SAILING MAREDA

An Epiphany Farewell

2019-01-08T19:35:00.000+01:00

Here in France, the religious holiday Epiphany has been secularised and is now a month-long celebration that involves eating way too many rich flakey frangipani cakes with friends to wish each other health, happiness, and prosperity for the coming year, happiness being the only wish actually facilitated by eating these cakes. Buzzed by the sugar and anaesthetised by the butter (with a bit of help from the champagne), we recklessly announce our New Year’s resolutions, confident that no one will remember any of it in the morning.

But I distinctly remember saying that I would (a) try to do more things with my left hand, (b) wear more green, and (c) stop blogging.

As with a and b, an end to blogging has been on my mind for awhile and the time seems right to call it quits. We began blogging as a way to keep our nervous friends and families informed of where we were and what we were doing, and to have a sort of scrapbook of memories for ourselves later on. But blogging, even the minimal efforts provided here, takes a toll, especially if you are trying to keep things up to date while you’re actually out there sailing. Many times, it is sheer drudgery to produce something, and the friends and family are informed of our progress through more timely means anyway.

As I plan next year’s cruise, I realize that the resources I use most are sailing community sites like Noonsite (https://www.noonsite.com/) or Navily (https://www.navily.com/), not other people’s blogs. I think my time would be better spent contributing to those sites rather than producing our own blog. I also have become buried under thousands of photos from our adventures (mercifully in digital form) that need cataloguing, editing, and curating into coherent memoirs, all of which takes a lot of time.

Blogging has introduced me to some amazing people who have become friends, both virtual and real, and it’s a strange and heart-warming experience to have people come up to the boat and say “hey, are you the people with the blog?”

Blog statistics tell me that the top stories people access are: Lewmar Wavegrip Winch Maintenance (we no longer have Lewmar winches), NASA Clipper Duet Depth Tranducer, Parts 1 and 2 (we no longer have Clipper electronics), Harken Winch Maintenance, and the post on our gennaker, The Code D, Demystified: Part 1 (for which there is no part 2). It makes me a little queasy to think that people are coming here for technical advice.

And yes, I admit I have been seduced by the dark side - the fast, slick ease of posting to Facebook has won me over. “Never complain, never explain” is all I have to say about that.

When we left work to start sailing almost 10 years ago now, we didn’t know how far we would go or for how long. We now know that our adventures on Mareda will probably end in the Mediterranean after exploring the Adriatic, Greece, and Turkey (which, mind you, could take years). Patrick recently said to me, “Wait a minute. You’re the one who does all the cruise planning. We’re never actually getting to Greece, are we?” We’ll see about that.

Thankful for Autumn Cruising

2018-11-21T15:37:00.001+01:00

Just in time for thanksgiving, I’m grateful to friends who invited us to spend a few days sailing out to our beautiful islands -

for the friendship and laughter,

for gentle winds, calm seas and autumn sun shining through cool mist,

for the hike along coastal dunes and untouched beaches at sunset,

and the game of petanque and beer at La Trinquette,

for France’s cutest boat dog Nuskha,

and the cheerful salon of the good ship Gudhull with ample room for 7 boisterous sailors wearing multiple layers of clothes and flaming bananas in rhum in perfect security.

For the gentle motion of the boat lulling us to sleep and the soft creaking of wet wood and stretching dock lines, and the moon whose light traces an arc through the cabin that progresses with the night, and the sky full of stars that accompanies a wee-hour pee.

For the fishermen whose engines sputter to life an hour before sunrise and the gulls welcoming the day.

For the smell of strong coffee that hangs in the morning dampness, and for freshly burnt toast.

For our neighbouring boat that shared their catch of squid with us, and the anxiety-filled entertainment offered by the massive conger eels swirling around our feet, snapping up the waste as we cleaned the squid for our dinner.

For a calm anchorage nestled in a rugged coastline that welcomed us for a lunch break and siesta while waiting for the tide to turn.

And most of all, I’m grateful to have found so many kindred spirits who share my never-fading fascination with the sea and boat life. Merci, les amis. Merci.

Cruising Season 2018 Wrap-up

2018-11-11T15:36:00.001+01:00

Basic stats:

Days on boat: 146

Distance covered: 760 nautical miles

Countries visited: France (Corsica), Italy (Elbe, Sardinia, Egadi Islands, Sicily)

Nights at anchor: 73

Average cost per night: 23 Euros

Motor hours: 100

Sailing vs Motoring: 50% (but most of the motoring was actually motor sailing with the motor purring along gently at 1500 rpms or less)

Cruising expectation failure rate: 30%.

We are getting better at predicting what awaits us each year. The expectations for 2018 that were NOT true were:

1) Crowded and expensive ports in southern Corsica and northeast Sardinia: We simply avoided them. We only had one port in La Maddalena that was pricey, but given that it was in the center of town during June and there was a gale blowing, we felt it was worth it.

2) Using a line ashore to keep from swinging in narrow anchorages: All of the anchorages were large enough that you didn’t need a line ashore. I’m sure we won’t get away with this for much longer.

3) Transportation headaches: While the distance from our winter port to the nearest airport was greater than in previous years, the transportation system was direct and smooth between Licata and Catania. We left a couple of days early to visit Catania before flying home so we didn’t feel rushed.

Honestly, it didn't FEEL this crowded...

Highlights

Dreamy anchorages everywhere from Elbe island to Sicily, with crystal clear turquoise waters averaging 29 C (84 F).
Great snorkelling.
Lots of time anchored out instead of in ports.
Fantastic weather (except for the stormy period at the end of August, as usual)
Cultural / historical visits: Elbe (Napoleon), La Maddalena (Garibaldi), Nuraghe settlements in Sardinia, Greek-Phoenician-Roman-Visigoth-Moor settlements near Cagliari, Cave paintings in Levanzo (Egadi Islands) from 12000 BCE, and Greek ruins at Selinunte and the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento in Sicily. We also enjoyed the big cities (Cagliari, Trapani, Palermo, Catania) and many of the smaller towns (particularly liked Marzara del Vallo in Sicily).
Italian food and wine, although I have to admit that by the end of the season I was ready for a break from pasta.
And as always, one of the biggest pleasures of cruising is meeting up with old friends and making new ones. We also particularly enjoyed the community atmosphere in Licata with so many live aboards wintering over here. I really hated leaving and may head back later this winter or early spring when I get too boat sick to be civil staying at home. (Patrick would say that time is now, but I still have things to do here first...).

Lowlights

Dragging at anchor and calling for a tow (in italian)
Patrick’s cracked tooth in a tiny Sardinian town on the 15^th of August (biggest vacation period of the year when no one works and everything shuts down)
A cascade of toilet problems at the end of the cruise.
Bad non-potable water (all over Sardinia and Sicily) and contaminated tanks.

Wrap-up

Because of health problems, we got a late start on the sailing season and took it very easy this year. We sailed fewer miles than usual and enjoyed the pace, especially because it allowed us to spend many days enjoying beautiful anchorages with no urge to move on until the weather pushed us along. This season gave us a little bit of everything that you want out of Med sailing.

Greek Ruins and Turkish Steps

2018-11-01T16:31:00.000+01:00

Our last days in Sicily were filled with cultural visits, most notably, the valley of the temples in Agrigento and the so-called Turkish steps, a natural formation of blinding white limestone cliffs rising from a turquoise bay where the Moors supposedly anchored their ships, climbing the steps to raid nearby villages.

Back in Brittany, re-adjusting to house living is still in progress. The kitchen organization continues to baffle me and it seems that many of our most useful gadgets are on the boat. I've had to get used to wearing shoes again after 5 months and wonder where all of my socks are hiding. I still feel like I'm in someone else's home. I tiptoe around trying not to disturb things, my inner voice making snide remarks about the owner's slovenliness and lack of taste. I finally got batteries put back in the barometer / weather station, whose vigilant watch on the weather situation around me comforts me for no good reason. The nights are too quiet, too still, too long.

It's been great catching up with friends and family, though, and I'm slowly getting back to running and biking on our beautiful coastal trails. I have a lot of homework to do preparing next year's cruising and I look forward to diving in to that.

Atlas pilar

Goddess Heads

Egyptian god Bes, a protective deity of joy, dance, sleep, and womanly matters.

Winter Port, Licata

2018-10-23T19:26:00.001+02:00

We left Mareda in Licata’s Cala del Sole marina yesterday, tied down (I think) for the winter. A few days before we left, a gale blew through the marina with 50 knot gusts and Mareda rode it out smoothly without touching either of the neighbouring boats or the dock, and without too much whining from the springs.

This is the first time we have left the boat in a marina that has a large winter live-aboard community and the atmosphere was friendly and festive. We were sad to leave (more so than usual) and I think I have convinced Patrick that, although Mareda seemed to be tied down well for the winter, we really should head back to check up on her in February.

The re-entry to home life has not been as bad as usual this year, since the Brittany drought mercifully stunted the grass and shrubs, making our hacking-through-the-jungle routine a bit easier. I still have ethical problems with weeding - racism in my opinion, punishing the evolutionary winners, etc. - but Patrick wasn’t buying my philosophical musings and told me to get back to work. I also have problems dislodging the spiders (some quite large and beautiful), since I happen to like spiders and, truth be told, they live here more than we do.

As ever, the mail was stuffed with flyers from real-estate agencies wanting to sell our abandoned house for us. We are still getting used to the house again, trying to remember where we put things and why (the kitchen baffles me for days). I was very happy to be reunited with my bike, unlimited internet, and flush toilets, and we are both thrilled to be eating french food again. We were very disappointed with the bread in Italy, so walking into our neighbourhood bakery this morning was a wonderful welcome home.

And before the dust settles, we are off to Paris at the end of the week and Bordeaux the following week to reintroduce ourselves to the kids. And I’m thrilled to be meeting up with Kiwi sailing friends Viki Moore and Andrew Herriott from Astrolabe Sailing who are passing through Paris at the same time.

Sciacca and Selinunte

2018-10-14T10:15:00.000+02:00

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Sciacca at the Lega Navale marina, just across the harbour from one of the largest fishing ports in Italy. The town was picturesque (I got tired of photographing all the baroque churches) and is centrally located between two major archaeological sites, Selinunte and Agrigento. Here are some sights from Sciacca and Selinunte.

Marzara del Vallo

2018-10-02T11:03:00.001+02:00

We thought Marzara would only be a brief halt, one of the few places along this coast of Sicily with a good anchorage to avoid an overpriced marina. Thanks to our new favorite web site, Navily, we could see that there was plenty of anchor room with good holding, although the harbor behind the jetty is so large that you feel exposed. We anchored in front of the Mazara cathedral, and our first sunset was accompanied by the muezzin from the mosque calling the faithful to evening prayer in a strange duet with Celine Dion blarring from the bar across the harbor. We are closer to Tunisia than Rome here, and Mazara is a crossroads city with multiple Mediterranean influences. We were so charmed by the town with its kasbah district, labyrinth of narrow streets, fish markets, and ruins that we stayed 3 nights.

This is what happens when a cathedral is built on top of a mosque built on top of a greek temple, etc etc.

The Dancing Satyr, circa 400 b.c., hauled up in a fishing net off the coast.

Dinner... if they would just stop staring so balefully...

Erice and Marsala

2018-09-26T11:16:00.000+02:00

We had a fun sail from Trapani to Marsala with 16 knots winds on the beam and nearly 2 meter swells that announced the present gale blowing out over the islands. We are in the Cantiere Nautico Polaris in Marsala, which is slightly more expensive than the neighboring marina but with excellent security, lots of space, and wireless internet good enough for videos from inside the boat ! Before leaving Trapani we finally made our way up to the medieval town of Erice to wander along the labyrinth of old stone streets in the pouring rain. We are clearly winding down the season, with cooler temps, more humid weather, empty marinas, a slower pace, and more tourism.

Trapani, salt flats, and Favignana island seen from Erice in the rain.

Theological library.

Florio winery, Marsala

Encore Egadi

2018-09-19T12:19:00.000+02:00

We are now back in the port of Trapani waiting for a gale to pass after another week in the islands. We are ahead of schedule and still have almost 3 weeks to make our way down to Licata for our winter contract, but we may end up dodging weather more than we had expected. Meanwhile, more eye candy from the islands.

poor stitching on the pano but click for larger view...

colorful reef with reflections off water above

Egadi snorkeling

2018-09-07T12:04:00.000+02:00

A few pics from down below the Egadi islands.

Buongiorno Sicily !

2018-09-02T10:53:00.000+02:00

We left Cagliari with a narrow weather window between the end of a 3-day mistral and impending dead calm. The winds were excellent, 10 to 15 knots on a broad reach (with a few gusts to 18 during the night) but the sea was still a bit lumpy after the gale and the 1-2 meter swell hit us at such an angle that the autopilot had a hard time stearing a straight course, so we ended up hand steering for 30 hours in 2 hour shifts. It was a very fast crossing (for us) averaging 6-7 knots for the last half. We had a beautiful full moon and the dawn brought us an image of the Egadi Islands. As I went forward to take a photo, I also discovered some gifts that Neptune deposited on the deck with the swell during the night: a flying fish and a small squid. A nice welcome gift (but those squid leave some nasty stains on the gelcoat...).

We picked up a mooring buoy in the Marasolo beach of south Favignana island. The Egadi islands are the largest marine reserve in the Mediterranean and the park authorities have an excellent network of mooring buoys on the 3 main islands. A 7-day permit allows you to tie up anywhere you like for only 17 euros per night. We are thoroughly enjoying discovering these islands above and below the water.

Marasolo mooring field.

Favignana Port.

Phoenician stone quarries along the coast of Favignana.

Finocchio mooring field, Marettimo.

Cagliari and the big hop

2018-08-21T18:36:00.000+02:00

We pulled into Cagliari a few days ago to load up on food, do a little tourism, and prepare for the big hop from Sardinia to Sicily (150 miles). We were told that Marina del Sole was the cheapest marina in Cagliari and heard rumors that it was possible to negotiate the price for longer stays. We prepared our negotiation strategy and wrote out our phrases in italian, all for nothing. As soon as we asked about weekly discounts, we were given a price that was less than what we had planned to ask for, so for 35 euros / night (instead of 65), we decided to stay 7 days.

The weather is in transition and everyday we have an afternoon monsoon, with thunder, lightning, gusts up to 30 knots, and rain. It doesn’t last long and it has mercifully cooled the temperatures, but it is very unstable and not particularly suited to the sort of relaxing days at anchor we have enjoyed thus far. It’s too early to tell, but there may be a good weather window for heading to Sicily this weekend or early next week. We will leave Cagliari a few days before and position ourselves in the Porto Guinco area, a lovely protected anchorage at the southeast tip of Sardinia, well positioned for "take off ".

We took a day to visit the Phoenician-Punic-Roman-Vandal ruins in Nora, just south of Cagliari. As with most of these archeological sites, the magic is in the imagination of what it must have looked like in its heyday, since what's left is mostly, well, um, ruins.

And here are some creature features that I put on the Facebook page but that didn't make it into the last blog post. The flatfish (sole) like tagging along with the rays because rays are sloppy eaters. The flatfish also hang out around our anchor chain because the chain stirs up the sand and apparently uncovers tasty tidbits.

Sardinia's East Coast notes

2018-08-10T15:28:00.002+02:00

As mentioned in the last post, our Imray guide ( 2016) misses large sections of the east coast of Sardinia, as if it were just a zone for transiting to somewhere else. Thankfully, there is a brillant document on the sea-seek web site (sea-seek.com) for East Sardinia that points out many wonderful anchorages.

Along with Cala Ginepro (our anchor coordinates: 40°26.491 09°47.522) and Cala Luna (40°.14.323 09°37.485) mentioned earlier, we have discovered the cala Santa Foxi Manna (sea-seek coordinates 39°41.56 09°39.67) and now, a little corner of paradise named Cala Sinzias with no chart information in OpenCPN, MaxSea, or Navionics at 39°11.297 09°34.133.

Photos of sea slugs (nudibrachs) from Cala Frailis. Almost didn't see these little guys. They are about 20 cm long (8 inches or so) and move around faster than I imaged.

Photo bombed by colorful fish, who, when you WANT to take his picture, is very evasive...

We left Cala Frailis just south of Santa Maria de Navarrese a few days ago headed for Cala Santa Foxi Manna, but after lunch en route, Patrick announced that he had broken off a few bits of a tooth. He wasn't in any pain but it was clear that we needed to have it looked at before it really cracked . With good winds, we changed course slightly and headed for Porto Corallo, arriving at 8 p.m. The next morning, we discovered that the port had a small medical clinic on site, where we were informed that we needed to see a dentist. (Fortunately that advice was free...). After calling 4 different dentists in the villages around the port, we managed to find one that was not closed for vacation and could see us in the afternoon. All was taken care of rapidly if not painlessly within 24 hours of discovering the problem. We were quite pleased with ourselves.

And now we are enjoying a beautiful day in a beautiful cala. A day at anchor goes something like this:

Up at the crack of 8:30. Adjust solar panels.
Patrick skinny-dips before breakfast; Maria watches, amused but still groggy, with a cup of tea from the cockpit.
Breakfast.
Internet time: emails, news, weather check. Discussion and decision on day's plans.
Put up sunbrella panels anywhere there is sun coming into the cockpit. I feel like I spend most of my day moving these bits of cloth around...
Hand-wash some laundry, repair worn seal around refrigerator.
Move boat to a better spot (closer in to shore now that we know the rocks are far away).
Snorkeling: 1 hour or so.
Prepare and enjoy a long languid lunch. Watermelon, lamb chops with steamed potatoes and carrots, aged goat cheese on toast with honey and herbs de provence, red wine. (There is a great butcher shop in Santa Maria. I mentioned earlier that one of the first phrases a cruiser learns in a foreign language is "where is the hardware store." If you are a foodie like Patrick, the second phrase you learn is "can we have this vacuum packed?" After pantomiming vacuum-packed for the butcher and after the laughter died away, we learned the magic phrase: "sotto vuotto".)
Calls and skypes to kids and parents.
Nap time !
Second snorkel session.
Internet (download pod casts, e-books, check weather again, discussion of plans for coming days based on weather).
Reading, lounging, light housework and cleaning.
Aperatif time ! Sundowners (well before sundown)
Prepare and enjoy dinner (usually inside watching the Italian evening news). Fresh ricotta and spinach raviolis with tomato sauce and bresaola (salt-cured thin-sliced beef).
Mosquito patrol: put up mosquito screens and light mosquito incense coils.
Movies, reading, cockpit contemplation time. Okay, okay...yes, one more weather check...
Mooring lights on, inside lights out.

The Gulf of Orosei

2018-08-03T19:50:00.002+02:00

Our sailing guide only lightly describes the Orosei gulf as an exposed stretch of coastline only suitable for day anchorages, but with a long stretch of calm weather and lots of targets on the AIS showing other boats anchored overnight, we bravely pressed forward to explore the area. Cala Ginepro was a sheltered anchorage with beach resorts (tasteful ones) dotted around the beach, and Cala Luna was an exposed and rolly marvel of caves and grottos. During the day, one gets the impression of being in the middle of a swarm of wasps as tourist boats zip and zoom all around, but after 6 p.m. they all go home. We managed to get some quality snorkeling in at 8 a.m. when the swell was call and before the hords returned.

We are now in Sainta Maria de Navarrese, visiting the oldest church in Sardenia and its 2000 year-old olive tree as we load up the fridge and water tanks for some longer hops down the coast.

Mareda in Cala Ginepro

Cala Luna

Sainta Maria de Navarrese

2000 year-old olive tree

Our Costa Smerelda

2018-07-29T11:20:00.002+02:00

Despite the reputation as a sailing paradise, we dreaded the Costa Smerelda – too many people, too crowded anchorages, too "bling". We managed, however, to avoid almost all of these problems and have been seduced by this gorgeous region, with enough space and anchorage choices for everyone, even in the high season.

The Maddalena Archipelago : You DO need a permit and you can do everything on-line. For Mareda, we paid 18.80 euros per night, which gives you the free use of the park mooring buoys. The nautical guides all tell you that you can only stay overnight in the Maddalena if you are on one of these buoys, but we saw people anchored everywhere and staying overnight. We did the same as we never managed to snag one of the buoys. We were visited by the park authorities on the day we left, and were told that you have to leave the park by 9 am on the day your park permit expires. It was 10 am but they let us go peacefully. In this region, at least in the high season, there are many things that are officially forbidden but tolerated. A few days ago, we parked our rental car along a side street near a military office. An officer came out and stared at us. We gave him our best crispy stupid-tourist smiles and said "is it okay ?". He replied in broken engligh : "Is forbidden. But is okay."

In the Maddalenas, we wanted to visit Maddalena and Caprera islands by scooter, but with 2 days of high winds predicted, we didn’t want to leave the boat at anchor unsupervised for that long, so we headed into the port of Cala Gavetta, which seems to be the cheapest on Maddalena at 62 euros/ night.

Cannigione : Just across from Maddalena island is the golf of Arzechena with several good anchorages and one of the only places with great mooring buoys close to town. We indulged for a few days on the buoys at 35 euros per night (we had to find a safe haven to go ashore to watch France win the World Cup!) and thorougly enjoyed the stop. Lorenzo manages the buoy field, speaks excellent english, and takes care of everything from trash pick up to taking on water from one of the nearby floating pontoons. There is a dinghy dock close by, and the town has all the amenities and supplies, including a very large farmer’s market on Monday mornings. We rented a scooter and visited the archeological sites in the area.

Golfo di Marinella : This is another one of those instances where the guides and charts say that anchoring is forbidden, but people are everywhere. We anchored east of the Punta Sabina, which had great holding and good snorkeling (moray eel, small rays, octopus, and lots of fish). The only drawback was the music from the beach club that started around 7 pm and lasted until 1 am, but it was more-or-less tasteful mood music and not enough to drive us off. There is also a train stop just behind the beach that goes to Olbia, but I wasn’t keen to leave the boat for a full day in this area, since there were a lot of neighbors during the day.

Liscia delle Saline : Yet another forbidden-but-okay anchorage just at the entrance to the Olbia channel. This is a good place to stop but not to stay. The water is murky and there is nothing particularly interesting to see. We pulled in here for 2 days of strong southeasterly winds. We anchored on the southeast side since the southwest side has been taken over by a kite surfing school.

Isola Tavolara Reserve : One could easily spend weeks exploring all the great anchorages set in breath-taking surroundings. As with the Maddalena, the guides say you must stay on a Reserve mooring buoy, but there are so few of them that mooring is tolerated. We aimed for Porto Istana but as we neared it was clear that no one was anchored there so we continued on to Taverna. There were quite a few boats anchored just north of Taverna in the Golfo di Spurlatta area but it is a small anchorage and there were already quite a few boats there. In our guide, there are 2 anchorages in Taverna on the southeast and southwest coast, but a small area on the northwest side caught our eye. There is a small sandy beach near by and a large sandy area for anchoring although there are some rocks on either side of this zone ; nothing big enough to hit but just enough to get your chain wrapped around. We found a good spot away from the rocks and sat out a couple of days of high winds here in gorgeous surroundings.

La Caletta : This was our first port after leaving the chic zones of the north, and we took a berth in the Circolo Nautico de Caletta for 2 nights for water and supplies. While here, we discovered that the exterior T berths of the marina are free. This is mentioned in our guide but they made it sound so derelict that we didn’t want to try. There is no water or electricity, but it is safe, sheltered, and FREE ! After 2 days in port, we moved to this free area, which gave us the opportunity to rent a car for a few days and head up into the Barbagia hills : Nuoro, Orgosolo, Olinea, Dorgali, and Cala Gonone. Now we are finishing up re-supplies and waiting for a bit of wind to head down along the Blue Crescent area and on to Sainta Maria de Navarrese.

UPDATE: We apparently overstayed our welcome at the "free" berth in La Caletta. We were jolted out of our sleep at 8 a.m. (barbarians) by 3 strong knocks on the hull of the boat. Two marina agents came to inform us, rather brusquely, that we had to leave within 2 hours and that this was not a legitimate berth. They did not, we notice, visit the other boats on the same dock, who had only recently arrived. I suppose 5 days tested their patience. So if you go to La Caletta be warned that you can stay on this dock, just not too long ! We are now in the lovely Cala Ginepro and don't regret having left La Caletta.

The Orgosolo town council in session.

Our blue mediterranean wake. So nice to see water after the dry mountain towns.

The Maddalena Archipelago

2018-07-15T12:25:00.000+02:00

We left Elbe at 4 a.m. to take advantage of good winds for a 16-hour sail down to the San Ciprianu anchorage in Corsica. It's not like us to get up so early, but we knew that after 8 hours of good winds we would have 8 hours of weak winds and motor sailing so we could catch up on sleep along the way.

We aimed for San Ciprianu because we know the area well and knew we could drop the anchor safely even in the dark if we had to. At this time of year the sun doesn't set until 9 p.m. so we did manage to get in before dark.

After a couple of days enjoying the area, we made our way to the Maddalena Archipelago in north east Sardinia. This is one of the more chic areas of the Med, where the rich and famous buzz about in large glossy suppository-shaped boats and where getting a nice spot to drop anchor can be a challenge.

We went to Santa Maria first, attracted by the large sandy bay, but quickly grew tired of the masses there. Our highlight while here was watching Italian actor Roberto Bennini (It's a beautiful life) pass just in back of our boat in a small motorboat that deposited him on the beach at the gate of his home. He was easy to spot - he was wearing a dark suit while all around are in skimpy swim clothes.

Santa Maria Panorama (click for larger version)

We moved on down to Budelli and found a super anchorage just north of the (forbidden) Pink Beach. We waited till late in the day and took our dinghy over to walk around the area (also forbidden but apparently tolerated). Gorgeous.

About the Maddalena park and its restrictions: you do have to register and pay for a park permit before you enter into the archipelago. You can do this on-line. The downside is that you have to give precise dates. The permit allows you to navigate in the area and to use the park mooring buoys for free. Note: not all the buoys in the bays are park buoys; many are private (like those in Santa Maria). The regulations say that you can only stay overnight in the area if you are on a mooring buoy, but in practice, we saw many people anchored over night. We were visited by the park authorities on the morning of our departure. You are supposed to leave the area by 9 a.m. on the morning after your permit expires. For Mareda, the cost was 18.80 euros per day. The mooring buoys go fast - get there early !

Motivated by 1) the desire to visit Maddalena and Caprera islands on scooter, 2) a near gale approaching, and 3) the french team playing in the World Cup semi-finals, we took a place in port in Cala Galvetta on Maddalena island. It was suprisingly reasonable at 62 euros per night (reasonable being relative to the 120 and 85 euros we were quoted for other ports). We thorougly enjoyed our day around Caprera.

Now we are hanging out on the Costa Smerelda just across from Caprera, and have taken a mooring buoy for a few days owing to 1) a new near gale approaching and 2) the french team playing in the World Cup Finals later today !! We will use the "gale time" to take a bus to Porto Cervo, one of the most exclusive ports in the Med, to gawk at the rich people, and may rent another scooter to visit the archeological sites around the area. We are finally "cruising" instead of fixing our boat in exotic locations. Nice.

A New Lesson in Anchoring

2018-07-01T15:08:00.003+02:00

Is there anything more frustrating than doing a thing "by the book" and still running into trouble ?

We thought we knew everything we needed to know about anchoring : Minimum chain-to-depth ratio of 5:1, put the motor in reverse to dig in the anchor, and use a snubber on the chain to take the strain off the windlass. Our trusty Rocna anchor has held us through 30-knot gusts in all types of holding.

So imagine our idignant surprise last week when, despite having a 10:1 chain-depth ratio in sandy mud noted in the guide as excellent holding, we managed to drag our anchor and ended up stuck on a shallow mud bank.

We had been anchored out for 3 days in light to moderate winds that turned slowly in all directions. We even joked as we dined in the cockpit that we had a 360-degree panoramic restaurant.

On the 3rd day an afternoon storm kicked up with gusts up to 25 knots. We were on board and not at all worried. We had out 10:1. We had a Rocna.

I was working in the cockpit when I looked around and noticed that the stone dike around the beach looked much bigger than before. Much much bigger. I called down to Patrick to turn on the navigation instruments and come up fast. The depth sounder showed 1.1 meters, the exact depth of our keel with the centerboard up. We noticed we were perpendicular to all the other boats in the bay and to the wind. We were clearly beached.

We tried to use the motor to push ourselves out but all that nice excellent-holding mud held fast to our rudders and keel. At least this is an advantage of having a boat that can beach – we were simply stuck, but stuck upright, whereas a keel boat would topple over sideways.

We tried pulling and pushing the nose with the dinghy and the boat motor, but 2.5 horsepower vs 20+ knots on 10 tonnes is just not good odds. We knew we had to call for help before the winds pushed us even further up onto the mud bank.

We called the port closest to us where we had spent 4 nights. They were only 200 meters away. They informed us that they were not allowed to intervene and we had to call the mooring assistance service in the major port of the bay. A tragic-comic mélé of vhf and telephone calls ensued in french, italian, and broken english, where we finally had to take time out from our crisis to look up how to say "stuck in the mud". Three cheers for google translate.

A small coast guard vessel showed up for what we can only interpret as moral support. They informed us that the mooring assistance service had to help us but that they were currently out helping another boat. When the MAS arrived, they realized that their boat was too big to safely approach us in shallow water and went back to headquarters to get a shallow-draft vessel.

Once everyone was in place, the actual rescue only took 3 minutes. They tugged and we pushed, a boiling cauldron of mud exploded around the boat, and we were free. (Note : very important to clean the water filter and flush the engine with clean seawater for awhile.) We re-anchored in deeper water, the storm having passed, and then had to take our dinghy to the main port to fill out paperwork and pay the 85 Euro fee.

Lessons ? We suppose that the constant slow piroettes of the boat over 3 days must have "unscrewed" the anchor in the mud. When we pulled it up, there was a large hard ball of clay filling the spade, which would have made it very difficult to dig in again. I guess we’ll have to either dive to verify the holding or pull up and reset the anchor periodically when the boat turns 360s.

Fortunately, we were on board and no other boats were in our path, we have a lifting keel boat that settles instead of topples, and we were pushed onto mud and not rock.

But the best lesson, something we already knew but saw confirmed once again, is that there is a solidarity among the sailing community that warms the heart. As soon as it was clear that we were in trouble, two other dinghies showed up to offer help. Even with 3 small motors pushing, we didn’t solve the problem, but their presence cheered us as we waited and their stories of their own similar misadventures made us feel less stupid. That’s worth 85 Euros any day.

Cleaning a Jabsco Par-Max Water Pump Filter

2018-06-23T11:02:00.005+02:00

If you’ve got black slime clogging up your filter (or if the water pressure decreases abruptly) you might need to consider cleaning the system. We clean the filter regularly but we managed to get some bad water in the tanks at the beginning of the season and we had a rather spectacular algae bloom in the pipes. We thought we would have to open up the tanks and manually clean them, but after a call to our Jeanneau dealer to ask how to do this (requires a special tool), he strongly urged NOT opening the tank (those plastic-on-plastic fittings are fragile) and trying chemcial cleaners instead. Very good advice. The problem was (more or less) resolved with just a cup of bleach. We don’t drink the water from the tanks directly anyway. It’s used for washing dishes, etc., and we filter it through a Brita filter before boiling for cooking or tea / coffee.

Disclaimer: this is what works for us, not an official manual. That should be clear as you read the text since we don’t even know the correct terms for most of the parts we’ll be discussing…

The filter is located between the check valve and the pump.

If you just want to clean the filter:

Step 1. Fill a bowl full of water and find an old toothbrush, ready for cleaning the filter.

Step 2. Shut off the pump electricity (so that it doesn’t try to top up the pressure while its guts are open)

Step 3. Unclip the filter from its housing and lift out. You simply pinch the two sides and lift out the transparent filter assembly.

Step 4. Clean. Put some silicone grease on the o-ring. (Note: our o-ring was distended and not fitting tightly enough, making it very difficult to get the assembly back in its housing. Have a stock of replacement o-rings ready. We found ours at an Auto Emporium.)

Step 5. This is a good time to also clean the filters on the faucets. Unscrew, remove the aerator / filter assembly, clean, replace.

Step 6. Put the filter back into its housing assembly. You should hear a good “click” as it fits into the housing. If not, check the o-ring.

Step 7. Open the faucets, turn on the pump electricity and chase out the air bubbles.

Cleaned filter and greased o-ring.

If you need to clean the whole assembly from the tank valves to the filter:

See our earlier post from last year, where a very intelligent, professional and honest technician from Polenca, Spain showed us how to check for obstructions in this part of the filter.

Steps 1 and 2 from above.

Step 3. Turn the check valve knob counter clockwise. You should hear gurgling as this part of the sysetm depressurizes.

Step 4. Push down the blue clip on the pump side after the filter assembly.

Step 5. Gently pull down from the check valve on the blue tube and away from the pump. Be very careful not to let the blue clip on the pump side fall into the abyss below.

Step 6. Flush with water, clean as necessary. (see earlier post for more details)

Step 7. Put back in place, sliding the check valve over the blue tube and securing the blue clips connecting the filter to the pump.

Step 8. You will now (probably) need to repressurize the system. Ours is marked “30 psi” on the pump body. Locate your air pressure tank, and use a bicycle tire pump to bring it back up to pressure. Ours is a standard size fitting.

Step 9. Open faucets, turn on pump electricity and chase out the air bubbles.

Might need cleaning?

Taking off the assembly. Sorry for the blurries...was not in the mood for fine photography.

Don't lose this clip...it falls off easily once the assembly is removed.

We are shopping around for a activated carbon filter system that attaches to the water hose to filter the water in port BEFORE it goes into the tanks. In the meantime, it’s “better living through chemistry.”

Marciana, Elba Island

2018-06-23T09:49:00.000+02:00

From Bastia we sailed 35 miles to the island of Elba, Italy where Napoleon was briefly exiled and where we hoped to find a good shipyard for a growing list of repairs.

Our first glimpse of the island was Marciana. This is no place for repairs but a charming stop on the way to Portoferraio.

Marciana Fish Market

And finally at anchor in Portoferraio bay, considered one of the most protected bays in the world. Last night, 35 knots blowing outside the bay and only a few gusts of 15 inside. Excellent holding, beautiful surroundings, and (so far) enough room for everyone.

First stop: Bastia

2018-06-20T18:26:00.000+02:00

We finally cast off from our winter haven of Taverna, Corsica after more than a week of preparations: wash, wax, polish, gelcoat touch-ups, bottom paint, water tanks cleaned (or so we thought), motor maintenance, life raft revision, and sails on.

We enjoyed Taverna as a winter spot and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap, safe, friendly, and professional place to leave a boat. Their reputation has been spreading rapidly, though, and you need to book early if you want to leave your boat on the hard over winter. As of May, they were already fully booked for this coming winter.

We had a lovely 25-mile sail up the coast to Bastia in preparation for a jump to the Italian island of Elba, where, we were told, we would find one of the best shipyards in the Med for a growing list of repairs. We could have gone directly to Elba but we wanted a small first sail and we really love shabby chic Bastia.

We are currently in Elba and I finally have time to write a first blog post because of all the maintenance jobs we have to do (which often involve long periods of waiting, but not long enough that you can go do some tourism). I’ve been posting frequent updates on the fix-it jobs on our facebook page (sailingmareda). For those of you just tuning in, we have battles on several fronts:

Black slime in the water tanks developed after 1 week, but a good dose of chlorox seems to have done the trick. I think the slime booger was probably from growth in one of the lines rather than the tank itself. We learned that you have to be very careful about water quality in the Med. On most docks, the water faucets are labeled potable or non-potable. We didn’t know we had to verify this each time. We do now.

Eeeuuuuuwwwww !

Our B and G chartplotter’s touchscreen is dead. The computer works fine and most of the functions can be accessed with buttons, but we can no longer place a waypoint or get cap and bearing. The electrician came yesterday and informed us that the Zeus 2 system doesn’t exist anymore and we would have to buy a Zeus 3 for 1500 Euros. Since we have so many other backup systems (MaxSea on 2 computers and an Ipad, OpenCPN on 2 computers) we’ve decided to just live with it. The Navionics on the B and G gives excellent detail on ports and anchorages that we still can access once we arrive in the area (the system screen still follows the boat, so at least we can “see” what’s around us).

Outboard motor maintenance done. (We pay someone else to do this because changing the water turbine can be a nightmare).

Change spinlock cam – big big nightmare. We are having to drill out the screws that seem to be glued into the backing plate. Patrick just finished digging out the head of the last one (took 2 days and 3 trips to the hardware store for Cobalt drill bits), and now the fun begins: we have to try to get the spinlock double-block up and out of its position, but it is, of course, glued into the gelcoat. Once it’s removed, I can change the cam while he digs around to try to figure out where the rest of the screws went and if we have to re-thread the backing plate for the new screws. We may need some professional help with that one, but it is the busy season and we may have to wait our turn.

But wait !! While I was busy leaving him alone, Patrick managed to get the spinlock block off ! The glue wasn’t as thick as we imagined. Woo Hoo ! Now to change the ailing cam and figure out if we need to rethread the screw holes.

In the meantime, enjoy the photos of Bastia.

Polyphonic Corsican Singing

A visit to the hardware store.

Cruising Expectations 2018

2018-06-02T14:47:00.000+02:00

As we do every year, we’ve made a list of expectations for the coming cruising season and reviewed those from 2017 to see how accurate we were. It’s hard to believe, but our expectation failure rate for 2017 is almost exactly the same as for 2016, 43% and 44%, respectively. I’m not sure what that says about us except that we’re apparently not getting any wiser about what’s waiting for us.

We hope there will be more of this in the coming season...

...and this, too.

Here is the list of our expectations from last year that were NOT true:

Insanely expensive marinas. Sure, they do exist, but we avoided them. How simple was that? In the Balearics, we used the municipal ports and buoys, which kept costs reasonable.

Carefully-timed commando-style raids in ports for water and food in the limited free time in ports. Never had to do this. We anchored out enough that our overall costs were down, so we didn’t avoid taking our time in the marinas when we needed or wanted to.

Using the 2^nd anchor. We never used it and never saw many people using theirs either. To keep from swinging, most people take a line ashore. We didn’t have to do that either, although Patrick was very keen to try one time (when it wasn’t necessary and I poo-poo’d the idea.)

Meals from a can. Despite lots of anchoring time, we almost always had fresh food. We often bought frozen food and we always asked for meats to be vacuum-sealed, which most butcher shops are willing and able to do.

Rigging up a trip-line for the anchor. Great idea, but we never did it. Our nautical guide pointed out the anchorages where a trip line would be useful, and we avoided those areas since they weren’t very appealing anyway.

Rolly anchorages. I can only remember a couple of rolly anchorages but the rolls never lasted very long and we never really thought about hauling up the anchor to find a new spot.

Grocery deliveries ! Hope Sardinian grocery stores does this, too.

Without further ado, here is our list of expectations for 2018:

Language frustrations. Patrick speaks enough Spanish to see us through most situations, but neither of us speaks Italian. We’re cramming this week, but we’re not very optimistic that this will avoid frustrating situations.

Crowded and expensive ports in southern Corsica and northern Sardinia in early July. We hope to be south of Olbia by 15 July to avoid the worse.

Using a line ashore to keep from swinging in narrow anchorages. I just thought I’d recycle this one, even though we shouldn’t have as many narrow anchorages as we did in the Balearics.

Anchorages in paradise and charming villages. This may also be more of a given than an expectation, but we’re eager to see for ourselves. We have a friend who had the intention of sailing around the Med like us, but who has been stuck in Sardinia now for 3 years because he has become completely smitten with the place and can’t imagine finding a better spot anywhere else.

Improved heat management techniques. This is more of a given rather than an expectation, since we’ve had side panels made for the bimini this year, but you never know.

Transportation headaches. The further we get away from mainland Europe, the more difficult it is to arrange transportation from our little Breton village to increasingly remote islands in the Med. Our current planning to get back to Mareda next week looks something like this: carpool to the airport, spend the night in a hotel, early flight to Bastia, taxi to bus stop, bus to Taverna. And we hope to get to the boatyard early enough to slap on the anti-fouling paint before the boat goes in the water later that afternoon !

Good phone and internet service. Since Europe eliminated roaming charges last summer, we can now use our existing French telephone and internet on the boat from anywhere in Europe. The only question remaining is signal strength in those anchorages in paradise.

Less blogging. Going with a less-is-more approach, my plan is to send photos and updates via Mareda’s Facebook page (sailingmareda) but won’t write a blog post until there is sufficient material to make it worth the effort (a real pain in the ass from my tragically slow laptop on the boat).

Making new friends, catching up with old ones. One of our favorite things about cruising is meeting other cruisers and buddy boating for awhile. Last year it was difficult around the islands because people scatter in many different directions. This year, we’ll be going down the coast, and many others will be doing the same. We may meet up with two other friends sailing in the area this year if the winds and tides of destiny will it.

A more relaxed cruising couple. Not that we’ve become old hands at Med sailing, but the initial learning curve is over and I figure nothing can be worse than our baptism by fire of the Balearics in July and August.

Can't wait for cockpit life.

We leave in 5 days !! Our last days before abandoning the house for 5 months look something like this: yard work, coordinate with neighbors for mail pick up, watch a little French Open tennis while going over lists and lists of lists for things to take, call up the local shipyard for parts we want to take with us, order new cockpit cushions and have them delivered to Corsica, make an appointment with the electricians in Elba for repair or replacement of our B&G chartplotter, put pressure on the life raft revision people to have it ready before we want to head out, defrost the fridge, watch World Cup Soccer preparatory matches (cheering for France over Italy while we can…), quick dash to the store for Brita water filters, last loads of laundry, call our supplemental health insurance company to find out why we still don’t have cards, print out boat insurance forms in French, Spanish, English, and Italian, update laptop software and test OpenCPN and MaxSea, google airline carry-on regulations to see if we can take a tube of Sikaflex in the cabin, say goodbye to local friends, provide emergency contact info to family, and finally, update the doomsday book.

I keep telling Patrick that all of this would be so much easier if we just lived full time on the boat...

Prep Week

2018-05-16T18:46:00.000+02:00

We had an exhausting but productive 8 days getting Mareda ready for cruising. Mareda survived the winter in Port Taverna, Corsica, despite heavy storms and a major forest fire that left ashes in the companion way.

Despite our best efforts, we didn't manage to resolve all our issues:

we couldn't get the propeller off to thoroughly clean away the remaining fibers of the fishing net we encountered last season... tried WD-40, tried heating, tried banging.
we couldn't unscrew the spinlock blockers to take for repairs... must be sealed into the gelcoat?
the B&G Zeus 2 nav station has a dead touch screen and it looks like it may be difficult to find an authorised B&G dealer in our area of the world.

Homework for the next 3 weeks will be trying to find the best place to cope with these issues when we get back to the boat.

In the meantime, here is the week in photos in and around Port Taverna and the charming village of Cervione.

Back-friendly Boat Manoeuvres?

2018-04-24T19:37:00.000+02:00

We’re still not sure what the future holds for our 2018 cruising, but we have made a few decisions. We will head down to Corsica as originally planned in early May to get Mareda ready for cruising, but will head back to Brittany for a few more doctor’s visits afterwards. Between ourselves, we’ve ruled out surgery (see how easy that was?) so we think we can head back to Mareda in early June to start our 2018 season.

In any case, we will have to modify some manoeuvres on the boat to make them more back-friendly. He will wear his “girdle” when we know that lifting or force will be involved, like hauling or dousing sails. The other big back-breaker is handling the mooring line in ports.

In the Med, we typically back in to a berth. To tie up, you pass two lines from the back of the boat to the dock, but to keep the boat from banging into the dock, you need something that pulls the nose forward. Mooring lines (or slime lines, as they are affectionately known), are thick ropes with one end attached to a heavy weight on the channel floor and the other end tied to the dock. When they are not in use, they lie along the slimy muddy bottom of the port and host an ecosystem of their own, including algae, worms, and sharp barnacles and shells. (Wear nasty gloves). Curiously, I don't seem to have any photos of the slime line.

When you arrive in the berth, you pick up the slime line attached to the dock using your boat hook (usually, there’s a friendly port assistant to hand it to you) and you walk the line forward, lifting it out of the water until you get to the front of the boat, where you then pull the line forward towards the sunken weight with all your might to get the line tight.

Note to self: try not to look so worried as Pat backs in...

I walk the line forward and then hand it to Patrick for the heavy pulling. He usually does this sitting down with his feet braced against the foot railings and using a rowing motion, “putting his whole back into it” as they say. Our Mediterranean sailing guru Leo tells us that this is a good way to ruin your back (yes, well, um...) and that there is a better way.

Once the boat is settled (stopped and lightly tied up), you release the aft lines to the dock, and pull the slime line forward with no tension from behind. Once you’ve pulled the boat forward a good distance and tied off the mooring line to the cleat, you use the motor in reverse to back up to the dock to tie off the aft lines. You shouldn’t have to jump to get onto the dock but you don’t want the fenders on the transom rubbing against the dock either. The last job is to rinse off the slime that the slime line has slathered all over the side of the boat (and crew) as it was walked forward and tied off.

Staying well off concrete docks.

It’s very important to get that mooring line tight. Last autumn in Porto Vecchio, we had a near gale that blew in with 25-30 knot winds full in the face for 24 hours, pushing all of the boats back towards the dock. We lifted up the fold-down transom in the back and put out additional fenders. All was well. Our neighbours, however, had not tightened their slime line enough, and their boat was getting pounded against the cement dock. Against strong head winds and even using the motor, they weren’t able to reset the mooring line far enough forward, so they had to stay up all night with the motor in gear to hold them off the dock. (And guess who were trying to sleep in the aft cabin with their ears right next to his motor?)

There will still be lots of work that will require strong backs, but we hope that if we take our time, it will be manageable. Welcome to slow living...

Here’s a list of the work we will do in early May (or rather, the work I will do as Patrick attempts to supervise using his now well-worn phrase, “I would help but I have a herniated disk”):

Wash deck and hull (with special spot treatments on bird poo areas)

Repairs to gel coat (2 or 3 dings to cover up)

Clean and polish stainless

Change sail drive zinc (and clean out the rest of the fishing line wrapped around the propeller)

Wax the hull

Paint the anchor chain depth markings

Make a new / better mosquito screen for the aft cabin (thanks Britican crew !

Service out-board motor

Have life raft serviced and re-certified for another 3 years

Check batteries, electronics, solar panels, radio. Is the girouette still there after the winter’s storms?

Put up the bimini and lazy bag.

Remove the spin-lock blocker for the mainsail halyard for repair or replacement (crapped out just at the end of last season).

Clean winches

Replace fold bike pedal assemblies (plastic chain guards both cracked)

Wash all clothes and linens on board

Fill up pantries with dry stores (bottled water, rice, pasta, canned food, etc.)

When we get back to the boat in June, the anti-fouling paint still has to be done, but we may break down and have the shipyard do that job for us so that we don’t lose time. (hey ! This slow living thing could grow on me!). We will still have to put the sails on; fingers crossed for light / no winds for that job. After a few more trips to the markets, we’ll be ready to head off.

First leg: the east coast of Cap Corse and the Tuscany Islands (Capraia and Elba) !

Cruising 2018 Postponed

2018-04-10T12:38:00.000+02:00

How many times have I said that cruising plans are written in the sand at low tide? This winter, we’ve had a larger-than-normal tide that has eroded short-term plans and possibly longer-term ones as well.

Patrick and I have had a series of health problems. Mine are minor-ish: a slightly-pinched disk in the lower back with a touch of arthritis. No more running. No more heavy lifting. Between the arthritis in the hands and now the back, my body has become a living barometer that, once calibrated, may actually be useful at sea.

Winter erosion.

Patrick’s issues are more serious. He has scoliosis, 2 pinched disks, and a very large herniated disk causing “sciatic nerve paralysis.” Strangely, he has no pain in the back, but shooting pain in one leg with loss of reflexes, some nerve damage, and loss of strength. We met with the neurosurgeon yesterday, who wants to avoid operating if possible. The first step is a cortisone injection to see if reducing the swelling may help the herniated disk to back off or even (rare but possible) to slip back into place by itself. If that doesn’t work, he’ll need surgery.

Instead of getting back to the boat on the 6^th of May, it looks like the earliest we’ll be able to leave is late may / early June. If he has to have surgery, it will be at least 6 weeks longer. Since we already have air tickets and an apartment lined up (all non-refundable, optimists that we are...), we may go down on the 6^th anyway to make some headway on the work (cleaning deck and hull, waxing hull, polishing the stainless, etc.) so that when we are ready to go, we’ll just have the bottom paint to slap on.

Washed up.

In any case, we’re going to have to modify our way of doing things on the boat, and possibly our cruising ambitions as well. We don’t want to find ourselves in some idyllic anchorage in the middle of nowhere when his disk decides to slip further and cause a real paralysis and extreme pain. It’s easy to say “take it easy on the boat, reduce sail, don’t misuse your back,” etc., but there are always emergencies on a boat that require your immediate attention and you don’t always have the luxury of being able to rig some gentler way of handling things. My problems weren’t caused by any single catastrophic event, but rather slow constant wear and tear. Sailing 6 months of the year every year for many years takes its toll.

I’m juggling cruising options and it’s still too early to see clearly. We want to avoid being around Corsica from mid-July to mid-August, but I’m a bit leery about hanging out further down on the Sardinian coast with few towns large enough to offer assistance in an emergency. The plan was to continue down to Sicily and winter-over at Marina di Ragusa, but that plan only makes sense if a) Patrick’s back is stable, and b) we plan to continue on to Greece and Turkey the following year. Another option is to start heading back to the French coast to prepare for a passage through the canals the following year, saying goodbye to the Med.

We’re both taking all of this with a big dose of philosophy. There’s no debate - health comes first. We’ve had a wonderful 10 years of sailing and maybe it’s time to reign in our ambitions by limiting ourselves to sailing locally around France, or chucking it all and moving on to some new life project. We live with an uneasy oil-and-water mixture of disappointment and excitement at the moment. The world is big and there’s so much to do and see…

Washed out.

For richer, for poorer

2017-12-18T15:41:00.002+01:00

No, we aren't reconsidering our marriage vows after reaching the half-way point toward paying off our boat. This is the phrase that came into my head as I reviewed some photos from this year's cruise, which saw us rubbing elbows (er, um... rub rails?) with the rich and possibly famous, as well as wandering through run-down, abandoned (often charming) backstreets. The juxtaposition of derelict cities and obscene wealth left a lasting impression on us. Here are some shots that didn't make it into other blog posts to show you what I mean.

We spent a couple of nights with super yacht Nero. For $45k per week, you and 12 friends can rent her.

The shabby-chic back alleys of Bastia.

I was eager to take photos of rich neighbors anytime I saw a boat that was NOT a cigarette go-fast pecker-stretcher, or as the french say, a big "suppositoire".

In case you like suppository boats...

I love the pigeon in the small hole top left trying to figure out what the hell I'm shooting.

This Russian mega-yacht (one of the largest sailing yachts in the world) dwarfs the Mareda-sized sail boat approaching from the left.

We saw quite a few of these renovated tug boats, as well as the near-ubiquitous inflatable pink flamingo on the bow.

When one of these boats arrives in the anchorage, it is only a matter of minutes before all the toys come out. Here, an inflatable slide spills into a netted pool (to keep out beasties). There are also jet-skis, scuba jets, and water jet packs, all with certified instructors, and one of the crew always has a drone buzzing overhead for the souvenir video.

The best of both worlds: richly-renovated recently-shabby architecture.