Well, I’d like to say the last 7-10 days has been enjoyable and relaxing, but as most of you know I’d be fibbing. We were given really good send offs by all and sundry and helped along by lots of friends and family to get the house packed away and rubbish got rid of. As usual we were working right up til the last minute before we left to head down to friends for our last night in the UK, arriving an hour and a half late and exhausted – a big thank you to everyone.
Our flight was uneventful; apart from Easyjet charging us £60 excess baggage for 6 kilos…I always knew we were in the wrong business. Our pre-arranged taxi was there to meet us and a very nice man met us and led us to our apartment, which is both spacious, brand new, great view, but best of all has a washing machine…I have already used it on a continuous basis freshening up everything that has been on the boat for a year. Unfortunately arriving in Spain on a Sunday precluded us from buying any food and we had to go out for dinner that night. Obviously we checked that Alhambra was fine before passing out once more from exhaustion.
Monday was rather more productive in that I went food shopping, started the washing, went to the boat removed more things for washing and on my way back to the apartment fell down a step in the middle of the street – clearly not embarrassing at all, but I now have a painful knee with a big bruise, very attractive. For most of Monday and Tuesday David had to polish the stainless steel (it was very yucky and dirty) ready for us to erect the canopy. 
Now as I have not mentioned the weather yet, this may not seem a very exciting job, but as we are currently sitting in our third day of 25-30 knots of wind and some rain, erecting the canopy was a little on the exciting side – it was during this task that our next two injuries occurred. I was returning from the apartment – having put yet another load of washing on – to find David sitting in the cockpit unable to speak. I had just missed him crushing is little finger between the canopy poles – it was the sort of pain that renders you speechless and feeling really sick, we thought it must be broken, but this morning it is just black and blue and swollen, but apparently not nearly as painful as yesterday. Meanwhile, whilst erecting the canopy in 30 knots of wind the top canopy pole slipped from our hands and banged me on the head. It was time to stop for the day. And to end the day, having made ‘bol’ for our ‘spag bol’, I realised that I had forgotten to buy any ‘spag’ for the ‘spag bol’, so dinner consisted of cheese and crackers, as we haven’t exactly got a freezer full of food at the moment.
As for the rest of the week, the weather is deteriorating for the next few days before hopefully getting better on Sunday. We will try to start on the varnishing in the next couple of days and setting up a list of jobs to be done before we put Alhambra back in the water. So a busy first three days, a few injuries and hopefully a win at the quiz night and finish the week up on Friday with a ‘sailing get together’ – basically and excuse for those of us who live on boats to sit in a bar and talk boaty stuff to each other.
March/April 2011
Prior to this we had met a retired couple also living in the boat yard and established that they were both retired hair dressers – perfect, just time for a quick trim before we all head off in our various ways and so we invited them to the apartment, along with other people who also wanted a hair cut. We also invited people to come and utilise our very nice washing machine in the apartment before we handed the keys back to the owners – rather than a bring your own bottle party it was a bring your own washing and bottle of washing liquid, but fun was had by all, along with a few G&Ts, these would be our new water neighbours, they helped when we had to try and berth.
We knew which berth we were heading for and off we set, up the long alley to the Darsena (as they are called) motoring passed our position ready to back in, marinaro on shore and friends ready with fenders to help out – and they were needed, as we came to a stop to reverse we were of course without steerage and as luck (or the gods would have it) a gust took the boat out of our planned path and heading into the boat on our starboard side, but Lee and Terry were there and made sure we didn’t hit anything. Safely tucked away in our berth we headed back to the apartment to start the process of moving back on board. In the last three weeks we have packed the house and suit cases, unpacked suitcases in the first apartment, pack and unpacked in the second apartment and now packed and unpacked on board – I’m thinking of starting a website instructing on the best way to pack a suitcase.
Then comes the fun of remembering where everything goes – on a boat there is a place for everything and everything in its place – that of course is my job while David gets on with the ‘other’ boat jobs we need to do before we can even think of leaving the marina. One of the first jobs was changing the water heater element (currently a 110v and needs to be 240v – ask David to explain). As with all boats, nothing is simple and the first task of removing the old element caused more heart ache than one can imagine – I’m sure boat designers try to think of interesting and unusual ways to fit stuff, knowing that in 10 years some sad owner will be pulling out their hair trying to find out how you extract stuff. It took all day and when he got the water heater out he found that the tank was corroded – which is probably where the water that we find and didn't know where it was coming from has been coming from... “shall we get it repaired?” knowing full well that this is not going to happen and we will need to order a new one…which we did this morning, and ironically is cheaper to buy an exact replacement and have it shipped from the UK than it is to buy one here…that will arrive next week, so until that time we have no hot water. Good job we postponed David’s sister until next weekend.
Having moved back on board we now have to cook on board and when we turned on the gas we could smell gas in the cockpit locker where it lives, so today’s other job has been to replace the piping from the gas cylinder to the cooker. On top of that the fridge/freezer is not ‘playing properly’. So whereas normally David spends his time looking at the fridge/freezer temperature because I leave the door open too long, he is now looking at the fridge/freezer trying to solve the problem – which he did an hour ago by taking out the thermometer and sticking a lighter underneath it to get it working properly – all I know is that must have been working fine as the food is cold and so is the wine and beer – and the ice hasn’t melted yet so the G&T’s are also OK.
March April 2011
Well, the latest from Alhambra is that the new water boiler arrived on the same day as David’s family (sister and brother-in-law, Barbara and John), so unfortunately no hot showers on the boat for at least another day – we continued to use the shower block provided by the marina, which is fine, it’s just a bit of a pain when you have to carry all your stuff along with you when you could just take it off the bathroom shelf. But less of my complaining, David spent Saturday morning fitting it and we now have lots and lots of hot water – that is if you remember to switch it on…
…anyway that’s one more thing fixed. The fridge/freezer is still playing up, so we are trying new and varied ways to see if we can sort that out – rearranging the food inside etc. But this morning we discovered more water in the bilges that we had expected, so another thing to sort out, although we think there was some sort of blockage which we may have dislodged and the water was sitting in a pipe further down the boat, or it may be that as the boat has been out of the water for such a long time, she needs a week or two back in the water to get her ‘sea legs’ again. It may be that she needs to get wet and expand to her normal shape – of course I am making this all up as I go along and we will spend the next few days checking the bilges. This is not a problem as the weather is deteriorating over the next couple days and we will be getting 30+ knots of wind howling through the marina, so we won’t be going sailing.
We went out for a nice Chinese on Saturday night and checked the weather would be OK for a ‘shake down’ sail on Sunday. Of course it took a little while to get everything prepared – outboard back on the boat, dinghy back on the boat, family back on the boat…and then we were ready – apart from remembering to slip all the lines… then we were off.
We motored out of the marina (having first told them we were just going out for an hour and were not doing a runner without paying our bill), out into the open Mediterranean sea – which was flat calm and not a breath of wind. David turned the boat into wind and asked me to haul out the mainsail. Unfortunately, not having been on boat for 14 months it took me a little while to remember which line to pull in which order, but finally out came the mainsail followed shortly after by the headsail. We switched off the engine and wallowed around a bit in the non-existent sea and wind. Engine back on and we motored up the coast for a mile or so where we found some wind. Sails out, engine off and we were sailing – speeding along at a massive 3 knots – but we didn’t care, the sun was out the sea was calm and a dark dark blue and there other boats all sailing at 3 miles an hour as well. After we checked everything was OK we headed back into the marina, ready for some lunch.
We motored out of the marina (having first told them we were just going out for an hour and were not doing a runner without paying our bill), out into the open Mediterranean sea – which was flat calm and not a breath of wind. David turned the boat into wind and asked me to haul out the mainsail. Unfortunately, not having been on boat for 14 months it took me a little while to remember which line to pull in which order, but finally out came the mainsail followed shortly after by the headsail. We switched off the engine and wallowed around a bit in the non-existent sea and wind. Engine back on and we motored up the coast for a mile or so where we found some wind. Sails out, engine off and we were sailing – speeding along at a massive 3 knots – but we didn’t care, the sun was out the sea was calm and a dark dark blue and there other boats all sailing at 3 miles an hour as well. After we checked everything was OK we headed back into the marina, ready for some lunch.
Well that’s about it for now, busy as always with something new to fix on the boat – one day I’ll get back on with that book of mine…
April 2011 - Southern Spanish Coast
…we’ve left Almerimar…
Having arrived in Almerimar on 6th March, we finally left on 23rd April having finished all the important jobs on the boat – which I won’t bore you with, but it’s safe to say it was time for us to move on.
On Saturday 23rd April we left the marina with another boat ‘Solent Clipper’ owned by Jenny and Ian, at about 8am for the 65 mile trip up to Garrucha, a small fishing village with a seaside town, well so the book tells us.
The ten hour trip was in our favour, following seas and reasonable winds from behind, but not enough to sail off so we motor sailed the whole way (in order to get there quickly). As we arrived the seas and winds had started to pick up but upon arrival we were told “no room in marina – anchor, anchor!” in no uncertain terms. Fortunately the weather changed for the better and a very calm night at anchor was spent, but we didn’t bother to get off the boat.
In the morning we all agreed to press on for Cartagena, another 50+ miles up the coast.
Again I won’t bore you with the details of how the weather changed on an hourly basis from good to bad to good to bad and we decided that we would stick to one of our new rules – not to keep going if we don’t have to, so we ducked out and headed to Mazarron, another small fishing village (in a rain shower). We arrived around 5pm quite tired from the roughish sea and two long days, Ian and Jenny cracked on for another 20 miles and made it to Cartagena by 8pm that night (through what they later described as “interesting” conditions).
Yesterday we sailed – yes actually sailed, no engine, no motor, pure sail/wind power the whole 3 hours to Cartagena, arriving mid afternoon, having had a leisurely morning in Mazarron.
The ten hour trip was in our favour, following seas and reasonable winds from behind, but not enough to sail off so we motor sailed the whole way (in order to get there quickly). As we arrived the seas and winds had started to pick up but upon arrival we were told “no room in marina – anchor, anchor!” in no uncertain terms. Fortunately the weather changed for the better and a very calm night at anchor was spent, but we didn’t bother to get off the boat. In the morning we all agreed to press on for Cartagena, another 50+ miles up the coast.
Again I won’t bore you with the details of how the weather changed on an hourly basis from good to bad to good to bad and we decided that we would stick to one of our new rules – not to keep going if we don’t have to, so we ducked out and headed to Mazarron, another small fishing village (in a rain shower). We arrived around 5pm quite tired from the roughish sea and two long days, Ian and Jenny cracked on for another 20 miles and made it to Cartagena by 8pm that night (through what they later described as “interesting” conditions).
Yesterday we sailed – yes actually sailed, no engine, no motor, pure sail/wind power the whole 3 hours to Cartagena, arriving mid afternoon, having had a leisurely morning in Mazarron.
And now the touristy bit – Cartagena is a big naval base with a couple of marinas and steeped in history. Developed by Hasdrubal around 243BC it became the centre of Carthaginian influence in Europe.
Hasdrubal’s brother, Hannibal, used it as a base for his expedition across the Alps. The Romans duly destroyed the Carthaginian influence and St James the Great is said to have landed here in AD36 bringing Christianity from Palestine. It subsequently passed into the hands of the Barbarians and then the Moors. Philip II fortified the surrounding hills in the 16th Century and Drake stole its guns in 1585 and took them to Jamaica. Plus a whole lot more, including home of the Peral submarine, the original submarine invented by Isaac Peral, designed in 1884, built in Cadiz (which we visited on our last trip) and launched in 1888.
Hasdrubal’s brother, Hannibal, used it as a base for his expedition across the Alps. The Romans duly destroyed the Carthaginian influence and St James the Great is said to have landed here in AD36 bringing Christianity from Palestine. It subsequently passed into the hands of the Barbarians and then the Moors. Philip II fortified the surrounding hills in the 16th Century and Drake stole its guns in 1585 and took them to Jamaica. Plus a whole lot more, including home of the Peral submarine, the original submarine invented by Isaac Peral, designed in 1884, built in Cadiz (which we visited on our last trip) and launched in 1888.
Today we became tourists; we visited the Byzantine ramparts, the roman theatre which dates back to the 1st Century BC and walked up the Castle of La Concepcion, viewed the amphitheatre and had a two our lunch of Spanish tapas. Lots of photos soon to be uploaded, including a map so you can see where we’ve been and where we are soon to be going.
So we have finally made it back to being proper ‘cruisers’ visiting places, taking photos and reporting back, perhaps now I can start to get back on with my book… you never know I might even finish it.
May June 2011 - Denia to Ibiza via Calpe (for my birthday)
Our 55 mile sail across from Denia to Ibiza can be described as ‘uneventful’, we caught a rare known fish called a ‘large lump of smelly plastic’, saw a few Sun Fish (aka luna/moon fish) and a rare treat of a small turtle swimming by – it looked like a Hawks Bill, but not sure if you get them in the Med.Our first stop was San Antonio – home of Café Del Mar, Eden and numerous other night clubs. We used the government marina, which although much cheaper than normal marinas, means you have to encounter Civil Servants at their worst (sorry Marion) – Civil Servants with a uniform, radio and a signature stamp.
After filling in a myriad of forms and signing our life away we were then armed with our marina gate entry key and headed back to meet our friends on ‘Solent Clipper’, and their dog Fran, and persuade them that the first night in Ibiza should surely be spent watching the sun set at Café Del Mar, or in our case Café Savannah – which we frequented most evenings. The music was better, the service more friendly and the drinks cheaper (l1.5 litres of sangriaa mere €26 between four of us, and that gave us three drinks each – for those of you who wanted to know).
However, arriving at Ibiza Old Town and stepping back in history through the medieval fayre was a real experience. All of the streets were decorated and all of the vendors and participants were dressed accordingly. The stall vendors were making traditional goods and treats (peanut brittle hand rolled on a marble work top).
We weren’t sure that the miniature wrought iron singer sewing machine actually existing in Medieval times, but hey, who’s counting the centuries…the top of the Old Town was decked out like a medieval version of a ‘food court’ with all manner of meats and breads being cooked on massive hot plates and essence of sausage stew from huge caldrons wafting by.
As the day wore on, the sky darkened and the rain began so we headed back to San Antonio.
That night we were treated to an almighty electric storm right above our heads, which although stunning, is also quite worrying when you live on a boat – you have this big pointy mast which tends to attract the lightening – luckily both Alhambra and Solent Clipper were fine. However, being wimps we did not head round to Café Savannah and found out the next day that we missed one of the most amazing sunset skies they had ever seen.
The storm was directly in front of them and the sky was lit up with the lightening and then, as the clouds moved, a red glow appeared low on the sky and the sun dropped beneath the storm – same old story, wrong place, wrong time.
We weren’t sure that the miniature wrought iron singer sewing machine actually existing in Medieval times, but hey, who’s counting the centuries…the top of the Old Town was decked out like a medieval version of a ‘food court’ with all manner of meats and breads being cooked on massive hot plates and essence of sausage stew from huge caldrons wafting by. As the day wore on, the sky darkened and the rain began so we headed back to San Antonio.
The storm was directly in front of them and the sky was lit up with the lightening and then, as the clouds moved, a red glow appeared low on the sky and the sun dropped beneath the storm – same old story, wrong place, wrong time.
On Monday we moved on from San Antonio around the headland about five miles, out for our first real night at anchor, to a small bay (known as Cala’s) called Cala Salada (Salad Bay you and me). A pretty spot with a couple of beaches, dotted with naked people on them, (so I was informed by the boys), and a bar. The night was calm and as there was no light pollution, the night sky was simply flooded with stars. 
As the weather was calm we got the BBQ out for the first time this season and enjoyed a farewell meal with Solent Clipper who left this morning for Majorca. Today we headed back to the west of the island, spending another night at anchor in Cala Talida, before going back into San Antonio tomorrow as there is some bad weather coming over the weekend. After that we will head down to Formentera for a few days, cover the south coast and then make our way over to Majorca.
The main towns are clean and have all the variety of shops you could desire. As always, if you look beyond the publicity and hype of a place, you normally find that there is an interesting place to discover, you just have to delve into the ‘nooks and crannies’ to discover it.
As always we are missing you all and hope that you are taking care, and again, please stay in touch, we really like to hear from you.
June 2011 - Ibiza and Majorca
We met an English couple (Wayne and Cha, half Greek apparently) who winter their boat in San Antonio and have an apartment here. We sailed with them around the western end of Ibiza to a deserted cove, deserted apart from us, Wayne and Cha, a few other sail boats and a massive 100ft luxury yacht…
(it has an interesting dinghy platform with a terrace and patio umbrella!) It was an OK place, but David thought it reminded him of a quarry, so the following day we sailed the ten miles to Formentera and we anchored off a deserted private beach called Espalmador. The beach reminded us of the Bahamas and the water was crystal clear, but still not yet warm enough to go in. We took the dinghy for a ‘spin’ and stopped for a beer in a beach bar.
Along the beach it appeared there was some sort of TV or filming going on – not sure what or who was involved, we’ll have to look on the internet. Around 5pm all the other boats left the anchorage – obviously knew something we didn’t - but we were in for the night and had one of the calmest nights at anchor we have ever had. However, the weather the next morning was not looking good for the south of the island – we were planning to go via Ibiza Town, but we decided to err on the side of caution and went back to San Antonio to let the weather pass – it didn’t even reach us, but the ‘marianaro’s’ (port authority guys) told us we’d made the right decision.
Along the beach it appeared there was some sort of TV or filming going on – not sure what or who was involved, we’ll have to look on the internet. Around 5pm all the other boats left the anchorage – obviously knew something we didn’t - but we were in for the night and had one of the calmest nights at anchor we have ever had. However, the weather the next morning was not looking good for the south of the island – we were planning to go via Ibiza Town, but we decided to err on the side of caution and went back to San Antonio to let the weather pass – it didn’t even reach us, but the ‘marianaro’s’ (port authority guys) told us we’d made the right decision.
During our last few days in San Antonio I got friendly with the local butcher, each time I went in and practiced my Spanglish he very kindly gave me free stuff – extra burgers, sausages, garlic butter. Apparently Ibizan’s value good customers, if you return just once more they will more than likely treat you well. We found this out when we spent our last night in Café Savannah. We have been there three or four times to watch the sunset, and had been speaking with the manageress on previous occasions. When we arrived for sunset there were no tables free to watch the sunset. However, within minutes of arriving she spotted us and gave us one of the ‘reserved’ tables – these are apparently always reserved just in case ‘celebrities’ arrive, we were also treated to free Cava at the end of the night. So I think we can safely say that we are now classed as
The following day we took a leisurely sail back to Portinax and were greeted to a brief dolphin display and the next day we sailed across to Majorca into Andraixt was uneventful, apart from the dolphins (again). 
Andraixt is a very upmarket, pretty village on the south west side of Majorca, pretty streets, shops and cafes/bars to watch the world go by. 
We stayed two nights and then set off for Soller, about 25 miles along the north coast. Soller is the only refuge along the north coast and you have to wait for the right weather. We managed to have a perfect day – not for sailing, it was dead calm, inking water all the way, but once again we had a dolphin visitation. The bay and town are beautiful with a Victorian tram running from the main town of Soller into the port. 
We finished our time in Soller with a Summer Fiesta before sailing the rest of the north coast, around the pointy bit and into Pollensa.
I visited Pollensa 30 years ago with my family and my overwhelming memory is of sitting
looking at the marina with my mum as it poured with rain and, for three days we had to sit in the marina as a mistral wind and rain visited me again. As the weather was set for a few days we took the bu into Alcudia, again I last visted 30 years ago.
It is a huge sweeping bay, which when it’s not raining – it was, has a beautiful white beach and clear blue water, we just went to the chandlery instead.
It is a huge sweeping bay, which when it’s not raining – it was, has a beautiful white beach and clear blue water, we just went to the chandlery instead.
The weather has been mainly rubbish the last few days, although we have been able to be at anchor in the bay, which although we have been surrounded by thunderstorms for three days, is very calm.
Looking at today’s forecast the weather should be improving tomorrow (watch this space) and if that is the case we will sail the 35 miles over to Menorca. There are a few placed we want to visit there – David was last there 25 years ago – and then we’ll wait for a weather window to head to Barcelona.
For those of you who are interested, with all this bad weather I’ve managed to start writing ‘the book’ again, you never know it might get finished this year…
June/July 2011 - Menorca...then back to Majorca...before heading to Barcelona
Menorca was completely different to Ibiza and Mallorca, but unfortunately for us it was very
But we visited Ciutadella, one of the two old towns on Menorca, very gothic, very interesting and some life music in the evening to boot. Unfortunately due to rough seas we had to use the marina, which means you are tied to a wall with the ever present swell bashing you against it, and for this they charge you €50. 
Next port of call ,Cala Galdena (where David visited in his youth). A beautiful horse shoe bay with a huge rock in the middle with a restaurant a top looking down, all very nice, all very rolly. We stayed three days while we explored ashore walking around the cliffs and following the river through the gorge. While all this was happening we had heard from a friend that she would be visiting Menorca while we were there – she was holiday with a bunch of friends and they were staying in an enormous villa – best shower we’ve had in months…however, as the sea conditions were due to remain the same, and we could no longer stand any more rolling we sailed back to Majorca the next day.
We finished our time in Majorca by hiring a car and had a wonderful day driving all around the island. The Tramontana Mountains resemble the Alps (just not so high). The jagged rocks sprouting from every crevice like dinosaur’s teeth, interspersed with wild rosemary and pine. The roads are as breathtaking as the scenery is dramatic, hairpin bend after hairpin bend, sheer drops and only single track in places – an excellent way to end our stay in the Balearics, we had a wonderful time.
Barcelona – the 107 mile crossing to Barcelona was uneventful, apart from numerous pods of dolphins who visited, played in the bows and jumped out of the water all around. We arrived early and had to try and slow the boat down. We had booked into the Olimpic Marina, which is a little way out of the city, but right on the doorstep to the Metro, which we took full advantage of. We, as all tourists to Barcelona, visited the ‘unfinished’ Cathedral, (Sagrada Familia), the Gothic Quarter (with another cathedral visited), and Park Guell.
Due to bad weather we stayed a further day and this happened to be the summer solstice, in which the whole of Barcelona, and Spain, stay up all night and set off their own fireworks – no control, no direction, just set them off and hope for the best. We watched from the safety of our boat in the marina.
The Gulf is know for the Mistral and Tramontana winds which frequently whip down through the mountains and out the Gulf and across the Med – they can, and do, reach force 10 and bring with them big seas. So the right weather window is all important. So one night in the anchorage, another in the marina to get a good night’s rest and then we’ll be off, right – wrong…
…we are currently up a river in the Nautic Centre Marina awaiting a part for our gear box…as we picked up the anchor on Sunday morning and motored into the marina berth, David felt and heard a reoccurring noise, coupled with a vibration – we heard this before when we tried to go to Menorca, David dived under the boat and found a loose screw on the propeller anode and he thought this had fixed the problem, but no. He dived under again, no loose screws (I can hear you all making the same comment about loose screws on board…). He inspected the engine compartments with me advancing the throttle as instructed, ‘nope, I’m not happy I think we need an engineer to look at this.’ Duly on Tuesday morning a very nice engineer came along, inspected, advanced throttles and said, ‘you need a new gearbox damper, can you come to our marina, over the bay’.
July 4th 2011
Having finally left Spain (new gearbox damper fitted), we arrived in Marseille on Sunday 4th July, after 23 hours crossing the Gulf du Lion, and went into a marina on the Iles de Frioul, a group of four islands a mile from Marseille. One of the islands, Chateau D’If was built by King Francois in 1531 (not him personally), to protect Marseille I, but it soon became a prison, and its most famous prisoner was the Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas). After two nights on Frioul we went across to Marseille and took a berth in the Old Port.
(David wanted to do some maintenance on the engine as we still have a rattle. The replacement gearbox damper did not stop the rattle!) We spent the afternoon wandering around Old Marseille checking out the bars and chandleries. On Wednesday David stripped the engine down, cleaned out the burnt carbon, tidied and cleaned everything up and, just before he put everything back together, he manually turned the engine over...which stuck. It would turn a full rotation in both directions but would then jam. Many expletives later we went in search of a mechanic and arranged for one to visit at 8am the next day. 
At 8.30am the mechanic duly arrived. Much scratching of heads and many French shrugs later he agreed to come back at 4pm after David had stripped some more bits off the engine. Having spent two days removing, swearing, sweating, and getting generally filthy (him and the boat) David found what he thought was the problem. Some carbon had got jammed on the number 4 piston.....I won't bore you with the details, needless to say the engine wasn’t buggered, but we would need to replace some gaskets. Friday morning, back at the mechanics shop we find they only have two of the three gaskets that we need and they won't have one for another week. So David telephoned a UK chandlery and arranged for one to be UPS’d to us for Monday morning.
On Saturday evening, whilst indulging in
Moules et Frits, Marseille put on a ‘show of shows’. There were multiple band stands erected along the north side of the old port and each area showcased one of the many festivals that will be going on during the summer. We enjoyed jazz while we ate, watched flamenco dancing, body popping (?), saw a great little rock band – each member was dressed as an insect in a costume consisting of a large papier mache head and extending tail, they were really good fun. But the best were the two guys dressed as ‘bouncers’. You may need to use your imagination on this one…they were in oversized suites and had false heads (so their own head was inside the suit), but the false head was much smaller in ratio to the oversized suites, and they were wearing sunglasses.
They said nothing, but walked around the restaurants and bars ‘intimidating’ people. They forced smokers to put out their cigarettes and then cordoned them off with red and white danger tape and then just walked off. You had to be there but it was really funny to watch. A great way to end a not so great week.
So where are we now, I hear you ask. Yesterday we ‘out run’ a mistral and arrived in La Ciotat. Here’s the history bit…the Lumiere brothers invented cinema in La Ciotat. In 1895 ‘L’Arrivee du Train en Gare de La Ciotat’ was screened here. Also the game of Petanque was invented here by Jules Lenoir in June 1910. As he had very bad rheumatism he would play bowls and not move his feet. The name petanque derives from the Provencal expression ‘pes tancats’ meaning ‘feet anchored’…and now back to us…as the Mistral is set to last for two or three days we are forced to enjoy La Ciotat.
As the weather is force 7 (near gale – 30mph), gusting to force 9 (severe gale – 45mph) – we decided to stay in the marina today! But…today is Bastille Day and last night we were entertained by the locals. We set off early for a pre-dinner drink and found a bar with an excellent band playing. As the fireworks were starting at 10:30pm we returned to the boat for dinner, only to find lots of French people sitting in front of our boat eating and drinking. As we excused our way through the throng they asked if we would like some sardines which they were cooking on the BBQ. Obviously we agreed and within minutes we were given champagne, wine, cheese, bread, more sardines, more wine (one of them happens to be a local wine maker and we were trying his exceptionally nice white Chateaux Neuf du Pap). We watched the fireworks, ate some more, drank some more, talked in French as much as we could and then we find out that band we were watching earlier happens to be their friends and they are all going over to watch the them, would we like to join them?
We got up very late today!
So we are now truly ensconced in France and will be making our way along the coast – next stop St Tropez before meeting friends in Cannes, then onto Monaco.
July 20th 2011 - Major Accident...Nice Marina
I am fine, it has forced me into a diet as I am on antibiotics so I cant drink and I have lost my appetite, so at least I will loose some weight…and David is having to do all the cooking, he is being brilliant, I think he enjoys having control for once.
The doctor says that my finger should be healed in 15 days, but we need to check for infection which is why I have to back often.
Well, I’ll leave it there, but please do write as I think we may need some light relief over the coming
Aug 2011
We left Nice on 10th August and decided it would be best to only to go a few miles round the coast and ended up having a rolly night in Villefranche anchorage (left), but it was good to finally be out of a marina (even though there couldn’t have been a nicer place to get stuck for three weeks).
The following day we headed for San Remo,
just over the border from France, and passing Monaco along the way…here's what Monaco really looks like from the sea – you don’t get a lot of square footage for your millions of euros, but all the same it is a wonderful place, and some interesting power boats along the way.
The following day we headed for San Remo,
San Remo was a welcome surprise in many ways. Firstly you can tie up alongside in the harbour for three nights for free, yes free.
You don’t get electricity, but we make our own, and the water supply is a little way off, and the fishing fleet wake you up, and everyone goes by on their mopeds at all hours, but its free. And as for the town, particularly the Old Town, that was a delight.
We have been to many old towns in our travels, but most of them have been turned into touristy attractions, shops, bars, and restaurants, but here in San Remo it is a living breathing old town. A real maze of streets which evolved to stop pirates invading. The people built tunnels under their houses, confusing gateways which give no indication which way to go, it is dark, damp and dingy in places, and bright, light and airy in others. Turn one way and you enter a Square with a beautiful church, centuries old, turn another and a traditional baker greets you.
Everywhere you turn are little groups of tourists with a map that doesn’t lead you anywhere trying to find their way either in, or out of the town – I believe the townsfolk do not produce a proper map on purpose. That evening we went for dinner on the very edge of the old town, it was good food and not over priced as you would expect from a tourist town. That same evening we were entertained along the harbour by live music – accompanied by the two French brothers who had tied their boat alongside us, dancing the night away, bare foot, to the band. Apparently it was a birthday celebration, but the following night we found them singing and dancing on board their own boat…
We have been to many old towns in our travels, but most of them have been turned into touristy attractions, shops, bars, and restaurants, but here in San Remo it is a living breathing old town. A real maze of streets which evolved to stop pirates invading. The people built tunnels under their houses, confusing gateways which give no indication which way to go, it is dark, damp and dingy in places, and bright, light and airy in others. Turn one way and you enter a Square with a beautiful church, centuries old, turn another and a traditional baker greets you.
We tried to stay a fourth night as we had found out that it was a national holiday in Italy and there would be an amazing firework display. Unfortunately we were moved on by the Navy who run the port – the fireworks are launched from fishing port so all the fishing fleet have to move into where we were. As we sailed away from the port we could see the massive number of firework launchers being laid out. Yes it would have been a fantastic display, but not sure I would have wanted to be that close to them.
Our original plan had been to make an overnight crossing to Corsica and then over to Elba but we had been told of some lovely anchorages and bays along the Gulf of Genoa and decided to coast hop our way to Elba instead. The first stop was just a beach off which we could anchor in Finale Ligure, unfortunately it was really rolly and at about 11pm David and I were rolled so badly we got up. As it happened we were just in time to see the end of the local town’s firework display – not as big as San Remo’s, but fireworks all the same.
The entire promontory, both bay side and sea side, was covered in paraffin wax torches (like big tea lights). They were everywhere, people were everywhere, and boats were everywhere coming and going in and out of the bay. We walked to the top of the hill where the ‘stripy’ church sits, between what seemed like a thousand lights, up over large boulders and to the medieval castle where you could look through ‘lookout posts’ to the rocks below, all covered in torches. It was beautiful, accentuated even more so by the beautiful sunset beyond, the mountainous terrain all around and the sound of the military band below in the town. And it was all for the procession that followed.
Four large and what looked extremely heavy, crosses carried in front of the glass box encasing the white Madonna, carried by four ‘lucky’ men of the town. The band followed and interspersed were the clergy of the church and is parishioners all carrying candles and singing along with the head of the church (who voice was being transmitted over three large sets of wifi speakers, carried by the ‘yoof’ of the church). It was well worth seeing, if not a bit frenetic at times and overwhelming a lot of the time with sheer number of people. 
And so tomorrow (Friday 19th Aug) we set off for Elba, from there onto Rome, Naples, Pompeii, through the Messina Straits and over to Corfu. Our plan is to get to a marina in Greece where we can winter (cheaply). So lots to do, but there will be many updates before then…and I can hear you all asking about my injuries. Everything is on the mend, I wear a big, oversized sailing glove when we are on the move, but it will be a couple of months until everything is properly healed and the swelling has gone down… I am of course older and wiser because of the experience
Aug 2011 - Elba (meeting with Ian, Jenny, Fran the Dog on Solent Clipper)
From here we decided (with Ian, Jenny and Fran) to take a bus tour of the island, interspersed with a trip up Monte Capanne (1018m/3300ft high). This consisted of a 20 minute cable car ride up the mountain, through the valley, surrounded by chestnut trees. Its just that its not quite what you expect from a cable car, its more of a two man cage, in bright yellow, which does not disengage for you to get on, more you sort of take a running jump as the assistant opens the door and throws you in. 
The journey to the top is stunning as the village below disappears before your eyes. As you reach the top you cannot see the alighting point or the woman who is going to open the door, grab your arm and yank you out of the cage, all good fun. You then hike up to the very top (in about 30 degrees heat) but are greeted with a stunning view of the whole of Elba, Corsica and many other little islands all around, shielded by the low level cloud below. The descent is a similar experience, unless you are Fran and cannot understand why your owners are trying to put you into a cage and throw you over a cliff edge, but she was fine in the end – a very brave dog.
We left Elba on Monday 28 August and coast hopped for two stops along the mainland and then finally on 31st August we sailed, yes sailed the whole 22 miles to Fiumicino, no engine just wind power, it was fabulous. We were aiming for the Fiumicino Canal where Solent Clipper is moored. You have to wait for two bridges to open in order to get up the canal, which only open at 06:30am and 08:00pm, so we didn’t need to get there too early, and at 3mph we would take all day anyway, we arrived around 5:30pm and tied up alongside a huge fishing boat waiting for the bridge to open. And that’s where we are now, rafted up to Solent Clipper and will be here for a few days yet.
On Friday we went into Rome (by train and metro) and then boarded a ‘hop on hop off’ tourist bus to see the sights of Rome. I have never been to Rome, David has many years ago, but he was on business so only saw the highlights. 
Well, what can I say, it is one of the most amazing, jaw dropping, speechless making cities I have ever been to. I will not even begin to start with what, where when we saw, but everything was just breathtaking, at every turn another sight awaits, from all ages, in all states of repair.
We spent 6 hours and took in as much as we could in that first day, which is why we are staying longer. Monday we are going back so that we can visit the Vatican.
I can honestly say I have never been so awestruck by any place as much as I was by Rome.
I am sure there are other places with as much to offer, but Rome blew me away (as they say).
I will report back on the Vatican later in the week.
Aug 2011
We have now spent two full days in Rome’s city centre and can fully understand the saying ‘Rome wasn’t’ built in a day’.
Rome was built over a number centuries, and all of its inhabitants have firmly placed their mark and insignia on is buildings, facades, statues and parks.
Two days is not enough to see everything, but its enough to get the ‘gist’ of what its about, a whole day could be devoted to the Vatican City alone, never mind the unimaginable amount of relatively unknown works of art hidden in side street churches and museums.
Rome was built over a number centuries, and all of its inhabitants have firmly placed their mark and insignia on is buildings, facades, statues and parks.
Two days is not enough to see everything, but its enough to get the ‘gist’ of what its about, a whole day could be devoted to the Vatican City alone, never mind the unimaginable amount of relatively unknown works of art hidden in side street churches and museums.
We spent Monday walking around St Peter’s Square and Basilica, failed to go to the Vatican and failed to get up the Dome (we queued for over an hour and gave up, we think it would have been another hour to get to the ticket office!). However St Peter’s Basilica is enough for one day, and we didn’t see it all. We were advised to go at lunchtime, when everyone else is having lunch – a good move as we practically walked into the Basilica without having to wait.
Through security and bag search and you’re in, along with a few hundred other tourists. If you judge your positioning correctly you can get to see all that you want to see.
For the remainder of our time in Rome we have been busy on the boat, fixing things, writing my book and all the other stuff we do when we are not being tourists. We are staying here until Saturday –midweek the bridge only opens at 6:30 am or 8pm – on Saturday it opens at 8am – when we will head down the coast for Naples area, from there we can visit Pompeii.
We have just under a 1000 miles to get to where we want to put the boat for winter (Greece) and that should take us to the end of October (allowing for weather etc). Each day my fingers are getting better, I am now doing ‘desensitization’ exercises, the nerves all have to learn to be a bit harder – at the moment everything I touch makes me jump with a sharp tingling feeling – very odd. Apparently people who study Karate do his, so by the time I’ve finished I will be able to break a brick in half with my bare hands
We have just under a 1000 miles to get to where we want to put the boat for winter (Greece) and that should take us to the end of October (allowing for weather etc). Each day my fingers are getting better, I am now doing ‘desensitization’ exercises, the nerves all have to learn to be a bit harder – at the moment everything I touch makes me jump with a sharp tingling feeling – very odd. Apparently people who study Karate do his, so by the time I’ve finished I will be able to break a brick in half with my bare hands
Sept 2011
We left Rome on 10th September and headed for the Isle of Ponza one of five islands that makes up the Pontine Islands, 25 miles away. I thought that Rome was stunning, seeing what man can do in a few centuries was outstanding; well man has nothing on Mother Nature.
Ponza was inhabited from the Palaeolithic times (so the book tells me), and in 313BC the Romans colonised the island (they seemed to get everywhere). After the Romans left, it was ravaged by pirates (again the pirates got everywhere and left a chain of restaurants, as there is a ‘Pirate’ restaurant everywhere we go!). Then the Bourbons took hold until tourism took over in the 20 Century. (I could do a joke about biscuits but that would be a bit obvious!)
However, the rock formations on this island are something to behold, they are like nothing I have ever seen. I will quote from the guide because it sums it up perfectly. ‘a geological feast of metamorphosed rock twisted and compressed every which way and then eroded by the wind and sea to further the effect’.
White, yellow, grey and black rock faces stand side by side, the rock strata are vertical, not horizontal and one particular formation looks like a mermaid carved out of white marble, until you get close and realise it is just a strange formation in the rock. Needless to say we stayed to explore.
Ponza was inhabited from the Palaeolithic times (so the book tells me), and in 313BC the Romans colonised the island (they seemed to get everywhere). After the Romans left, it was ravaged by pirates (again the pirates got everywhere and left a chain of restaurants, as there is a ‘Pirate’ restaurant everywhere we go!). Then the Bourbons took hold until tourism took over in the 20 Century. (I could do a joke about biscuits but that would be a bit obvious!) However, the rock formations on this island are something to behold, they are like nothing I have ever seen. I will quote from the guide because it sums it up perfectly. ‘a geological feast of metamorphosed rock twisted and compressed every which way and then eroded by the wind and sea to further the effect’.
From here we ‘hopped’ over to the island of Ischia, believed to be the dwelling place of Typhoeus, a hundred headed monster who is said to be the father of the Chimaeras and the Hydra. He was vanquished by Zeus, with some other giants, which upset him a bit so he got his own back by causing earthquakes and eruptions.
The island is covered in sub-tropical vegetation and is has natural hot springs, for which you need special permission to drink or bath in. We didn’t have permission so we just bathed in the sea! Then it was just a quick 16 miles over to the island of Capri.
The island is covered in sub-tropical vegetation and is has natural hot springs, for which you need special permission to drink or bath in. We didn’t have permission so we just bathed in the sea! Then it was just a quick 16 miles over to the island of Capri.
‘Capri’, I hear you all shout, ‘the infamous, beautiful Capri’. Well, if you stay in the only marina on the island they charge €205 per night for the pleasure, yes in September, not even July or August, and on top of that they charge you to use the showers.
We umm’d and err’ed about how many nights we should stay…then went south of the island and anchored. This side of the island is where Gracie Fields had a villa built, among with a few other famous people – Emil von Behring, (discoverer of the tetanus inoculation), Friedrich Krupp the German arms manufacturer (?) and an eccentric Swedish doctor, Axel Munthe. Ashore it is a bit like going back in time to the 1960s.The buildings are all square, a bit run down, and painted in reds and blues, the beach is typical Italian pebbles and it looks a bit sorry for itself.
However the rock formations where we were anchored were again astounding, not as interesting as Ponza, but huge, great sea stacks rising out of the sea, hundreds of feet high, with caverns and hollows worn away by centuries of sea erosion.
Unfortunately there is one particular ‘hole’ in Isola Farmaglioni, which the Italians in their power boats feel it is necessary to go through at ‘warp’ speed. We read that every Italian destroyer in the navy has a photo of itself steaming through at 30 knots, and every Italian wishes to emulate the navy!
However the rock formations where we were anchored were again astounding, not as interesting as Ponza, but huge, great sea stacks rising out of the sea, hundreds of feet high, with caverns and hollows worn away by centuries of sea erosion.
Unfortunately there is one particular ‘hole’ in Isola Farmaglioni, which the Italians in their power boats feel it is necessary to go through at ‘warp’ speed. We read that every Italian destroyer in the navy has a photo of itself steaming through at 30 knots, and every Italian wishes to emulate the navy!
After the excitement of Italian men in bright green ‘budgie smugglers’ going through a hole in the rocks all day we knew it was time to leave and so we made our way to Salerno. From here we can visit Pompeii by train. After finally finding where we could leave the boat, and negotiating with a ‘local’ for the price of three nights on his dock we went off to explore Salerno. It is a big industrial town, but has a well preserved ‘old town’, which we found by accident, as well as a modern city centre shopping district. However we found, again by accident, a restaurant that had an offer of a ‘taster meal’, four courses and a glass of wine for €5…too good a deal to miss out on.
And then we went to Pompeii
What can I say? Here is an incredible place that is difficult to describe in words (yes even for me). As most of you will know Pompeii was buried by a layer of ash and pumice in AD79 when Mount Vesuvius erupted killing over 2000 people of the estimated population of 20,000. However, because of the layer of ash, the city of Pompeii was preserved, and not discovered until the 16th Century and not until 1748 did excavations begin (continuing until the present day).
The whole site is in different states of excavation, the western side being the most preserved and uncovered. Whole streets or houses, shops and gardens exist. The pavements and roads are all in tact, with what look like the first examples of a zebra crossing.
The pavements are higher than the road (as we have today) and every 50 meters or so there are crossing stones to get from one side to the other, presumably so that people would not have to walk in the roads which would have been covered in dirt, sewage water and horse manure. There are gaps between the stones so that the horse carriages could go through. We wondered if this is why our modern day crossing are black and white, as there is a distinct change of colour caused by the shadow between the stones.
There were many examples of shops that had a marble bar area with two or three sunken holes, we later found out that these were food shops, an early day take away, apparently the Romans rarely cooked at home. Most of the houses have frescos on the walls, or mosaics on the floor, in near perfect condition. The different array of brickwork from building to building shows how ingenious the Romans were and you can see how one man would try to out do his neighbour by having ‘prettier’ brickwork.
The Forum (yes a funny thing happened on the way there…you probably have to be a certain age to remember Frankie Howard), is a large, expansive area where the city’s town hall, administrative buildings and basilica are found.
Along the side of the forum the phenomenal amount of artefacts that have been found are stored in what looks like a Roman version of a DIY store or garden centre. There are rows and rows of Greek urns, (what’s a Greek urn…about £5 a week….Morecom and Wise joke circa 1970), and marble tables, statues and wall ornaments. In among them are three ‘bodies’. I believe that when the excavators found where a body had been buried they made a plaster cast of the shape that was left in the ash and I think it is these ‘casts’ that we were looking at.
In any case it is when you see a ‘person’ for the first time you suddenly get a sense of the tragic scene at which you are looking at. All the while walking around the preserved city you are astounded by the building skills of the Romans, it is not until you come across a person that you remember what happened here and how awful it must have been. Apparently many people suffocated to death rather than being burned or buried.
As you walk away from this storage area and look up beyond the Forum, Mount Vesuvius rises 4,000 ft above you in the not too distant landscape, and you realise the people of Pompeii would have had no-where to run, and didn’t.
Pompeii leaves you with a sense of the magnificence of the Romans, the power of nature in Vesuvius and the tragedy that happened here that allows us, centuries later, to explore a way of life in all its habitats.
Along the side of the forum the phenomenal amount of artefacts that have been found are stored in what looks like a Roman version of a DIY store or garden centre. There are rows and rows of Greek urns, (what’s a Greek urn…about £5 a week….Morecom and Wise joke circa 1970), and marble tables, statues and wall ornaments. In among them are three ‘bodies’. I believe that when the excavators found where a body had been buried they made a plaster cast of the shape that was left in the ash and I think it is these ‘casts’ that we were looking at. 
As you walk away from this storage area and look up beyond the Forum, Mount Vesuvius rises 4,000 ft above you in the not too distant landscape, and you realise the people of Pompeii would have had no-where to run, and didn’t.
Pompeii leaves you with a sense of the magnificence of the Romans, the power of nature in Vesuvius and the tragedy that happened here that allows us, centuries later, to explore a way of life in all its habitats.
So where are we now – currently sitting out a huge thunderstorm that started at 4am this morning and is planned to go on all day.
Luckily we are tucked up safe in Agropoli harbour (free for three nights). From here we will continue south to the Aeolian Islands, these include the island of Stromboli which is an active volcano which we plan to sail past over night (apparently the best way to see it). Then we will negotiate the Messina Strait, then it just another couple hundred of miles to Greece. We should be there in time for tea and cakes…
Luckily we are tucked up safe in Agropoli harbour (free for three nights). From here we will continue south to the Aeolian Islands, these include the island of Stromboli which is an active volcano which we plan to sail past over night (apparently the best way to see it). Then we will negotiate the Messina Strait, then it just another couple hundred of miles to Greece. We should be there in time for tea and cakes…
Sept/Oct 2011
Well we have finally arrived in Greece, Corfu to be exact, after what can only be described as a very hard couple of weeks.
When I last wrote we were waiting out a thunderstorm in Agropoli; we stayed four days to let the weather pass. We had one final stop on the western side of mainland Italy and then made a night passage to the Aeolion Islands (aka Lipari Islands) which are made up of seven islands.
My guide book tells me that "they take their name from Aeoleus, the god of the winds. It was Aeoleus who gave Odysseus the contrary winds tied up in a bag, but near to Ithaca his sailors opened up the bag believing there was treasure inside and yet again they we blown away from their homeland." This is probably why the wind is still so contrary, either a full blown gale or none at all.
My guide book tells me that "they take their name from Aeoleus, the god of the winds. It was Aeoleus who gave Odysseus the contrary winds tied up in a bag, but near to Ithaca his sailors opened up the bag believing there was treasure inside and yet again they we blown away from their homeland." This is probably why the wind is still so contrary, either a full blown gale or none at all.
That said, we sailed by Stomboli in the early hours of the morning. Stromboli, dubbed ‘the lighthouse’ of the Mediterranean from ancient times to present. It is a conical volcano rising over 3,000ft (nearly 1000m) and is in an almost continuous state of activity. However, unlike other volcanos is releases pressure day by day, bit by bit, so that you can see an ‘eruption’ about every twenty minutes, burning bright red fire up into the sky followed by a red flow of lava down its northwest slopes. It is one of those rare sights that makes you go ‘wow’ and use that teenage statement ‘awesome!’, it truly is a sight to behold, taking your breath away every time it erupts. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to take a photograph of the eruptions, not from five miles away, on a moving boat, swaying on the sea swell and wind, but a night passage worth waiting for.
We continued down the island chain and anchored off the island of Vulcano. An island composed of extinct volcano craters and one active crater, which last erupted in 1890, surrounded by bubbling mud pools and hot mineral springs from the sea bed. These mud pools attract all sorts of people, all shapes and sizes to sit in a bubbling mud pool breathing in the ever present smell of sulphur, they then walk, or rather waddle like a toddler whose had an ‘accident’ in their pants, off to the sea to wash the dried, cracked mudpack off their entire bodies.
The eastern rim is covered with fumaroles, expelling more toxic fumes and smoke, which once you have circumnavigated the rim, you can walk through – and if you’re stupid enough, yes we saw people do this, you can put your hand directly into the fumaroles and scream in German scheeisa, its hot! We’re not sure what she was expecting from a hole that reaches into the centre of the earth…anyway hopefully the photographs will be more explanatory.
Our next adventure was to be the Straits of Messina – renowned strong tides, whirlpools and eddies (known as bastardi in Italian!) – you have to get your timing right when you enter the Straits, certainly don’t go through with any wind against you, preferably with the tide behind you. Well, we didn’t have any wind, but we brilliantly planned to arrive just as the tide turned, against us. It is some of the strangest water I have seen, one side of the boat was oily, flat calm, the other was like looking into a washing machine; it wasn’t difficult, just strange.
Luckily there was very little commercial traffic to negotiate and we continued down to Reggio di Calabria, the only ‘marina’ on the mainland side of the Straits. Here they charged us handsomely for a berth, shower and toilet facilities in a porto-cabin and no fuel dock (we had to walk into town with a jerry can). Fortunately we met four English guys and got ‘dragged, kicking and screaming’ out to dinner to a very local restaurant – probably the best meal we’ve had in Italy. We had every type of anti-pasti conceivable, followed by the best mushroom pasta and then five different types of fish, followed by fresh fruit, cinnamon brownies dipped in some sort of sweet spirit. After drinks back on board finally we left the others at 3am – they were leaving at 4am to go across to Greece…rather them than us, we stayed in bed.
Luckily there was very little commercial traffic to negotiate and we continued down to Reggio di Calabria, the only ‘marina’ on the mainland side of the Straits. Here they charged us handsomely for a berth, shower and toilet facilities in a porto-cabin and no fuel dock (we had to walk into town with a jerry can). Fortunately we met four English guys and got ‘dragged, kicking and screaming’ out to dinner to a very local restaurant – probably the best meal we’ve had in Italy. We had every type of anti-pasti conceivable, followed by the best mushroom pasta and then five different types of fish, followed by fresh fruit, cinnamon brownies dipped in some sort of sweet spirit. After drinks back on board finally we left the others at 3am – they were leaving at 4am to go across to Greece…rather them than us, we stayed in bed.
The final part of our Italian adventure has been hard work and not really enjoyable, apart from the sunsets – I won’t bore you, but there is not very much along the southern coast of Italy, marinas are far and few between and the weather and sea conditions can get nasty. All of this means that we have spent a week or more doing 10-12 hour days sails in big, steep seas, the boat either crashing down into them or, if we were beam on to them, being rolled from side to side. Finally, having monitored the weather, knowing there was bad weather coming, we decided to miss a final stop off and just make our way directly to Greece. This meant a 25 hour sail, in lumpy seas, with not very much wind, arriving in the dark, anchoring in an unknown bay, which was also rolly and just one mile off the coast of Albania.
October 2011
We have now reached our final destination for winter – Messolonghi Marina – a few miles into the Gulf of Corinth, about 50-60 miles west of the Corinth Canal.
Our final few days were spent dodging thunderstorms and torrential rain, trying to find towns and villages with the last knockings of the summer season still going on and finally realising that the cold nights had set in and we needed to be in a marina with mains power so that we can plug the heater in (bbbbrrrrrrrr). However, in the Ionian we managed to visit Guovia on Corfu, the little town of Patarias on the mainland, then on to Preveza (a very nice town quay with some of the best tapas, or meze, we’ve had). We then negotiated the Lefkas Canal, tied up to the town quay for a night before running off to hide from the thunderstorms in the Lefkas marina. We had a final meal out in Sivota (on lefkas) and a final night in Varthi on Ithaca.
Having walked around for ten minutes we quickly found friends who we hadn’t seen since March, back in Almerimar, who are also wintering here, and other friends who we sailed with in 2009. 
On our first night here we found our way to the local café/bar…all of 100 yards from the end of our pier. It appears that Wednesdays are ‘BYOGOOIASAN’ bring your own guitar or other instrument and sing along night. We stayed out too late, drank too much, and embarrassed myself by singing along and getting roped into a whole host of other things.
By Thursday morning, not having been here 24 hours I had my first hangover, was signed up to do the ‘Net’ on Tuesday (a radio broadcast on the VHF radio which gives information to other boaters/cruisers/livaboards etc) and will be running the Friday night quiz night (the first was last night, and very well attended, even got the owner, Dimitri, to put up a bottle of wine as a prize), but did you really expect anything less from me!
So now we have just over three weeks to get some of the jobs done and winterise the boat before we leave and head back to the UK for a couple of months.
This year, since leaving Almerimar on 23rd April, we have sailed, or rather travelled 2,057 miles, cruising along the coast of southern Spain, over to and around the Balearics (Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca), back over to Spain to Barcelona, along to the south of France (where we had an imposed extended stay in Nice), past Monaco and into Italy. We travelled down the west coast of Italy and went to many of its islands (Elba, Ponza, Capri, Vulcano to name a few).
Finally we travelled along the ‘sole of Italy’ before making the longest sail of the season over to Greece (Corfu). We sailed on 66 days out of 180, we did 4 night sails, anchored out 64 nights, were on town quays 13 nights and spent 98 nights in marinas (a month forced).
We have visited many places that were beautiful, awe inspiring and amazing, both naturally and by man’s own hands. We have met, as always, many new friends along the way, and parted with others who have gone in different directions. We have climbed, walked and swam, and sailed by an active, firing volcano, spitting red, molten lava down its sides, and we have climbed up and looked into an active crater, as it billowed yellow sulphur into clear blue sky. All in all a very active and fulfilling season, one with very fond memories, and some not so fond.
But with all good things, they come to an end and the 2011 cruising season is coming to its close. We will prepare Alhambra for her winter here in Greece and hope that the ‘mildew monster’ does not find its way inside, so that we can return next year to a clean boat, ready for a year of short, hopefully, sailing hops around the intricate islands of the Ionian. For those of you who we will see on our return to the UK, we look forwarded to catching up, for those who live in far off remote places around the world, we look forward to staying in touch by e-mail over the winter.
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