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…
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!
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?
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).
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 sat 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).
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 taking a siesta recently as the boat temperature is 31 degrees C in the afternoon…!!!
There is a film shoot on the pontoon, and they keep blocking our way. It’s probably someone famous. No idea who it is.
Friday, 6th June 2003, Cannes
Phew, it’s even hotter today – it’s official; according to the radio, it’s summer. (And National Day, Sweden, of course). I’m going for a wander this morning. After a coffee, I buy some boules. We will learn to play petanque when Del gets back.
There is a baby dead shark in the marina this morning – and next to him a jellyfish (no doubt alive, unfortunately). I am beginning to wonder if our swim ladder will get a lot of use…?
Another quiet day – I want to go sailing – never has the weather been so stable! It’s very bouncy here, moored in the marina – not looking forward to tomorrow. Saturday is the bounciest day as every man and his dog break the speed limit in the harbour.
(The temperature in the shade today is 31 degrees C.)
Dinner tonight: Shark and lentils. Kidding… Steak and lentils
Saturday 7th June 2003 Cannes
Del comes back tomorrow! So it’s off to the laundry and to the supermarket.
Everything is closing early today, maybe because it’s a bank holiday weekend here – Ascension or something. I even wash the boat whilst not trying to soak the neighbours; it’s not as good as Del’s effort, but it’ll do until he gets back. It has reached 32 degrees in the shade today – I just can’t drink enough water, and when I was spraying the boat with not much on! I’ve noticed that the water is quite warm, so I could just spray it on me.
I’ve just watched a fantastic fireworks display tonight on the beach.
Sunday 8th June 2003 Cannes
Dels back today! It’s very hot again; Del is surprised by the increase in heat since he left. The heat here is just incredible.
We treat ourselves to an expensive dinner tonight at a seafood restaurant near the beach. Lovely. We play Pétanque with the boules I bought the other day. We don’t know quite what we are doing, but I won anyway.
Monday 9th June 2003 Cannes
It’s a bank holiday in France today. Most places are shut.
We actually go out sailing today, which is nice. I have a paddle sitting on the swim deck. On the way back, we see a shark swimming in the bay. We make our way back into the marina, where the wind picks up, and I do my worst attempt at berthing yet…!. We are doing well… Not. My first attempt was spot on, but we have to come out and try again; the next time, I 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 2003 Cannes – Golf Juan. 9 miles (the long way). 18.60 euros (6-night deal)
The knees are knocking this morning as we prepare to leave our berth in Cannes. H’s confidence is faltering after yesterday’s mess-up, when we just went out for a potter. But it is a success, as we leave and negotiate the exit to the marina with no problems!
We have a good sail around the local islands and then set off towards Golf Juan. We gently motor into the marina. It is quite pleasant here, and much more protected and more comfortable than Cannes. We have managed to secure a 6-night deal as Del leaves again on Thursday (until Sunday) to do a “Westlife” video at the O2 Arena.
It’s good old kit pizza night tonight!
The dinghy has been blown up, ready to play on! Thanks, Del. After dinner, we zip across to the beach in the dinghy and have a cold beer.
Wednesday 11th June 2003 – Golf Juan day 2
It’s another hot day today, which means we didn’t sleep last night as we couldn’t open the window properly because of pesky mosquitoes. One got in anyway and kept flying past our ears, so the first thing we buy today is some net for the hatch and botch a way of creating an anti-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 the first engine service, so I 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 going 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 arrive into Nice. The harbour has big ferries in so we feel quite small. On a second attempt, we find our pontoon opposite a stunning super yacht called “Perfect Persuasion”. We have seen her a few times pottering along the coast here.
We have our first ‘hands-free’ shower in a month, at the marina showers. We have a wet room on board Stargazer, which has a hand shower. It’s good, but it’s nice to be able to stand under a shower for a change and not have to kick out and dry out the wet room.
We have a walk along the seafront for a while. Nice has a rubble-type beach – funny, we always imagined it to have long golden sand.
Tonight we have a steak dinner before another walk. Later, we sup wine on deck, but the fumes from “Perfect Persuasion“, who are running a generator, 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, everyone 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.
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 still warm.
Friday 20th June 2003 – Menton Garavan to San Remo. (Porto Sole). 35.00 euros
*FRANCE TO ITALY*
It’s goodbye France – hello Italy today!
Better get the our courtesy flag ready.
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! Its not easy steering a boat. It can very tricky, as we are finding out.
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 still 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 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
After 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.
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 Stanleys 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 (a different one from this morning), 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!)
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 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.
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’.
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 after more walking around 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 god 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.
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…
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 thats 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 far 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.
Welcome back, we get to spend summer with you, see you soon xx