
We get a cab there and walk through the town. Nothing much has changed here at all. We then walk onto El Moli. The owners, Elena and Engracia, her mum and her father, Lleando, are surprised to see us. We feast on a delicious fideua. Nobody does it better than here. We have a few drinks on the terrace and a chat with Elena, where we tell her about our new life on a boat. She very kindly drives us back and comes aboard for a look around the boat. It’s half one in the morning when we finally turn into bed.
Miles travelled so far: 749 nautical miles.
Thursday 7th August 2003, Empuriabrava to Palamos, 27NM, 49 euros.
We both feel a little hungover today, maybe it was the beer, half a bottle of wine, brandy, local wine from roses and then the Pacheran (a Spanish liqueur). We are not drinking again!
It’s the same weather as yesterday, so we will be on the motor again. Trips on the motor can be a little dull, with the constant noise of the engine and no ropes or sails to play with.
A potter along the Costa Brava
There are loads of boats out again. Why is this coast not more famous as a cruising area? We motor past L’escala and the Illes Medes. We carry on past Aiguablava and Llafranc and into Palamos. Good, it’s a finger pontoon so parking is relatively easy. Del has been to visit the office, and we have found that the cost to stay here tonight is a whopping €49, a new record, and this place is hardly Monaco. We have a view of cement hoppers and can’t see the town, and to top that, they can’t help us with a water adapter for their unusual connector. We consider leaving, but we can’t get a definite answer from any of the nearby marinas as to whether or not they have space, so we stay, fingers crossed the weather stays okay so we can escape tomorrow…
Friday 8th August 2003, Palamos to Blanes, 19NM, 30 euros.
There is no wind this morning; it’s very still as we leave Palamos, the most expensive marina on the trip so far, at 9:30, so we have to motor again at 5.5 kn. It’s not too far today.
Whilst on our way, pottering along, we see a boat going the same way with a red dinghy at the back, similar to the boat in Port Vendres.
“Jack the cat’s boat” with their little red tender.
Could this be “Jack the cat’s boat“? We investigate with our binoculars; it is them, and we can see them looking at us with their binoculars, so we all wave at the same time to each other. We get a bit closer to them and find out that they are heading to Blanes as well.
By coincidence, they have the same cockpit cushions, and bought them from the same boat jumble sale at junction 17 of the M6! We tell them we will see them in Blanes, they put their sails up and start the long slog tacking in the slight breeze while we just motor straight there.
We get a space. Del sees ‘Jack the cat’s boat’ come into the marina, but they turn around and leave, probably because there is no space. We will catch up with them again somewhere, no doubt. We have photographs that we have taken of each other while at sea, so hopefully we can exchange these and get a fuss of their cat!
We dine tonight on sepia (cuttlefish) and chicken. Blanes is quite nice. It looks bigger than Lloret from the sea, but it’s quite civilised once you are here. It’s a lot bigger than H remembers it from 20 years ago when she was here nearby on a holiday with her parents.
Saturday 9th August 2003, Blanes to Port Olympic Barcelona, 34NM, 27.50 euros.
We are up and about early this morning, around 8am, and there is still some breeze, which we take advantage of until the sun warms up the air and the breeze subsides, then it’s back on with the motor all the way until Barcelona.
The coast here is pretty with long sandy beaches, a contrast to the cliffs of the Costa Brava further north from where we are now. The Costa Dorada starts just outside Blanes.
Port Olympic has a space for us, and they are quite friendly. The marina is nice and secure.
Tonight we will have steak and pasta, we have a night in, and there is plenty of time to explore Barcelona. It’s quite noisy here as the marina is surrounded by nightclubs, which are still going on, loudly, until 5 am!
Sunday 10th August 2003, Port Olympic Barcelona. Day 2
Today we are expecting Ian and Paula, good friends of ours from the UK and our first guests from home, so we are spending the morning sprucing up the boat, getting her really smart for their arrival.
They are with us around midday, so we show them around, which doesn’t take long; then we have a welcome drink followed by a spot of lunch. It’s very hot today.
Ian’s itching for a sail, but before we go out, we get the dinghy down, and we all take turns and have a potter around the marina.
H and her friend from college, Ian, pottering around on the dinghy.
After securing the dinghy onto the pontoon, we set out to sea where we get full sails up and manage a good 6 knots at one point. After a good hour, we head back into the marina and get berthed up again.
We have acquired new neighbours while we have been out. They’re British, and they kindly offer us all a glass of cava so we spend some time with them chatting. How nice and friendly is that. Boating can be like that, you can say ‘hello‘ to someone in a marina or on a boat, and the next thing you are sharing life stories and on and off each other’s boats. Fabulous.
Tonight we will go into the centre of Barcelona. We find a rather good restaurant where Ian and Paul treat us to a lovely dinner. How very kind, a big thank you to them…!
It’s a bit of a long walk back to the marina; we are all worn out. Ian and Paula have been up since 4 am this morning to get here, so we hit the sack…!
Monday 11th August 2003, Port Olympic Barcelona. Day 3
We want to get to the shops today, but we are not so quick this morning, as by the time we leave and stop faffing about, it’s 12 o’clock.
On the way out to the shops, we see the biggest, most disgusting jellyfish H has ever seen in the marina basin. It’s about 2 feet long and 8 inches across, yuk. Ian and Paula seem quite interested. H won’t go near it.
Shopping done and put away, we set off to visit the Sagrada Familia in the afternoon. Yes, they are still building it; the cathedral is covered in nets. We have a good walk about the city. It’s very hot again, though.
We get back to the boat at around six for needed cold showers. We shall have dinner on board tonight. Pasta and salad. We stay up drinking until we’ve had enough, which is around 11:30pm. What a bunch of lightweights.
We are leaving our bikes chained up here against a lamppost for a month. We find that they are getting in the way a little, so we want to see what life on the boat would be like without them. We shall pick them up again in September if they are still here, that is…?
Tuesday 12th August 2003, Port Olympic to Masnou5NM, 27 euros.
The weather is good today, and the sea is like a lake, so we set off for Masnou, which is a small town just north of where we are in Barcelona. To H’s horror, there are lots of ugly jellyfish hanging around the beach.
We anchor just outside Masnou for a spot of lunch and a swim. The water is freezing, and H is persuaded to go in despite the jellyfish sightings just 3 miles away.
Let’s hope they can’t swim fast… Paula and H exhaust themselves trying to mount an inflatable jet ski, well, why not…? Paula ends up swallowing too much sea water which leaves her feeling a bit… well, yuk! So we pull up the anchor and go into Masnou marina.
Too much fun on an inflatable “jetski”
As we motor in, we see four seaplanes out at sea diving down and picking up water quite close. The area is having a lot of fires inland, which is no surprise. It’s so hot..
Masnou is not bad, but a long walk from everywhere remotely interesting. Tonight we have a steak dinner and drinks… Again…
Wednesday 13th August 2003, Masnou to Arenys de Mar 12.5NM, 27 euros
Our guests have been with us for 4 days, it’s been great having them, and the boat is busy with 4 of us in a 10m boat! We’ve been told by the locals how good the town of Arenys de Mar is. It’s north of here, not very far and it has a swimming pool!
We all get ready and set off north for Arenys. The sea is flat again, but eventually we do get some wind and manage to get nearly 7 knots of speed near the marina.
We see a familiar face and a boat on the pontoon. It’s the lady from “Jack’s boat“; her name is Karen. They’ve been here for a while. We are introduced to her husband, Paul, and they have their son temporarily with them. The marina does look very nice. There’s a swimming pool right next to us, free Internet and free laundry. It doesn’t get better than this!
After, the four of us pop into the town and do some shopping, we have a dip in the pool. It’s a perfect temperature, fantastic. All six of us are now in the pool having a good chat until we turn wrinkly. Karen and Paul recommend a local restaurant, so we may try that out later.
While relaxing in the sun after the swim. Karen appears with Jack the cat in her arms. She’s brought him over to see us because she knows we are pretty daft about cats.
Jack the cat with H.
They stay for a good hour, and Jack sits on H’s knee and gives her little cat nose bumps. He’s very cute…
Dinner is a delicious seafood paella. H and Paula feed the stray moggies around the marina.
Thursday 14th August 2003, Arenys de Mar– Day 2
We all have a lie-in this morning as we’re not going anywhere today, so we have a relaxed breakfast and then stay by the pool reading. Life carries on with a boat, visitors or not, so after lunch, we use the laundry. Later, while we are chilling out by the pool, we see another Bavaria Yacht coming in.
When we were getting our boat delivered and commissioned in Port Napoleon back in May, we met a couple there, Dave and Norma, who had just taken delivery of their boat at roughly the same time. The boat’s name was Quintet, and amazingly, it’s them pulling in here today…!
We pop over to say hello, later they come to us for a quick drink, then it’s back over to theirs for another drink. There are now six of us on the back of Quintet. Their Bavaria 38 is beautiful and huge. Del wants one already.
They seem to be having a struggle with Opal Marine, the agent, over faults. We have a few niggling faults, but they have no fridge working!!! That won’t do at all.
Del and Ian set off to the shops, as Paula and I have to sort out the laundry from earlier on, but what the lads don’t know is that we sneak off for a quick swim and run back to the boat when we see them coming back, pretending that we had been grafting hard all the time.
Before…
We eat in tonight, and afterwards the boys start hitting the Gin, they demolish 2/3 of a litre between them with beers and wine.
…After…!
We watch the Royle Family outside in the cockpit when we are joined by Dave and Norma from Quintet, carrying more beers. Now there are six of us on the back of our boat!
We finally retire at 1:30 am after Del, half cut of course, walks about the boat naked, giving Ian and Paula a right eyeful!!! It was a good fun night in all.
Friday 15th August 2003, Arenys de Mar to Masnou – 12.5 NM, 27 euros
Del and Ian are the worse for wear this morning, especially Del, but we all know why. After saying our farewells to our newfound friends, Dave and Norma on “Quintet” and Paul and Karen on “Antigua Lady” we slip our berth from Arenys, having had six hours of sleep. Ian and Del are flaked out below decks, leaving Paula and H to helm us out of the marina and on to Masnou, 12 nautical miles south.
The two hungover louts get woken up 1 mile from Masnou marina.
We are all up on deck for the arrival and get securely berthed and settled. The boat is staying here for a month, both in the water and on dry land, so we have been given a berth on the residents pontoon. Del and H are returning to the UK to visit parents and Colin the cat and then on to Tenerife to check on the flat. We have been away for 3 months.
Del is still feeling a bit yuk, so he goes back to bed while the rest of us have lunch on deck, followed by a nap. By 5pm, everyone is up and about and feeling more refreshed, so we set out for a walk. It’s so hot in the marina!
Dinner tonight is takeout pizza and Chinese, and an odd mix of Italian and Chinese. A very strange combination. It’s Ian and Paula’s last night tonight, so we are not staying up all night again. We are up at 7:30am tomorrow to take them to the station for their trip back home. It’s been really good having them here.
Saturday 16th August 2003, Masnou – Day 2
After a good breakfast on the back of ‘Stargazer‘, we get Ian and Paul to the station and say goodbye. It has been really nice having them. They have seen first-hand how we live and joined us in meeting new sailing friends along the way. A very nice few days.
Then it’s back to the marina to finish off some laundry and see if we can get some dry storage; no luck today with that.
It’s been a bank holiday here, so it’s a “puente” day or a bridge day, – more days off after the bank holiday. We go to get some provisions.
When we return, we find that someone has pulled our water cap off its chain and nicked it! On the back of the boat, there are two metal caps, one on each side; one is for the diesel tank, the other for the fresh water tank. The boat was on a pontoon waterside, so someone who needed one saw ours, unscrewed it, yanked it real hard to get it off the securing chain and made off with it. We just can’t believe it. We are furious, so we botch a cap with a wooden bung. We have a collection of different-sized bungs that are in our kit of parts, just in case we get a leak… the chandlers here are shut all month, so we won’t be able to get a replacement!
Well, at least the restaurants are open, so we treat ourselves to the most delicious paella ever at a rather nice restaurant. A very nice night, despite getting our water cap nicked…
Del is leaving tomorrow for the UK to do some work. H will join him on the 23rd.
Sunday 17th August 2003, Masnou– Day 3
The weather here has been quite hot and muggy. Last night we had a little bit of rain, the sky this morning is quite spectacular, but it’s brewing for a storm. There are black clouds all around us. When it hits, it’s quite a relief, half an hour of heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightning, very Spanish.
It eventually clears up for us to walk to the station. Del is flying to England today, and H is coming with him to the airport. The train turns up on time but takes an hour, weaving through the slums on the outskirts of Barcelona. The airport is packed, it’s a Spanish bank holiday weekend, so we have a quick lunch together and say goodbye as it’s nearly Del’s boarding time.
Oh dear, little did he know that he would still be there three hours later after H left due to massive delays…
Back at the boat in Masnou, I have a big sleep. I was bitten all over last night by mozzies and kept awake. Dinner is pasta, I watch a film, then bed. I spent 40 minutes chasing a mosquito in the bedroom just in time for the disco to start up at 4 am..! Grrrrr….
Monday 18th August 2003, Masnou– Day 4
I get up late after a bad night’s sleep. After breakfast, I sort out our boat insurance, ready for the lift out. Stargazer will be on hard standing for a month while we are both in the UK and Tenerife. There is a lot to do today, but first I go for a walk on the mole, followed by a good walk of about a mile to the supermarket for provisions and buy, in my best Spanish, a mosquito repellent.
Still tired from no sleep last night, so I nap some more and do some reading. After lunch, I start the handwashing of the sheets… There is no laundry here at this marina. Washing double sheets in our small boat wetroom sink is as hard as it sounds, very difficult. I still have four more to do and three towels. Best get on with it.
Dinner is Spanish stew. Very tasty.
Tuesday 19th August 2003, Masnou– Day 5
A very lazy morning, more hand washing. Does it ever end? There is a large swimming pool here at the marina, so after lunch I go and check it out. It’s fabulous, very big, clean and with a view of the beach. After a few lengths, I’m worn out, so I head off for a nice cold shower.
Dinner is Spanish stew, again. I miss Del, who is in Aberdeen doing a show for the oil exploration company Cooper Cameron. Sounds great…? Not…
Wednesday 20th August 2003, Masnou– Day 6
I’ve been on my own now for a few days, and I’m getting through books at a fast rate.
It’s 4 pm, so I wander up to the pool and have a refreshing swim. It’s so hot here.
Chinese for dinner tonight, there’s no more Spanish stew left. Bed early.
Thursday 21st August 2003, Masnou– Day 7
Tomorrow, the boat is being lifted out of the water and put into hard standing until mid-September. There are still a few more jobs to do, more washing and some packing to be done and the boat prepared for the lift out at about 10am tomorrow. Best get on…
Friday 22nd August 2003, Masnou– Day 8 (Last day!)
I’m hoping that we will be lifted out today at around 10-ish. We have been in Masnou now for 8 days… I’m glad to be leaving now but I will be doing this all on my own. At 9:30, I slip from the pontoon and gently motor to the other end of the marina to the crane lift and hope that someone will be there to catch my lines in for me, and that they will also understand my dodgy Spanish.
If all goes well, I will hopefully be departing for Barcelona around midday to check into a hotel in the Plaza España. The lift all goes as planned. There is someone there to help me get tied up, and they do indeed understand my dodgy Spanish.
The lift-out day
Excellent. It’s strange seeing our home being lifted out of the water and then placed on wooden stilts where she will stay for a month. I’ll miss her, she has been a good home these past few months.
Now propped up on wooden stilts.
All done. Now it’s off to Barcelona, where I walk around for a couple of miles, lost, and with heavy bags too. I’ve had it now, though; it’s no good, so I end up having to buy a map to find the hotel, which I finally find and get settled in.
Tomorrow I fly to Liverpool.
Meanwhile, up in Aberdeen, Del is having a great time. Very interesting… Don’t ask…
Remember that in 2003, Google Maps was not a “thing”; in fact, the only navigation around then was in a car. Tom Tom and Garmin provided all that. The smartphone didn’t really get going until 2004 when the Apple iPhone came on the scene. So you had to rely on common sense and paper maps… Those were the days!
Many of our daily entries have no photographs. Taking a picture for a blog back in 2003 was an event. ‘Blogging’ hadn’t been heard of then either. You had to have a digital camera that you kept charged. You also had to have a computer to transfer the pictures from the camera. The only way to share pictures back then was by email. There were no messaging platforms, only SMS and MMS for pictures, and because we were in Spain, sending an MMS cost a fortune! It’s all so very easy today.
Our boat life picks up again on September 16th 2003. See the next post.
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!
Rapallo, Italy to Gardien, France
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?
A proper scary water spout…
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.
This is a stingray..?
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!
Our local bread delivery. From shop to boat…
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!)
A great day at sea…
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
A ‘goose-winged’ sail setup
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.
Our bedroom in the bow. Comfy
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
The “Stargazer” dodgers hinder our movements. They have to go…
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 NM0 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 amto 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 2003Degli 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 2003Menton 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 2003Monaco 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 2003Raphael (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.
A sausage dog…!
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 2003Cavalaire-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.
Stargazer with her fantastic boom tent…
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 2003Cassis 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 2003Port 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 2003Port 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.
Our first month on Stargazer has gone well as we took our time exploring the south coast of France in the blistering heat, so hot that many people died in the heat which made national news. This month we plan to sail to near Pisa, where along the way we meet new friends, anchor for the first time and pay for a diver to fix our new, limping boat, but what a bonus, H gets to see the Monaco Grand Prix free…
Cannes, France to Rapallo, Italy
JUNE 2003
Sunday, 1st June 2003, Cannes (Day trip to Monaco)
With Del in the UK, I leave the boat at 8 in the morning to catch the 8:33am to Monaco. I can tell I’m on the right platform by the sea of red (Ferrari t-shirts). The train is packed, so much for my 1st class ticket – I end 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 will 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!
All the vantage points are closed off. You can’t see anything…
So eventually I find a bit of the hill where I can see 30m of track from half a mile away and stand and wait for the start. What a racket – forget Concorde 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?
Thanks to a very kind man, I had the best view of the Monaco Grand Prix 2003…! So lucky
My free 390 euro ticket….
Before I know it, I’m 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 Schumacher 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).
The Grand Prix route… Kind of…
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 do the laundry and walk up to the local church on the hill. I go back and sit on the back of the boat and sunbathe. 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 walk all the way to the next marina and back, but it’s so hot. (29 degrees C in the boat).
A new feathered friend.
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.
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 so hot here, though, and I have taken to having 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 just sprayed myself with the warm hose water.
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 trash 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 2003Cannes – 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-mozzy 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 spaghetti.
Thursday 12th June 2003 – Golf Juan day 3
Del leaves again today, for another job that he’s already committed to, 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. 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 to arrange our first engine service, so I walk to a very hot phone booth to try to book one, 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, because there sure ain’t one here!
Dinner tonight: Steak and veg
Saturday 14th June 2003 – Golf Juan day 5
I have 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 it.
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’s 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, Time to move on today. Today we are sailing (or motoring) to Nice.
We have managed to sail a bit and with a little bit of motor while keeping an eye on the engine hours; we are due for our first 50-hour service soon, which we have to do to comply with the Volvo warranty.
We have finally arrived 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, get too 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, everywhere is full (and it’s only 2pm). So we speed on under motor to try and secure a place at Menton Garavan – the last marina in France and we mean, literally, the border is 200m away!
We shall walk to Italy after dinner!
We have found a guy here who can do our engine service.
A very closed Italy…
Settled in we set off for a walk. It’s only a short walk to Italy! But it’s shut!!!
There is nothing here and what little is here is closed. There is nowhere to get a drink, a snack, nothing, so we have drink in a candlelit waterside place back in France.
Thanks for nothing Italy!
Wednesday 18th June 2003 – Menton Garavan day 2
H got bitten badly last night, damn mosquitoes.
We get the bikes off the boat and have a cycle around, and get back as the engineer “may arrive” at 2pm. He doesn’t turn up. It’s all very easy going… So we just sit on the back of the boat, chill out and do some paperwork.
Dinner tonight: Tagliatelle and seafood.
Thursday 19th June 2003 – Menton Garavan day 3
Today is the day… At 9:25am our Volvo 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 H, so her bikini is on and she gets a hose-down of cool water from Del during the boat wash – ahhh the relief.
We see four planes flying low over the bay and returning over the hills repeatedly. We think they are seaplanes that are scooping up seawater and dumping 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 to watch. Skillful flying. They’re not kidding when they warn you about this on the chart. Pity any poor boat coming around the headland!
We go for a paddle, its 9pm, and the water is warm.
Friday 20th June 2003 – Menton Garavan to San Remo. (Porto Sole). 35.00 euros
Goodbye France – Hello Italy. A courtesy flag swap over.
We cross the border and the flag goes up. You can already notice 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 windward waiting pontoon (we are being pinned on by the wind), we are piloted to our berth.
We’ve never had the honour of a pilot boat before. It’s quite exciting.
Our first attempt to park goes wrong, again. The wind is beam on (that’s the side of the boat), 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. No damage fortunately, but almost!
Finally and thankfully, we are pulled around into place with some help from marina staff. We feel terrible. H loses all her confidence and is embarrassed at her terrible parking skills until some Swiss neighbours turn up and do exactly the same thing. So, she’s not so bad after all! It’s not easy steering a boat. It can very tricky, as we are finding out. Especially as the bow of the boat is large and catches the wind and we don’t have a bow thruster (a propeller mounted in the bow to move it left or right).
Dinner tonight: Pasta. (Well we are in Italy, which is now open!)
Saturday 21st June 2003 – San Remo Day 2
A quiet day today after another bad nights sleep. H’s feet look like elephant’s feet after being bitten a couple of days ago by some rather aggressive mosquitoes.
Del is keen to wash the hull of the boat today, so we get him into the dinghy so he can reach it all, while H has him on a tether back on the boat. That’s it! I’ve had it with these dinghy name letters, there’s only two left – we pull them off.
Diner tonight: Pizza
Sunday 22nd June 2003 – San Remo to Loano 1st night free! 32 miles
FUEL FILL-UP: 40 euros
We are up early this morning and slip from our berth at 09:10am. We intend to go to Alessia, 24nm away. There is no wind but the sea still has quite a swell. We motor all the way and park up in Alessia to get fuel. The marina is full tonight. Oh no, what are we going to do…?
The next marina along is Loano. We get a berth here where the first night is free! We soon learn why. Maybe because it’s a bit of a building site, they are doubling the size of the marina. We are getting low on provisions, nowhere is open, looks like another meal out. How ostentatious of us.
The Swiss are here today, the ones we saw yesterday making a dog’s dinner of their parking as we did. They see us and wave us over to berth up next to them.
Del has made friends by sorting everyone’s electric and water out for them – and I thought we were the inexperienced ones. We have quite a collection of water and electricity adapters, ready for any eventuality.
We are just relaxing on the back of our boat when suddenly we see a British couple arrive on a rather sleek sailing boat, approaching the pontoon rather fast, 3 boats down from us. We jump off and help them out as they are approaching the pontoon with speed so we help slow them down and take their lines to secure them. We do some introductions, and shake hands with Sue and Stanley. They are not an old couple, but they are no spring chickens. Stanley looks rather sporty in his wide open neck tie-dye t-shirt and wrap around sunglasses. They’re a nice couple, and we end up chatting with them for a while before leaving them to it and going back to ours.
Monday 23rd June 2003 – Loano Day 2
We look out of the windows this moring to find that everyone has departed except us and the British boat with Sue and Stanley on. On the pontoon we get talking to them and find that they are going the same way as us. We have decided to carry on around and down until Pisa.
It’s another warm day so we invite Sue and Stanley for drinks on the boat, we learn from them a good idea – that a simple cheap parasol fits perfectly into the hole that’s in the middle of the winches, which will then give you good shade at sea and in a marina. What a great idea…, 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 H, so to celebrate (or commiserate), we have a drop of Italian fizz on the bow of Stargazer. Cheers..!
Dinner tonight: Pork and lentils
Stanley and Sue have invited us to drinks at a nearby bar. Very nice of them. We seem to enjoy each others company, with similar interests and humor. They are from Yorkshire and have been sailing for a while. The have an X-Yacht 332, which we are invited to have a nosy around. It’s a lovely boat. A fast boat. Probably too fast for us.
It’s 12:30 by the time we say goodnight, but we have agreed to get up early and sail to the next stop along the coast, Varrazze.
Tuesday 24th June 2003 – Loano to Varazze. 19 miles. 28 euros
It’s 9:00am. We have a good wind today to get to Varazze, although Sue and Stanley burn us off in their sports yacht which is more of a racer than ours, which is more like a caravan at sea.
Sue and Stanley with “Havre” at full sail, full speed
We end up reefing our sails in, but 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 toe-rail in the water! We get our first glimpse of dolphins on this trip! Six of them, quite small, but beautiful, surfacing and diving together, but they don’t stay long and soon disappear.
We arrive into Varazze together. It’s very shallow here, just 20cm left under the keel in some parts. We are half expecting ‘Harve’, Sue and Stanley’s boat, to ground with her deeper keel, but they make it in, and we get berthed. The berth is quite bouncy, but definitely calmer than the ride we had getting here.
There is nothing here except lumps of concrete and diggers.
Wednesday 25th June 2003 – Varazze to Genoa. 21 miles. 30 euros
We have a late sail today, 11am as we only have a short hop to Arenzeno. Del calls ahead in his best Italian and reserves our spaces before slipping from the berth and we are off.
The sea has calmed down a bit from yesterday, but we still get a good wind in patches. We break our record for shallowed depth yet! 10cm under the keel! as we are coming out of Varazze.
We arrive at Arenzano but we are told there is no space! Del has an argument with the marina guy (adifferent one from the one on the phone), but to no avail, so we decide to press on to Genoa another which is another 10 miles (more by the time we have tacked our way there!)
A helping hand from the locals as we limp into our berth
This Marina is like a maze! H is following the plan on the chart, but thinking of turning around as the deeper we get inside the more ferries we are having to negotiate with, but we find our berths eventually and get piloted in. We have noticed that the rudder is pulling hard to the right but carry on as there is nothing we can do about it right now. So we go bow in to turn around and back into the berth, as we go into reverse 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 into our berth. This could potentially cost..
Tomorrow a diver is coming by to investigate what’s happened to our rudder, prop or both…
Sue and Stanley take us to dinner to console us. We have really bonded in just a short amount of time, enjoying their friendship and hospitality.
Thursday 26th June 2003 – Genoa. Day 2
There is a change of plan today with the diver. He can’t make it today, but has promised tomorrow. Very Italian…There is a beer festival being set up here for the weekend. Should be interesting. Noisy?
Tonight we are having Sue and Stanley around for dinner, but decide to simplify it to pasta, as cooking a big meal for 4 in our little galley might be a struggle.
We’ve had a good night, plenty to eat, drink with a few stories and laughs.
Friday 27th June 2003 – Genoa. Day 3
We get up at 9 am feeling a bit foggy, after last night’s drinking on our boat. We are expecting the diver anytime this morning. This being Italy though, the diver finally arrives at 1 pm, and spends about two minutes underwater.
A big blue bag caught on our rudder and prop. Nasty.
We feel like we are getting value for money though, as he has flippers, air tanks, the whole works. The water stinks here, rather him than us.
After some time in the water, he pulls out a huge blue bin bag from our prop, we take some pictures and ten minutes later he’s gone and we’re 50 euros lighter.
We take a look around ‘Neptune’, a huge galleon – used as 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’.
Our ‘new’ good friends, Sue and Stanley
Sue and Stanley have invited us to dinner tonight on their boat. Beef stroganoff – absolutely delicious!
Saturday 28th June 2003 – Genoa. Day 4
After breakfast and later in the morning we go for a walk into Genoa. It’s a bit scruffy really, but we eventually find some nice bits. It’s not too bad after all.
Stargazer needs a clean, so after our walk we set about cleaning the decks, cockpit and the inside. H is quite an expert at cleaning the toilet!
Diner tonight: Peppers, potatoes and aubergines etc.
We can hear the music starting up at the beer festival where a band is playing. We set off and see how it is. The band are quite good so we have a beer or two, but after an hour the wind picks up and the lightning is flashing like a strobe light. A storm is brewing… The poor band are ‘washed‘ off stage as it proceeds to pour down – a proper rainstorm. Very heavy rain.
Sunday 29th June 2003 – Genoa to Rapallo (anchorage) 17 miles. 0 euros
The air this morning is a lot fresher after the storm last night. We depart Genoa at 9am but quickly find, by phoning ahead, that there are no spaces for us at any of the marinas ahead. So we decide that we will try our first go at anchoring. Gulp…!
While on route we try to empty our holding tank but find that it is blocked and nothing will shift it. The holding tank is a large tank at the back of the boat which is the “black water” tank. We shall leave it at that, but it’s blocked. This could be a problem.
Both boats arrive near Portofino at an anchorage and for the first time on Stargazer we actually anchor! In 10 meters – quite deep.
Our first anchorage in Portofino with our friends, Sue and Stanley
Sue and Stanley come over on their dinghy, and we all have a swim. It’s lovely and warm as we swim around our boat. Fabulous…
Out swimming in Portofino
Later in the day, however, after a failed attempt to get to shore in the dinghy, we decide that the sea is kicking up a bit, the boats are getting tossed about a bit, so we move to a more protected anchorage inside the breakwater of Rapallo. This is gorgeous, peacefully anchored – with a lovely Italian town as a backdrop.
Diner tonight: Pesto (with a fantastic sunset.)
We are on the back of our boat, Sue and Stanley are on the back of theirs as we gently bob up and down in the early evening light. Suddenly, to finish off a lovely day and night, Stanley starts to plays his pan pipes, the gentle music drifts over from their boat. Nice. Didn’t know he played the pan pipes… Don’t know anyone else that does, so that’s a first. The Mediterranean dream.
It gets better. The holding tank has fixed itself!
Monday 30th June 2003 – Rapallo anchorage
We had a very peaceful night at anchor last night.
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 here!
After lunch, we potter back round to Portofino where we had the swim yesterday. We dinghy across to shore to get ice-creams and then back to the boat before they melt.
We pull up our anchor and go for a little sail, it’s a lovely day. After a while we go back to our last anchor location in Rapallo to settle in again for the night again. After a bit of dragging of the anchor, it finally bites. There is a force 7 wind forecast for tomorrow with no time given, so we lay a second anchor just to be sure.
For dinner tonight we dinghy ashore with Sue and Stanley and have pizzas. Excellent pizzas though.
On the way back to the boat after dinner, we are aware of a building swell of the sea, and once at the boat it is a bit bumpy. Could be an interesting night tonight, trying to sleep. The wind builds some more, but then drops to nothing, so we turn in. It’s still a little ‘roly poly’. We can’t sleep. We are rolling back and forwards on the bed, it is quite uncomfortable. Nothing like last night.
After months of planning, the time has finally arrived when we are brought together with Stargazer, our beautiful 32′ sailboat. The first month of our new adventure sees us attempting to berth our brand new boat for the first time on our own and being wind-bound on our first stop on an island in the south of France, before finally making it to Cannes.
Port Napoleon – Cannes
MAY 2003
H started to (badly) draw small pictures of our time on the boat. These she used to draw in pencil in the diary, not every day, but most days. We have included them here for your amusement.
Sunday, May 11th 2003 – Cheshire to Nice
Paris by air… Kind of…
Well, today is the day, it’s finally arrived. We are packed, and we depart from Liverpool Airport with 5 bags! Destination Nice. Our baggage is well overweight! We will stay in the Excelsior Hotel in Nice tonight.
Flew over Paris on the way! Saw Notre Dame and the Seine – Ah Paris, c’est belle.
Monday 12th May 2003
Travel on SNCF 1st class, to the town of Arles (not Ales!! We made that mistake by getting on the wrong train!) and H has her first French conversation with two nice ladies sitting opposite us.
We get a cab to the middle of nowhere – Le Sambuc. Hotel ‘Longo Mai’. The only thing open in town is one bar, so we have a drink there. We found this place on the internet, can you believe? (Yes, back in 2003, finding things on the internet was completely different from what it is in 2026.)
The frogs (the small amphibian thing with long legs that sits in ponds, not the people) are noisy tonight – what a racket! It must be all the paddy fields. (They grow Camargue rice here.)
Tuesday 13th May 2003 Port Napoleon – Free berthingfor 2 weeks
TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!
We get packed up at 8:30 am and leave the hotel to travel to the boat by cab and ferry and on to Port Napoleon, where our new boat has been delivered to and commissioned by our UK agent. We arrive at the marina and do the short walk from the entrance to the pontoon, our hearts racing at what we are about to see and do. – There she is! She looks beautiful, and she’s ours.
Our brand new boat is sitting there in the water, gently bobbing about, tethered to the pontoon. What a sight. Our heart does swell with pride that all the months of planning and hard work, being apart for weeks on end, have finally come to this. No house, no jobs, just a flat in Tenerife and a beautiful boat in the Med ready for our adventure…
Steve and Chris are the two guys from the UK who will hand the boat over to us. They take us out on a short sail. We are nervous as hell as we stand in the cockpit and look up at the height of the mast and the size of the sails. Our old Pippin 20 was tiny compared to this. We must be mad…
Very soon, our driver Lee from ‘Transriviera’, a transport company, delivers our stuff for the boat from the UK! It’s chaos as we end up with a mountain of marine stuff from cushions, plates, buoys, life jackets, outboard motors and a dinghy, all manner of stuff that we will need to make our one year aboard comfortable and safe.
12 boxes of stuff, 2 anchors, a guitar, cushions, 2 bikes, poles, etc all over the pontoon. We get two free weeks here to get ourselves sorted out.
We all toast ‘Stargazer’ with some champagne before Lee, Steve and Chris leave us alone. We get our first night on the boat with our blankets and perfectly ironed bedding.
The chef at work on our first dinner aboard
Dinner tonight: Pasta and sauce with peppers.
Wednesday 14th May 2003 Port Napoleon
H building a model train gift from her good friend
Our first morning after a really windy night on board Stargazer, it’s still windy as we try out our new bikes and cycle to the nearby town of Port St. Louis. The bikes will be lashed to the side of the boat on the deck. It will be interesting to see how we do with that at sea. We have seen many boats do it, so….
Back at Stargazer, we apply her graphics, her name and her SSR number, attach flags and get her ready for the sea. A quiet day pottering around on the boat, exploring her many cupboards and storage spaces. It’s all very exciting.
Dinner tonight: Local sausage with potatoes.
Thursday 15th May 2003 Port Napoleon
We wake up today to much less wind; it’s dropped significantly, so we decide to take her out to sea on our own. Nervously!
Once we are clear of the marina entrance, we get the sails up, but there is no wind. We are going nowhere under sail. We get the engine back on and make our way back to the marina. We have tried out the GPS, the autopilot and all her toys. H does her first berthing of our new boat, Del is on deck with lines ready, and she does a perfect berthing, backed in. It’s easier that way around to get in and off the boat.
Dinner tonight: Salmon Tagliatelle
Friday 16th May 2003 Port Napoleon
Her new flashy spray dodgers
It’s a nice day today, so we get the spray dodgers attached, and Del washes her. She gleams in the sunlight and looks fabulous.
We are staying in the marina today, so it’s back on the bikes and cycle into town for some essentials, a baguette and wine!
Today, we mount H’s brass clock that she was presented with when she left ‘This Morning‘. It’s mounted in the cabin inside. It looks great.
Dinner tonight: Pestopasta
Saturday 17th May 2003 Port Napoleon
It’s raining this morning! But not for long. We have a play around with our tender, a small dinghy with an outboard motor and emergency oars. Who needs the gym?
We have been here almost a full week now in Port Napoleon. We can stay another week if we want, but we have done all we can. We think we are ready to set off, so we lash up the boat for our departure tomorrow to Ile du Frioul (Port du Frioul), bikes, tender, and outboard have all been tried and tested. Let’s go!
Dinner tonight: Steak, mushrooms and courgettes.
Sunday 18th May 2003 Port Napoleon to Pt du Frioul. 21 nautical miles(NM) (18 euros)
We will now keep track of our distances each day and the cost of our marina stays.
It’s a lovely day for our first proper sail to our first destination. A light breakfast, and we set sail at 10 am. The wind is perfect for our first day at sea, we get full sail up, which looks massive, but we soon get used to it, and we are moving along at 7 knots and heeling. She feels fantastic!
Are you cold, Del?H gets her bikini onWe are flying our French courtesy flag
H gets her bikini on for the first time…!
PORT DU FRIOUL
The wind has picked up quite a bit en route, but we manage our first ‘med mooring’ in a gusty wind, which didn’t go quite well the first time. On the second attempt, we get it right, with a little bit of help from another sailor.
Dinner out tonight as we feel flush; however, we did get stung for 50 euros by the restaurant. We are not feeling so flushed now, but rather drained!
We meet our first 4-legged friend, a rather sweet black Labrador who insists on following us. Not sure if he’s a stray or belongs to someone, but he seems to like us.
A new friend…
Once we are back at the boat, with the wind slightly down in strength, we can hear a noise under the boat. It sounds like chains moving about in the water. A mystery, as we didn’t hear it in Port Napoleon.
Monday 19th May 2003 Port du Frioul
Wow… We wake up this morning to strong winds. It’s howling through the mast, so we decide to stay for a couple of days as the weather forecast is not so good. Force 7-8. Not good, that, not for us newbies anyway.
We get the bikes off the boat and set off for a good cycle up to some local ruins.
The views are fantastic with some pretty bays around the island. Del got stung again. (By an insect, not a restaurant).
H’s fabulous kit pizza
Today it’s ‘kit pizza’. It was good. (Kit pizza is a pizza base that is pre-made and kept in the chiller at the shops.
You spread it out, put your own toppings on and stick it in the oven. Smashing.)
The wind has started blowing really hard now, and with heavy rain, so halfway through the film “Jackie Brown”, we get kitted up and brave the weather to make sure her lines are tied up good and proper. How grim!
With the boat secured, we go to bed listening to the wind and the rain.
Tuesday 20th May 2003 Port du Frioul
We have some neighbours moored next to us. A charter boat of Germans who tell us that the winds are building to force 11, one off hurricane strength. We feel a bit sorry for them, really, as they have chartered a boat for a week and it looks like they will be stuck here in a windy Port du Frioul.
We put some more ropes on our boat as the wind is snatching against her cleats, and it sounds terrible. We have 7 ropes in total, securing the boat.
Wind-bound explorers of the sea!
Not much to do today, so we take walks on the small island, drink beer, read and help some distressed French sailors with their boat.
The seagulls enjoy the wind here…
There is a supermarket here; it’s not ideal, but we have plenty of supplies for now. There are more strong winds due tomorrow. You can never have enough rope. We watch the seagulls enjoying the wind. They are a bit mad seagulls.
It will be a noisy night tonight.
Dinner tonight: Chorizo, potatoes, onion and peppers. All cooked up together. Proper boat food.
Wednesday 21st May 2003 Port du Frioul
This morning, the wind is a gale force 8 and has been like that all night, even with the seven lines we are listing hard over in gusts.
Fed up with the noise – the noise of wind can get on your nerves after a while – we decide we can’t take it anymore and take the ferry to Marseille.
We visit the church on the hill. ‘Notre Dame de Grande’, which is quite a hike, the wind whistles through the church eerily.
We have a spot of lunch and walk around the town before catching the ferry back to Stargazer.
Rough crossing to Marseille for a day out.
The ferry back is quite a ride. The strong wind has whipped up the sea, and it’s rough.
Massive rollers, people are screaming on the boat, this is the biggest sea we’ve ever been on!
A bit of a rough ride back
The wind is now really fierce; we are heeling in our berth, and the boat is creaking and cracking on her lines; in fact, it’s that bad that Del ends up with his dinner and wine on his lap and all over the seat, and this is in the harbour! It will be another long, grim night. Too worrying to concentrate. The hours tick by slowly.
An interesting first week aboard.
Thursday 22nd May 2003 Port du Frioul
After many sleepless nights, we wake up to a calm day, at last. The forecast is for a force 6, decreasing to 4 tomorrow. We decide to spend another night because we are late getting up today. We are tired. So it’s off for a walk up to the local fort.
While we are up there, the wind starts to build again (Del gets seagull poo on his clean t-shirt). Back down on the boat, the wind quickly changes again to a force 9, and the water is very choppy. After asking for help, we decide to try to make for the corner of the marina for a bit of peace. We are very exposed where we are; we are getting the full force of the wind and the sea.
No wind protection as our boat strains against a force 9.
We are doing this move across the marina in a force 9. A French guy very kindly offers to helm while we do the ropes. All this while the boat heels and spray is flying off the water, and H now has stomach cramps! We make it to safety, and the boat is more stable, though the wind is still violent over here. When is it going to stop!?
Our new wind indicator has had enough of the wind and packs up! Great!
Dinner tonight: Pesto
Friday, 23rd May 2003, Port du Frioul to Bandol. 20 NM (15 euros)
Today there is no wind…!
After breakfast on the deck, in the heat, we cast off and set sail for Bandol. We have to motor most of the way as the wind has dropped. It seems it’s feast or famine with the wind around here.
The letters are falling off the dinghy…
Another ‘Med mooring’ in Bandol, this one slightly smoother with only half the amount of shouting at each as the last one. We think we are getting the hang of this! The marina and town are nice, 15.50 euros for the night, excellent.
After a rather large dinner of chicken, garlic, courgettes, onions and potatoes.
We have a zip around on the dinghy and even out into the bay – what fun! The letters of the name are starting to fall off the dighy!
Saturday, 24th May 2003, Bandol
Wake up to a little bit of wind; the boat is hitting the pontoon. We’re a bit scared about the wind, so we stay another day. Sailors being scared of wind… Is that good or bad? After we pay for the night, the wind settles down, and it turns into a rather lovely day.
Everyone has to do it…
We now need to do some laundry, so we spend a few hours getting that done. Everyone has to do it.
Once the laundry has been done and lunch has been had, we fall asleep in the cockpit under the afternoon sun to be woken by customs men wanting to see documents.
We eat out tonight. Well, it is Saturday. Del has moules, H has pork and lentils
Toulon tomorrow. Hopefully.
Sunday, 25th May 2003, Bandol to Port de Hyères. 28 NM
We set sail for Toulon in a very swelly sea. The storms have gone, leaving us with a rather large rolling sea, with swells that are about 2m high. STARGAZER is surfing, and it is quite challenging to weather them. By the time we reach Toulon, the sea has calmed, and we decide to push on as it’s still early.
We decide to move on to a realistic destination of Port de Hyères. We arrive at 4:30 after our longest sail yet. The capitainerie directed us to berth 1353. After a hunt around, we find it, it is the width of the boat with an inch to spare!
A very tight squeeze indeed
A discussion breaks out on board along the lines of ‘you think I’m backing the boat into that?’, but H does it; we are that close that the bikes are catching either side of the other boats. We get covered in chain gunk.
A very tight squeeze on both sides
Dinner tonight: Pork, lentils and mushrooms on board.
Monday, 26th May 2003, Port de Hyères. 13.10 euros
Despite going to bed with no wind, we are woken up by the sound of the boat hitting the concrete block of the pontoon; a vicious wind has blown up again, and it looks like, yet again, our front mooring line isn’t tight enough. So we kit up and go outside. It’s 3:40 am and there is a force 8 wind blowing, rain and lightning. (This isn’t how we imagined Med cruising!)
Kitted out for a storm
We retire to bed, then 20 minutes later, H is back on deck again, moving fenders around the boat. Nice.
The weather forecasters have chickened out of forecasting tomorrow’s weather, so who knows what will happen. We want to push on to Lavandou, just 19 miles away, but the sea is moderate with strong howling winds.
Dinner tonight: Gnocchi and sauce, salad with our 2 euro rosé wine.
Tuesday, 27th May 2003, Port de Hyères to Le Lavandou. 14 NM 22.50 euros
We set off today for Le Lavandou. It seems like there’s either too much wind or none at all, and today is the latter, so we try to sail for a while but abandon it for the motor.
We arrive at Le Lavandou at lunchtime, so we tie up for an hour or so until the capitainerie office opens. The French like their long lunches!
We are allocated a berth, but it’s our worst parking attempt yet, very near a bridge with no control in reverse and hitting a stray chain on our keel (we think). Despite all this, the place is beautiful and charming – lovely shops, a clean marina, and people are playing petanque. The nicest place yet.
The beach of Le LavandouNasty jellyfish spottedThe captain plotting our journeyThe locals playing petanque
Watch out… Nasty…
We get a chicken from a takeaway called “Poulet à Go-Go” and have a big chicken feast on board. After dinner, we take a walk on the beach, but watch for those jellyfish!
Our first proper sighting of scary ones, and we also saw this morning on the way here the sailing type of jellyfish, close hauling across our stern!
Wednesday, 28th May 2003, Le Lavandou to St. Tropez. 25 NM. 25 euros
A nice morning as we set off from Le Lavandou at 11 after some engine checks. The sea is like a mirror, and the sunshine is hazy. Again, we have to motor most of the way and don’t pick up any wind until we round the headland near St. Tropez, where we achieve our fastest speed under sail yet – 6.5 knots.
We arrive at St. Tropez, and after a couple of attempts to find a space, we get one. Our first impressions aren’t good; the marina is a bit tatty and expensive. What do people see in this place?
We were not crazy about St. Tropez at first sight, but after a while, we thought it was fabulous
Our first boat sunset…
However, after dinner we head into town and have a look around; it’s actually very pretty with little back-street restaurants all lit up.
Sunset on the back
On the big harbour wall, there are some of the biggest luxury boats we’ve ever seen (most with British flags).
It’s a nice evening as we watch the sun go down.
Dinner tonight: Sausages and potatoes.
Thursday, 29th May 2003, St. Tropez to Cannes. 25 NM. 23 euros
It’s quite warm this morning. After a morning walk in the heat, we set sail for Cannes, same old story with the wind – There is none… Good job, we topped up with diesel in Lavandou.
We arrive at Cannes hoping we can get a place; we’ve heard that it can get pretty busy – but we do; we are lucky. Some of our monster yacht friends are here from St. Tropez. We have seen the boat we want (apart from this one and Pippin, of course). – It’s called ‘No Escape’ – it has Dutch owners and is beautiful! The town is still in the process of packing up the film festival, even though it was 4 days ago.
Our plan is to head for Antibes. On chatting to some British Neighbours, we begin to think if our plan to sail blindly there and hope they have a place for 10 days might be a bit optimistic, so we ask here in Cannes if they have a place for 10 days – no is the answer.
Better get phoning round tomorrow! Del leaves for England for a pre-booked job on Saturday.
Dinner is a meal out, and H has an enormous plate of calamari. Del has a calzone.
After dinner, we have a walk along the famous promenade here – Cannes is quite beautiful.
Friday, 30th May 2003, Cannes. 18 euros a day (10-day deal)
We set about phoning around every marina in the area, which all brings a resolute ‘non’. Oh dear. H may have to move the boat on her own? – It’s bad enough when there are two of us!
After going to the marina office and pleading with them, Del finds out there is a space – we just have to move berths. Phew!.
So H will be stranded in Cannes for 10 days. Ha! Ha! What a place to be stranded in. Cannes in the summer. We have a quick sail, re-park, and dine in the cockpit.
Dinner tonight: Steak & lentils with garlic mushrooms.
Saturday, 31st May 2003, Cannes
Del leaves for the UK today – Oh no! We have quit work, but he is honouring jobs he was asked to do before we dreamt up this crazy plan.
Up early at 7 to get the 8 o’clock airport bus. H sees him off, then walks to the station to get a train ticket for tomorrow. She is going to Monaco to see the Grand Prix! Wow!
Back at the boat, she just chills out, sunbathes and reads etc., and watches the boats go in and out. Maybe we aren’t the worst at berthing a boat after all. A boat comes next door and actually hits our hull! Wood on fibreglass, no damage though.
No Escape, our favourite boat, leaves – probably on the way to Monaco too…
H does wonder if she is being foolishly optimistic about being able to:
1. Get a seat on the train.
2. Get even close enough to see any of the track tomorrow.
Poor old Del is in Luton, wish he was here with me in the sun watching the superyachts etc. He likes that.
H is doing a Day Skipper sailing course this week which will enable her to get an International certificate of Competence to be completely legal whilst in Europe. The course is in Portsmouth, a 6 hour journey away on many trains.
She checks in on the boat. 3 other students are doing different courses at the same time: a girl called Cag with her other half, Nick doing competent crew, and Phil doing his yachtmaster, plus Andy, our instructor, 5 of us on a Bavaria 37.
Monday 10th March 2003 Portsmouth to Cowes
We set sail to Cowes after a familiarisation in the harbour. H will navigate there. We get there OK. She is very proud to be sailing into Cowes at last. We tie up on the Thetus pontoon and have a heavy night pub crawling…! We need it
H has had too much to drink…!
Tuesday 11th March 2003 Cowes to Lymington
More practice. We tie up in Lymington to the waiting pontoon not connected to shore, so it’s out with the dinghy, and Cag rows us all to the pub. More drinking and pool. Andy tells Phil not to do his Yachtmaster – he isn’t ready. Oh dear…
A drunken row back in the tender to the boat.
Wednesday 12th March 2003 Lymington – round the island – Cowes River Medina
We leave Lymington under my navigation with 2m under the keel for a sail around the Isle of Wight. It starts fine, but by the time we reach St Catherine’s Point the wind has built and by Shanklin it’s a force 7 (touching 8), and Cag is throwing up over the leeward rail every 20 mins. Round the Nab tower and dodging the ferries, we re-enter the Solent and head for Cowes River Medina. It is bitterly cold and we share a pair of heated motorcycle gloves for whoever is helming.
Having recovered, we all take long-needed showers and hit the pub again (The Folly Inn). Andy teaches me how to play darts, but we can’t keep up with him, so we turn in at 11 pm. Andy turns in many hours later.
Saw the Kingfisher yacht today motoring past Cowes. The Ellen MacArthur boat…
Thursday 13th March 2003, Cowes to Portsmouth
More practice and the dreaded ‘picking up a mooring buoy under sail’, or rather “Man over board“.
We anchor in the afternoon, a few miles off Portsmouth. The sun sets over the Solent – spectacular! When it’s dark, we set off – this is my night sail – I am to navigate us using lights. The only problem is that it’s like Blackpool illuminations round here. There are buoys flashing, forts flashing, loads of boats, ferries and hovercrafts, and the shoreline is bright too.
We get there ok but are pulled up by the water police – our nav lights at the front are broken.
More drinking in the ‘Lightship’ at Haslar. Amount spent on drinks this week – £50.
Friday 14th March 2003 Portsmouth to near Birmingham
Phil leaves early, and we practice man overboard again in the harbour.
A large aircraft carrier (are there any small ones?) comes in with the sailors lining the deck, followed by 2 jet fighters flying over low. We are told we have all passed; we wash the boat, swap phone numbers and depart.
I am on my way, via Basingstoke, to a mystery location near Birmingham. Many hours later, I turn up at a lovely hotel which has been organised by Del. (I am still scruffy and have a sleeping bag in tow!) Del is here, at last, after 7 weeks away in Australia and New Zealand working. We have a lovely evening.
The time has finally arrived. The big move. H is left to start the pre-pack, ready for the main one tomorrow. The removal guys are here, and it takes 3-hours to pack cutlery, plates, pictures and all manner of things that we have. The house is in complete disarray. With Del in Australia and H packing, there is no time to fully comprehend and appreciate what’s happening. We are at the point of no return, however. The house is sold, and the jobs ended. We can only look ahead. Colin is looking confused. Poor thing. His home, too, is being dismantled.
Friday 7th February 2003 Harrow (Del in Sydney)
The house sale completion has happened…! The house is now sold…!
The same removal guys from yesterday are here packing with H and her Mum and Dad while she runs around to check that all the boat bits that we have bought ready to go to the new boat are still all together in one place and haven’t been packed in the removal van.
Colin is not too happy today as he gets locked in our now empty bedroom (which actually looks smaller than before). He has to be kept in; we don’t want him ending up in a removal van.
Our neighbours from across the road, Gloria and Martin, have come over and are in tears at H and Colin leaving – bless. They loved Colin and used to look after him when we were both away on trips or at work. They were reliable, nice neighbours. We’ll miss them.
1:30 pm – Domino’s pizzas in the now empty lounge on the floor. The removal men have left, and we will have to soon. We have had to drug Colin with some Valium laced tuna for the long drive up to Handforth and H’s parents’ house – he seems to enjoy it.
2 pm – H is finally closing the door on 30 Harley Crescent, Harrow, for the last time – with no time to spare as H watches the truck drive away to store all our belongings until we don’t know when…
Meanwhile, the two cars, ours and H’s parents’, are overladen with all the stuff that all has to fit on our boat, which will be happening very soon. (All except Mum, Dad and Colin, of course.)
5 long hours later (RAC centre M6 usual problems!) – we arrive in Handforth, back to where H spent most of her childhood. We are so grateful to her mum and dad for putting us up and helping us to store all the new boat things in their home until we need them in May.
Saturday 8th February 2003 Handforth
Colin is exploring his new home today and wants to go out of course.
Sunday 9th February 2003 Handforth to London
H is getting ready today as she will leave Cheshire to start her last week of work at This Morning! She will be staying with some good friends of ours in Pinner, Sally and Luis. Again, wonderful people who are helping us during this transition.
Monday 9th February 2003
LAST WEEK AT WORK..!
Tuesday 11th February 2003 London (Del in Melbourne)
H has acquired a ‘cold from hell’ probably off Luis and Sally’s kids. She has her last Spanish lesson at Harrow College.
Thursday 13th February 2003 London (Del in Canberra)
H’s penultimate day at work. The lighting guys she works with take her out for a Thai meal! Yum. This is followed by a visit to a dodgy pub/club, The Queen Anne, later on, this involves putting 50p’s in pint pots. Money towards the stripper! This is the perfect night out for the sparks from work, not so much for H, but quite an education. Lovely guys who always had H’s back at work. They’ll be missed.
Friday 14th February 2003
It has finally arrived. The Last day!
Philip H, a work friend of H’s, turns up late for work today, having forgotten to go home from last night’s do – tales of a missing wallet and prostitute (talking to only, you understand).
H is keeping a constant lookout for roaming makeover cameras. This is a regular thing at This Morning that they like to spring on the crew. They like to pounce out, pin you down and do a makeover live on air. Their idea of ‘fun’ There aren’t any. Thank God…!
12:30 – Philip Schofield and Fern Britton have made H a film that they show her on the studio floor. Such a nice touch from two lovely people. She is presented with a brass clock for the boat, flowers and champagne.
There is a little speech, and it’s off to the Pizza Express (via the make-up room for cocktails and a visit to the pub).
7 pm – It’s time to leave everyone to catch a train from Euston back to Cheshire. Very sad. Very sad indeed.
Back ‘home‘ in Cheshire. It’s late.
Friday 21st February 2003
Colin has been here in Cheshire for a week tomorrow. It’s been decided to let him out and fit a cat flap.
At about 4 pm, excited or frightened by it all, Colin runs past H to go out again; however, he is not to be seen again that night!
We drive and walk around the neighbourhood constantly looking for him – no sign…!
Saturday 22nd February 2003
Still no sign of Colin the cat this morning. We print some leaflets offering a £50 reward and post 500 of them around the estate! H and her dad walk around the estate, desperately looking for Colin. Where could he possibly be?
7 pm – Finally, a neighbour phones saying she has Colin. Thank god. He is so precious to us, and to lose him now would be devastating.
We pick him up in the car – he’s very unhappy, yowling and carrying on. The lady at Irwin Drive, however, is very pleased with her £50!
Sunday 23rd February 2003
Colin isn’t that bothered about going out today. He scared himself by getting lost even though he was only a mere 2 roads away. Daft.
Our house is up for sale, Del is freelancing in lighting, and H is full-time at ITV; all of that will be gone soon, except we still have a small flat in Tenerife that we have been renting out for a while, and it’s about time we went out there to check it over.
Our lovely flat in Tenerife
Today we will fly out and spend a couple of days out there. It could be a while again before we see it.
Friday 10th January 2003
All good in Tenerife. A short stay, but worth it. Time to get back to the house in Harrow, which is going through its sale, and we need to keep an eye on how that’s going. It’s just as well, really, as we have discovered that the solicitors have made a mess of the exchange of contracts. It’s a nervous time. We have planned out the next few months towards our boat delivery day; it’s all a bit tight. It looks like we will be exchanging contracts on Monday. Fingers crossed…
Monday 13th January 2003
Finally, today, after some solicitor incompetence (what’s new?), we have exchanged contracts on the sale of the house. A big move in our overall plan.
A bigger move, though, today. H will hand her notice in at work. H has been working on This Morning for 5 years, and is well established there. Her boss, Alan, is naturally shocked at the news.
Now it all feels real. The house sold, and H has handed in her notice. Del is turning down future work. Are we foolish or brave?
Our fantastic garden at our house in Harrow. We had such a big, lovely garden and terrace.
Tuesday 14th January 2003
Between us, we start telling our friends and family what we have done and why we are doing it, and what the plan is for the next year or so. The reaction is positive and encouraging, but you never know what people are really thinking…
Wednesday 22nd January 2003
Today, Del is flying off to Australia for a few weeks to work. He is packed and ready to go, including stuff at the house. When he leaves today, he will leave his house in Harrow for the very last time.
Welcome back, we get to spend summer with you, see you soon xx