Red Adventures

Our Blog continues on the Website

2012-01-08T12:44:00.002-06:00

We have now continued the blog containing the Grateful Red's adventures on our Website,
www.gratefulred.us. Please join us there to continue reading about the great sailing adventures we are having.

Teri and George continued - Costa del Sol

2011-12-01T10:56:00.005-06:00

All sails up, with winds ENE most of the night (10-12kt
winds). All night following seas made us
feel we were riding a slow bucking bronco.
We worked our 3 hour shifts again and only had one needed boat deviation
when a fishing boat came steadily at us with all their lights blazing,
but. We assume the captain must have
been asleep at the helm, or just plain out to get wandering sailboats.

The Reception and fuel dock

We arrived in Almerimar around 1:30 the next day (Oct 21) and stopped at the fueldock to
check-in and top off our fuel. Very
friendly, huge marina with tons of empty condo's and many shops, most of which
were closed. We did find one of the
larger Super Mercado's for shopping which is always a plus. Seems Almerimar is one of the Winter
live-a-board communities along the coast.
George set off to make friends with a boat Evergreen tied down the
Quay. We would later bump into them
sailing with Niki, John and Ron.

Had a big lunch around 2:30 AT Franc’s on the Quay which
proved to be a very nice restaurant. Our
dinner was tapa’s on the boat and then to bed.

On Thursday, Sept 22, we got ready to leave around
9AM. Again a no-wind day so set Auto
pilot for our next stop at Marina del Este (Punta de la Concepcion o’mona. It was a great lazy day for reading and
napping on the boat. Along the coast, we
saw countless “farms” or greenhouses known to be some of the biggest suppliers
of winter vegetables for North Europe.

We arrived at Mona around 4:40 and ate dinner at a lovely
Quay side called Buona Sera. The owner
Chema was also our waiter and did not speak much English, but would call his
other server over to translate for us.
We took some group photos and he gave us his “business” card that had a
great picture of him and his chef. After
dinner we had a quiet cocktail hour on the boat with one of our finds at the
last super market. Rum Baily’s. Quite good!
I can tell you the bottle did not last very long on the boat!

We made plans for early checkout and left the next morning
at 7AM. Still dark outside and only 2 kt
winds. Our first plan was to stop in
Malaga to change crew, but found that Malaga was not a very well liked marina
for yachters like us. The next marina
was in Benalmadera and was a stupendous, large harbor with good beaches on both
sides of the harbor. We checked in, filled the tank and got our berth
assignment. This marina was more like
Atlantis in Bermuda but downsized. The marina
was well set-up for the tourist that has some money to spend. Our berth was in front of condos in a high
security “island”. Ron arrived around
1PM and got settled in the boat as George and Teri were packing for their
departure. We had a great Friday night
there eating sushi takeout on the boat from a Quay-side restaurant.

Teri and George Keeler - Sept 17-24th - Costa Blanca

2011-12-01T09:37:00.010-06:00

Teri and George Keeler have arrived at the boat and have been willing and able to help us prepare for the next leg of this journey. The plan is to have them sail with us to Malaga Spain (the next 7 days or so). George and Teri are very fluent in Spanish and so we travel with great interpreters.

Two quick days to explore Valencia and provisioning, and we are ready to go. We have decided to start out with our first overnight of the trip leaving 4PM Saturday to sail into the night. A bit of a rough start for us, just making it to the fuel dock before it closed for the day, after a mis-hap getting the boat engine started (dead fuse on some panel...). Off we go!

Difficult to see, but the lights line around the bottom of Penon de Ifach.

Working shifts through the night, I awoke for my 3AM turn at the helm to fine we had we arrived at Puerto de Calpe, with a spectatular Penon de Ifach, a very large Rock all lit up with lights. It was not entirely clear how to get in the harbor and exactly where the safer anchorages due to all the lights on the rock and the shoreline, so group decision was to motor on to Puerto de Santa Pola.

Arrived around 10AM Sunday morning, The marina was very active being a weekend, but we managed to relax, shower, get some walking in (several beaches on each side of the marina), and fix some dinner on the boat. Our night stay was 40 Euro's with included water, electric, dock security and very nice showers. We were happy.

Teri, Ken, George & Kristine

Submarine coming into Cartagena

September 19th

Monday morning we left at 9AM, set up the sails and had a good 2 hour spinnaker run with 7-9kt winds. A bit light, but good for our crews first spinnaker throw. With winds dieing, we dropped the spinnaker and motored another 2 hours. It was a beautiful day and we finished our travel time with main and jib and 7-9 kt boat speed. We arrived in Puerto de Cartagena, a large naval, commercial and fishing port around 6PM Monday and as we motored into the harbor, we were shocked to see a submarine coming in also. (another submarine sighting when we left the harbor the following evening!!!)

Coming into Cartagena

We were immediately directed to a slip that we at first did not like, but found later that it was a better place to be with all the city and harbor activity. Across from our slip was the main boardwalk along the Quay and on Monday night after dark we watched a grand production complete with fireworks, lights and period costumes. Not sure what we were watching, but the crowd on the Quay seemed to be pleased with the event. To us it was just spectatular lights, color and music.

Tuesday morning, Teri and I set off to look for a market to restock the boat. We found the fish market, along with 2-3 very small shops that sold a variety of goods that were on our lists. The afternoon, we walked down a main walkway through the center of town and ate at the "Cafeteria", a small tapa's restaurant in a historical building that is now a casino. Tapa's were great and as usual, we ate too much. We finished the afternoon by walking up to see the Castillo de la Concepcion and the ruins of a amphitheater built in the middle 1st Century A.C. From the castle walls we could see a very ancient bull fighting ring that was supposedly under some form of restoration. Back to the boat to prepare for our 6PM departure and next overnight sail.

Ancient Bull fighting Ring

Looking down at the Ampitheater built in the middle 1st Century A.C.

New!

Heading into another overnight sail

Back to the Boat, September 14, 2011

2011-12-01T08:41:00.001-06:00

After a whirlwind 6 weeks back in USA (Stoughton) which included our Annual Summer Party on the lake, and also included one 5-day excursion for myself and my sister-in-law Maggie to St. Martin, we are returned to Valencia and the boat. I found the boat filthy and in need of total hose down and cleaning. The carpenters did a splendid job on our v-berth sail storage and our man “Pat” from California finally got our compressor to work on the refrigerator, but due to his travel times had to leave some extra parts laying around for us to decide if they were important or not. After our 2 days in the marina, putting everything back in order and re-sorting our available storage space, we think we are ready to push on.

Valencia, August 2nd-Sept 14th

2011-12-01T08:21:00.007-06:00

Citywide commemorative sewer caps for The America's Cup

Arrival to Valencia, Ken and Fred were up to motor us into Real Club Nautical Valencia around 6:30AM. I came up and stood watch as we quietly motored into the marina looking for signs of the Reception building or someone to greet us. Being so early we found neither so we looked for a easy, available spot to tie up. This is a very large marina and many boats are gone on holiday so we had many spots to choose from before the marina opened up. Later in the morning they had us settle in a more permanent spot that we would have for the 5-6 weeks the boat would be there.

Molly flew home on Wed, but not before we all went to the rated (#) number one restaurant for Paella in Valencia (La Rena Restaurant).

Our daily afternoon "beat the heat" location. Iced mugs with each fill!

The Valencia Old Market was outstanding and pictures don't do justice.

The cured ham was outstanding and hard to resist buying an entire leg for the boat to nibble on!

Fred, Paula, Ken and I had several more days before we had to close up the boat and were able to enjoy the pool at the marina as much as possible to escape the heat. I truly enjoyed laundry for the first time this summer because of the marina’s facilities. I took the days to wash all the bedding and most of our clothes that were subject to the bucket laundry I did on the dock. The boat unfortunately many days look like a drying rack for our laundry, but it is all done and I am very happy about that!

We have gone back to USA for 6 weeks and in the meantime will have some small projects done on the boat.

On our way to Valencia, a quick stop for snorkling.

2011-11-22T09:39:00.004-06:00

Our plan today was to leave around 3PM and motor to Calad’ Hort, anchor and do some
swimming. We found a very nice quiet
spot and with Fred and Molly snorkeling,
we relaxed on the boat before some dinner and shoving off for our last
overnight to Valencia.

Fred spotting for good anchorage spot

Now, time for a swim!

Molly's in!

Pulled anchor around 7:30 and started our
shifts.

Spain-Ibiza, July 31, 2011

2011-11-22T09:23:00.004-06:00

Sunday, we left for Ibiza, the party island of Spain. It was a 10 hour trip so we tried to leave
around 8:30. light winds again which required us to motor with the jib most of
the way. Ibiza
proved to be so expensive we were happy we were only there for one night. Our slip was 150 Euro’s for one night! Ken and Molly wanted to check out the famous
nightclubs and disco’s that are always connected to Ibiza’s
reputation. Paula made Steak Fajita’s
for dinner and after a short nap, Ken and Molly departed for the disco at
12AM. Going any earlier, the disco would
be empty or not opened yet. Things don’t
really get going until 2 or 3AM! Too
late for me for sure!!! I think they did
get back to the boat around 3:30 in a daze of the huge crowds and beautiful
people at the disco!

Monday, August 1st, Ken and I did a bit of a tour of Ibiza’s old city and walked to the top of their
citadel. We sure get our walking
exercise up and down steep grades on this trip!
Monday, August 1st, Ken and I did a bit of a tour of Ibiza’s old city and walked to the top of their
citadel. We sure get our walking
exercise up and down steep grades on this trip!

Our boat in the Ibiza Harbor. Most expensive slip we have ever paid for!

View from the Citadel

Spain-Palma Mallorica, July 29-30, 2011

2011-11-22T09:08:00.005-06:00

Thursday was a day sailing 11-15 kt winds and we averaged
boat speed 6-7 kts. Listening to George
Winston we had the pleasure of several dolphin sightings and one sea
turtle. We are heading to Palma
Mallorica to meet up with our lovely French friends, Guy and Renee. They have their boat Cashu and it’s crew there to participate in the
Copa del Rey Regatta. (we did this one last year).

Guy, Kristine, Ken, Renee, Molly, Paula and Fred

Taking the blender "on the road"

Arriving Friday in Palma,
we found a perfect berth in one of the Quay side marinas just a short walk to
the Yacht Club that host the regatta. We
met up with Guy and Renee and 2 of their crew on Friday and made plans to bring
our blender, fruit and ice to their boat later Saturday. They would provide the RUM! With their 12 crew members and the 5 of us,
we celebrated on Cashou in the Grateful Red, gas powered blender style!

Kristine, Renee, Paula and Molly

Molly's Camel Story!

2011-11-19T09:58:00.002-06:00

We had finished all the chores that needed to get done in
the port of Tabarka - including a nice long hot shower, laundry shopping, and
getting, (yet another) bag of ice from the local fishery.

It was now mid-afternoon, and we were leaving first thing the next morning. We didn't
have enough time that afternoon to head off into the Tunisian countryside to visit some ancient ruins, but there was enough time (there's always enough time) to ride some camels.

The 2007 Lonely Planet guidebook said that we could catch a taxi to the Golf Resort Hotel, and the camel rides were supposed to be right next to the entrance. You should know in Tunisia that most folks speak Arabic and some French. Sometimes a little English. We told the
taxi driver (in our horrible French) that we wanted to go to the Golf Resort Hotel. And we were off. Ten minutes later, we pulled into the driveway of the now defunct Golf Resort Hotel. No camels anywhere.
We tried to tell him that we wanted to ride camels - but the only word I could remember was horse. Didn't know "ride" or "camel." Hey, French was back in high school! So we
pantomimed riding, and told him horses with (pantomimed) humps - and he says
"Chamaeux! " Of course - camels!

Off we went again, and three minutes later we were happily tipping the driver too much as he dropped us off at the entrance to the Camel Stables. The stable manager promptly informed us that he was fully booked, - there was not enough time for us to have the two hour tour - and
we should come back tomorrow. We explained (in horrrible French) that we were
leaving on a boat the next day, yada yada yada...

Just then, three camels came sauntering in - camels saunter, don't you know - carrying a family.
They dismounted, and the father overheard heard our conversation. He jumped right in. He explained our situation in fluent Arabic, and bullied the owner into offering us a twenty minute ride. Great!
We'll take it!

We climbed onto our beasts (no small feat - these animals are tall) and off we went on our little camel train. A guide led Fred's camel, I was in the middle, and Paula was on the caboose. We sat on comfortable poof-poofs, that created a seat behind the camels' humps. This meant your legs had to straddle the hump in front of you. The motion was not unlike the motion of the boat on small swells, and quite rythymic in a way. I made friends with Paula's camel, as his head was right next to my thigh. He had a muzzle on (probably not a bad idea, considering what I know of
the camels reputation for spitting and biting) but his head was soft and fuzzy,
and the perfect height for petting with my hand. Off we went onto to the paved road that ran along the tourist hotels. These tourist hotels were like the ones you might see in Florida - beautifully landscaped, overlooking the sandy stretch of beach - lovely really. But apparently the "forest ride" that our guidebook promised was a bit outdated, and now our beasts of burden carried us past the housing development in progress. Young Tunisians flew past us in clusters on
their rented ATVs, kicking up dust and fumes. We laughed at the irony of it all - we were longing for a cultural experience, and they were too. We laughed an awful lot during our ride. The sight of Fred's butt swaying ahead of me, and Paula taking pictures behind me, the unexpected scenery - it was all hysterical when you are bobbing along on a Chamaeux.

Our twenty minute ride stretched to about 40 minutes (camels saunter, you know) and we were all starting to think - OK that's enough. The thighs have had enough. We returned to the stables, slid (a long way) down to the ground, and happily paid the manager. A true adventure.

The walk back to town was quite an adventure too, but of a different sort. We had somewhat lost track of how far away we were from the Grateful Red, and thought it would be nice to stretch our legs. We were in the Tourist Zone, so feeling somewhat safe, we decided to walk back to
the harbor. The hotels were beautiful, as was the stretch of beachfront beyond
them. The waves were rolling in on the shore, and the sun was starting to set. What struck us was how disconnected everything seemed. There were piles of garbage in some of the public areas, and some of the modern amenities (like the dive center) were recently closed and barren. It was
like there was a time when this place was hopeful and popular, but now it was stuggling to survive. I don't know whether it was the Revolution that changed things, or what. But there was a strange sense that it was a recent change. We passed two teenagers waiting for a taxi, and they told us how happy they were to see us - they miss the tourists... This was not the first time Tunisians had said to us that they were glad that tourists were back to visiting.

We finally (4 or 5 miles later!) made it back to our section of Tabarka, starving for some dinner. Street food it was, and we stopped at a sandwich stand we had spied that morning. They made homemade Schwarma flatbread. The lovely young girl cooked our bread on a skillet -
then the stand operator filled it with (just about) everything you could imagine. Some unnamed Meat that rotated on a rotisserie behind him, vegetables, olives, Harissa hot sauce, mayo, french fries (yes, IN the sandwich) cheese, hard boiled egg... Then they wrapped the bread around
it, and wrapped it in paper. A bottle of water from a neighboring shop, and for
$1.50 each we were in hog (maybe it was hog, maybe it was chamaeux) heaven.

Dinner was capped off by a trip to the waterfront crepe maker. He was Algerian (the flag flew over the stand) and quite the flirt. We looked at the three choices on the menu, and asked for a
chocolate almond crepe. No chocolate almond. Chocolate caramel? No. Chocolate? OK. He made quite a production over cooking the crepe, and a line of customers grew behind us as we waited.
It seemed Americans were good for business everywhere we stopped - the same thing had happened at the sandwich stand. It was totally worth the wait - a hot chewy crepe, dripping with chocolate...a complete mess, but worth having to redo laundry for.

So our Tabarkan adventure came to a close; sore thighs, sore feet, full bellies and full hearts.

The End.

Camels and Tabarka, Tunisia

2011-09-14T11:49:00.006-05:00

We ended up staying a additional day and explored the city and surrounding area. Molly, Fred and Paula went off to ride camels and Ken and I took a taxi to one of the Resort Hotels down the beach and found some great internet. They let us sit in the beautiful lobby for several hours working on our computers. Ken knew that I had been frustrated with no internet and this was our solution. When we were finished, we instructed our taxi driver to take us to a nice restaurant somewhere on the route back to the harbor. After eating, we were close enough that we walked back to our hotel and got ready for a 6AM departure to Algeria planned for the next morning.

As with every departure, customs seems to take longer than
you want. Ken and Fred had to go to the
Port Authorities to get our paperwork back and they were gone almost one
hour. I thought for sure that something
bad had happened, but no, just the slow process of Customs.
We finally got to leave and headed out with 65 nautical miles to go for the day.

Bizerte and Tabarka Tunisia, July 23-24-25-26

2011-09-05T12:12:00.014-05:00

Bizerte.
Leaving Golfe de Tunis, we sail up and around to Cap Blanc where we stop for the night at a small harbor with the main population being fishing boats (again). It was a good 9 hour sail. The winds were varied most of the day and out of the North-East never giving us a good opportunity to sail with the Spinnaker. Winds of 10-25 kt gusts had us sailing with a furled jib most of the time. We arrived in Bizerte, Tunisia almost at dark(sorry, no pictures due to our quick stop there) and did not plan to do any “looking” around because we had to leave early in the next morning for Tabarka. Fred and Ken went with the customs person that had greeted us to do the normal paperwork, and Molly went off with our ice bag in search of some ice for our “still not working” refrigerator. The fishing buildings were close and so she did not have to go far. We were in a very exposed area just along the beginning edge of the jetty where many, many locals were fishing. Unfortunately, Bizerte harbor was littered and dirty and did not entice us to go out to venture.

Sailing to Tabarka would also be a long day with much the same coastal view. Arrived in Tabarka and found a nice sized harbor complete with naval ships, and a bustling community along the quay. Very little options for docking we pulled along the quay what turned out to be reserved for the coast guard boats. When we first circled into the harbor, a man was waving at us and motioning that we should tie up along side another sailboat.

This was the French sailing boat that we first saw in Sidi Daoud harbor. The owner and his wife were not on the boat and we did not feel comfortable tying up without their being available to assist, but as it turned out it was our only option and soon proved to be a good decision. When the couple returned they were most gracious and helped us with many logistic questions on the area. They had been in Tabarka before and were planning on staying for several days. During our stay the captain lent his hand-cart and water jug to us which we used to fill our water bottles with. The only hose that had good water was at the beginning of the harbor and a bit of a walk so the hand cart came in handy.

Our French Boat neighbors with some of their friends

Molly filling our water bottles
With several days from our last good shower and good night sleep Ken suggested I go look for a hotel for the night. I found a small, clean hotel (Hotel la Plage) for 70 denar that SAID they had internet, but I never got it working, even in the lobby so again, connection with home had to wait. Not having a good access to laundry, we used our bathtubs in the hotel as our laundry and then took our wet clothes back to the boat to hand and dry.

Drying our laundry on/and in the boat (threat of rain)

Vacationing Tunisian family

Algeria, City of Collo

2011-09-02T12:08:00.006-05:00

Collo harbor, South of Cap Collo, has a “greeting” dock
complete with Coast Guard station.
Apparently, all boats, must be acknowledge by the Coast Guard before
coming in or going out. Leaving the
harbor, they just have to “flagged” an acknowledgement by the Coast Guard and
then they can go on with their business.

Once tied up, we were visited finally by the local Police,
Coast Guard, and the Algerian Navy officials.
We were never completely sure who was in charge as they all had their
set of requests. During some of the
paperwork and questioning, I was asked by the Algerian Naval officer to show my
camera. He wanted to see what pictures I
had on my camera. I turned on my camera
and scrolled through my countless pictures of the Algerian water and
shorelines, plus I think there were also some pictures of dolphins. I think he was satisfied that I did not have
pictures that would damage the Algerian countries integrity. Some of our additional questioning was
focused on our missing Visa’s that were required to go beyond the harbor and
the fact that Molly’s husband was not sailing with us. The authorities did not understand why a married
woman would be on our boat and her husband was not along with her. They asked repeatedly, “where is your
husband”? I think they are still
wondering about that!

Once we were settled, we then negotiated for ice, fuel and
water. The harbor “master” (or the one
who seemed to be in control of the fuel dock and such) arranged for me to get a
big bag of ice and some fresh water. He
then invited Fred and I into his office.
He was quite proud of his pictures of Mohammad Ali and Che Guevara and
the many pictures of Collo in the early 1900’s.
He asked Fred and I to sign his “guest book”, and with pleasure we did
and realized we were the first to sign in the book! Later, Ken and Fred traded one Grateful Red
hat and one GR tee-shirt for 20 liters of diesel.

Our plans were to leave around 11PM to do our overnight to Spain (Palma
Mallorica) and so we contacted the Coast Guard dock to let them know we would
be leaving then. There were other
fishing boats going out at night so the Coast Guard dock was active and well
lit. We said our good byes and headed
out to a night of motoring with the Jib
sail up. Over the night our shifts were
sail one hour, watch one hour and then off 3 hours. By this time I am very tuned to overnight
sails although, I will be happy not to do any more in my life if
possible….well, don’t think that will happen!

ALGERIA, August 26-27, 2011 City of Chetaibi

2011-09-02T11:52:00.011-05:00

Algerian Water border patrol checking us out

Tuesday’s sail gave us no wind, but lovely sunny skies. Tabarka is located close to the Algerian border and it wasn’t long before we were actually in Algerian waters. This was made clear to us with the approach of a very large military boat complete with guns on the deck. We had been ready for our arrival in Algeria by putting up the Q flag on our port side shroud and the Algerian flag on the Starboard. As we watched this large boat approach us at a fast speed, I tried to take some pictures without being too obvious. The military boat circled us and hailed us on VHF. Ken had a very pleasant conversation on VHF answering their questions regarding our destination, and nationality of the entire crew. After bidding us a good day, they were gone! Tuesday’s sail gave us no wind, but lovely sunny skies. Tabarka is located close to the Algerian border and it wasn’t long before we were actually in Algerian waters. This was made clear to us with the approach of a very large military boat complete with guns on the deck. We had been ready for our arrival in Algeria by putting up the Q flag on our port side shroud and the Algerian flag on the Starboard. As we watched this large boat approach us at a fast speed, I tried to take some pictures without being too obvious. The military boat circled us and hailed us on VHF. Ken had a very pleasant conversation on VHF answering their questions regarding our destination, and nationality of the entire crew. After bidding us a good day, they were gone! Tuesday’s sail gave us no wind, but lovely sunny skies. Tabarka is located close to the Algerian
border and it wasn’t long before we were actually in Algerian waters. This was made clear to us with the approach
of a very large military boat complete with guns on the deck. We had been ready for our arrival in Algeria by
putting up the Q flag on our port side shroud and the Algerian flag on the
Starboard. As we watched this large boat
approach us at a fast speed, I tried to
take some pictures without being too obvious.
The military boat circled us and hailed us on VHF. Ken had a very pleasant conversation on VHF
answering their questions regarding our destination, and nationality of the
entire crew. After bidding us a good
day, they were gone!

We were able to fly the spinnaker in the morning, but by
afternoon, we were motoring again. It
was a sleepy day with little to do but read, motor and look for dolphins. We arrived in our first Algerian harbor in
the city of Chetaibi around 7PM. Tying
up along the quay was a bit of a circus and the longer it took, the larger the
audience became. Not very often you see
an American, RED sailboat come into your small fishing harbor. Language being the biggest challenge, we had several
attempts to get the boat secured without hitting bottom along the quay. One gentleman assured me that it was 2 meters
deep along side, but we knew we were touching several times. After a few odd try’s, Ken finally dropped anchor with the bow out and
we secured the boat alongside a cement fishing dock. We had most of our fenders
alongside to protect the boat, and of course, by this time it seemed the entire
village was watching our progress.

Our evening audience

The young girls had so many questions for us (ladies)

There was a younger Coastguard representative that helped
with our paperwork and soon became our boat guard. It was soon apparent that many wanted their
pictures taken in front of the boat and several families tried to place their
small children on our deck for this photo opportunity. We had to keep our gateway closed and kindly
ask them to stay off the boat. This
happened through out the evening and even in the morning before we were
up. (in the morning, I awoke to hearing
someone on the deck and when I went up, found several young boys scampering off
with the Coast Guard rep watching. I
think after I asked them to respect us, he kept others from getting on
board.

That first night in Algeria, Ken and Fred walked to
town to try to secure some food for dinner.
Molly, Paula and I stayed behind to “protect” the boat. The entire Quay was filled with people
enjoying the evening and watching us.
The men did not have any luck getting dinner due to our lack of Algerian
funds and they did not want our US$. After a boat-dinner, Molly, Paula and I walked down the Quay and
had several lovely conversations with some of the younger crowd. They had wonderful questions for us and one
particular young girl was very anxious to talk about women’s rights and
freedoms. We found our entire reception
very warm and they seemed delighted we selected their village to stop for the
night.

In the morning we untied early to an almost empty Quay, and
motored slowly out to start our next days sail.
It was about 7:30AM when we left and we found we were able to sail with
the Jib most of the day. Molly and
Paula were at the helm most of the day taking us to our next destination, Collo, Algeria.

Tunisia - Sidi Bou Said and Carthage - July 21-23

2011-08-27T11:31:00.011-05:00

Left as scheduled for our sail to Sidi Bou Said (marina) and arrived around 11:30 AM. We started boat laundry and put up the tent to shade us for the day. Since Malta, the weather has been very hot with little wind and the tent has made it bearable for us during the day.

Coming into Sidi Bou Said Harbor

View of Harbor from hilltop village - can you see Grateful Red?

Our makeshift tent to give us shade

. As Ken and I have found, many villages are up a hill from the marina’s that we have stayed in and this village was no different. Village BouSaid is a relatively small area with one main street of shops for the bused in tourists. Internet Café’s are absent here and even the few hotels did not provide for their guests, so our blog updates and emails had to wait.

Cemetary on top of Sidi Bou Said

View looking toward Golfe de Tunis

On Friday, we arranged with our new friend Jaz to have him pick us up and take us to Sidi Bousid, and check out the local souk (Market). As we drove, Jaz gave us a wonderful tour and pointed out many points of interest. Reaching the city, Jaz pointed out the square where the young, unemployed college graduate set himself on fire in protest. Our hope as humble visitors is that their voices will be heard and civil and political grievances will be addressed and some solidarity is found.

National Guard, Police and Military presence are still seen, along with Barbwire barriers

Our visit to a Souk (market)

Our tour through the Souk took us to one of the highest vista’s in the city. To get there we had to walk through a beautiful carpet shop with several floors. When we were on the roof, we heard the calls to prayer which for me, only experiencing it on TV, found it very moving.

Paula with our Tunisian friend Jaz

As we walked back down through the carpet shop, we were invited into one of the “sales” rooms and were given a demonstration and lesson on fine carpet. It soon turned into a sales pitch and Paula found a small carpet that was negotiated on and agreed upon. Paula and Fred left with their package securely wrapped and tied.

On our way home, we decided that Paula and I should take a cab to the Carrfor Supermarket to get some provisions. Being a Friday (a Holy day for Tunisia), no alcohol is sold. We did not know this and realized it might be a dry several days until we reached Spain!

Fred, Paula and Molly ended up taking Jaz and his wife to dinner and Ken and I spent a quiet evening on the boat

The fuel dock that appears to have not been operational for some time!
Saturday, July 23rd, we wanted to leave at 8AM, but found that the harbor master was not in his office (hours posted, but not always observed). We moved the boat to what we thought was the fuel dock to further our departure while we waited for him to show up. The fuel dock had not been in operation for what appeared some time but while we were there waiting, it seems the dock hands were given permission to take our payment for the berth. Ken got our papers from the National Guard and we left for Besirk around 9AM.

Molly at the helm

Winds varied during the day from 10kts to 25kts and we sailed mostly with furled jib.

Tunisia - Sidi Daoud, Visit to Kerkouane

2011-08-18T11:35:00.005-05:00

After the Roman Caves, our taxi guide started to take us back to the port. We asked him if he would take us to the Pre-Roman Ruins in Kerkouane. He said he could not and would drop us off in the village before the port and we could get another taxi to take us to Kerkouane. After dropping us off, Molly negotiated for 60 Denar with another taxi to take us to a ATM in Kabalia, then to the Pre-Roman ruins.

Behind trucks loaded with tomatoes going to a cannery

Cannery truck with tomatoes

Entrance to Kerkouane.
I will let Wikipedia explain Kerkouane to you,
Kerkouane (Arabic: كركوان‎; occasionally Kerkuane) is a Punic city in northeastern Tunisia, near Cape Bon. This Phoenician city was probably abandoned during the First Punic War (c. 250 B.C.), and as a result was not rebuilt by the Romans. It had existed for almost 400 years.
Excavations of the town have revealed ruins from the 4th and 3rd Centuries BC. Around the site where the layout is clearly visible, many houses still show their walls, and the coloured clay on the facades is often still visible. The houses were built to a standard plan, in accordance with a sophisticated notion of town planning.
A sanctuary has some columns preserved, and in a small atrium parts of mosaics are found. Curbstones, doorsteps, thresholds, and floors of simple mosaic layers are found all over the ruins. Still archaeologists work on the Kerkouane site, but it is believed that the best parts have already been discovered.
Kerkouane was one of the most important Punic cities, with Carthage, Hadrumetum (modern Sousse) and Utica.

Bathtub in one of the structures. Very advanced water system throughout the ruins

According to my guidebook, many homes were single-story with steps leading to a rooftop terrace. On the floor of several houses, you could see an early form of mosaic known as opus signinum, in which fragments of white stone were inserted amongst the red paving. One house had a beautiful white Tanit (a god) symbol set into the floor.

More mosiac's

Well preserved "hip-bath"

Great example of their great use of stone

Fred, Paula, Kristine & Ken (photo courtesy of Molly!)

It was a very interesting visit to the ruins and we took some time to visit the museum there also. This taxi squeezed all 5 of us in his taxi even though, we assume, he was not supposed to do so. He did NOT want to miss out on our fares.

When we returned to the Port the “men” filled the boat with Diesel, one jerrycan at a time and we made chicken Quesadillas for dinner. We paid 60 Denar per night for our stay and left around 6:45AM to head to Sidi Bou Said Marina, Tunisia.

Tunisia-Sidi Daoud

2011-08-18T08:42:00.012-05:00

Tuesday, July 19th, we sailed half of the day and motored half to get around the Cap Bon to Sidi Daoud. Sidi Daoud is home to a very small fishing harbor where they had a Tuna cannery. . The small fishing harbor that also is home to the Sidi Daoud Cannery is stinky and full of flies, but was filled with unknown treasures we were yet to discover.

Giving our passport information to Authorities

We were greeted by the Harbor Master and also met the National Guard and Customs officials. The port authorities went through a very complete check of our passports, the boats paperwork, all our electronics aboard, and various other information they thought they should ask. One of the officials brought his young son who sat quietly on his lap as we were asked to fill out many forms complete with carbon paper for their duplicates. After they left, we seemed to have one or more civilian looking “guards” standing on the Quay 10 feet from our boat. We think they were watching to see if we were going to do any drinking, or maybe they were just plain curious. We kept any “beverages” in cups and produced no cans for them to see in any event.

The Icehouse

Fred and Ken getting our bag of ice

some of the many fishing nets

Checking the weather at the Harbor master's office

Sidi Daoud Cannery in the background

That evening after we secured ice from the main Ice building on the quay, Ken and Fred proceeded to find our their new best friend, Omar. Omar decided that he would offer us something special for a good price, and when his friend produced 2 very large lobsters, we could not refuse! Despite the miserable location at the dock with the flies and smells and the curious, we had a outstanding dinner of all the lobster you could eat, fresh bread and loads of butter. The Tunisians there just stood and watched us as we ate by candle light. After dinner, Ken and Fred walked around the small harbor and apparently were invited by the local fisherman to eat some couscous. It seemed to be quite a honor to be asked so they did not refuse. Ken says that their couscous takes several days to prepare and is highly anticipated.

Discussing price for the two lobsters

One cooked, ready to feast!

Washing the butter off!

Refueling, one can at a time

Wednesday was promising high winds so collectively we made the decision to delay departure for another day and Omar called a taxi to take us to the Roman Caves north of Sidi Daoud. It was a beautiful coast, but the caves were closed because they had been deemed to dangerous (not entirely sure why they still promote them as a tourist site except to get you there to eat at the restaurant). We did eat lunch there and met a very nice couple from Tunis who were on holiday for the week. Jaz (the gentleman) told us that he taught English and was very happy to talk to us in order to keep the English he knew as genuine as possible. He later offered to be our tour-quide if we came to Tunis or Carthage that week Thursday or Friday. We took his number and promised to give him a call if we did so.

Coastline at The Roman Caves

Molly

We still love to look at the Sea!

Kristine & Ken

Lunch options! Fish of course

Malta to Pantelleria Island

2011-08-15T13:50:00.008-05:00

Evening view of Vittoriosa and Grand Harbor Marina

Maybe trouble-makers?...

Our Malta to Valencia crew

Coast line going North on the East side of Malta....what is wrong with this picture?...

Sunday morning, July 17th, we left Malta around 10:30 and motored North toward the Island Gozo and the Blue Lagoon on the North side of Comino Island, which turned out to be a big tourist boating stop.

Blue lagoon bay, a noted snorkeling spot

We decided to continue on and found a lovely other bay where we dropped anchor to let Molly and Fred do some snorkeling.

We stopped later at Mgarr on Gozo Island so we could go through Customs to leave Malta and then sailed most of the night to the Pantelleria Islands. While in Mgarr, we found the fuel dock closed, the restaurants closed and the dock where we tied up wanting us to move while we waited for Fred and Paula’s passports to pass inspection. (apparently, they never got a stamp in Italy on their arrival. Fred had a new passport so without any stamps, this seemed suspicious to the Customs officials. Finally they approved our exit and stamped our passports and we were out of there!

Porto Vecchio in Porto De Pantelleria, Sicily

Notice the rocks in this old harbor!

Monday, July 18th, we arrived at Pantelleria Island, Italy and anchor docked in the old marina where we met Vito. He was gruff looking Italian wearing no shirt and riding around on his “sting-ray” bike. From shore when we were debating on where to tie-up, he would yell to us and wave his arms. This we did not quite understand, but Ken decided to ignore him and we tied up on the quay. When he approached us, it seemed we did as he had asked us (although we did not understand) and soon he softened up.

I asked where we could find ice and Vito kindly escorted me to a nice hotel off the quay where he instructed them to give me ice. Then carrying it back to the boat for me, he seemed to want to help with anything we needed. He was planning on turning off the water around 3pm so he could go home, but left it on a bit later so we could do dock washing and dock showers. We gave him a tip of 10 Euro’s in exchange for our berth, and a Grateful Red cup and we were forever his American friends!.

Water is on until 5pm so showers first!

Then refueling, one jerrycan at a time...

Then Vito leading Kristine to ICE!

The berth was free so I gave Vito a 10Euro tip along with a cup from the Grateful Red. He seemed quite pleased.

Our neighbor boat tipped Vito by drawing in charcoal a picture of him.

Monday evening we ate dinner at a small contemporary Italian restaurant I think was called Donna Fregate. Again, a small unique restaurant with a set menu of the Chef’s choosing. We ate inside as the outside was hot and tables were filled. The inside of the restaurant seated about 20 and was very pleasant. Heading back to the boat after a evening walkabout, we prepared for our morning departure for Tunisia.

New Crew in Malta, Fred-Paula-Molly

2011-08-15T12:14:00.008-05:00

July 12, 2011 (Tuesday)
Ken and I had Tuesday to ourselves after Vicki and Steve left and decided make it a “date” night and find a nice restaurant. The small peninsula of Grand Harbor Marina in Valletta, Malta has 2 “nice” restaurants. We selected Tal Petut and made reservations for 8PM. It is a small family-style restaurant that seats maybe 20 people and everyone eats the same menu of the day. It was quite nice, but a bit pricey. (sometimes you think you are better staying with more local food options.
Molly arrived on Wednesday night with little travel hassle, and Thursday, Fred and Paula arrived to complete our next crew.

Grand Harbor Marina with one Black Mast!

Hitchin' a ride across the harbor

5 Euro water taxi ride took us directly to our boat.

Beautifully painted traditional rowing boat of Malta

View of Valletta from Mdina, the highest point on Malta

Fred checking out "old meeting new" construction in Mdina. Mdina is a tiny walled hilltop city in the heart of malta, famous for it's narrow, snaking alleyways, it's gold-stoned palazzi and Baroque cathedral. We took a taxi one night up there for dinner and to see the view from the highest point in Malta.

Friday, Molly and I took shuttle service to Pavi Supermarket in Malta with the help of our new local “go-to” guy Leno. Leno owns and operates the neighborhood marina bar “Old City Pub”. He also runs a Chanderly nearby and was instrumental in many of our boat repairs.

Leno, Ken and Fred in Old City Pub

We met Leno the first night we arrived in Malta looking for ice. When we told him our refrig was broken, he gave us a number of a technician to call the next day. When we awoke, there was a man knocking on our boat stating “Leno had sent him”…Carmelo worked for several days on our refrig and we thought we had the problems all solved, but that will be another “story” as we continue to need ice… Leno helped us with boat repairs, ice, Rum, taxi’s when we needed to go somewhere, and provided a fun place for us to go to be with local residents. When we left Malta, we had new friends in Leno and his connections. We gave him a Grateful Red tee-shirt as a Thank you for all his help. He was a wonderful guy and seemed very happy to help us.

The "lit-up" Cathedral across from our pontoon. Thankfully, it was only lit one night of our stay there.

Mini update before I finish Blog

2011-08-06T13:17:00.002-05:00

Our Internet access has been difficult and so I have not had opportunities to finish the adventures of the blog. I will do so after next Monday when we return to Wisconsin, USA. From Malta, we sailed to Tunisia, Algeria and then finally Valencia. We had a wonderful time in Tunisia where everyone wanted to show us around their wonderful country. Because we lacked Visa's we were not able to see much of Algeria, but we have to say that the people were wonderful, friendly and seemed pleased to see our big, red boat. We say "Thank-you" to all of the great people we have met along the way and YES, next time we will get visa's so we can explore more of Algeria.

I will finish this blog's Summer travels next week, complete with pictures! See you all soon,
Kristine & Ken (and all of our wonderful crew's for this past 3 months.)

Steve & Vicki, continued

2011-07-15T03:53:00.011-05:00

Kasiopi' small harbor

Sunday afternoon, we got the last big bags of ice from the Supermarket. They normally split up their bags and sell in small quanity, but saved us one big bag for our journey. We left around 4pm to sail to the South East Port of Corfu city and arrived around 7pm.

Corfu City.

Harbor master greeted us, took our 40 Euro’s and gave us the basic information of internet café locations and restaurants. This is a huge Metro city for an Island and seems to be a destination stop for many Italian tourists. By evening, it was packed with tourists and very loud from all the disco/café’s. In the morning, Ken, Charlie and I went off for coffee and to look for a newspaper. Newspaper stand that sold the International Herald Tribune would not open until 11am and we would be gone by then, so no paper today.

Paxio Island Marina

Ken's lunch on Paxio

We left Corfu City around 10AM and with no wind, motored to Paxoi Island, one of the small Ionian Islands South of Corfu. Monday night stay would at Paxi Club Hotel on Gioes, Paxoi . It was time for a break, a swimming pool, airconditioning and good internet. Charlie stayed on the boat and made friends with some of the younger crowd that were at the harbor on charter boats. One group had over 100 teenagers in a summer camp program, along with their chaperones, had chartered several boats and were all along the quay. It was a fun, loud time and they enjoyed working their English on us.

Dancin' Dolphins

Tuesday, we had to leave around 6pm, so it ended up being a great break for us. Before we left, Ken found a internet café with strong signal near the boat. We did some tourist shopping and also found ice for sale. We will leave for another 3 day/2 night sail across the Ionian Sea to Siracuse, Sicily.

Our overnights required 4 hours shifts from all of us. One hour watch, 2 hour driving, and one hour watch, then 6 hours off (or so). It worked well as to our delight our autopilot was working again so driving was not so taxing. We ended up motoring both nights due to lack of wind, but got some sailing in during the day. Steve started to make a list of the different floating garbage we saw in the Sea. He claims to see floating cheese, but we think he just needed to eat…We did see one floating white flipflop along the way, water bottles, we think a pillow and various other things unrecognizable. On Wednesday evening before dark we were entertained by a small pod of dolphins that stayed with us about 30 minutes. The would leap out of the water backwards to show their bellys. It was very amusing and we desperately tried to get the best picture of them leaping out of the water.

A little "wing-on-wing

Siracuse Harbor after dark.

After dark, and after the moon dropped below the horizon, the stars were at their peak. Not a cloud in the sky and the Milky way was brilliant. You cannot describe how awesome the sky can be when there is no other light to diminish the intensity of the stars alone.

On Thursday morning, we arrived under sail to Siracuse Sicily. There were two harbor marinas one on the inside of the bay and the other outside behind a great jetty. We first went to the inside harbor, but did not get the feeling it was where the Regatta would be held, so we went to the outside. We found a nice berth and in the end, it was truly the best berth to be at. We had a straight shot to the outside and were next to other boats preparing for the Siracuse to Malta Regatta. We would have 2 full days to enjoy Siracuse and prepare for the race. We refueled by hauling the jerrycans to the petro station a few blocks away utilizing a abandoned grocery cart. Ken and Charlie did some boat repair and measurements with Charlie up the mast and all of us worked on cleaning the boat and turning it into a racing boat once again.

At the yacht club for the regatta meeting

What do you think they are Talking about?...

Friday, we registered the boat for the regatta at the Yacht Club where the Race director gave us a personal English translation of the Racing instructions. It was all in Italian and he gave us the highlights. At the time of the evening Skippers meeting, they found there were more English speaking sailors from Malta and beyond and provide a translator to recap at the meeting. It all worked out quite well although the prediction for the next days race was extremely light winds. We then were fed appetizers and champagne and wine.

Goodbye Charlie....we will miss you!
Tomorrow, we would leave for the race without Charlie. His flight back home was scheduled for Sunday morning and there was a good chance we would not get to Malta until afternoon, Sunday. We arranged a flight for Charlie from Siracuse to Malta where he would meet his connecting flight home. As it turned out, his flight to Malta was cancelled due to Mt. Etna and a bit of ash cloud. His parents helped him arrange another flight later to get in Sunday night with a Monday morning departure home. We could have used him on the sail, but you never know how things might be. Charlie was a great crew and we would sail with him anytime. He was so helpful and wonderful with all our visitors this Summer. (and he put up with us!) Thank you Charlie!!!

Waiting for the start. Another "drifter"...

Waiting for the wind

Kristines turn at the helm.

Saturday, the start of the race was scheduled for 9:55 and we would start with the first class. We actually were in 2 classes due to our different ratings. We had two class flags, one for ORC and one for IRC racers. They all started first so it worked for us. Originally, we tried to get into the cruising class but we have so many high-tech gismo’s on the boat, we did not qualify. Instead we rated the slowest of the racers which would be ok. We would have been rated one of the fastest cruisers if we made it in that class.

The race was delayed about 30 minutes and finally we got our start. It would be about 80 nautical miles to Malta and could, with light wind, take up to 2 days. As it turned out we had great sailing upwind and averaged 6-7kts most of the way. We each took turns driving because this would still be a 18 hour race for us. It was fun to be in the boats and to have winds so easy to sail. We made some great moves and had some interesting “racing” moments where we would pick a boat target and see how long it took to pass them. In the end, we arrived in Malta around 2:30AM, the finish was inside the harbor and once you got inside the wind stopped. It took us almost 30 minutes to get to the finish line only about a quarter mile away from entrance. We heard of other boats that took 2+ hours getting across the finish with the harbors lack of wind. In our 2 classes, we finished 12 out of 12 and 24th out of 29th. We did not fly the spinnaker due to conditions, but some did and finished close to our finish time. If we did fly the spinnaker it would have been the last 20 miles and would not have changed our standing. We were happy with our finish time altogether.

Closing Ceremonies at the Royal Malta Yacht Club

View of Valetta, Malta

After the finish, we were directed to the Grand Harbor Marina, a new facility in another “creek” of the harbor bay. We finally tied up around 4AM and hit the sheets! We will stay in Malta until Saturday when we launch with the next crew.

Sunday was blazing hot and when we finally got up, we split up and did some exploration. Malta is wonderfully clean and it seems they have worked hard to preserve the history of the island. Everyone is very friendly and this marina is top notch. I will say, that the bathrooms and showers at the marina are nicer than most hotel bathrooms I have seen. But, the Queen has been here so I am sure that set the standard!

Vicki and Steve left Monday around 9AM to get their flight home while Ken and I did some internet work. We have had several shipyard workers come by to offer their expertise. We have asked to have the windlass repaired, the steering rods installed from our previous breakdown, and maybe have some teak work done.

Moonscape terrain of Croatia's Coast

2011-07-14T10:03:00.001-05:00

Off the boat to Prague for the weekend

2011-07-14T03:18:00.003-05:00

Prague – Had a wonderful time helping Maggie Touma celebrate her Birthday. Big party at a beautiful Chateau in Prague. Morning breakfast with Alistar, his wife Ellie and several other friends that were at the party. Monday night we arrived back to Zagreb, stayed overnight and then drove in the morning to return our rental car and taxi back to Cres.

The Girls! Kristine, Pip, Nancy and Barb

Troja Chateau - Rockin'

Alistar and Ken

Kristine and Ken

Pre-Race Week in Cres

2011-07-13T10:45:00.005-05:00

Friday, John and I drove to Zagreb to pick up Ken at the airport. Shelly and Wendell will arrive later and I will pick them up at the Merag Ferry in the evening. Saturday, we will get our 2 apartments in town for race week and the remaining crew of Leneke, Clarissa, and Jerone will arrive later in the day. They too have rented an apartment in the old town of Cres, very close to ours.

Sunday, the day was spent continuing preparation on the boat for the race. Sail changes, lines set, anchor off, etc. Sunday night was the regattas opening event in the town square. It was lively with music, light shows and fireworks. John had discovered the one in-town winery where you can get your jug filled with their local wine so we had many a glass to kickoff the week.

Corfu Greece to Italy, Steve and Vicki

2011-07-05T03:46:00.005-05:00

We Found plenty of place at the small harbor for us, but our first attempt at anchor mooring. This is where you drop anchor and then back into the quay to tie up. Usually, we would find laid-lines from the Quay that we would tie our bow to their permanent underwater anchors. This first attempt went extremely well considering at this time our windlass decided not to work and the “boys” had to manually drop the anchor.

We found Steve waiting for us on the dock and Vicki in the closet café guarding their luggage. We decided to stay at Kosiopi, Corfu until Monday with both crew. As it turned out, Brian, Beth and Kat decided to taxi to a hotel near the airport for their Sunday departure. Steve, Vicki, Charlie, Ken and I stayed on the boat and spent some time discovering the town of Kasiopi. Found great internet in a covered outdoor café that also had good food. We spent several hours there using the internet and getting tips for fuel, food, and ice from the local patrons. Our fuel would be delivered by truck and I had to ride with the driver back to the station in order to use our Visa card. We purchased a larger jerrycan for extra fuel on the boat and the kind man carried this full can back to the boat for me. While we were here, we had two great rains that did a great job of cleaning our dirty deck. It is impossible to keep it clean with the dirty mooring lines we bring on the boat.

The Donley's - June27th-July 2nd Cres to Greece

2011-07-05T03:45:00.007-05:00

Charlie, Ken, Beth, Brian, Kristine & Kat

Our next guests, Brian, Beth and Kat arrived Monday morning to the boat and with Charlie’s help started to shop for provisions for our next adventure. We will sail down the Croatian coast stopping at different spots than before. You would have to sail for many months to hit all the wonderful places along Croatia.

Tuesday, after arriving back to the boat, we paid our marina bill, got the last bags of ice, along with a treasure of 2 large bottles of Bicardi, and left allowing time to sail or motor to Orso where we would catch the 5pm swingbridge.

v
This route allows us some different places to stay on the inside of islands. We arrived with plenty of time in Orso to allow for some lunch and time for some people watching. Along the swingbridge were boats of all types, camper trailors filled with families on vacation, and people swimming in the canal. We ended up getting a great spot to tieup as we waited for the bridge to open. After the traffic from the South came through the bridge, we were given the signal to come through.

We arrived at Otok Ilovik around 7:30, finding the last spot in the harbor to tieup to a concrete pontoon. Otok Ilovik is a small island south of Otok Losinj and was very charming. No ice or internet of course. We at dinner at the first quayside restaurant and had excellent Risotto and fish.

Wednesday, we left harbor at 4:45 and sailed along Kornati Islands, where we found a large area of National Parks along the Islands. Our plan was to anchor off at O. Levrnaka and have some lunch. When we got settled, the Rangers approached us in their dingy and charged us the customary entrance fee of 40 Euro’s. Heading to Greece, we had used most of our Euro’s and had some time scraping up loose change and what Euro’s we had left. This was followed by some swimming to shore and a nice lunch on the boat.

Our overnight stay would be O.Smokvica. Thursday, we started our 3 day, 2 night sail. We were able to sail most of the day and night. During the day we did one stop at Otok Vis for provisions, lunch and fuel. In the morning, Hople-pople for breakfast and pasta for dinner.

We lost wind and ended up motoring all through Friday night. During the night, on Beth and my shift, we saw dolphins for about 30 minutes swimming along the boat. They would turn on their sides and their under side would glow with the lights of our starboard green nav light. It made our shift go much faster with this entertainment. No moon so it was dark and clouds only allowed a few stars to shine for us.

The evening shifts went well and I think everyone had a chance to get some decent sleep when they were off shift. Saturday, I woke to see the Albanian coastline. It was huge and lovely in the morning sun. We will arrive in Corfu Greece around 1-2pm. We made contact with our next crew, Vicki and Steve who are waiting for us on Kasiopi City on Corfu.

Ready for Race week, June 18-25th

2011-07-05T03:04:00.006-05:00

Our Race Crew

RACE WEEK
Monday, the boats left the harbor around 9:30 with an anticipated first start at 11AM. The wind forecast was for light winds for the next several days. Not good for a World Championship Regatta. I had checked the post at the Race office and most of the day just saw only results for Class A boats, race one. It appeared that no other classes got a start for the entire day due to diminishing winds and this would be a big disappointment to many boats.

When the boats returned there were many stories and complaints as to how the Committee boat handled the course changes and the delayed starts or recalls. In the end, only the Class A boats had a race results. No second races were even close to happening.

In the evening, we arranged a taxi to take us 5 km’s to the Bucaletta restaurant for the speciality of the Island, Roast Lamb. We had all looked forward to the dinner, with exception to Jerone (a Vegetarian), and did not leave hungry.

Tuesday, June 21st, the boats were ready to leave for their one Off-Shore, overnight race. Again light wind forecasts for the week so things looked bleak. From reports, all boats started and were on their way with the light winds. Around 3:30, I got a call from Ken informing me they were coming in back to the marina and would be there in 15 minutes. Their steering was out and they were using their manual tiller to guide the boat back. I jumped into the car and raced over to the marina to meet them. John walked to Shelly’s Apartment to let her know about the boat and they walked over to the marina.

Apparently, after about 2 hours, and after 2-360degree turns, they realized the boat was not responding to their steering. They thought the turns were due to the lack of wind, but soon realized it was much more serious than that. The manual tiller works well, but is awkward to use.

The rest of the day, the Grateful Red being the only boat on the pontoon, the crew worked on repairing the steering rod under the pedestal. The shipyard lent some assistance is some metal work, and after the repairs were complete, the crew took the boat out for a test. I returned to the apartment to fix a pasta dinner for the crew. Aside from the disappointment of not being able to race again, and the fact that it was blazing hot all day, the crew would need a good shower and a easy meal. It was a great evening with everyone at our apartment, eating outside and enjoying the cool evening.

Wednesday morning I took John to the bus station where he would travel to Zagreb and fly to Prague. Ken and I will meet up with him on Saturday for Maggie Touma’s Birthday celebration. The rest of the morning was slow and relaxing.

Charlie "deck-dancing"

Blender action on Thursday

A "local" friend at our apartment

Our Wednesday "fun-sail"

The rest of the crew will meet at 1pm at the boat to see if there is wind to take the boat out for a afternoon sail. Just for fun! We sailed across to Rabac (one of the few harbors directly across from Cres Island), we stopped there for cold drinks and icecream and then went on our way. It seemed to be a busy tourist town on the mainland and our big red boat was larger than life on the Quay. It is fun to watch from a distance as people would stop and stare at the boat. When we returned to the Cres Harbor, we watched the last of the Class B boats cross the finish. It was a long overnight race with light winds and in many ways we were glad not to compete. We gave the boat a salute and applaude for their efforts.

Boats returning to the Harbor

Thursday, again light winds and no start which would mean no finish for Class B racers. The boats stayed out until there was no chance of getting a race in for the day. Friday, finally some good wind and the boats all had good starts. Grateful Red could only race the first race as we had to then spend the remainder of the day turning the boat from racer to cruiser due to everyones having to leave early Saturday. Ken and I would drive to Zagreb Friday night so we could make our Saturday morning flight to Prague.

Leneke guarding the sails on Friday during our cleanup of the boat

Griffon Vulture Santuary in Beli, Cres

2011-07-05T02:50:00.003-05:00

"The Griffon vultures on Cres are the only Vultures that roost by the sea anywhere in the world, possibly a legacy of when the sea level was much lower, as far back as 9000 years. So when young vultures are fledging, making that all important first flight, they often hit the sea if they make any mistakes. They can sometimes make their way back to the beach, but that is as far as they can get so if they don't drown, they usually die on the beach. This can happen at anytime, but when the young birds are startled into that first flight before they are really ready, they crash land in the sea. And what makes them go early? Often as not tourist boats going much too close to the colony, frightening the birds into a premature flight.
There are very strict rules against shooting these birds in Croatia, but vultures are no respecters of international boundaries, and several have been shot in Italy. In fact the birds from Cres have been recorded amazingly far afield, with sightings in places as diverse as The Alps, Israel, Spain, Russia and even 1 in Chad"

One of the days Ken was gone, Charlie, John and I decided to take a drive to the Griffon Vulture Santuary on the Northeast side of the Island in the town of Beli. As we drove the 2 lane road with NO shoulders, my “need gas” light came on. No sweat as we know that usually that will mean about 50 miles before you run out. Thinking the only logical place to get gas would be on the North Ferry dock past Beli. Arriving there, we discovered that the only gas station was in our “home” town of Cres. So, sweating, we decide to forgo the side trip to Beli and drive back to Cres to fill-up. John was worried we would run out and not have a place to pull our little car over on the narrow road. I just assured him, “life is an adventure” and we would be fine. Of course, we got to the Petro station at the marina and all was fine. We retried our trip to Beli the next day with a full tank.

The Griffon Vulture (Condor) is unique to Otok Cres. The birds come to Cres to mate, have their babies and then migrate all the way to Spain and back in between.

To get down to the shore, we walked a road with a 17% grade. Certainly not looking forward to going back up, but knew that a cold beer would be waiting for us at the bottom!

The "Roosting" Clifts of the Griffon Vulture (Condor)

Cres-week one continued

2011-06-24T03:02:00.004-05:00

Friday, Ken and I drove to Zagreb utilizing the car ferry from Merag on Otok Cres to meet John Hardiman who had flown in on Thursday.

Car Ferry approaching the dock

While waiting for the ferry, Ken checked the Cub scores.

John will stay with Charlie and I on the boat for the next week, and then in our apartment during race week. All our connections for our rental car, the boat ferry and driving in a new country has gone quite well. And, frankly, I love driving 130 km per hour. It sounds so fast!

View from our Zagreb Hotel window

Ken will return on Saturday, June 18th to meet up with our race crew and get the boat prepared for the ORC World Championship Regatta. We are one of two USA boats and are surrounded by boats from Germany, Italy, France, Norway, Denmark, and so on. (an interesting mix of language). We tend to be a curiosity at many of the marina’s we go to with our big red boat and large US flag on our transom. The question we hear over and over, “did you sail your boat all the way from America?”

The next few weeks will be filled with friends and race crew coming and going and full exploration of Cres. I highly recommend a visit to Croatia if you ever have the opportunity. It is truly a beautiful country. .

Another great view of Cres

One of the "locals" in his day attire...

With Ken gone, Charlie, John and I spent several hours each day working on projects on the boat.

John and I "hauled" Charlie up the mast to change the windex light.

Cres - Week One

2011-06-15T08:46:00.008-05:00

In the morning, Thursday, after Raouf went to the Bakery and I hit the market for some lunch meats and cheeses, we cast off around 9am. Cres Village, on Otok Cres is our final destination and this is the last sailing day for the crew. Alistair and Charlie sailed most of the way until we had to head up into the wind.

Alistar helping Isabella "study" for Captain Ken's sailing quiz.

As we approached our last hour of sailing, we lost our wind and resorted to our motor. Michelle and Isabella took turns at the helm and loved having the opportunity to “steer” the boat.

Coming into Cres was a beautiful sight to see. It is a wonderful large bay with the old village in the left curve of the shoreline. Along the right side of the bay is our ACI marina where we will keep the boat until the 27th until meeting up with our next cruising crew. After checking in at the marina and finding the bathrooms, showers, and cold beer, we took up the job of boat recovery.

We left the job of packing the girls items to the Dad’s as it looked like a insurmountable task! But in no time things were packed and ready to go. They have plans to go to the only Resort in town, Hotel Kimen. No swimming pool, but very close to the shoreline were swimming is easy.

Charlie and Alistar scrubbed the deck and sides of the boat and after a short bit the boat was gleaming! Ken and I made arrangements with the car rental company to have our car delivered from Rijeka the next morning so I could take him to the airport for his flight back to the US. Charlie got his “to-do” list of projects to be done on the boat in Ken’s absence.

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011, Veli Losinj

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Wednesday was a great day for sailing and as Charlie stated, we used every sail. All-point spinnaker, the Asymmetrical spinnaker, Genoa & Main kept Charlie and Alistair busy while the girls spent many hours coloring in the v-berth. Around 4:30, we stopped at Losinj and we discovered the most charming small village and cove.

Veli Losinj Poster I found on the Ferry

Not really a marina, but one or two spots for travelers to tie up along the Quay. The inner harbor was filled with local fishing boats and there were 2 or 3 larger tour boats but that was it. We tied up alongside a restaurant and the girls were all over the boat entertaining the few that were eating at the dockside tables. Imagine, a big red boat with an American flag flying and 2 young dancing beautiful girls on the deck! One of the largest dockside tables just happened to be along where we tied the boat so we took charge of this table and ordered appetizers, wine and beer! It was a beautiful feast. We spent the remainder of the afternoon doing a bit of exploration in which Ken and I found a hidden “Bonsai” garden open to the public. Aside from the interesting Bonsai and other plants, we discovered that Kiwi is actually a vine fruit!

Wednesday evening, we ate dinner at the same restaurant after I fixed something for the girls so they could have an early evening.

Launching Isabella's "sailboat"

It floats!

Inner Harbor at Veli Losinj

Tuesday, Overnight on the hook (really a mooring ball)

2011-06-14T11:05:00.004-05:00

Tuesday, June 7th. We left Skadin around 7:30 AM with our fresh laundry, some more ice, new groceries and another full shopping cart that was filled full of assorted “liquids”. We would like to find someplace for our one anchor-off that was planned for Tuesday. It is unfortunate that today’s weather is overcast and windy. We snacked most of the day and the plan would be to cook dinner on the boat. Our first bay that we tried later in the day had 2 other boats anchored. It was still windy and after 20 minutes, we found the anchor was not holding so we looked for another spot.

First Anchor try in a windy bay with Fish farm close by.

Our future mooring ball in our private cove

It wasn’t a long journey to find the 2nd cove called Brbinj on Dugi Otok. It was an absolutely lovely small cove with a single large mooring ball. We tied up to the mooring ball and had the cove all to ourselves.

The 20 knot winds finally died down and we had a lovely pasta dinner on the deck. In the middle of the night we had a huge thunder and lightning storm with heavy rain that followed. By morning, the sun was out and we had a relaxing hour or so before shoving off. For breakfast, I cooked my normal fried potatoes, sausage and egg mix. One skillet dishes work best on the boat especially when the weather is not completely cooperative for cooking.

Alistar taking pictures of us from the water

Sunday, Monday at Stadin ACI Marina

2011-06-14T10:58:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning,

June 5th, we left our mooring ball early to sail to Skadin Marina where we planned to stay for 2 nights. We arrived around 6:30 which was later than we had expected, but it was nice to have a full day tomorrow for play and regrouping. This ACI marina did not have a pool for the girls to play in, but they had excellent showers, shopping and laundry service. We made arrangements to have our laundry done and back to us by late the next day. You can imagine we all scrambled to collect what ever we could to get it done by someone else! Dockside laundry just doesn’t do it!!

In the morning, Raouf, Alistair, Michelle & Isabella took a tour ferry to the National Park where there were waterfalls. The internet service at the marina was very good so Ken, Charlie and I worked at the boat for most of the day until the other crew came back from the Falls. I had a chance to get some of the blog updated with pictures, although several weeks late.

In the evening, Raouf, Alistair, Ken and I went to dinner leaving Charlie in charge of the girls. We had a wonderful meal of their fresh fish, with spinach and risotto.

Friday, June 3, Saturday June 4th, 2011

2011-06-11T03:17:00.003-05:00

Friday Harbor

Stopping for fuel & a drink - Saturday

Saturday, we left our cute harbor at 6:30 starting out with the motor, then sailed, then motored and finally after turning North East, got a nice Spinnaker run in. We stopped in Hvar a beer, fuel and a bit of groceries. It has been blazing hot and the cool drinks were the ticket. We found a great cove for the night, (U. Sesula, on Otok Solta) where the restaurant management would dingy out to flag you into their spots. We selected one that had mooring balls off shore and he helped us tie up and bring a line to the shore. We made dinner arrangements with him which included his coming back to the boat to collect us to shore, and then back to the boat after dinner. There were many charter boats in the cove and lots of partying before dinner. Before dinner we all did a bit of swimming to cool down and with the line to shore, it gave the girls something to hang on to.

This is U. Sesula on Otok Solta where we tied to a mooring ball and stern to shore.

Dingy ride to the restaurant

Girls ready for dinner

Our dinner restaurant - and dingy service!

A quick, cold swim off the stern before dinner

Friday, June 3rd - Racisce Village

2011-06-11T03:08:00.004-05:00

Man Crew at work!

Isabella and Alistar relaxing

The girls using my camera

We arrived at a beautiful harbor with a small quay. No boats there so we took the quay broadside. Tonight we would feed the girls early and try to get them to bed at a reasonable time. We had some local teenagers singing on the quay and at first it was cute, but later the restaurant owner offered to shoo them away for us.

Both girls talking to their mommy's. Michelle is demonstrating her new snapping her finger trick!

Isabella, Michelle and Charlie

Thursday - June 2nd - Otok Mljet (Island Mljet)

2011-06-11T02:48:00.005-05:00

Okuklje di Otokmljet Cove (yes that is how it is spelled)

Local fishing boats

Thursday, June 2nd, we motored into Okuklje di Otokmljet, a small bay with several small moorings operated independent of each other. We were flagged in by one and it seems a nice location. We later found we had to have dinner at the adjoining restaurant in order to get free mooring. It was a late night for the girls and they were close to asleep even before their dinners arrived. The food was outstanding and served family style.

The girls at their first port, exploring the sea lifeThe girls working down below on their workbooks.

The next morning we allowed ourselves a lazy day and while the crew went to breakfast, Ken and I stayed and did some work on the boat. We shoved off at about 11:30 and Ken proceeded to give the girls some sailing lessons. They shared the job of pulling in the jib sheet, and grinding on the first tack. We sailed most of Thursday and when the girls got antsy, we went downstairs to start their notebooks. I had made some project books for them that had coloring projects, paper boat directions and various other things to keep them interested. I made chicken roll-ups for late lunch and then the girls took a nap for several hours. Sailing is HARD!

Dubrovnik - ACI Marina Dubrovnik

2011-06-11T02:41:00.002-05:00

After taking a taxi to meet our new crew, we had lunch in the walled city with the crew and then they followed us back to the boat. The girls were happy to have the v-berth as their new home and quickly made their fort! After they settled in, we spend several hours at the pool and had some dinner. Tomorrow, we will start to provision and prepare for our trip up the Croatian coast. Raouf, Alistair and I did some market shopping and used the markets trolley to bring all our :”loot” to the boat. Again, we got 3 bags of ice from three different restaurants that should help with keeping our food cold and ice down our drinks.

Long leg to Dubrovnik

2011-06-11T01:55:00.004-05:00

Did I way it was to be a lazy 4 days? Not likely with only three crew. First we had no wind, then wind enough for the Genoa and Main sail. Then we had gusts over 25 knows and as dark set in, we decided to take the main down. Of course, that is when we got the 30 plus gusts. That goodness for autopilot so the three of us could drop the main and get it tied. We continued to sail with the Genoa ½ furled. Later in the night, the stars came out and we had 12 to 15 knots on the nose.

Around 3AM, just as Charlie was getting off his shift, and I was preparing to go to sleep, we ran over a huge submerged fishing net. We shut off the engine and put out the Genoa. Because of the wind at our nose, our bouncing for the remainder of the night dislodged the huge hemp rope and we were able to get the boat going again. We continued to motor-sail the rest of the night and into the day. It was a long day of motorsailing, but the shifts have gone well. The next night, around 1AM, Charlie is driving and I am watch, we see a boat approaching us at a fairly fast pace. I called Ken awake and by the time he was up in the companionway, we heard this boats loudspeaker state it was coming along our Port side. It was the Italian Coast Guard checking us out. We found later when we stopped at Otranto, that there are huge training facilities near where this boat came out with its lights a flashing! I think that they were satisfied that we were not refugees and headed back to shore.

We arrived at Otranto around 7AM on Monday and got an easy med-docking. We had to go through Italian Customs to leave the country and that was a bit of an ordeal, but turned out ok. As we were leaving several hours later to face our last overnight, we got fouled in someone elses mooring line. The marina staff had to assist us and pulled us out backwards after Charlie jumped into the water to take the line off the prop.

We motored to the fuel dock, and I then ran to the snack bar for some calzones , chips and the boys got icecream.

Customs dock in Gruz (Dubrovnik) after a weary 3 nights sailing.

Night three – heading to Dubrovnik we found this night to be the easiest with lighter winds. At this time we were well into our shift changes and the night went without any incident. It took 24 hours to cross the Adriatic to Dubrovnik. My last shift was noon to 3pm so while Charlie slept and Ken was at the Nav station, I washed some clothes up on the deck, and took a cockpit bath! Heaven! We arrived in Gruz where the Port of Entry was. Customs took about 2 hours and then we motored 30 minutes to the ACI Dubrovnik Marina. This marina is the best we have seen so far with great facilities and a big pool!
We had pizza for dinner, got a great night sleep Tuesday night, and in the morning called Raouf to plan on our meeting up with the new crew. I needed to have time to clean the boat for the new crew so we planned to meet them (Raouf, Michelle his daughter, & Alistair, Isabella his daughter) at the Old walled city of Dubrovnik.

4 days and 3 nights! On to Dubvronik

2011-06-06T05:56:00.003-05:00

Friday
I did a bit more laundry and shopping before we had a bit of lunch. The fish market was open so I bought some swordfish steaks and a bag of ice.

.

We left the marina around 12:40pm. We motored about 1 ½ hours to Isola Volcano thinking we would check out an active volcano. They also had some healing mud baths that many tourists come to sit in. We decided not to walk up the 2 hour hike to see the volcano, and instead we had a nice lunch and then left for Isola Lipari. In Lipari, we found free WiFi, a wonderful Market, and a big fish market for our ice requirements. We had our swordfish for dinner with potatoes and fresh peas. Even the box-o-wine I had was good that night. Overnight, we experienced a great bit of swaying at the dock due to all the ferry’s coming and going . The fish market opened early and so by 7AM, I had the ice we needed and we left for our 3-night/4-day sail. We started out motoring so I was able to make crepes for breakfast and the remainder of our first day was filled with some line repair and my catching up on my journal’s. With no wind, could be a lazy 4 days.

Entering the Straits of Messina

Interesting viaducts along the way

A bit of boat traffic...

Laundry spinner!

Wind surfer we met along shore of the "boot" of Italy

Naples, Capri and new Crew

2011-06-06T05:35:00.003-05:00

Naples

Wednesday, May 25th, Charlie, Ken and I left around 10:30 and sailed to the south side of Capri to see the natural Arch. Wednesday was also the first of several overnights that Charlie, Ken and I would do. Our shifts were to sail 3 hours, be on watch for 3 hours, and then sleep for three hours. The moon came up around 11pm and the sky was full of stars so it was a very pleasant evening.

Thursday, we arrived in Isola Salina, one of the islands off Sicily around 7AM. We found about 7 dead birds on our boat that must have taken refuge during the night. We had seen several earlier in the evening, but thought they flew off. Not sure why they died, but they did make a MESS while alive on the boat.

Natural Arch on Capri

First overnight with Charlie

Isola Salina Marina was 89% empty so it was no problem to tie-up. 2 men from the marina greeted us and took our stern lines. Nothing much on this island but 2 inactive volcano’s. After breakfast we started to clean and prepare the boat for more overnights. I was untying the gangplank to set it up and as it was leaning on the wheels of the plank, rolled out of hands and into the water. The water was so clear, but we were in about 20 feet of water. Charlie tried to swim down to get it, but declared it was too deep and the water was freezing cold. We ended up tying our two boat hooks and a third pole together and Ken managed to hook it and pull it up and out of the water. It took several hours to get to this point and a serious waste of the morning time.

Later in the day, I did quite a bit of dockside laundry and then some trips to the market. The showers at the marina were the best we had seen so we took advantage and got cleaned up. After dinner, Charlie and Ken decided to check out the town and found one bar open. Seems most of the other cruisers in the marina were there also so Ken came back to the boat to encourage me to come out. It was a fun time, but when the other women started to dance on the bar, I decided it was time for us to go back to the boat!

Heading to Naples and crew change-May 23rd

2011-06-06T05:28:00.002-05:00

We left Porto Vecchio on Ventotene Island around 10:30 after a breakfast of Eggs’ in-a-hole, and filled water tanks. Page and Alan had found some “delectables” to eat for our lunch, so we were well set for the day. We will head to Procida which is very near to the mainland and Naples. From there it would be a 10 mile ride to the Bay of Naples on Monday.

Isola di Procida is, unfortunately, a bustling, dirty town filled with tourists of all nationalities. Because of its near location to the mainland, there are countless ferries coming and going. We found a small internet point down from our marina and caught up with some email while savoring more cassis. I do have to admit though, the hospitality at the bars and cafes are wonderful. They are not yet tired of the tourist. Maybe that will change at the end of the season.

Monday AM. Page and Alan decided to take one of the passenger ferrys across to the mainland early in the morning to ensure they would make their scheduled 12pm train to Rome. Mike, Ken and I left the marina and sailed into the Bay of Naples. We had been directed to go to the marina near the Old City, but found it was private and they would not let us stay. Finding room in any marina near Naples proved to be difficult but after 4 hours of motoring from one marina to another, we found a great one in Castallmmare across from Naples. Only difficulty would be to have Charlie find us. It would require his taking a train or expensive cab. This all worked out and Charlie arrived around mid-night after his plane, bus, taxi adventure.

The next morning Mike took the train to the airport, and Charlie and I took trips to the market and fish markets for food and ice. Some fish markets would give us ice, but others would charge us for it. This ice is treated to freeze at a higher freeze point so you cannot use it in beverages, but at least our food would stay cold. At 10AM, after paying our 50 Euros for the marina, we left for Isla di Capri . Arrived at 12:30 to Capri, got a great berth (although expensive 130 Euro’s), and set off to explore for the remainder of the day. Capri is beautiful, and you sure get your exercise walking to the city center which is on top of the hill.

Mt. Vesuvius

Porto Vecchio ( Ventotene)

2011-06-06T05:19:00.002-05:00

Our little harbor

Saturday, we left Ponza and made our way to Ventotene Isola which was about a 20 mile ride. We arrived in Ventotene which is one of the largest of the Southeastern group of the Pontine Islands mid-afternoon on Saturday. The old port is called Port Vecchio and very small and built around rock and manmade jetties. We tied up bow in due to the protruding rock ledge under the water at the quay side. Busy dive area and the port was mainly comprised of dive shops and dive boats coming and going. The Captianarie in Italy is more commonly called the Ormeggiatori and it is never truly clear which person holds that title. We had a lovely afternoon visiting the town and hanging out in the main plaza drinking cassis. We had filled the water tanks so we could take hot showers on the boat. One of the true pleasures of this boat when you have water and good shore power is our shower!. Ken and I found a pleasant restaurant and made plans to have a dinner date Saturday night. Page cooked back at the boat for Mike and Alan.

Pontine Islands - Ponzi Harbor May 20th

2011-06-06T04:42:00.004-05:00

Ponza harbor village is very busy, but very small. We had a great dock, tying up along side the pontoon. Again, electric, but undrinkable water. We washed down the boat, along with dockside showers and laundry and then set off to check out the local provisioning options.

Where this hilltop cemetary, La Rotonda della Madonna, once stood a prominent Roman's villa. Below, where the openings at the water level are, you can still find the swimming pool for the rich man's family where fresh sea water moved in and out.

In the afternoon, Ken, myself and Mike took the local boat tour through the natural and manmade viaducts along the rocky edges outside of the harbor. The rocky cliffs had mix of lava and natural rock. It was quite impressive and the water was sparkling and clear. On one cliff where once a proment villa stood, now housed the town’s cemetery. Below, was a grotto that contained a man-made seawater swimming pool for the Villa’s wealthy resident. We were not sure how they made their way from the top of the cliff where their Villa once stood, to the waters edge below and into the grotto where the swimming pool was.

In the evening Page and I decided to go off and have dinner of good Italian Pizza. The guys stayed at the boat and Ken and Mike later went off to dinner somewhere. From what they said, they were “over-fed”! Page and I had a lovely time and continued to catch up and reminisce about our families and the wonderful childhood times we had at our cottages at Devils Lake.

2011-06-06T04:35:00.001-05:00

Crew on overnight

Set off putting the main and the Genoa up. We sailed most of the afternoon and into the evening about moving along at an average 7 knots. Our shifts for the night established. Page, 6-10, Kristine, 10pm-2am, Alan 12am-4am, Mike- 2am-6am, Ken-4am-8am, & Page-6am-10am.

On my shift, around 11pm, the moon started to rise. There was only one boat in sight and the moon rose behind it. It started out brilliant orange and finally settled to its lovely bright self. By this time, we had only the main up and motored through the remainder of the night. We arrived at Ponza harbor on Ponza Island around 7:30-8am, or so. As we approached the marina, we ran out of diesel, put up the Genoa, and put the 2.5 jerry can of fuel in. Our first stop at the harbor was the fuel dock and we filled it up. 300 Euros for 120 liters plus the 9 liters in the jerry can.

Mike helping Page with Clovehitch lesson

Pontine Islands and Overnights

2011-06-06T04:29:00.003-05:00

We found one bar/café that had Wifi, but it was not strong or consistent enough to update my blog, but we did catch up with some email while enjoying a glass of wine. Had leftovers from the prior day’s market and then popcorn for treat.

On Thursday morning, we did our usual dockside showers and a bit of laundry. Alan hauled some fresh water from the town’s public water hose so we could do this. Before leaving for our 2nd overnight, we picked up a case of beer, more water, and slices of pizza for the road.

Porto Giglio - Last of the Tuscan Islands

2011-05-24T11:44:00.003-05:00

On Wednesday, we arrived at Porto Giglio, last of the beer drunk, needing showers and finding that at 4pm, all stores are closed (what they had of them) and the visitors pontoon was crowded with small motor yachts. Plenty of room on their concrete quay so we tied up. No electric and the water is not drinkable so we hauled several containers full for our drinking water. Alan made a deal with the Ormeggiatori (Italian for Capitanaire) that he would take our 2.5 gal tank of gas we DID NOT NEED, in exchange for our berth fee for the night. We had to leave on Thursday by 2pm because some ferry’s were expected for the quay. No problem. We got the empty tank back and filled it with Diesel as our back up plan for running out of fuel. (later proved useful as we ran out of gas heading into our next marina after our overnight motor)

Tuesday-Anchored off at Golfe of Barbatoia-Fetovaia

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Mike working the spin sheets.

The sail to our next stop was perfect. The guys found opportunity to fly the Asm spinnaker most of the way down the West side of Alba. We arrived to our first anchorage option and found it to be just fine so we anchored for the evening. Still early in the day, Alan got the snorkel and masks out and went to check the anchor holding, while the rest of us went about various tasks. I show them the back transom hot and cold water hose for rinsing off after a swim and then decided to wash my hair. Luxury! Sun, anchorage, hot water! Mike decided to go in the water and swam to shore.

Alan checking our anchor hold

Mike looking for sharks...

As the orange round moon started to rise in the horizon, the winds seemed to pickup so we had dinner inside the boat. Fresh fish from the morning market in Marina Marciana, salad and the last of the great flat beans. We opened one our our Chateauneuf du Pape, Domain Chante Cigale wines left on the boat from our “canal” days and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Wednesday morning, we pulled anchor around 8AM and motored out of our sweet anchorage for our last Tuscan Island, Isola del Giglio.

Coffee made, autopilot on, Ken continuing to resolve the refrig electronics, and I taking time to catch up with my journal. Someday you will read all of this when I find internet again.

Tuesday, May 17th

2011-05-24T11:07:00.002-05:00

Laundry at the dock!

Marciana is a lovely town

Not quite a full moon tonight

Isola Capraia

2011-05-24T10:32:00.003-05:00

We arrive in Macinaggio around 4:30 after rounding the top of Corsica and taking countless pictures of Giraglia Rock. We had a cute French family in the berth next to us. The little boy had to be only about 2 ½ and he was all over that boat with the mother and the father chasing after him. No fear at that age. They gave us some great travel tips on where to go next and suggested Isla Capraia. Evenings dinner was our Chicken with the new potatoes and shucked peas. It was so good!

Sunday 5/15, after fondly bidding goodbye to France, and looked forward to continued adventures in Italy, our first stop would be the former prison island, Isla Capraia. It was only about a 3 hours sail and we did actually sail. Beam reach with the Genoa. Winds about 15 knots, Mike at the helm, Page and I trying to read! (We still had a bit of sea rocking us). We arrived in the only port on the island around 4:30, and found the port to be very protected and very quaint. There is more of a village at the top of the hill by the Prison ruins, and we would walk up there Monday morning before we departed. The view down to the Marina was outstanding. I was hoping to get more information regarding the Island, but found that the port shops, and Tourist office are only open on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, and so arriving on Sunday after 4:30, we were left with a bar to stop in! After washing down the boat, we went for beer and camparai. Dinner was chicken stir-fry over a greek salad.

Monday, after Mike sprinted to the top of the hill in search of Wifi, and Page, Alan and I hiked the foot path up the hill, we left Islo Caparina for Islo d’Elbo. Ken was working and wanted to leave around 11AM. We retrieved our boat documents from the Capitaniare and headed out.

With a bit of deviation on our route due to the Corsican Car ferry traveling in our direction at 22 knots, ( AIS serves us well so we can figure how fast the ferry will cross our path without changing our tactics) tactics changed, we continued our trek to Islo d’Elba. We had 3 anchorages in mind for lunch, found them still too deep for us, and then headed to the Port of Marciana Marina on the North West side of Alba. We found the port to be a nice mix of local and tourist flavor. Again, no internet and toilets available here at the marina. (always a “in construction” situation) We had not eaten yet and when we arrived around 2:30 we set out to make a late lunch and do some laundry and such. I made eggsalad and some curry chicken salad from the last remaining chicken, along with some great bread Alan bought. Took our little tour of the town and later ate Pizza at a café along the water.

St. Tropez to Macinaggio

2011-05-14T12:15:00.007-05:00

May 11, Wednesday
Our first real sail will be an overnight to Corsica. We finish our boat provisioning, fuel up the boat and depart around 4pm. Winds about 10 knots, we put up a reefed main and Genoa, but soon found the winds out of ;the Golfe to be blowing 20-25 from the West.
Within one hour, we scampered to get the main down and reefed the Genoa. We set up the jacklines and tethers. Everyone got their foul weather gear on and life vests. With the wind and the waves we got wet immediately. We were still sailing average 7 knots and did so most of the evening and into the night. The winds were mostly behind us and the following seas made holding our course difficult. Shifts were required, but Ken seemed to stay available as it was so rough and this was our crew’s first sail with the boat. Overnights are tough in perfect conditions and this was a good test.

Just a bit of fun...

Thursday, 11:30, after a long night, we arrived at a lovely cove where we anchored for a lunch of Hopel-popel. I am sure I have spelled that incorrectly, but it is fried potatoes, sausage and then beaten eggs cooked into the mix. I always tend to embellish the dish to what my refrigerator holds, but it is a hearty meal after a hard night.

After lunch, Ken and Mike reflaked the hastily dropped main from the night before and Alan washed the dishes off the back of the boat. Our evening destination for Thursday night would be Ile Rousse. We were able to continue to sail with Genoa only and arrived at 6:30 pm

This picture is not in order. It is of Macinaggio Marina our stop after Ile Rousse.

le Rousse has a very small marina and we were concerned with the maximum depth of 6 ft. We got a berth 3 boats from the Jetty and did not seem to have any issue. Getting out might be difficult as it would require a hard to port turn to miss the other side of the jetty.
In the morning we took turns with our boat shower, did sink laundry, hanging it out on the lifelines, washed the deck, sprayed off the hull salt and paid the Capitanarie his 20 Euro’s. He explained that the toilets were open, but no water yet because it was too early in the season!

The village is lovely and on Friday, we wandered the small market, and surroundings. Ken was in search of a newspaper and Page and Alan were on a mission for a Super Marche. I marveled at the sight of them as they returned to the boat. Alan had taken my back pack and it was so heavy with bottles of all sorts of wines and ports! They had picked up Ahi Tuna at the market along with wonderful fresh veggies and fruit. They could have used a pack horse with all they were carrying. .

So far, with the exception of the rain as we were leaving Port Napoleon last week, the weather has been stupendous. Clear blue skies, warm breezes, and wonderful cool nights.

We would leave Ile Rousse around 2:45 to motor to St. Florent. About a 3 hour motor. (again, no real useful wind). We arrived in St. Florent around 6:30 Friday evening. Of course, the Captinare is closed for the evening, and we discovered the Toilettes were under construction. Everyone says too early in the season yet for all facilities to be open. St. Florent has a large marina with approximately 250 berths just for the transient boater. Mike, Ken and I wandered around to get a glass of wine and found Wi-Fi at a local bar and caught up on some email. Friday was a wonderful evening. We ate our dinner outside, feasting on Ahi Tuna, Fresh beans, Couscous and salad. And the never ending (it seems) great wine and port to end the evening.

Ile Rousse berth

Seems you can play Bridge anywhere!

Saturday, our morning routine today was coffee/croissants, a stop at the Capitanare to pay for the night (47 Euro’s), and then a quick walk for ice and beer at the Spar market. Being Saturday, the Spar closes at noon and we want to depart by 11:30 or so. We purchased 4 bags of ice and beer for the road. I even think Page and Alan bought MORE wine along with 2 Cooked chickens! We left port exactly 11:30 and head-off to Macinaggio. This will require a trip past Giralia Rock. We again, motored most of the way up to the Rock and looked forward to using a Genoa on the way down the East side of Corsica to Macinaggio.

WEEK TWO – ST. TROPEZ, CREW AND DEPARTURE TO CORSICA

2011-05-14T11:35:00.005-05:00

Beautiful St. Tropez!

St. Tropez Bell Tower

Ken at his "portable" office. Printer, scanner, computer, internet...what else would he want?...maybe a rum and coke!

May 6, 2011

Today is a new day and it is wonderful out. The Monaco Marine is busy putting boats in the water and preparing others for the season, so it is already noisy. Yesterday, we worked most of the day; I rode the bike to the Geant, the local big Super Market. Again hoping that I will have a working refrig by Friday. In the afternoon, Jean Paul came to measure the boat for ORC rating. Ken had to help move the boat into the wind and doing so, Jean Paul allowed the boat stern to hit the concrete wall resulting in the first “boo-boo” of the season. Ken just wanted to cry. I believe that I can touch it up with reasonable success and I told Ken most people will look at it and think it is bird poop!

Evening at Guy & Renee's.

When we were done with the measuring, we were picked up at the shipyard by Guy to go to his house for dinner. Guy and Renee have been wonderful friends this past year and are coming to sail with us next year. They spent 4 years in the Caribbean with their first sailboat. Guy now has a Sly 42 racing boat. Very expensive, all carbon fiber, made in Italy. Cachou is the name of the boat. He does very well around here with the regattas. Dinner was wonderful and very filling. Renee practiced her English and I practiced my French. It seems more and more I understand what is being said, but still cannot reply correctly. Oh, well….Ken and I slept very sound last night after the great dinner served with plenty of wine.

My plans today are to finally have a working refrigerator, one load of laundry, touchup the “nick”, more sealant around the mast, last bit of stowing in the Transom, get the Volvo engine working again, and then motor to St. Tropez where we will stay until Mike, Page and Alan arrive Monday. Some of the best made plans work, and others do not. We expected quiet sea’s in the morning which is typical, but instead, it was windy straight-off.

St. Tropez from the Golfe

We were still experiencing some “hiccups” with the refrig but knew that we still had to program the set-points, so we pushed on with our plans. Around 10am we started the motor and let it run for about ½ hour. All seemed good. We wanted to arrive to St. Tropez before noon and get our slip. Patrick was there and was “on-call” if we had any motor issues leaving the jetty. We spent one hour out in the Golfe de St. Tropez, motoring about to make sure all was well. Our arrival at St. Tropez was clean, with one stop at the diesel dock, and then finally in our appointed spot. Ken has me doing the driving now and he does the lines. A bit unnerving, but after a full season of the canals (I did most of the driving); I think I can handle this.

Dinner Saturday night was on Dolce Vita, Boris and Valerie’s motor yacht. They are our previous landlords of our St. Tropez Apartment. We have become good friends and look forward to many visits with them in the future. Boris teased me on my French and Valerie worked on her English. It was a good time with entirely too much food. By the second course we thought we were done and yet we had at least 3 more to go! Boris and Valerie bought our boat bikes from us. We did not want to haul them around this summer and most definitely did not want to take them across the Atlantic. We still have our bikes in Key West if we needed them.

Sunday, (Happy Mothers Day). Great sunny day with small projects to do. My first was to see Zou Zou at the Fish Market. He helped us with our fish needs for the party last year

Monday we are expecting Mike O’Connor to arrive around 4pm. He is a friend of Niki’s and has sailed with us in Chicago and Key West. This was a last minute opportunity for him to join us. When he arrived in Key West to sail, he skate-boarded from the airport to our rented house there. We did not know how he would arrive in St. Tropez, but found he conformed to the normal, bus from the Nice Airport. Ken and I had been out on the Golfe du St. Tropez calibrating some instruments and when we came in to dock we found Mike waiting for us. Next to arrive would be Page and Alan Spain. Page is a lifelong friend of mine. Through the years after our families early days at Devils lake where both families had cottages for many summers, we had maintained communication. Page and I had not seen each other with the exception of 3 years ago in California wine country. This meant a sailing trip with countless memories and stories of when we were children and all the mischief we got into. Ken and the guys would just have to put up with our “filling” in the lost years on this trip. Page was 5 and I was 10 at our last memories of Devils Lake.

Page and Alan arrived later than expected, but after our “reunion” everyone settled into their prospective areas in the boat. I fixed a light meal for everyone as it was late and we retired after a bit of wine and relaxation.

Tuesday morning, Ken, Mike and Alan motored the boat back to Monaco marine for another attempt at the refrig problem. Page and I went to St. Tropez famous market. We thought we would have to find something to do for only a few short hours and the market can certainly entertain you for that long. We soon found that the boys were in for a long repair day and would not return until late afternoon, early evening. So, Page and I took off for the sights and sounds of

St. Tropez.

Cemeteries in France are amazing and I have many times said that to be buried in St. Tropez Cemetery that has the citadel above and the Golfe below would be the way to go! We hiked around the Citadel, wandered the old towne streets, had coffee’s, wine, beer, a sandwich, and finally, the boat returned.

We had dinner plans that night to eat at the Strand with everyone including Guy and Renee. It is still a bit early in the season for tourists, so we had the entire restaurant to ourselves for most of the night. It is an enchanting restaurant that had large canopy trees granting shade and atmosphere. It was a fun night and everyone soon fell into light conversation of sailing adventures and life stories.

Mike took this picture, but he is here with us!

We're off! May 3rd. Port Napoleon to Cogolin

2011-05-05T03:00:00.005-05:00

2011 Sailing the Mediterranean

April 27
Our adventure never starts the day you begin your journal. Our adventure started way back when, but I will skip all that and take you to the place I am today. As Ken and I sit in the cockpit with computers in our lap and the last pour of a cheap Dieux Papes wine.

Sunset at Port Napoleon

We have been in Port napoleon slowly re-rigging Grateful Red, cleaning from top to bottom and re-directing our storage spaces on the boat. You know what they say about “valuable real-estate” , everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Well, after 2+ days of slowly rigging the boat, cleaning, sorting, and all the last minute repairs. By Saturday night, we both were able to sit on our own settee, eat popcorn, and do our personal stuff.

We arrived to Port Napoleon on Thursday mid-day. Found the boat in the water,but no mast yet. This is something we did anticipate so not worries. The boat was filthy after a winter on the hard. Most repairs went very well and I was pleased to find my wine glass holders and extra shelf in the pantry finally was completed. (I have asked for this for several years). One thing that needs to be completed is the installation of the new compressor for the refrigerator. Without this, we deal with difficult food storage and always looking for ice. Very difficult in the med to find good ice qtys. Ken brought the compressor over in checked baggage, a task that had some risks with Air France. But when we arrived in Marseilles, the bag with the compressor was there also! Now, to get it installed and working! We wait for Monday when it is scheduled to be done.

April 29
Friday, Ken and the rigger worked all day after the mast was set. I set off for the Grocery store and knowing we did not have a refrigerator, and the car for only one day, was cautious of what I purchased. If the refrigerator is up and running on Monday, I will bike into Port St. Louis and get some perishables that are more tempting for dinner menu.

April 30
Saturday. My job, after hosing down the deck of the boat, and removing the winters dust and grim, was to return the rental car to Martigues. This was researched earlier using the local Tourist office and was scheduled so that I could take the local bus back. It would be a 1 hour bus ride then I would get a taxi to Port Napoleon. The local Tourist office gave me times of the buses, location between the rental office and the station, and assured me it would be an easy task. They were not aware as I found out that the Martigues Europcar office had moved to Port du Bouc and was Not near a bus stop. In the end, as my phone was almost at 0 charge, I found the new office, bought a sub and a beer at a next door outdoor cafe, waited until the office reopened at 2pm, called a taxi from Port Napoleon, got the price of 50 euro’s (about 40 more than a bus ride) and found that I returned home about one hour later than the bus would have taken. My taxi driver was pleased to add my fare to his return from the Marseilles airport. He was kind and only charged me 30 instead of 50 euro’s. Ken says that this is because he felt pity for my miserable morning and that in his eyes I was cute!

The remainder of the day was glorious as the boat was sparkling, the projects were moving along and our plans for leaving Tuesday were looking good. Only one additional hiccup in the day was my visit to the ladies room at Josephine’s (Port Napoleons only restaurant). The stall I went into had a major flaw that I did not realize until too late. When I was finished and preparing to leave my stall, I realized that the door handle was missing and I was locked in. I waited for several minutes thinking that this was certainly insulted to injury. Luckily, an English speaking woman entered the bathroom and responded to my pleas and let me out. The handle was still intact from the outside so she could open the door. I left quickly, but now wonder how many others might have gotten locked in the same stall until someone repaired it.

Well, looking forward to tomorrow.

Much better today. Slept until 8:30, got up and promptly started more projects. Things to do today. Organize and stow racing sails, (three tied on the deck), 3 spinnakers, inventory all crew jackets and bibs. (sending some home due to lack of use). We have the bikes in their bags on the deck along the lifelines, but we think we will see if someone is interested in buying them from us. We gave 4 extra fenders to a lovely Dutch couple a few boats away. They were in the Chandlery looking at some and Ken offered in exchange for a glass of wine we will share tomorrow night.

We put up the jib and on the furler, had a late breakfast, early lunch of fried potatoes, bacon and eggs! After lunch, we started on the new mainsail. Right away we experienced an issue with the new pin at the gooseneck that holds the tack of the main sail to the boom. This being a new sail, came with this shackle. We never dreamed it would not work as it came straight from the sail maker. At first, Ken got the pin to go in with a minimum of effort, but soon realized it would not go all the way. By that time it was too late and the pin was stuck! Utilizing all our tools, and almost all of Ken’s strength, after more than one hour, we finally got the pin back out. We replaced the pin with some spectra line. We were glad we spent the early time to eat as we were well into the afternoon. With the main sail on, we flaked and tied, covered with the canvas cover and gladly had our first rum and coke of the season!!!

We have Monday to complete our tasks before we plan to take off. We hope the compressor will be installed tomorrow in the morning so we will have a refrigerator again. Sailing without could be a hassle. Ice is not available in most ports. We need to figure out fuel, a transom fender, the traveler lines installed, and a various other 100 things before the days end. I have the upholstery covers back on all the settee’s and the V-Berth cushions. We had them stored to protect them from all the racing salt and crew grim. Several years ago, we commissioned a seamstress to make sunbrella fabric interior covers so we could take the nice covers off when we knew we would get the inside of the boat wet. Worked so well!!!

May 3, 2011
Tuesday came and the refrigerator was still an issue as the winds picked up. Ken was nervous to go. I wanted to “hunker” down for a few days and wait for the winds to die. No chance! At 2pm, we paid our bill, said our goodbyes, and as Ken threw the dock lines, I motored out. This is where the fun began! Within 50 meters, I realized that I was not getting forward response from the throttle. With the wind in our back, it was easy not to realize this until too late. No place to pull over or hail for help. We fiddled with the throttle a bit and Ken made the executive decision that with the wind forecast, we could sail all the way to St. Tropez. This also meant that it would be a non-stop sail with only the two of us and no cold beer! We put up the front sail half furled as this was all we needed. Shot down the canal to the Golfe. The minute we were in the shipping channel, the most horrendous rainfall came over us. It gave us little warning, but I managed to pull out some of our foul weather gear and we hobbled through the wind and the rain. The first hour of our 24hour sail was enough adventure for me!

It did settle down and we soon we had our charts, our shift responsibilities, and our options if things did not go our way. First thing was to secure the anchor. Ken has an aversion to getting this done before a big sail due to past history, but for me this was a vital safety check. Of course, I had to go up to the bow in the pouring rain and get the anchor rode and chain attached to the anchor. Without autopilot, we could not do this. This done, the rest was just time and adjusting to the weather and our shifts.

Needless to say, the winds hurled us to our destination. We thought at one point we would stop at the Porquorelles to sleep for a few hours, but when we sailed into the bay area around 1am we thought we should just sail on. With a 6 knot boat speed, we could reach St. Tropez in about 6-7 hours. But as you know, the winds don’t always do what you want. Within on hour, after several hours of averaging 7 knots of boat speed, we dropped down to 3-4. That lasted for several hours and into the morning. Long night, long morning, but there was Bridgette Bardots bronze statue greeting us as we reached the Golfe de St. Tropez.

Bridgette B's statue on the rock

I call Patrick at Monaco Marine and told him that we had no motor power and we would love to get assistance past the Jetty and into his boatyard for some service work. We decided with our winds and our boat speed, we would not reach the jetty at Cogolin until about 3pm. We had at this time our main and Front sail up. Getting the main down without motor was a trick and I am sure we had some spectators that thought we were “practicing” with a new shiny boat. Ken wanted to “sail” into the marina and I was prettified of the jetties, but reached Patrick at Monaco Marine, and he greeted us halfway and used his skiff as a “brake” as we docked safely. The wind helped us sail into the marina with only our furled front sail.

This evening, I don’t know why I am doing anything like typing, because we both are spent cookies and have bruises and pain everywhere. It is tough for anyone, let alone 2 in their 50’s to sail one hour on, one hour off for 24 hours knowing you don’t have a motor that can keep you from harm. Sailing skill and good winds are our best friends.

Grateful Red at Monaco Marine

Well, anyway, we are in St. Tropez (next village to Monaco Marine) and by Saturday, I will have seen several French friends and will revisit the famous Saturday Market (and see Zu Zu at the fish market)

Grateful Red's Blog will return!

2011-04-22T14:15:00.004-05:00

We travel back to Port Napoleon where our boat was "wintered". Ken and I will spend 3 months sailing the French/Italian/Croatian and Spanish Coasts. Friends will join us for these adventures and hopefully, I can keep this blog updated with interesting sights and stories. See you soon!

Port St. Louis & Port Napoleon, May 24, 2010

2010-06-30T03:25:00.005-05:00

OUR LAST MOMENTS ON THE RIVER RHONE! Finally, Port St. Louis and our shipyard destination, Port Napoleon...Grateful Red's becoming a sailing yacht once again!

Eddie and Ken relaxing while waiting for the lock to process.

Port St. Louis was nice and we got a slip right away. Backed into a slip with shore crew waiting to take our stern line, and within moments became a curiosity for the "neighboring" boats. Our first visitor was English and he gave us some "low-downs" of the area. After checking in, we opened some cold white wine and sat in the Cockpit. People are funny and will just stop and stare at you. Rare sight to see a big beautiful red sailboat from America!!! Eddie was a hit as usual and with our big American flag off the stern of the boat, we were “ogled” by the people that would walk the promenade back and forth.

Early the next morning we paid for our mooring and prepared to leave. We had made prior arrangements with Port Napoleon to bring our boat over Monday morning and they would start work on Tuesday after taking the boat out of the water. This left us with Monday to clear, clean and prepare for the boats being taken out. We motored through the well-marked shallow canal leading into Port Napoleon. Arriving, we were greeted by the M-Marine manager who directed me to a slip close to the haul-out. Ken said I did a perfect job docking and must have impressed the Frenchmen standing around watching. Glad to show that a woman is not just a pretty deck hand, but can also maneuver a big boat.

. Checking into the Captaineres office, we made arrangements for a bungalow to stay in (setup for transients and temporary housing for boat owners) and also found we could rent a container to store our boat equipment that we would take off during the repair and mast re-stepping. We knew the boat would get dirty during this next 2 weeks so we took all cushions, clothes, fenders, bimini, sails, etc off and hauled them to our container. Tuesday the boat was promptly taken out of the water and put in a location near the marine shop. Estimates and work lists discussed and promises made.

May 22nd & 23rd, Last days on Rhone River

2010-06-30T02:35:00.007-05:00

Saturday morning in Valence,

Mark and Mark left around 6:30 for their train, and Ken and I took off around 8am heading for the first lock. Approaching the lock, we watched as a HUGE blue barge inched its way into the lock. The tightest fit I have ever seen in the locks. We had a place to tie-up while we waited for the barge to complete his maneuver into the lock, hoping all the time, another barge would not approach in which case took precedence over cruising vessels. Leaving the lock was the same; we stayed tied up until we saw daylight on the top of his pilot house on the boat. No point in releasing earlier as we would have to “hover” in the lock for his exit. Our total time for this lock was 1-1/2 hours. We followed this barge ( Mari Lune) the entire day to Avignon through the six locks of the day and 120 kms. Mari Lune did much better in the remaining locks for the day.

Today we experienced one of the deepest locks on the Rhone River. Lock Bollene is 26 meters deep or approximately 104 ft deep and is very intimidating when you are ready to leave and look up. You feel very small when in it, especially along side the large barges and container ships.

Donzere gorge
We arrived in Avignon late in the afternoon after passing Donzere Gorge and other beautiful scenes on the Rhone. Avignon is known as the walled city of the grand Papal palace, and has the remains of the famous Balad Bridge that was bombed by the Germans.

Arriving this late made it difficult to find mooring space along the city quay, so we “rafted” along side what appeared to be an abandoned fuel barge. Worked well as we could walk across it to the quay and Eddie could have an easy time without me having to carry him. We walked into the walled city and found a very nice French bistro where we enjoyed some white wine and a light snack. The waiter was not pleased that Ken “rearranged” the table and chairs so we both could have a nice view of the street activities. After finishing and putting the table and chairs back in “order”, Ken went to do a bit of exploration and I went back to the boat to attend to Eddie and prepare for our last day on the River. After our long hot day, we were happy to make it an early evening. Ken and I were anxious for our last day on the River to reach Port St. Louis, and thus begin the new chapter of our trip. Summer on the Mediterranean Sea and St-Tropez.

Sunday, May 23rd, left Avignon around 10am after steak and eggs breakfast. Needed our energy today. We had 80 kms to go and one big final river lock and the flood lock in Port St. Louis. We knew we had to hurry toward the end of the day because the flood lock only opened one time per hour and closed for the day at 5pm. We made the last opening at 4:15 with minutes to spare. Not sure what we would have done for the night in the River, but we were glad we did not have to make that decision. The flood lock includes a lift bridge for cars so it was a slow hot process. Eddie was decked out in his fancy harness and barking at anyone and everything he thought necessary. He seemed to “feel” our excitement of the journeys end.

Mark and Mark's great 2-day adventure on the Rhone River

2010-06-24T05:07:00.011-05:00

Thursday, may 20th, Leaving Lyon to Valence

Thursday morning before we left Lyon, Ken and Mark walked to the Gare station to get a return schedule from several locations situated along the Rhone. Mark and Mark’s two days with us would be factored around where we could be Saturday morning in time for them to catch this return train to Paris.
This first picture is where the Saone and Rhone Rivers meet.

Armed with this information our informal plans were to stop in Les Roches de Condrieu, a nice little marina across from the town of Condrieu. (a fine wine community). We would stay Thursday night and then Valence Friday night. They would then take a taxi to the local Valence GARE station for their trip to Paris. This part of the journey was wide Rhone Rivers and very deep locks. We only hit 2 locks on Thursday, one being Pierre-Benite, We motored about 40 kms this day and arrived in Les Roches de Condrieu with a 3-4 knot current at our back. The “men” went to explore across the river some local wine shops and returned with a small assortment of Rhone wines, stating that the shop keeper would deliver any wine we would purchase the next morning right to our boat. (we already are deeper in the water due to our earlier wine and champagne purchases so I was not as excited as they were). Dinner at the nearby Hotel Bellvue, and then preparation for Fridays departure.

The "boys" handling the lines - Eddie is managing them!

Friday, we pulled over to the diesel dock, fueled up and decided to for-go the “wine shopping” trip. We had 72 kms to go and 3 BIG locks to maneuver. Being in the Rhone river meant we sometimes had to give-way to the large container ships when they approached a lock. Most of the time we could still squeeze in, but it could be a potential delay of 1-2 hours. The day went well, we had fun in the locks and we arrived in Valence around 5:30. Valence is an old ancient town featuring a 17th century cathedral. Our quay was downriver of the bridge so we did not experience the city. The marina was small and I think we found the only space that would accommodate a boat of our size. After checking in to the Capitianare, getting the shower combo and making the taxi arrangements, I made salmon cakes and large greek salad for dinner. We ate in the cockpit and this was the very first time we could the entire trip due to weather conditions. Especially fine time for me!

Friday, May 14th, Eddies arrival to France and beyond to Lyon

2010-06-11T01:16:00.006-05:00

Ken arrived in Paris with Eddie with little problem. I was told that only the US Customs insisted in “patting” Eddie down and the French Customs after asking if he had papers but not insisting on seeing them, played with Eddie and ignored Ken. Ken called me and said he thought he would have no problem getting Eddie and their luggage on the train to Dijon and I should meet them there. This being done, I found them outside the train station in Dijon at the appointed time. Ken on the phone, and Eddie crossing his legs in his crate and really wanting to get out. After his “grass” time and back on the train to the boat, he slept almost immediately. I think he stayed awake the entire plane trip out of nervousness.

We did not plan to continue our journey until Sunday mid-day so this gave Eddie a full day to get used to being on the boat and back with us. We walked to town and got a rotisserie chicken at a open market (rare for a Sunday) and last minute shopping before departing Sunday for Seurre. Sunday’s trip would be only 28 km’s and one lock. Nice, easy first day on the canals for Eddie.

When we arrived in Seurre we found a very nice Halt nautique with a new dock. There was another large motor yacht on the dock belonging to a very nice English man who came over to chat and tell us the “low-down” of the area. Soon the Capitanaire stopped by and we soon realized he had been enjoying the Sunday with a few “wines”…He did not speak very good English but tried to explain to us that there was a problem with our route that we had planned for the next day. He stated that there were closures at some of the locks in our path that would delay us 2 months! Once we realized his message, I ran to the boat to get our calendar, my English/French dictionary and our charts so we could truly understand the potential problem. Our English neighbor just stood and listened as Ken and I were getting a bit “excited” about being delayed and not hearing anything about this sooner. Soon the Capitanarie was giggling and saying “joke”, slapping us on the back. He also took Kens wrist in his hand to pretend to “check his pulse” laughing. Our neighbor explained that this is what he likes to do with all new boats on the dock. I thought ken would strangle him, but he kept his cool and said, “Yes, funny joke” as we walked back to the boat overwhelmed with relief that we would not be “trapped” in this river section for 2 months. Went looking for the hard stuff after that! Wine and beer was too meager.

Monday, May 17th

At Point Kilometer (PK) 187, we had planned a long day to PK 112 but only 2 locks to finish at Tournus. The River Saone is now wider and there is more boat traffic. We passed Chalon sur Saone, a large city that did not appeal to us so we pushed on the Tournus. Motoring with a 2 knot current with us, we moved along nicely. We are seeing more cruising boats heading upstream against the current. We assume they are just starting their “canal” journey in the opposite directions. Tied up to a nice City Quai heading downstream. Noisy on the back transom when you sleep, but the take off in the morning is like a rocket ship. We walked the town and found a little restaurant with a sign stating they would open at 7pm for Dinner (Sunday). We stopped at a small square for some wine and back to the boat. Dinner at this restaurant was wonderful. It was small and very elegant. Ken had a PILE of frog legs and I had some wonderful version of scalloped potato, Salmon au gratin.

Tuesday, May 18th

Finally, blue skies with a slight breeze. Starting to see familiar boaters that are heading the same way as we are. Met a British couple, Ann and Alex that have a sailboat with their mast tied on deck. They are also heading to the Med for some sailing, cruising. We both left Tournus Tuesday and caught up to each other almost every night all the way to the Rhone. I later took pictures of their boat in one of the deep locks. We will head to Macon or beyond today. Today’s weather was great and Macon was an easy journey so we decided to push on. We had only one lock today and eventually tied up at a small Nautique near Villefranche-sur-Saone. We have 43 kms left to reach Lyon.

Wednesday, May 19th, Lyon

We arrive in downtown Lyon (on the Saone) and tie up between city Quai’s Tilsitt, and Mal Joffre. Just 4 blocks into the city is Victor Hugo Blvd where wonderful shops and restaurants are. Victor Hugo blvd runs parallel to the river and one end of the blvd is Place Celle-cour and Place Carnot, wonderful city parks. The GARE and auto rentals were just 4 blocks further on our side of the river.

Ken got his rental car right away so he could drive to Geneva Switzerland to pick up our next boat guests, Mark and Mark. He was also going to fit in a visit to a long time friend Bill, who happened to be in Geneva with Mark and Mark at the same business conference. We had originally planned to be in Lyon on Friday and had dinner plans with Boris and Valarie, our new “landlords” in St-Tropez but because we arrived several days earlier they arranged their schedule to meet us for dinner on Wednesday night instead. All meeting at the boat around 7pm, Ken arrives with Mark and Mark about the same time as Boris and Valarie. Of course this is a great time for champagne and as I like to be prepared, had one chilled and ready. Boris, Valarie, Ken and I headed out to dinner (only had reservations for 4) and Mark and Mark went off to explore Lyon.
It was a great opportunity to get to know Boris and Valarie better as they own the apartment we are renting in St-Tropez. It was a wonderful evening for sure.

more pic's from Wendell and Shelly's visit

2010-06-09T07:50:00.005-05:00

Who didn't finish their wine?.....

Remember the cold? and yes rain!

Chandelier made of wine bottles
CHATEAU DE LA ROCHEPOT near Beaune,
in Cote d' Or

We loved having Wendell and Shelly visit...come with us again and we PROMISE nicer weather!

Wendell and Shelly depart...

2010-06-09T07:42:00.003-05:00

May 9th to May 14th,

Saturday evening, after the wine tours and tastings…time to pack for Sunday departures.

Wendell and Shelly would take the GARE (train) from St. Jean de Losne to Dijon and then on to Paris. I would drive Ken to Geneva Switzerland for his flight back to the USA. The drive to Switzerland was only 2 ½ hours and gave me “taste” of yet another country. After driving Ken to the airport in Geneva, I had to drive the rental car back to Dijon and take the GARE back to St. Jean de Losne. I then had a 2 mile walk back to the boat. Can’t say we don’t get around!

I spent the next 5 days alone on the boat and certainly would have preferred warmer weather. I did what cleaning I could do in the cold, some laundry, biked, read books, and found a nice grocery store across the bridge in St. Jean de Losne. I was anxious for Friday when Ken would arrive back in France with Eddie, our new world traveler.