First let me apologise for the lack of news! A mixture of circumstances has meant that I have only now have the right combination of time, wifi and head space to put fingers to keyboard!
We are now in Trapani, Sicily on the last leg of this inaugural trip for us and Mossy Joe and it seems incredible that our 7 weeks are nearly at an end!
Let’s go back a week or so! The days between arriving in Tunisia and arriving in Sicily were packed with adventure, misadventure, laughter and a small amount of drama.
Our first fully awake day in Bizerte was a quiet one, Jacques and Bernard fixed various things and I worked courtesy of the portable wifi that Kais had provided to us. Our European wifi we switched off as the cost would have been astronomical and our own phones decided that we had exceeded any possible limit that Vodafone could regulate. This kind of challenge was part of the trial for how this lifestyle will pan out full time.
As an aside we are looking at Starlink – one of Elon Musk’s services. There is a product they offer that is specifically for boats out at sea. It will be weird though to have a satellite dish on Mossy Joe!
This was our hottest day so far at 27 degrees and we had all of the portholes open to ventilate. Despite the wonderful temperature, the forecast for the coming 5-6 days was not in our favour so knowing that we would not be moving for some time we made plans to be tourists for a few days!
Our first tourist visit was to the old port in Bizerte at night. Very charming, yet oddly quiet due to the time of year and Ramadan. Bernard had been here before a few summers ago and did not recognise the place compared to the vibrancy, noise, smells and colours he had experienced. We had food at the only place that was open and although we were pleased to eat a proper meal for the first time in 3 days the meal was of a dubious quality.
We found out the following day that our timing to go to the old port was completely out of sync. We had been there around 7.30 and what we had not realised is that most families eat at home as soon as the sun goes down around 6.30 and afterwards venture out to meet friends for coffee, sweet treats etc. Had we been in the old port after 9.30 it would have been buzzing!
For the weekend we hired a car so that our tourist exploits could go further afield. We had also heard a rumour that the bigger supermarkets in the capital, Tunis, would allow tourists to buy alcohol and that there would be tourist restaurants open serving food (and wine!!!) during the day!
Tunis was another place that Bernard had visited before so Jacques drove the 70 km trip and Bernard and I navigated. Some of you may know that I am not known for my ability to map read but between us, we would be fine I thought – especially given Bernard’s in depth knowledge of the area.
It was as we got closer to the multitude of exits for Tunis that Bernard confessed that he may have mixed up his knowledge of Tunis with Casablanca or possibly Algiers!!!
We found our way to the city centre and what madness that was! I have been to Medinas before with seemingly endless crowds of families, babies in pushchairs, guys on bicycles, loud fuming motorbikes, carts selling colourful plastic objects, clothes, shoes, bags, police blowing whistles, the noise and the tightly packed people giving the impression that no one is making any progress unless they push, jostle or just step out in front of moving traffic!
My previous experience of Medinas or similar in Morocco, India, Turkey have all been on foot so to try to move through one in a 4 door Chevy was something else!! How no one was injured I have no idea! We were lost (it certainly was Casablanca that Bernard was thinking of!) and desperate to park the car and get around on foot but at every turn the road became narrower and packed with more people who had no fear in walking straight across our path – the saving grace was that we could only move at 5 mph!
We gave up and headed out of the city to the coast and a fabulous tourist restaurant with magnificent views and fabulous food. The Cliff.
We decided to move back to Tunis to see the night time Medina and the weaving lanes of the Souk but this time with advice from Kais for parking!
It only took us 3 times around the centre to find the car park and on entry our car was searched by security. It seems there is still a high level of potential terrorist threat as well as civil unrest due to the President having dissolved Parliament and now ruling by decree.
We had a wonderful evening! Our push through the Medina was brief but our walk through the city, a stop for a tea and visit to the Souk just after sundown was magical.
We were told by Kais that visiting the Souk Cafe was a must. When we (eventually) found it, the doorway was tucked in a corner, nothing special and very easy to miss. What a joyous, unexpected and huge place it turned out to be. Floor after floor (I lost count but at least 5) of room and nooks and cubbyholes, all beautifully if somewhat eclectically decorated, offering comfortable spaces to meet, have coffee, tea, chocolate drinks and treats! When we entered is was almost empty but by the time we had gone up to the roof and returned to the ground floor it was packed.
We left Tunis centre for a quick trip to the biggest Supermarket in the area – alas, although they would normally sell booze to tourists this was not the case during the entire duration of Ramadan. We were desperately low on red wine so we just consoled ourselves by buying more chocolate and headed home.
Another short aside. I had been to Tunisia a very long time ago (30ish years?) with my dear friend Bob! After our night out in Tunis I was racking my brain to remember any aspects of my previous visit to Tunisia so I turned to Bob to see if she could recall where we had stayed, what we did etc. as I had very little recollection. Bob was not too sure but knew that we had taken a train north to visit Tunis for the day and kindly sent me these photos as a reminder! What a surprise! Hope you can see the surprise too and acknowledge the evidence that my memory is shot!
This has been a very long post and I still have not given all the news about our time in Tunisia. We saw some other places north of Bizerte, due to my navigation nearly drove off of a cliff edge and had some fabulous chilled time on board.
The sad news is that Bernard had to return home just before we left Tunisia as he had a medical emergency and the doctors agreed that the procedure he needed would be best provided in France with home rest. Latest news is that all is well. Although he was only with us for a week we had some great fun and we miss him very much.
Hugs and kisses to Bernard for a speedy recovery.
Back soon with our departure from Tunisia and Italy here we come (again!)
It’s been a few days since my last post and although the day after arriving in Tunisia was a wipe out due to tiredness I have no excuse for not getting on with this sooner as we have done very little all week! Until yesterday! More on that later! And in advance sorry for lack of photos – you will understand why!
The crossing from Sardinia to Tunisia was a mixture of 18 hours of great joy, great fear and a lot of biscuit and chocolate eating!
The only other time I have been involved in a night crossing was from Corsica to Elba. This was 12 hours and the ‘watch’ was literally that – watching with the naked eye in the pitch dark trying to work out if the lights that could be seen meant a boat coming towards, away or across us! Also, if we were seeing a another small sailing boat or a huge oil tanker!! Scary stuff!
This time we had the wonder of Radar which picks up anything that moves, also AIS which identifies other boats in the vicinity, as long as they have the AIS system as well.
Late afternoon, just before sunset, we were sailing beautifully and then on the horizon heading from east to west we spotted an ENORMOUS boat that was picked up on the Radar but not on AIS. On closer inspection i.e. with the binoculars, it was obvious that it was a military air craft carrier with a destroyer ship just behind it! You can imagine that we were not able to identify the nationality, nor did I risk taking any photos!!
Sunset was beautiful and set us all thinking about the night ahead!
Jacques took first watch from 9pm to 11pm so Bernard and I just chilled, dozed, read etc. until next watch which was Bernard’s at 11pm to 1am. During this time Jacques slept and I dozed and kept half an eye on what Bernard was doing to see how the systems worked. Jacques did 1am to 3am watch, I went off to sleep but before I did I insisted that he should wake me in 2 hours as I felt confident enough to do the 3am to 5am watch. The watch rule is always, if in doubt ‘Wake Up Jacques’ but with all that technology it should be a doddle I thought! What I hadn’t considered was the closer we got to the coast of Africa, the shipping lane turns into the M25 on a Friday afternoon except with slightly greater speeds!
Radar tells you what boats are around you, how big they are, how fast they are travelling and most importantly, based on current speeds, at what time and at what distance it will be at the closest point to you. I had worried that at 3am I would not be very alert but suddenly seeing all those ships and the responsibility of tracking them kept me very awake! I would look at the screen and then jump up to look out of the window to see if I could match the info with a actual sighting!
Around 4am I was monitoring about 9 boats on the radar within a 12 mile radius, some looked as though they were on a direct course for us but nothing came closer than 3 miles until at 4.20 am this HUGE Russian tanker, 400 metres long, travelling at twice our speed seemed dead set towards us! Radar stated that in 20 minutes it would be .5 of a mile away at its closest point and that was too close for me so I had to invoke the ‘Wake Up Jacques’ rule!
It turned out that it did end up some distance away from us without us having to change course but it was a scary few minutes for me! By then, we were all awake so tea was made and biscuits and cakes were eaten!
Sunrise around 5.30am was magnificent and brought a sigh of relief to me at least!
We arrived in Bizerte at 7am local time (strangely on same time zone as UK) 8am in the timezone we had come from and the excellent harbour staff were there to help us moor up. I can’t honestly remember what we did for the next few hours – in a strange daze of eating, dozing, drinking tea!
Tunisia is known for having some ‘interesting’ arrival procedures for boats so we had engaged the services of a Yacht Agency and our agent Kais was, and continues to be, superb in his help. In our still dazed state he helped to facilitate Police and Customs (who did remind me of a couple of gangsters from a bad movie!) boarding the boat, translating where required, filling out many forms and paying the obligatory ‘fees’ i.e. backsheesh!
I had to show the Customs guy every bottle of booze we had on board (you can imagine that took a while!). They eventually left, smiling and then we had to go to the Port office and have mug shots and fingerprints taken!!
Well that was more than enough excitement for the day and it was only 11 am except we had the embers of energy to make a shopping trip to Carrefour (still a great deal of French influence in Tunisia) where we wandered around aimlessly (like I do at Xmas staring at the Mince Pies!) The realisation that is was Ramadan and no alcohol could be purchased didn’t really sink in just then!!! It certainly has now!
This has been a huge amount of words without many pictures so I’ll leave it there until next time when more of our adventures will be aired!!
One picture of my two fabulous sailors, out in Bizerte Old Port the evening following our arrival!
Quick update on the last couple of days as we are just about to head to Tunisia – 120 miles and approx. 18 hours journey overnight so that we arrive in the Marina in Bizerte in the morning just in time for breakfast!
We arrived in Villasimius on the south easterly tip of Sardinia midday Easter Sunday, to await the arrival of our next guest and great sailing friend of ours, Bernard.
Bernard will be with us for the rest of the journey up until 30th April and taking in the two long treks from Sardinia to Tunisia and then Tunisia to Sicily.
We moored up quite easily with the help of the marina staff, only to notice when we were safely tied up that there was a slight problem!
The quay was about 3 feet higher than the boat exit point! Our gangplank (the metal one) formed a rather steep ladder – possibly feasible to leave the boat but to get back on?? Even without a couple of glasses of Prosecco it would be a challenge! The marina staff found us the yellow wooden one which did reach from a higher point on the boat to the quay but barely!! Again, not exactly Health & Safety compliant!
We ended up moving the boat so that we were alongside the quay – no need for a gangplank – now just required the ability to step over the boat rails and jump from the side of the boat to the concrete quay!
Soon after that adventure, Bernard arrived and it was very emotional! Not sure if Jacques’ emotion was more about the bottle of Ricard that Bernard brought than seeing his dearest friend!
An aside about Bernard – Bernard has been sailing since he was a boy and it was with his encouragement that Jacques chartered a boat and set off for the first time on holiday to the Med some 25 years ago! Jacques and Bernard have sailed many times together including in recent years the ‘Route du Jasmin’ which is an organised 3 week rally from the south of France to Tunisia via Corsica and Sardinia (sound familiar?). When Jacques, some years back, was heard to say that if he ever had his own boat, his dream would be one that would sail like a monohull yet have the space and comfort of a Catamaran, and did that exist?? It was Bernard who said ‘look at the Neel Trimaran’. And now here we are! Thank You Bernard!
We had celebration drinks and thought about heading to the Marina restaurant for dinner BUT being a very Catholic country on Easter Sunday, not surprisingly it was closed! We consoled ourselves with a not very difficult Easter Egg Hunt – there are not too many places to hide anything on a boat but I did my best!! You have to look REALLY closely but there is a little bunny hidden amongst the fruit!
Monday morning we set about preparing for the long sail to Tunisia. We were due to set of mid afternoon so that we arrived in Bizerte Marina early morning in daylight. We set out to the Marina shop but guess what? It was closed! Our main issue was our lack of drinking water so we made do with buying 20 small bottles of water from the (now open) restaurant as well as treating ourselves to a slap up lunch in the knowledge that our next proper meal would be in Tunisia!
Despite the shop being shut, the boat was already full of biscuits, crisps, chocolate and other easy to grab food which was lucky as overnight crossings and being on watch are a great excuse to eat sugary, carb filled foods!
We set off under sail at 2pm, estimating our arrival at 8am….. this is the sunset and I’ll update you complete with the sunrise on the other side!
Leaving Bonifacio on 5th April heading across the channel to the beautiful Italian island of Sardinia. First port of call is 60 miles, 9 hours away to the sleepy harbour of La Caletta.
We were both absolutely shattered when we arrived! The crossing had been a mix of sailing and motor, some really nice conditions but the wind was sooo cold. Was a great feeling to moor up and sit in the warm sun for a while.
We headed out early to a local pizza place – not a glamorous establishment but the pizzas were superb!
Just the one night in Caletta and next morning off to Arbatax which Jacques had been to before and had given very good reviews! Shorter trip of 44 miles, 6 hours and again a combination of sailing and motoring. Conditions were calm which was just as well as I had a number of work video calls which would have been a challenge if we were rolling in a gale!
We arrived in Arbatax and were helped to moor by friendly staff which is always such a joy! Mooring up can be stressful – it seems like at least 24 things all have to happen at the same time to ensure the boat, and therefore the crew, is safe!
Because we changed the name and nationality of the boat we have been issued with new credentials which are basically safety features e.g in a distress situation with just one push of a button our boat name and position are logged and the coastguard and any boats in the vicinity can see us and help!
We have been having issues with this system – the old boat info getting mixed with the new and Jacques had been making adjustments and asking friends to check on various non official sites – like this one if you want to track us! https://www.vesselfinder.com/?mmsi=232047190
Once we were settled in Arbatax, Jacques had a walk along the quay and got chatting to some neighbours – he asked them if they could look on their systems to see if Mossy Joe appeared in the right place with the right credentials. This led to a longer conversation about our boat
which led to a guided tour for the three French sailors of our boat – lots of oohs and aahs!
Originally we were only planning one night in Arbatax but assessing the weather conditions we decided two nights would be in order! I really enjoy the times we get to spend more that one night somewhere as we get to see more of the local area and get jobs done! The following day being Good Friday, just like at home, meant DIY and spring cleaning!!
When we have had charter boats for holidays, cleaning the boat was always a case of filling a bucket with sea water and sploshing it over the deck swiftly followed up by Lily with a broom! A slightly longer job now with Mossy Joe! With pressure hose, broom and special deck cleaning product it took over an hour and was officially my second (and last!) workout of the day!
Having a free day also meant there was time for some personal grooming and luckily for Jacques he got an appointment immediately with his favourite barber!
Suitably rested and beautifully groomed we hit the town of Arbatax! The plan was to have a wander, perhaps get a drink somewhere before heading back to the restaurant in the marina for early dinner.
We were so surprised to find this incredible geological wonder just behind the harbour!
Moving on again today and looking forward to making it to the south easterly tip of Sardinia to pick up our friend (and very experienced sailor) Bernard on Sunday.
Wishing you all a very Peaceful and Happy Easter xx
Unable to leave Bonifacio due to the high winds either where we are or where we are going we have had a very lazy few days!
We took the opportunity to walk up to the Citadel which is no mean feat or easy on the feet! It is a spectacular warren of narrow streets with something new to discover at every turn!
The view from up on high was also incredible and was not at all eclipsed by Jacques’ snazzy sunglasses!
We also got some great shots of Mossy Joe on the way down!
The weekend of Saturday 1st April and Sunday 2nd April was auspicious for a number of reasons! They were my last days of holiday before officially trialling my ‘working from Boat’ set up; it was mine and Jacques’ 20th Anniversary of the start of our relationship; I had a great FaceTime call with dear friends Jo and Bun and Bun had some very exciting news which means Jacques and I will be hopping over to Spain for a weekend in June!
Not so auspicious, just sad, was watching Liverpool lose to Man City!
Having been almost confined to base (boat) for 2 days we decided to take a walk – based on the look of the sky I was tempted to take a brolly but as Jacques said, it’s not very sailor like to carry a telescopic flower patterned umbrella about the harbour! Well, you never saw Popeye with one I suppose!
Of course, as we started to head back the heavens opened complete with hailstones, cracking lightning and clapping in your head thunder! We sheltered under a small stone bridge for about 50 minutes and I couldn’t help wishing we had made it another 100 yards to the bar!
That evening, back on the boat safe albeit slightly drenched, the clouds dispersed and we were treated to the most incredible sunset!
Almost up to date now, not much else to tell of in Bonifacio – oh, except Jacques was putting the dinghy back on board and he (and the dinghy|) fell in the water!! It was not as disgusting as most harbours but it’s still not somewhere you would want to spend much time and the water was so cold!
I don’t have any pictures or video of this as I was too busy assisting with the rescue mission i.e. putting down the swim ladder so that Jacques could get back on board and then rinsing the salt and yuckiness out of his clothes and shoes whilst he took a very hot shower!
At last, after 6 days there, we left Bonifacio this morning (Wednesday 5th April) for La Caletta in Sardinia, 62 miles taking 9 hours, some nice wind, some sunshine but still very cold. Heading further south again tomorrow but should be a shorter day.
After the glorious bay of Pinarello we headed off to Porto Vecchio, a relatively large town like Bastia. Unlike Bastia it was not so full of charm and very little was open but we did manage to find a great restaurant for dinner where my lovely French family all had Moules Frites and I had a salad!
The highlight of Porto Vecchio was that the weather when we arrived was incredible and for a few hours it felt like Summer and we opened the ‘Terrace’ doors on the boat to connect the outside with the inside. The designers of our brand of boat, Neel, call this concept a ‘Cockloon’ where the Cockpit of the boat becomes one with the Saloon living area.
Early on Thursday 30th morning we set off for one of our favourite places ever, Bonifacio, which is right at the southern tip of Corsica and has a stunning landscape as you approach the harbour with its rugged cliffs and rambling citadel.
The journey was scheduled to take about 3 hours but we took a small detour to an incredible natural sea scape – the iles Lavezzi. It is difficult to convey the wonder of this area – it really is like a small oasis surrounded by magnificent rocks in the middle of the sea!
We have been there a number of times in high season and you almost have to push other boats out of the way to get a spot! This is how it looked for us this week……You can see there is one lone sailboat in there and we managed to also get in (I was sceptical that we could!) and have a few moments to take in the wonder. You can see in the second picture what looks like a temple arising from the granite. It is in fact a monument to the to 385 sailors and 393 soldiers who lost their lives as their frigate La Semillante ran aground in 1855 – well before any GPS or Radar to assist with navigation!
And then the stunning entrance to Bonifacio and into the town itself which was the perfect place to spend my Birthday!
I had calls from the family and friends and my Mum even managed to FaceTime me! Jacques, Catherine and Pierre spoilt me and we had a wonderful afternoon (with Pink Champagne!) and then dinner in one of the few, but very special, restaurants open at this time of year.
Catherine and Pierre were due to leave us the next day so it was a perfect end to their stay with us.
The following day, after we said sad goodbyes to our guests it was catch up time for tasks such as shopping and laundry – oh joy! We had to get stocked up as the high wind was about to engulf us again – looks like we’ll be in Beautiful Bonifacio for another 5 days until it’s clear enough to cross to Sardinia!
We need to be in the south of Sardinia by 9th April for our next guest to join us – that’s 150 miles to do in 4 days which is a push but not a problem – as long as the weather is kind to us!!
Tuesday 28th March, at last the wind dropped enough to be able to leave Bastia. Although Bastia is a fabulous place, 4 nights there was more than enough to really appreciate its charm!
We would have to make a big jump whilst conditions were good to get as far south as possible so we headed to Pinarello which was a 9 hour trip but very well worth it.
Pinarello is marked by the red arrow on the chart and you can see Bastia clearly further up the east coast.
Our port of call the day after Pinarello would be Porto Vecchio which again you can see south of the arrow and would take about 3 hours to get to.
Although we had sunshine and blue skies on the journey, the wind was still very cold so we were all dressed up to keep warm and dry!
Unlike Bastia which was a harbour where we tied up to the dock, Pinarello is a bay, so anchoring is required to secure our holding for the night. It took a couple of tries to make sure we were properly ‘hooked on’ and this is the view we had once we settled….truly stunning and so peaceful.
We had a ‘picnic’ dinner of snacks and left over boulangerie items e.g. cheesy foccacia and headed to bed safe in the knowledge that we were in a very sheltered bay and that the high winds had passed. We also have the luxury of an Anchor alarm which means that if the anchor moves by a pre-determined distance, a loud noise will, as a minimum, wake up Jacques!
Well the Anchor alarm didn’t go off but when you are on a boat seems all of your ‘Spidey Senses’ are heightened so at around 4am when the sound of the wind whipping around us began, I woke up and Jacques went out to check that we were still secured. He clocked the wind at around 20 knots so the maximum of what I would consider a good sailing wind but not what you want to hear when you’re tucked up in bed!
Calm was restored by the time we all woke (again) that morning and I donned my gym gear. Some of you may know (and many of you will be surprised to hear) that in the last couple of years I have become slightly addicted to exercise, loving the 4 or 5 gym classes I attend each week. I was really worried about how I would exercise on the boat, would I be motivated to get on with it and surely there could be volumes of excuses not to do it! Whilst I have made an effort on most days since we set off, having a backdrop like this bay made exercising up on deck the next morning such a joy (plus there was no one to look at me jumping about!)
We spent a few quiet hours the following morning before heading off and this allowed Jacques to try on his fabulous birthday gift from Catherine and Pierre!
With good conditions forecast for the next few days we planned our onward route to ensure we would be in Beautiful Bonifacio for Thursday – not that there was anything (much) special to be happening on that day!!
BTW – Thank you to everyone who is commenting and sorry if I have not always replied to your comment but be assured it is so lovely to get your feedback and know that you are with me on this adventure!
Captain’s Log, Mossy Joe, Stardate: 25 03 2023, Still in Bastia
True Wind Speed 47.2 Knots Per Hour
Jeanne asked me what 47.2 knots represented i.e. between a light breeze and your house blowing away? Whilst not quite enough to blow your house away it feels pretty close to being able to blow your boat away!
The strongest I have had at sea was a few years back in Greece when we had about 32-33 knots and we were all in life jackets, strapped on to the boat with safety harnesses and Charlie and I throwing up – it was truly awful! Add another 15 knots and I think to be out at sea would be perilous to say the least!
We had to stay in Bastia for a few more days as it was impossible to leave with that much wind. The good news was that meant we were in a beautiful place with many restaurants and bars to be able to watch England v Ukraine and more importantly to be able to celebrate Jacques’ birthday on the 27th!
After a fabulous evening we were woken around 2am with winds now being clocked at 57 knots!!
Catherine and Pierre are with us until Friday and their return flight is from Figaro which is on the south of the Island! Would we get there in time?
My kids know that one of my favourite sayings (aka nags) is, if you need to do something and you have the time right now then don’t faff about just get on with it! This has even more importance when you’re on a boat as nothing can be taken for granted and circumstances can change in an instant!
According to the plan, we would have at least 2 days in Macinaggio and therefore plenty of time to prepare for our first guests e.g. making beds, finding which locker had all the clean towels, shopping for some special treats and sorting out the washing!
Despite having so much free time, I knew that I should stick to my own rule (plus I was excited about using my new hoover!) so I cracked on with all the preparations for the arrival of Catherine and Pierre – and that was just as well! Our guests were due to arrive the following afternoon, taking a taxi from Bastia airport the hour or so drive to meet us in Macinaggio. We would stay there for the night and then head down the east coast.
This was already a change of plan from the original one made a couple of weeks ago. Bad (sailing) weather was due to hit the west coast of Corsica which is far lovelier than the east, but the east also has some gems and it would be completely safe – or so we thought! Jacques had already started to make contact with the harbours on the east coast to book places for us over the next week. The responses were either negative ‘ we are closed until Easter/we are having works done/your boat is too big for us to take’ or no response at all. We would wait for replies, certain that we would be OK. Well, almost certain!
At the end of a busy day, we took some time to remember Jacques’ Mum, Lulu, who passed away on this day last year. As is family tradition, we picked some wild flowers and scattered them into the sea and said a few kind words about a most beautiful person.
Friday morning, I’m full of excitement for greeting our guests and then Jacques announces that we need to go – like now! Although we would be OK for that night, by Saturday the bad weather would be upon us and we would be stuck for days! Macinaggio is pretty but with only 1 bar and the Spar supermarket open not much of a holiday destination at this time of year! We donned our sailing gear and set off – leaving was much easier than arriving.
As an aside, back in August 2009, we were in a restaurant in Macinaggio (once again stuck due to the weather) having dinner, when I met Eric Cantona. We had a lovely chat and I am sure he was devastated when Jacques came to ‘guide’ me away back to our table whilst apologising profusely for my comments about 1) Man United 2) how he would have been better off playing for Liverpool and 3) interrogating him about his shrimp moment!
Seriously, he was such a nice (tolerant) guy and he had surprisingly huge hands!
En route a hasty communication to Catherine to say ‘do not get a taxi to Macinaggio we will not be there but we don’t know yet where we will be’ was sent!
We have 3 options for port that night – 2 of them have come back to say ‘no’ and the other (Porto Vecchio) is a long, long haul away – about 90 miles so 11-12 hours with the wind on the nose – yuck! The 22kt (knots) wind indicator is roughly where Macinaggio is and Porto Vecchio almost at the bottom of the Island.
The ideal port is Bastia, the capital of North Corsica. It’s very well sheltered and given that we might be holed up there for 3-4 days, there’s much to do and see, chance to hire a car to do some sightseeing and only 20 mins from the airport. Bastia has a new port and an old port – the new port had said no to us as they were having works done and the old port had not responded.
Undeterred (and having no other reasonable option) I started repeatedly calling Bastia old port as we approached, staring at the phone willing someone to answer! At last they did and even though they tried to shake us off we insisted and they found space for us! We realised that we were lucky to get a space when we arrived – alongside the fuel dock, next to the fish market and opposite the Maritime Police!!
Knowing the weather would be following us we secured the boat with extra lines and every precaution possible. We then headed off to the Post Office to send our boat purchase documents to the registration office in Jersey. A bit like the green slip to DVLA when you buy a car. Jacques had looked to find the location of La Poste and advised that it was just 4 minutes away! Hooray! Turns out it was 4 minutes away but by car and we were on foot!
Soon after we (eventually) returned to the boat, there was an emotional reunion with Catherine and Pierre – I’ll detail their arrival and the windy episode that followed (the 2 events are not connected!) in the next day or so.
Monday 20th March we left Portofino heading south down the Italian coast. We had a number of options for our destination but we decided whilst the weather and wind were in our favour we should head as far south as possible.
Starting at 9am we sailed and motored 62 miles taking 7 hours to end up in Viareggio, a lovely little town mostly known for its shipbuilding and refurbishment facilities – there were some HUGE boats there.
It was the first time we had brought the boat into a harbour on our own and I was to say the least a little anxious. Getting help from the harbour staff is always hit and miss so you have to be prepared to do everything yourself and then just pray! This time though we were in luck and Sergio and his team were on hand to take the lines. This was our end of day sigh of relief!
The next day we went clothes shopping!! Hooray! Not exactly Pretty Woman – more ‘I would like to be warm and dry during these long crossings where the wind can be bitter’ clothing! This was the end result! Very Glam!
And we used the on board washing machine for the first time – very exciting!
After all that excitement we decided rather than move on that afternoon we would wait until the morning so we had a chilled evening on board having a picnic dinner and prosecco.
The next morning we set off for Elba, the Italian island where Napoleon was exiled to. This was to be another 60 mile 8 hour trek but 2 hours into it we decided to head directly for the island of Corsica. This would only add another hour and we knew that bad weather was bearing in and we had to get to Corsica to meet family. Jacques’ brother Pierre and his wife Catherine are to join us on Friday 24th so being cautious was the best decision.
We arrived in Macinaggio, north Corsica at around 4.15 and although the harbour office did not shut until 5.30 no one came to help! It was a little scary and at one point I’m pretty sure Jacques suggested that I take a line and jump off of the boat on to the quay but I’m telling myself I couldn’t possibly have heard this correctly what with the wind and the waves!!
Meatballs Pasta for dinner with a fab Italian red wine – we were both knackered but so pleased to be in Corsica.
Seems to me we have not yet once kept to the destination plan of the day but that is half the fun of sailing!
Next adventure is escaping the bad weather (Mistral) that is heading our way! Last week in Macinaggio they recorded a gust of wind at 180 MPH!!!!
T and J Sail Away 