Monday 30 June 2014 - Port Toga, Bastia

We are still in Bastia.  It was always the plan to stay at least two days and perhaps a third.  But the weather made the decision for us.  On Sunday we had a good tour of the old town.  There was a nice market going in the square where we ate last night.  We walked up to the Citadel and the old town.  It is all very interesting, but many of the buildings are in terrible condition.  Apparently the town suffered in the war, from American friendly fire!

We have great difficulty finding a light lunch, and I wind up with a pizza, which was not what I had in mind.

Dinner on the boat and prepare for the night.  The weather forecast is for very high winds up to force 9!  As the night came on the thunderstorms started with lots of lightning.  There was some rain, but the wind was the main feature.  However, we did not see it go above a seven.

However, in the morning it was worse.  Everyone was out adding more lines to the boats which are rocking around.  The wind gauge has hit 30-32 knots several times.  We really need to stay on the boat to make sure nothing untoward happens.

We do leave for a short time to go to a launderette.  There is no self-service launderette here, so we take our linens in for a service wash at a local dry cleaners and laundry.  It really doesn’t cost that much more than doing it myself, but they don’t get the grubby tee shirts as clean as I do.

So we have done a lot of domestic chores over the last two days.  The weather forecast is a bit better for tomorrow.  The wind is supposed to go down to little or nothing.  The big worry is how the sea will be.  Richard thinks we may have to leave a bit later than we would like.  We shall see.  Anyway, it is time to move on.

Saturday 28 June 2014 - Port Toga, Bastia

We are finally leaving Port Taverna!  We make our way out at about 9:00am and head for Bastia.  The wind at first is rather gentle, but it is on the beam, so we put the sails up.  It soon settles down at a force 4.  Richard suggests that we may want to put up the cruising chute, but I say if the wind is this strong at 9:00am, it will get worse and be too strong for the chute.  I turn out to have made a good call.  Within half an hour we have 17-18knots of wind.  Too much for the cruising chute.  And we are going nicely.  So we have a pleasant sail for about 3 ½ hours, when suddenly the wind dies.  We are only 6 miles from port and we don’t want it to take two hours, so we put the engine on.

We have been recommended to Port Toga by the Boothbys, as opposed to the old port in the centre of town.  So here we are.  We arrive just before 2:00pm and there is no one here!  It is lunch time.  Within a few minutes a man arrives.  It seems he is on his own here in the marina.  He shows us to a berth and then berths other boats.  When we try to pay he simply asks us to come back tomorrow.

We have a lunch made up of the few leftovers I have in the fridge.  It is now very hot and sunny.  But it is imperative that we shop for food, because we have virtually no fresh food on board.  So we go to the big supermarket just over the road and replenish our supplies.  We then go out for a cold drink because we are so hot that we are dehydrated.  We find a nice cool space and have a rest.  Every café and restaurant is showing the football.  I have no idea what is going on.  It has been nice to be away and take no notice of it!

We go into town for dinner.  We manage to find the bus stop and it is a quick hop into the centre of town.  We look around the old harbour.  We are probably better off where we are.  It appears the visitor spaces are all taken and they are at the very entrance of the harbour, where there is not much shelter.  The bad news is that strong winds are forecast to be coming in, so we may be here for a few days.

We have a nice dinner of fish and walk back to the marina.  It isn’t a bad walk.  There is a lot going on in the town.  There is a big sort of fun fair with a stage and terrible pop music.  Again, it is probably better that we are out of town!

Friday 27 June 2014 - Port de Taverna

Well we woke up in good time to get ready for the lift out.  As requested we went to the office at 10:30 to arrange to go at 11.  But then they said no, and put it back to 12:00 saying they would come along with the rib to push us into the dock to be lifted.  But 12:00pm came and went and nothing happened.  So Richard went to see them and they now said they would do it at 2:00pm!

We have wasted a beautiful morning of bright sun and warmth.  We would have liked to go to the beach, but have been messed about.  So instead we have lunch on board and get ourselves ready for 2:00pm.

Again, 2:00pm comes and goes and no one comes to take us to the hoist.  I am getting hysterical.  I can see that this will never happen.  Richard is also fed up, so by 2:30 when he can see that the hoist is empty he just decides to take the boat over and force the issue.  I am worried about this, but it turns out to be the right decision.  We manage to get out of our berth without the bow thruster and get into the dock for the lift with the help of one of the marina staff who guides us in with our warps (mooring ropes to the non-nautical speakers). 

It is just our luck that as we start the process it starts to rain, having been beautiful all day.  To be lifted Richard also has to unscrew the backstays.  This is a task and a half and doing them up again is even worse.

So the boat comes out of the water safely.  It looks in remarkably good shape and is very clean.  The mechanic looks at the bow thruster propeller and says he can’t see anything wrong with it.  His suggestion is that there is something wrong in the basic unit and that he will have to dismantle the whole thing and get parts to repair it.  At this stage I am nearly hysterical.  This would mean at least one or two weeks delay and maybe more.  We would not make it to Rome and back home in time.

Richard and I have a quick discussion and decide that the only way to proceed is to go on without a bow thruster and make it to Rome, with help in the marinas on the way, where we will get the manufacturers to recommend an expert to look at it.  We will try to anchor as much as possible.

The mechanic sees the state we are in and says he will try something else.  So he takes the propeller for the thruster off and then puts it back on checking another pin and bolt.  He asks Richard to try it and when he does, the propeller goes around!  So then we put the boat back in the water to test it and lo and behold it seems to work.  The only thing the mechanic can think is that the nut attaching the prop got loose and having tightened it up, it now works.  I am not convinced, but we seem to have a bow thruster that works, so we will carry on.  We get back to our mooring place and manage to manoeuver on to it with the thruster working.  Let’s keep fingers crossed.

Of course, by the time we tie up again, the sun is out.  But it is too late to go for a swim, so we just stay on board.  After the traumas of the day we treat ourselves to a couple of Rum and Cokes each with nibbles and then eat a pasta meal on board (having used up all my fresh supplies).  We will now go out for an ice cream, as we feel that we still need a pick me up.  We will leave here tomorrow no matter what.  The weather report seems OK. 

Thursday 26 June 2014 - Port de Taverna

I have not posted because really nothing has happened.  The other boat has been in the hoist for the last two days.  Yesterday we went to the beach in the morning, but it clouded over.  We keep looking to see if the hoist is free, but it hasn’t been.

The weather has also failed to co-operate.  We were awakened by torrential rain at about 6:00 this morning.  We had to rush around closing hatches, but still a lot of water came in.  It didn’t stop until after 8.  By then everything was sodden.  We looked at our dinghy and it had a foot of water in it!  It is a surprise that it did not sink.  Also, the water in the marina has gone funny.  It has turned brown!  When we walk over to the toilets we understand why.  There are torrents of water pouring in from the woods just behind. 

The other boat is still in the hoist, so we spend the day doing domestic chores.  I even do a load of laundry.  At 4:00pm we finally see them launch the other boat.  We rush over to the boatyard and find the mechanic.  We will be lifted out tomorrow, hopefully at 11:00am.  So we shall see what happens.

Tuesday 24 June 2014 - Port De Taverna, Corsica

On Monday morning we left the anchorage at Porto Vecchio.  As we said goodbye to Keith and Pat, they started to shout at us.  They had just discovered that Richard left his shoes on board last night.  So we had to go to their boat and collect the shoes first!

We had been recommended to a couple of bays just north of here by the Boothbys, so we decided to head towards one of them.  As we set off the weather is nice and it is bright and sunny.  The idea is to stop at the anchorage for lunch and a swim and if we like it stay for the day.  But by the time we get to the Golfe de Pinarella the weather has deteriorated.  It is at first very cloudy and then it even starts to rain!  We stayed at the anchorage for a bit, but the swell is coming in and it isn’t very comfortable.  We try moving to another spot, but it is not much better and the weather seems to be getting worse.  So we set off to a harbour instead of staying the night.   So by 5:00pm we made it to Solenzara.  It wasn’t the most exciting place, but we were warned about it.  But it is a cute town with all local services.  We have dinner on board and a pleasant evening. 

We were tempted to stay for another night as we are well ahead of schedule.  But after a fairly leisurely morning we decide to move on.  There really isn’t much choice about where to go.  This coast has no suitable overnight anchorages.  Well for that matter no anchorages.  So it is a case of going to the next harbour, Taverna, or to Bastia.  But Bastia is a ten hour trip, and we are not keen especially as the sea has a rotten swell so I am not keen on carrying on.  So we decide to go to Taverna.  Everyone said it is a bit of dead loss.  It is a development which has never taken off.  So really there is not much here, but then it is only for one day. 

We get in and stop on the welcome pontoon and wait for someone to allocate us a berth.  Then disaster strikes.  As we try to leave the pontoon to go to the berth, the bow thruster stops working!  This is terrible.  Because we have twin rudders (which means no prop wash) the boat is almost impossible to manoeuvre at slow speeds.  We depend on the bow thruster completely to be able to moor in tight marinas, especially going in stern to.  It was working this morning, so we don’t know why it has suddenly stopped.  We get the marina staff to push us into a berth and set off to find an engineer to look at it. 

First we find the instructions for the bow thruster (which luckily are in a number or languages including French) to see if they give us a hint about what is wrong.  It seems to suggest that we must have got something around the thruster’s propellers.  So Richard goes in with his snorkel pipe to see if there is anything obvious.  But there isn’t.  So we are directed to a local mechanic.  He thinks the boat will have to come out of the water to find the fault, but is willing to come this evening and have a look.  If, as the instruction booklet says, the problem is with a linking pin, that could be fixed from inside without taking the boat out.  But alas and alack, that turns out not to be the case.  So we will have to have the boat lifted out.  They are not sure when they can do that.  They have a suitable hoist, but at the moment a boat is in it and they do not know when it will be re-launched.  So we will find out tomorrow when the work can be done.

We wondered whether we should move on to Bastia to have the work done.  However, Richard spoke to Bastia marina and they couldn’t say if there was a lift to take the boat out.  The mechanic here says that Bastia has very limited lifting equipment and cannot always lift a sailboat with the mast up.  So we will stay here.

Although this is a funny place in the middle of nowhere, we do seem to have hit lucky in that it has an engineer (who speaks reasonable English) and a hoist to take us out.  Tomorrow we shall find out how long we will have to stay before they can fix the thing.  It is lucky we are well ahead of schedule!

So we are making the best of it.  We have dinner out here.  There isn’t much to choose from, but we get a meal.  If we can we will go to what looks like a very nice beach around the corner, except that the weather forecast is for rain!

Sunday 22 June 2014 - Porto Vecchio

I didn’t post yesterday because I was just too tired.  We had quite a good trip to Porto Vecchio in Corsica.  At first we had a good 17 knot wind on the beam and we were going really well.   Then suddenly the wind went down to 2 knots and just as quickly it turned around in the opposite direction and increased to 10 knots.  Very fluky.  So as the wind was now on the nose,  we wound up motoring for the second half of the trip.  The weather is lovely and we are quite warm.  So we stop in a little bay on the way to the harbour.  We can’t anchor as close in as we would like, but it is fine and we have a nice swim and some lunch.

Then we make it to the marina.  There is plenty of room and we are directed in to a berth with no problem.  After we check in we really need to go food shopping.  We have nearly nothing left on the boat in the way of fresh food.  So we make it to the closest supermarket, which is fine and stock up on food for the next three days.

We also have a look around the part of the town near the port.  It is quite buzzy and we note that there is a free concert tonight on the port for the Fete de la Musique which the French have all over France on every mid-summers night.  The plan is to have a drink out, then dinner and finally listen to the concert. 

We have been trying to get in touch with Keith and Pat Boothby, the parents of friends from the Southerly Owners Association.  They have had their boat in Corsica for a few years now and we have been in e-mail correspondence getting tips from them about where to go etc.  The e-mail here at the marina is good, so we do finally get in touch and agree to meet tomorrow.

The evening plans went really well and the concert was terrific.  The band was a Latin band playing the sort of music we really like.  There were also people from the band dancing Salsa and leading the audience in the dancing.  It was so good even I had a go at a little dance or two.  What was really cute were the little kids.  There were quite a few children, boys and girls from about 3 years to 6 years all joining in the dancing and having a great time.

So back to the boat and bed ready for tomorrow.

We get up fairly early and I go out to the boulangerie to get ‘French breakfast’.  We have a lazy morning on the boat waiting for the Boothbys.  It is so hot even early in the morning that I have changed into one of my new sun dresses.  We have a nice chat with Keith and Pat and decide how to deal with the day.  They are going to do laundry while we walk up to the upper town and see the sights.

It is a hot walk up, but the town is very sweet.  It is particularly nice because there is a Sunday market.  If I hadn’t bought so much food yesterday I could have bought a lot, but instead only bought one jar of Aubergine caviar.  Then back down to the port where we have a light lunch with the Boothbys. 

Technically we should have left our berth by noon, but Richard got the marina to agree that we could leave late without paying for another night.  So the plan now is to go out of the marina and anchor in the harbour where the Boothbys have their boat anchored.  They have a boat much more suited to this life, with large holding tanks, lots of water and a generator for electricity.  We get to the anchorage, which is nice.  It is so hot that the first thing we do is swim.  For a change the water does not seem cold!

We have a lovely evening with Keith and Pat on their boat.  We have pooled our food and are doing a barbecue.  Despite a fair amount of wine, Richard manages to row us back to the boat and we get aboard without mishap.  Tomorrow we shall go a little way up the coast and try some of the anchorages that have been recommended.  Our only problem is that our holding tank keeps showing that it is half filled when we have hardly used it.  We really hope that there is not a problem with the pumping out!

Friday 20 June 2014 - Ile Cavallo, Corsica

Neither of us slept well with the swinging and banging of the boat all night.  So we go up early.  Richard couldn’t get an up to date weather forecast, so we rely on the one we heard last night.  He has identified a French island between the Maddalenas and Corsica.  It is only 12 miles away, so even in poor conditions we should be able to get there.

Well, the conditions are not good.  It was forecast a 4, but it is a 5 gusting 6.  The highest gust we saw on the wind gauge was 27 knots.   It is not really on the nose, but we are sailing upwind, which is less comfortable than if the wind is behind, on genoa only, doing 6-7 knots.  There is also a fairly choppy sea with 1-1.5 metre waves.  I am not enjoying this trip.  The boat is fine, but I would prefer a flatter ride.  But I have taken a pill and feel fine and we do make it to the Island in about 2 hours with most of the day to go.

We are on Ile Cavallo.  The first thing that we notice is that the marina is empty.  It is fairly new and in a very pretty little development with a posh boutique hotel and spa.  We are told that there are some beautiful beaches, so after lunch we take a walk and find two of them.  It is very pretty with great smooth boulders on the edges and turquoise blue water.  We have brought our bathing suits so we go for a swim.  

Then back to the boat and finally to the spa where we have booked massages.  We first get to use their spa (Thallasso whirlpool) and then have a really nice relaxing time on the massage bench.

There is only one problem with this place.  That is the cost.  Nothing in our books suggested any price.  When we finally go to pay we find that the fee is 140 euro!  It is no wonder that this is empty.  In the end he charges us only(??!) 100 euro because the toilet block is not in use (it appears to be in the course of reconstruction). 

Well at least we are having a relaxing time and safe in a marina with the wind howling away.  But we will have to move tomorrow.  We only hope the weather is good enough to get us to mainland Corsica comfortably.

Thursday 19 June 2014 - Palau, Sardinia

We didn’t rush to leave our mooring overnight.  The weather seems much better.  At least it is sunny.  But there does seem to be quite a bit of wind.  The guy who took our money last night did say the weather forecast for today was for strong winds.  However, Richard has been in the internet and assures me that it will be just a 4, and we will be going downwind.

So we set off.  As it is so sunny Richard suggests that we go to one of the anchorages we saw yesterday evening for the afternoon.  As we get out of the shelter of the bay we find that it is not a force 4 wind at all.  It is a 5 gusting 6 or more.  In fact the gusts get up to 28 knots.  We put up the genoa and sail just on that.  It is more or less a following wind so we go quite nicely.  We then take the sail in and find the Cala Coticcio.  There are a number of other boats there.  One is a lovely Oyster we saw going in there yesterday.  In fact, the anchorage is made up mainly of native English speakers.  The Oyster is from Australia, there is us, another smaller British boat flying a red ensign and a larger classic looking craft flying an American flag!

We set the anchor down and decide to stay for a few hours.  The bay is sheltered from the worst of the wind, but it is still fairly windy especially when the wind swoops over the cliffs and swirls around.  We take down the bimini, because the wind makes it cool, and we have been out of the sun for a while.  We are waiting to get hot enough to go swimming.  The water is a beautiful colour blue and crystal clear.  Richard goes in first and has a bit of a snorkel.  I did not bring my snorkel pipe.  I wasn’t going to go in, but in the end I do have a little dip.

We toy with the idea of staying here for the night, but strictly speaking, we don’t have a permit because ours runs out at midnight.  So we go back to the original plan of returning to Palau for the night.

Well, that was a bit of a mistake.  We weren’t aware of how much shelter we had at our anchorage.  When we get out we find that the wind is blowing a 5 gusting 7 and then a pretty steady 6.  That wouldn’t be so bad, except it is more or less on the nose!  We try sailing on genoa only to the wind with the intention of trying to find calmer water further in, but that seems to be an illusion.  So after an hour of bucking waves, we give up and put the engine on and slog into the wind.  Not a nice journey at all.

But worse is to come.  When we get to Palau, and before I can call up the marina, a man from the marina comes out in a rib and says they are full and the only place for us is a mooring buoy outside the harbour.  We think he is directing us to the buoy to help us with our lines, but no.  He just disappears back into the harbour and leaves us to it.  And mooring is a nightmare.  It is blowing 24-26 knots most of the time and we can’t line up to a buoy to get a line through. I have my special catch buoy machine, but I can’t latch the top on to the buoy because the wind is blowing my gadget away from the buoy.  After about half a dozen attempts we decide to try another tactic.  This one I used to use in Brittany.  Richard reverses to the buoy and I hang off the bathing platform and feed the line into the buoy by hand.  Once I get the line on, I will walk the buoy to the front of the boat and secure the line.  Well, in this wind and swell, this is not easy.  I do get the line on quite well, but the force of the wind almost drags me into the water on two or three occasions while I try to secure it to the front of the boat.  I finally get us sort of tied on.  Now we want to secure a second line.  Richard does that with the hooking machine.  But this all takes over an hour!  We are shattered.  Now that we are tied on we find that this is a very uncomfortable spot.  We are in a bay which should provide good protection from the westerly wind but it is still blowing a 6 and it is very rolly.  I think is may be just about as bad as Vernazza, but Richard says it is nothing like so bad.  Nonetheless, I have to take a seasick pill to make sure of being able to cope below.

Richard looks up the weather and it is not good.  The wind remains strong for the next day and a half at least.  We don’t want to stay here, so we shall have to make some other plans.  Richard is searching through the books for a solution, while I make us dinner.  The wind is dropping, but the boat is still bouncing around like a cork.  Maybe the motion will put us to sleep! 

Wednesday 18 June 2014 - Spalmatore, Isola Maddalena

We have decided that we have really done everything we want to do here, so we will move on.  The weather seems lovely, with a clear blue sky, but there is some wind.  Richard checks the weather forecast on the internet and it says it will be sunny with a force 4 wind, no gusts and only .5m swell.  So we will start to explore the Maddelena Islands and the national park.

We do some last minute shopping and then off we go.  We must first find a port where we can buy a license to stay in the National Park.  We know there is a place in La Maddalena, where we stayed the other day, but we would prefer to go somewhere different.  So we go to a little port on the mainland called Palau.  We enter the port and we don’t want a proper berth because we only want to stay for about half an hour.  I call up the harbour office on the radio and luckily find a lady who speaks quite good English.  She directs us to an alongside berth right next to the town.  There is even someone to help us take lines and tie up. 

Richard goes and gets our permit and then persuades me to join him in a giant ice cream.  It is hot enough and we won’t get any lunch for a while.

So we set off to the islands.  But minor disaster strikes as we leave our mooring.  Richard shouts to me to see what is wrong with the dinghy, which we have been towing behind the boat.  I suddenly realise that it is floating away.  I rush to get a boat hook to try to retrieve it.  I can see what has happened.  The painter (for those who don’t speak ‘Nautical’- that is the rope which attaches the dinghy to the boat) has gone under the boat and has been cut by the rope cutter on our propeller.  So it has floated free.  Richard does a good job getting the boat to the dinghy and I manage to grab what is left of the painter with the boat hook and we re-attach it to the boat.  But we will need a new painter.

So now we are really off. The plan is to stop for a swim and some lunch and then to go off elsewhere for the night.  So we make our way to Isola Caprera.  Of course it is now after noon and so the wind has got up. It is behind us and we are sailing nicely on just Genoa, but it is strong.  At times it hits a force 6!  This is not what the forecast predicted and not what we want for a day an anchor.  We find the bay we were heading for.  It is still blowing quite strong.  The wind in the bay is only about half of what it was out in the channel, but it is still very windy and the boat is rocking a bit.  I am freezing.  I have to put on a long sleeved top.  I don’t understand the people in the boats next to us.  They are skinny dipping in the water!

Although the anchorage is nice, it isn’t that comfortable and there seem to be dark clouds coming.  I am certain I can hear thunder.  So we revert to plan A and proceed up to the east side of Maddalena Island where Richard is sure there will be more shelter and there are supposed to be buoys to pick up, which will be more secure for the night.

The trip is only 6 miles, but it is not nice.  It is now blowing a 5 gusting 6 and it is on the nose.  There is a lot of spray and we have to put up the spray hood.  I am so cold I have put on long trousers and a fleece!  The sky is going very dark.  When we get to the bay, we see the mooring buoys and then someone comes out in a rib and tells us it is a private bay and we have to pay 30 euro for the night.  We are pretty sure this is a con, but we have no choice.  The weather is definitely closing in and we need a secure place for the night.  So we pay up and he helps us get our lines on the mooring buoy. 

Almost as soon as we settle down the rain starts.  There is thunder and lightning.  Some other boats arrive in this mess and all are in full rain gear.  We did manage to get here just in time.  We are told that the winds might be quite strong tomorrow, so we are not sure what we will do.  It is a shame, because this is lovely bay with a nice beach and it would be nice to stay and swim. 

Tuesday 17 June 2014 - Porto Cervo, Costa Smerelda

We have decided to go today.  The weather forecast is better and we are bored here and need to empty our tank.  So we get up relatively early and make our way to the Sardinian mainland.  The weather is not at all bad.  Quite sunny, with just a bit of cloud.  We have a light wind of 6-8 knots and eventually Richard decides to put up the genoa (but not the main).  Initially we are motor sailing, but I suddenly spot a dolphin.  It swims right under the boat.  We then see at lest two more, but they are not near the boat.  We turn the engine off to encourage them, but they won’t come and play and we have to be content to watch them from afar.  We really thought we would see more of these lovely creatures here as this is a wildlife sanctuary where dolphins and whales are supposed to be protected, but no one seems to have told that to the dolphins!  Having shut off the engine we continue to sail on genoa alone as the wind builds a little.

We are only going 9 miles.  We have decided to come and see the posh resort here on Sardinia called Port Cervo on the Costa Smerelda.  It is apparently where all the ‘beautiful people’ come in the season.  But the season has not yet started, so that’s OK.  We think many people are put off by the pilot book which talks of having to pay 125 Euros to be on a mooring.  We checked with the web-site and it is much less than that.

We enter the harbour early at about 11:30am and call up for a berth.  They speak good English, which is a relief.  They ask if we want to be in the old harbour or new marina.  I ask what they recommend and she says the old harbour is right by the town, so I opt for that.  Richard is a bit concerned because he believes the new marina is the place to be, but we are taken to the old harbour, which is not old.  We are on a modern floating pontoon   right in the middle of everything.  We are the only boat on this pontoon.  In fact the only other boats in this part of the harbour are 6 Super Yachts!  We are helped to moor and have to do so using the anchor as there are no laid lines here.  Good practice for when we get to Greece.

We have a little look around.  It is all very twee.  Apparently the place has been designed by only top architects to blend in with the natural environment.  It reminds me of a very large Portmerion!  (but not so querky).  We find a supermarket to buy bread for lunch and then go to the boat.  By now it is really very hot.  I have put on one of my new sundresses.

After lunch we decide to walk to the new marina.  On the map it does not look like a bad walk.  Well, it was.  The temperature is up to 30C and there is no direct path.  We have to keep walking back to main roads to get there.  When we do get there, there is nothing much to see or do.  There are very few boats here other than large racing vessels outside the Yacht Club.  We certainly have made the correct decision in going into the old harbour!

Having had a long and uncomfortable walk here we try to find a way back by other transport.  The map says there is a ferry that goes between the harbours and that would be perfect, except it isn’t running yet!  We have also seen one of those little tourist trains which runs between the two ports.  We speak to a port worker who shows us where the train goes and we decide to wait for it.  However when it comes, despite it having a whole empty carriage, it won’t stop to take us on.  So all that is left is a taxi.  Problem with that is that we have left the Italian phone on the boat and Richard’s English phone is getting no reception.  Eventually someone at the Yacht Club bar helps us and phones a taxi, which takes us back to the old port.

We have decided to have dinner out.  The best restaurant is closed, so we just try one on spec.  It is ok.  The starter was very disappointing (3 prawns for 20 Euro), but the main of sea food pasta was good as was desert.  And as we are in Italy we get good decaf cappuccino.

Not sure what we do tomorrow.  As ever it depends on the weather.

Monday 16 June 2014 - La Maddalena

Well as predicted the weather is terrible as we wake up.  It has been raining and the sky is full of black clouds.  Unless it clears up we are here for the day.

This isn’t a bad place to be weather bound, except for the sanitary facilities.  They are not run or owned by the harbour.  There is a public block run by the town and they not only charge for the showers (we are used to that), but they charge a Euro to use the toilet.  So we will just use the boat and hope the weather clears before we overfill the tank.

So when the rain eases a bit we go into town.  We go first to the market.  There aren’t many stalls open, but there are three fish counters, so I am able to buy a nice sea bream for dinner.  Then we decide to find the supermarket an English lady on a neighbouring boat told us about.  On the way we pass a cute shop selling ethnic things including sun dresses.  I am still grieving for my old dress which fell apart last week.  So, I go in and manage to find a very light easy to wear dress.  The bust line

doesn’t really fit as intended, but that is par for the course, and it looks OK and the price is right, so I buy it.  Now I have two new light sundresses.  All I need is some sun!

The weather deteriorates as we return to the boat.  It has been pouring with rain most of the day and we are stuck inside.  I decide to do some domestic chores.  First I iron two shirts for Richard which were in the laundry loads I did yesterday morning.  Yes, I do have an iron and ironing board on the boat.  Only little travelling versions, mind you.

Then I decide to do some cooking for lunches over the next few days.  As it is cool, cooking is fine.  So I make a large bowl of Pepperanato (roasted peppers in oil dressing) and Tabouleh.  So we have nice bits to eat with cold meats or cheeses for lunch.

At teatime the weather cheers up a little, so we stretch our legs and walk around the town.  Everyone is sitting in cafes watching World Cup games.  Today Germany v Portugal.  The Italians here keep telling us about how they beat England the other day!

We still don’t know what we will do tomorrow.  The weather reports all say different things.  So we shall just have to see.  The choices are the most luxurious and chic resort at great expense, or the national park.  If the weather is OK, we will do the latter but that is a big if.  

Sunday 15 June 2014 - La Maddalena, Sardinia

The plan was to get up fairly early and make a start to Sardinia before bad weather set in.  But it did not work out like that.  We were woken by a huge thunderstorm at 6:00am.  It lasted a long time and the rain was very heavy.  The Straits of Bonifacio, the water lying between Corsica and Sardinia are said to be the most treacherous waters in Europe.  So we were not keen on crossing through them in thunderstorms. 

We turned over and went back to sleep, but when we got up just after 8:00, it was still raining and there was thunder.  So we decided to wait and see.  In the meantime I had a big bag of laundry piling up, so we decided to use the morning to do a couple of loads.  That all finished just before noon, when the sky cleared and the wind seemed to drop.  So we quickly made sandwiches for lunch under way and set off.

As we set off we did not know what to expect, but the weather forecast was for a south-westerly wind of between force 4 and 5.    Well, it was not that bad and the wind was in the East.  With such unreliable forecasts, we don’t know what to do.  In the end we had a ripping sail.  Most of the time we were on a reach with a force 4-5 breeze and doing 7 knots.  The wind got up to 20 knots, so we took a reef in near the end, but that didn’t slow us down.  The sea was biggish with waves up to one and a half metres, but they were on the beam and the boat took them well.

So we sailed to Maddalena Island.  It is part of an archipelago off the Sardinian mainland, which is also a nature reserve.  The marina is nice and very reasonable.  The town is sweet and with plenty of shops where we can provision.  We would leave tomorrow, if the weather was OK, but it is predicted to rain heavily, so we may be here for a day or two.  Not a bad place to be stuck in.  To explore the islands we will have to buy a special pass, but that will also be fine.

So, dodging showers we searched the town and then came back to the boat for dinner.

Saturday 14 June 2014 - Bonifacio

We have spent the last two days in Bonifacio.  We set out on Friday morning a little later than planned.  The good dinner with too much wine made us rather tardy in getting up.  At first Richard thought Bonifacio would be another 20 or so mile hop, but on more careful plotting we find that it is nearly 35 miles.  So we have a long day on the sea.  When we started off there was a little wind, but it was more or less on the nose.  So we wound up motoring again for about half the day.  Eventually we turned away from the wind and as usual it got up in the afternoon.  So we had a steady 3-4 on the beam for a couple of hours.  Then we turned so that the wind was dead behind us and though it had freshened, we were only doing under 4 knots, which would get us into port too late.  So we wound up motor sailing again.

Bonafacio is a fascinating site.  It is a fortified ancient town on top of limestone cliffs.  The port is in a calanque (a mini fjord) at the base of the town.  All very dramatic.  The port is organised more like the ones in northern France.  That is to say, there are a number of visitor pontoons and it is up to you to find a space on a first come first served basis.  So we make our way to an empty space on a pontoon, stern to as usual.  This time there is no marina man to help, but other yachtsmen on the pontoon take our lines and we get in fine.

It is rather late and very hot.  We sign in at the office and pay for one night.  But this is a place that deserves more than a couple of fleeting hours to look at.  So I persuade Richard we should stay for two nights.  The mooring fees are not bad and there is a toilet block with free showers (though Richard finds that the showers in the mens are cold, I am luckier).  The harbour is very lively with lots of bars and restaurants and two little supermarkets plus a bakery, so we can top up the stores.

It is a fast day, so we eat a meagre dinner on board.  There is a very loud disco going, but we manage to sleep OK.

This morning we were up early and after breakfast made our way up the hill to see the old town and citadelle.  We get audio guides from the tourist office and do a fair job on seeing the main sights.  It is still early.  We have passed a restaurant that is recommended in the guides and decide the best plan is to have a leisurely lunch and just then a light supper on the boat.  So we do that.  We get back down to the boat after 2:00pm and just sit in the cockpit for a while before picking up some bits for supper and stopping at an ice cream parlour where Richard has a huge Café Liegoise and I just have a citron pressé.

So now we have to plan our last month.  We will probably set off for Sardinia tomorrow, though the weather is looking a bit iffy.  However after two days sightseeing in very hot conditions, I am looking forward to going somewhere we can stop for a swim.