I am behind on loading photos and writing blogs for Sicily and the Aeolian Islands (I will be writing these when I am back home). However here are some of the highlights from this year (in no particular order):

• Making the decision to leave work and set up the yacht charter business. This is one of the major parts of the trip and I’m glad I made the decision to cut away from normal 9-5 working and try something new. Everyone should give it a go!
• Sailing down the Thames. An amazing feeling and Tower Bridge looked great from the Deck of Tangaroa
• The sun shine and my sun tan. I’ll miss them both!
• Dolphins. Beautiful
• Catching the tuna. We have to do it again now Geoff’s been watching Utube and knows hoe to gut it
• Croissants and bread delivery in Corsica straight to the boat in the morning. Brilliant and perfect
• 20.56 knots top speed in the Middle Sea Race
• Seeing Stromboli at night
• The Calanques – probably my favourite place of the trip
• Barcelona- a fantastic city that we would love to visit more. If we could live there for a while we would
• Mallorca – this really is the perfect location for chartering a yacht. Quiet anchorages, beautiful towns and lots to explore. OK so there were some places we likes better than others but I’d recommend this as a yacht charter location
• A long weekend off the boat in Rome!! Yep,  we were dying for some aircon, a normal bed, a shower with unlimited water and no anchor to worry about
• Blue Marlin, Ibiza – thanks Hamish for the recommendation. Their Pina Coladas were the best I’ve ever had
• All our guests on-board. We loved having people out on the boat – great company, good sailing and someone for me to talk to in the mornings
• Sun sets (I would say sun rises but I got quite into lying in… Oh I’ll miss that when I start working)
• 3rd place in our class in the Middle Sea Race and 21st overall

And the low lights:

• Getting stung by a jelly fish – ouch
• The rain in Perpignan and Calais – I thought it would never end and that there’d be no summer
• Lifting the boat out at Calais – We learnt a lot by that experience. From now on I am a travel lift fan!
• Loosing our fishing lure to the motor boat that came too close. Our best lure for catching tuna
• Mosquitos – argh. They are so frustrating and their bites are itchy
• Having to anchor in the gales. Enough said.

We both had an amazing time and hope our guests did too. I think we’ll be missing it when we get back into the daily grind of work and London life.

Tangaroa is now tucked away in Malta with Nisida and Bongani to keep her company. I’m sure she’ll miss us traipsing her around the med but she definitely deserves a few months off.

So instead I waited until safely back in grand harbour where the sun is now shining and I can look back at the race and say how great it was (there may have been times on-board where I wouldn’t have agreed!).

The highlights:

• Finishing 3rd in class and 21st overall. We’re all looking forward the receiving our well earned trophy on Saturday night at Royal Malta Yacht Club
• Breaking our record top speed which was 17 knots and is now 20.56 knots. Just to add this was with a reefed main sail and head sail only, not even a spinnaker. This probably tells you something about the size of the waves and the strength of the wind…
• Passing Stromboli at night and seeing it light up – amazing
• Playing dare devil with a very large super yacht in the pitch black going through the straits of Messina. Just to add a bit of context, it was blowing 25 knots of wind and we had the spinnaker up as well
• Seeing the most amazing changes in weather e.g. flying along at 8 knots with the A-sail up and then suddenly having 0 knots, the A-sail backing and being totally becalmed. Or tacking in a wind shift and ending up at the same angle you were on in the last tack – bizarre
• The scenary. Geoff and I had seen some of it before but even so it really is a beautiful place to sail with some of the most stunning islands as marks on the course
• Starting in Grand Harbour and finishing at The Royal Malta Yacht Club. Nisida had made it in earlier than us (people we know from London Corinthian Sailing Club) and they cheered us accross the finish line – a great feeling
• Having 3 Pronavias in the race making it that bit more challenging and exciting

I won’t go through the entire race with you (although more than happy to if someone wants). We had every weather imaginable from sun and dead calm waters to 35 knots scrawls, hammering rain and big seas. I’d say this is the most challenging race I’ve even done – more than the fastnet.

We mainly ate crisps, chocolate and cereal bars all the way round as we were so busy with sail changes, bad weather and wind shifts (plus a few un-named were a little on the poorly/ sea sick side…). The boat’s still full of boil in the bags and hot dogs – in fact we had some for breakfast this morning :-S

We became a well practiced slick crew at reefing the main and dropping it. All that had to be said was “You know what to do” and we all kicked into action.

We started at 11.10 am on Saturday and Daryn timed our finish – the race took us 99 hours 50 mins. We did it under 100 hours!

If I think of anything else I’ll keep the blog updated.

I’ll leave you with Charlies quote of the week “We’re definately well in front of the boats behind us”.

(BTW – thanks to all for the birthday wishes. I’m a bit behind on my texts and emails but will catch up in the next few days)

We’ve just gone past Etna and are a few hours off Messina.

A frustrating night and morning for us. After such a good start we got becalmed and have been pretty much like that until a couple of hours ago. Seawolf, Bongani and what felt like the rest of the fleet over took us but we’re hoping to regain some of that now the wind’s got up. It’s fluctuating between 5-8 knots and we have the A sail up so we’re a lot happier.

We over took Bongani a few hours ago so now we hoping to close some of the gap between us and the rest of the fleet over night. Seawolf are circa 10 miles ahead – we’ve regained 2 miles on so far. I just hope this breeze stays with us.

As Rhys pointed out earlier we have had 4 seasons in one day. Heavy rain, sunshine, wind and dead calm. When the rain came it did so with a vengeance. Poor Rhys got soaked even though he had his wet weather gear on… He’s clothes are out drying on the deck at the moment.

I was going to complain about the snoring on my last blog but apparently I was snoring too last night so I’m glad  didn’t say anything.

The ginger biscuits got opened to day too

I think that’s all for now. Time for dinner.

We’re well and truly into our watch system rotation with Geoff, Charlie, James and Daryn doing the A watch and Mike, Jess, Rhys and Adam on the B watch. Rob’s floating as he’s our nav (in fact he wants to use the computer but I’m hogging it for the blog…).

Boil in the bag for dinner was a good success and we’ve got bacon sarnies planned for the morning. That’s if people aren’t too full of Toblerone and cereal bars by then… 2 large bars of Toblerone down but plenty more to go.

Only other thing to say is that just after my first blog we saw a man on one of the other boat’s wearing a tutu! Interesting.

Right off to sleep for a couple of hours. We’ll keep you posted whenever we can.

I know the rest if the watch is asleep there’s a lot of snoring going on…

We’ve been outside the harbour wall to check the wind and first mark. The wind was pretty light this morning but thankfully it’s been building so it should be a nice start for the race.

All crew seem happy – this could be due to the sunshine or the fact that we have so much chocolate on-board we might have to start force feeding it to people. You can tell who’s been in the med for a while and who’s just arrived from the UK… Geoff and Jess think it’s cold and the others are already complaining about the heat!

Charlie is trying to impose a 48 hour ban for Jess on chocolate but everyone else thinks a better punishment would be the fact that she has to eat at least one Toblerone every 20 mins… the ban is due to Jess having eaten one of Jen’s amazing ginger biscuits before the start Thanks Jen for baking them – they’re awesome.

Jess’ Mum’s watching the start from the bell tower so hopefully there’ll be some good photos we can share with everyone later (Mum – feel free to upload them onto Facebook when you get home).

That’s it for now. We’ll try and keep this update as often as we can. 50 mins to go….

Maddalena islands, Porto Cervo, Cala Di Volpe and Olbia

Unlike Cosrica we had no yacht charters booked in Sardinia. Instead we had just over a week for some time where we could catch up on sleep and get the boat ready for the charters we had booked in Italy. After this week we were fully booked for the rest of the season.

So Geoff and I left Porto Vecchio and headed across the Bonofaccio Strait towards Sardinia and the Maddalena Islands.

We had been to the Maddalena islands the week before as we’d popped over with Caroline, Hamish and Giselle. We’d planned to head for the same anchorage we’d stayed in with the guys as the shelter was great and it was a perfect spot for swimming and starting to explore the islands from.

We had a great sail over with wind going with us all the way. We were steaming along at over 8 knots when we arrived at the islands so the trip took us no time at all. The wind however did not die and the shelter in the anchorage wasn’t as great as we had hoped it would be so instead we found a mooring buoy just outside the main marina and made that our home for the first night.

Chartering a yacht in the Maddalena islands

Wow – they really are stunning. A cluster of small islands just off the north west coast of Sardinia with the most amazing blue water and beaches. If you’re on a yacht charter in Sardinia then you’d be mad not to come over and visit these islands. In fact, I’d love to come back, stay in a hotel and explore the islands on a rib so we could get into the smaller coves and explore areas a yacht just can’t reach.

We spent a couple of days here – one night in the marina on the main island and then exploring all the places the pilot book recommended. The marina was in a small bustling town filled to the brim with tourists. At night time the tourists promenaded down the streets, crammed into the  shops and spilled out of all the cafes and restaurants. It was so popular walking down the street at 9pm was actually quite a challenge.

In contrast to this, the bays and coves were extremely picturesque with turquoise water, gleaming white beaches and boats anchored everywhere. We got up early one morning to visit the pink beach hoping we could get a mooring buoy for the day… we should be so lucky! I think people must get up at 4am to get there first and who can blame them, it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen so far on our adventures.

My only gripe about the islands is that the pilot book (yet again) is out of date and many of the mooring buoys now belong to the restaurants and bars on the shores. They charge a fortune to stay there and often insist on a restaurant booking for your boat too. We steered clear of this and opted for the trusty anchor instead. If anchors could talk I think I’d love to have a long conversation with ours and thank him for being such a reliable friend this year!

Expensive mooring buoys became a theme of the Sardinia leg of our route. Having been warned multiple times by French marinas and boats we met en route we were well aware that Sardinia was going to be a pricey place to moor Tangaroa.

Porto Cervo

Porto Cervo was our next stop with it’s 160 Euro a night mooring buoys for yachts- ouch! Yes there is space to anchor -  if you have a very short keel and don’t need any swinging room – neither of which suit us so we left fairly quickly and headed to the nearest beach to anchor. And wow what a beach – Sardinia certainly knows the meaning of crystal water, bright white sand and sunshine. No wander it’s the destination of choice for the stars – the beaches are stunning!

Sardinia is geared towards very rich super yachts and well off people looking for a posh hotel and chill out beach holiday. Most beaches on the north west coast have large mooring buoys priced up for the super yachts and do not let yachts takes their dinghys onto the beaches to keep them clear for the land based holiday makers. Who can blame them for making the most of the assets they have and ensuring the beaches are kept perfect for their high paying visitors. It was a bit of a pain for us but we coped and got to see some beautiful places.

Not only are the beaches perfect but the coat line is too. All the houses had lawns that were immaculate and often resembled a very smart golf green. There is certainly no shortage of cash around here.

Cala Di Volpe

Talking of the super rich, we swung by Cala Di Volpe for a night on anchor and to check out the hotel our pilot book was raving about. We decided not to head to the hotel until later in the evening so motored in on the dinghy in the dark, pottered around until we found a nice spot to tie up right inside the hotel (the hotel is on the water front) and jumped off to check out what all the hype was about.

We did feel ever so slightly under dressed (even with our shoes on that we’d forgotten and had to go back for) and after checking out the pool and private beach we decided that a drink may be a bit on the pricey side but, you only live once so we headed to the bar to mix it with the super elite.

Only later did we discover that Madonna was in the same hotel that week. Needless to say we didn’t see her but I did recognise one lady in the bar from the many magazines I’ve been reading – I know she’s married to a plastic surgeon but can’t think of her name.

After savouring the bottle of wine we ordered and talking loudly about “Our Yacht” we decided to head back to the boat to discover that the wind had got up to 25 knots. The anchor was once again doing a sterling job and Tangaroa was happily bobbing about in the wind. We didn’t want to risk it though so Geoff and I kept and eye out all night to make sure we didn’t move.

The forecast was for more wind coming in so we decided to head down to Olbia – our last stop in Sardinia – as apparently there is a wall you can go along side for free plus the shelter was meant to be good.

Olbia

Don’t be put off Olbia if you are on a yacht charter as the entrance is a bit industrial/ smelly but the town itself is great for exploring, shopping and having coffee in friendly bars. Plus, you can go along side the wall for free which is much better than paying 140 euros a night in the new marina they’ve recently built there.

As soon as we arrived we realised the wall was full with boats. We were just about to drop anchor when we spotted a New Zealand boat against the wall. So, we went up to them to ask whether we could squeeze in next to them when he told us he’d leave the wall and anchor so we could go alongside – how nice can you be! It turned out that these guys were regular Olbia visitors and preferred anchoring as they have more space and their anchor and chain can withstand any breeze they get faced with. So, we moored up to the wall while they anchored and our new NZ friends from the boat Bandit came over later in the evening. They told us a bit more about Olbia and showed us a great restaurant for pizzas. We ended up going out for dinner together.

It’s great meeting new people and Geoff especially likes meeting fellow New Zealanders. I’m hoping we keep in touch as they were great company and were a font of knowledge about the med.

Olbia was probably the most social part of out trip as we met the guys on Bandit, became friendly with most of the boats on the wall and ended up moored alongside a boat we moored along side in the Thames in April – Pulsar an X73. It’s a small world.

Pulsar invited us on-board for drinks one evening which was good fun plus, we both left on the same day. They left for Sicilly and us to Italy.

I liked Olbia – it is frustrating as you do get moved off the wall from time to time but, everyone is in the same boat (excuse the pun…) and they all club together trying to make sure as many people get back on the wall as possible. Often with boats going alongside each other. Plus, you can’t complain if you are moved as it is for free and that’s not something you see very often in the med!

So, after nearly a week in Olbia waiting for the wind to pass, we left Olbia with Pulsar and headed to Italy. A long overnight sail for us but onto another pace to explore.

And finally – the books we’ve been reading:

• One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson: I thought this was a lot better than case histories with a better storey line. The characters are interesting and it’s nice to read a book  that’s based in a location I know a bit about – Edinburgh. I’d recommend it but think you need to read case histories first.
• Land of Fire, Chris Ryan: As quoted by Geoff “A page turner”. He enjoyed them but I’m giving them a miss as they are probably a bit blokey for me.
• Strike Back, Chris Ryan: Again, another page turner and good holiday read.

After arriving in amazing weather on our sail over from Elba accompanied by dolphins we felt set for a fantastic time in Corsica. Topped off with the added bonus that we have lots of visitors on this leg of our adventure – Katie, Steve, Caroline, Hamish and Giselle. It’s going to be a busy month!

First off we needed to spend a couple of days chilling in the sun shine, exploring Bastia and getting stocked back up with food and water. Then all we need to do was pick up our guests when they arrived and start exploring…

At this point I think I’ll just point out that “picking up our guests” in Corsica actually wasn’t going to be that simple…Corsica public transport system leaves a lot to be desired and Taxis at 100 euro an hour really aren’t a  great option. Plus, you’ve got more chance being invited to breakfast with the queen that to get a hire car in August… So, back to route planning to fit around the sporadic bus service…. Although not ideal we managed to work around it and everyone got on-board the same day they landed and made it back to the airport in time. Poor Caroline got the worst end of the stick as she had to travel on a Sunday – thankfully she made it to us in one piece!

Bastia

Our first stop in Corsica where we dropped off Jen and picked up Steve and Katie.

We were moored up in the old quay right in the centre of the old town which was very picturesque. An ideal spot for chilling out, within easy reach of the cafes bars and a few minutes away from some of the best sights of the town. Plus, we had lovely neighbours who gave us some good tips of where to go along the coast – they live on their boat for 5 months a year and have apparently been cruising around Corsica for over 10 years. Plus, they had the most well pampered pooch I have ever seen – they even carry around toilet paper for it to use! (I really have seen some great dog loving antics since we’ve been away from dogs with bows in their hair to dogs with trainers on and their own pull along suit cases,,, Some have better wardrobes than I do!).

After a couple of days here we decided to make a long leg down to the south east coast to near Porto Vecchio as there wasn’t a great deal to see by boat between Bastia and Porto Vecchio. So, with Katie and Steve happily tucked up in bed, Geoff and I had an early start (3am), got us out of the marina and started the trip towards the south. First stop – the beautiful bay of Pinarellu. As we left we we rew careful not the wake the children sleeping on the boat to one side of us – their boat was so full or people that the children had to sleep on deck in the open air with only the sunshade for protection.

Porto Vecchio and Pinarellu

Our first stop, Pinarellu, was a beautiful moon shaped beach and anchorage just north of Porto Vecchio. With crystal clear waters and white sand it made the perfect spot for swimming and exploring. It didn’t take Katie and Steve long to jump of the back of the boat and get into the swing of chilling on deck in the sun shine. I think this was probably my favourite spot in Corsica although it wasn’t as stunning when we returned the following week when the wind was blowing. Although it was the safest and most sheltered spot we could find along that section of the coast so I wasn’t complaining.

Porto Vecchio was about an hour further south. We didn’t visit it until after Katie and Steve had left. After being warned by a French couple in Bastia that it was hard to get in and out of Porto Vecchio, I was slightly reluctant to go there but Geoff pressed on and I’m glad he did. The anchorage was great, giving us shelter in the wind and good holding. The town itself was also lovely – an old town at the top if the hill with plenty of great bars, restaurants and shops. We ended up coming here a couple of times as the town had a real buzz and there were plenty of places to eat.

The only downside was the fact that it was impossible to get a berth in the marina (we tried a couple of times when it was windy) and just popping in there to fill up with water was 12 euros a go which was pretty steep to compared to anywhere else. Despite this I’d definitely recommend this as a great place to stop on a yacht charter holiday.

Bonifaccio

Bonofaccio was the other town we visited several times – I’d love to say I liked it as it had loads going for it but, the fact that you have to go through the Benefaccio strait to get there and you couldn’t book a place in the marina took the charm away for me. If you’re wandering what the Bonifaccio straight is, it’s where all the wind in the med (maybe a slight exaggeration) get’s funnelled between Corsica and Sardinia causing gale force wind, some pretty uncomfortable waves and with few exceptions some pretty hairy sailing. Katie, Steve, Caroline, Hamish and Giselle all know exactly what I mean – I think they all described it as an “experience”.

The first time we made it into the harbour we missed getting into the marina by one boat despite being told over the radio that they had room. I was not looking forward to going the 5+ miles back to the nearest anchorage when an English man in a dinghy very generously showed us a free anchorage by the marina  and helped us get into it (it involved some impressive manoeuvring). He was definitely my hero that day and became a friendly boat we saw several times while we were in Corsica, We each took it in turns to pop over to see the other for a drink or two on-board – they came over for one beer and we spent the entire night on their boat drinking wine and eating their food… It’s great to meet new people on our travels – people to talk to and people we can get advice on where we should visit.

There was loads to do in Bonifaccio including a picturesque walk along the cliffs to the light house (the photos are online), lots of restaurants along the marina, the old town and a walk from the beach by the boat into town. We managed to keep ourselves amused there while we waited out some windy days and nights – there are much worse places in the world to be stuck!

The mountains

After several attempts to hire a car (yes you’d think the process would be simple but not in Corsica! It’s nearly as unreliable and as complicated as the buss time table). After everyone had gone home Geoff and I left the boat in Porto Vecchio and took a car trip to the mountains and the north of the island.

We visited Corte, a town high up in the mountains – a mini tourist trap and apparently home to the main university in Corsica. We had a lovely lunch there and checked out the local museum and old walled town. Then we set of further north to some of the coastal towns we couldn’t get to on Tangaroa as there were not on our route and were open to some pretty strong winds.

After Geoff trying out his best impression of how the French normally park their car (in an island in the middle of the road, between several trees and half in the ditch – I was glad we’d taken out the full insurance on the car!). We strolled along an amazing beach with blue crystal clear water and went to a restaurant for afternoon ice-cream. It was great to have a day on-land and to get to explore places we would otherwise not have made it to.

After all this we felt we really had done the entire island so we had one last dinner in the old town of Porto Vecchio and then we got up early to head toward Sardinia and the Madelenna islands.

Books

We managed to get through quite a few books on this leg of the trip:

• The Year of Wanders, Geraldine Brooks: We both really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it. It’s about a town surviving the Great Plague in 1666 and they decision to try and contain the plague by not letting anyone out of the town until they were sure it had vanished – if you’re looking for a quick and engrossing read then try this one.
• The Reckoning, Sam Bourne: A good adventure/ mystery to get stuck into.
• Guliver’s Travels: OK so I decided to try and read some classics that I’d never read. I have to admit it was hard’ish going and probably not the most engrossing read I’ve had but at the same time it was interesting to see how books have changed and hear the way he talks about the politics at the time he wrote the book. I didn’t manage to persuade Geoff to read it
• Case Histories, Kate Atkinson: I liked this book as it was a bit different although at times I found it did drag slightly. I’d recommend it as an alternative mystery/ thriller book

You know it’s windy when:

• You try and eat your breakfast outside and you end up wearing the milk from your cereal instead of eating it
• Boats that were anchored start drifting past you in the dead of night moving in the same direction as the wind

As you might have guessed wind was definitely a theme of our visit to Elba – the largest of the Tuscan islands. It felt as though the wind arrived with us as we sailed from Nice to Elba. All the way along the trip the wind just kept on building more and more until we ended up with a reefed main and Genoa as we passed Cap Corse.

We had a few days break from the wind for the first couple of days as we sailed around the west coast of the island but the majority of our stay there was in 25-40 knot winds. We tried blaming Jen for bringing the English weather with her when she arrived but we have to admit it’s more likely that it came along with us…

Elba…

Elba is a beautiful island which I think loos a lot Devon – large and green rolling hills, steep cliffs and the odd remote village. The likeness stops there though when you start to think about the long white beaches, crystal clear water and sailing boats everywhere you turn. In fact – maybe I only think it’s like Devon because of the wind, thunderstorms and rain that we experienced…

The good thing about being on a small island is that you can always find shelter as you can tuck into one side of the island depending on the wind direction. Jen, Geoff and I failed to see the fun side of this when the force 6-7 was forecast to be southerly tunring northerly at the early hours of the morning meaning we had to wake up and move … but on the plus side at least we could always find some sort of shelter.

Beyond the weather there were some fantastic sights and memories I’ll always keep with me:

• Portofario old town – a really beautiful old town with some fantastic cafes and restaurants dotted around. Jen and I went to see the house Napoleon was exciled in which I enjoyed (very interesting for me as I’ve been to the Ascension Islands so feel a bit like a Napoleon “spotter”)
• The best ice-cream I’ve ever had – it’s  a shame the cash machine wasn’t working so we could only afford one between the two of us
• Dolphins- on the way over to Elba and when we left the island

But, Elba will never go down as somewhere I want to visit again or somewhere I’d recommend for a sailing holiday. To start with the marinas are few and far between and at 100 euros a night are best avoided unless you’re stuck in a gale (like us) when they are impossible to book or get into. Most of the time anchoring is fine but the holding around the main sheltered marina (Portofarraio) isn’t great – as we found out.

It’s the first time I’ve realised that you can be the most organised boat with trustworthy gear but you’re as much at the mercy of your boat as you are of everyone else’s. Our first stormy night anchored in Portofarraio was fine and our anchor did an amazing job holding us safe until 6am when Geoff came in from anchor watch and I went on. I’d literally just downed my cereal when I went on-deck and saw two boats careering straight into us. One went one side of us, the other went the other and only then did I realise they were both tied together by their anchor chains which had got tangled. Add to that the fact that they then dragged our anchor up and pulled us into another boat making a 4 boat pile up in a 30 knot wind… We learnt pretty quickly how to deal with the situation so out came the hack saw to separate the main offending anchor and soon enough we managed to all get untangled, away from the boat causing all the trouble and securely anchored where we started.

The second anchor dragging incident however was us and it happened a few nights later. The location was once again Portofarraio and the wind was nearing 40 knots. After laying a second anchor we started dragging and (thanks to Jen’s muscles) we managed to pull the anchors back up. We re-anchored several more times in the same location only to find that we could get no traction and just kept dragging – very frustrating and strange as we’ve been fine with the anchor in this weather before…

It was only after chatting to some other French and English boats in Corsica that we discovered that Portofarraio is renown for bad holding (another fact that’s wrong in the ICC pilot books…) partly due to a sunken tarpaulin and partly due to the volume of boats that pass through it. So we headed out of Portofarraio to a much more sheltered and less busy cove to gather our energy and make a plan for the rest of the day and night.

That night we saw the most amazing thunderstorm which was all around us but thankfully not above us. Jen tried to take some photos but decided that the two hardest things to photograph are lightening and dolphins… Oh well, at least the memories will always stay with us!

Not all was lost on the weather front though as we had a fantastic sail from Elba to Bastia (Corsica) on Jen’s penultimate day of her holiday. We sailed all the way with the sun shinning, home made croissants, perfect wind and beautiful dolphins. We arrived in Bastia at lunch time so moored up, set up lunch and started to enjoy what was once again a beautiful day in the Med. Maybe you need a few days of bad weather to help you really appreciate the good weather when it finally comes out!

Books, books and more books

Thanks to my mother we now have a whole cupboard of books to read – which is impressive considering she only had hand luggage when she arrived. Here are some we’ve read so far:

• Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett: I’d been recommended this book on several occasions but had never got round to reading it – until now. Geoff and I both enjoyed this book and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for something engrossing the page turning (as long as they didn’t have to carry it very far as it’s quite big). An interesting, engrossing and entertaining read. I’ll have to get hold of the next one as I believe there’s a sequel..??

• The Help, I have’t got the book anymore and can’t remember the author’s name:  I really loved this book and would recommend it to everyone. I’m not normally one to analyse books but, the characters in this are great and make it a very entertaining and enlightening read. Funny, captivating and sad all at the same time – I think we both really enjoyed it

• The Boy Next Door, Irene Sabatini: In Geoff’s own words “Another one for the bin”. OK, so I didn’t think it was that bad (or that great either), Geoff couldn’t finish it quick enough just to end the torture. I thought it was OK but nothing I’d ever want to read again.

Nice

We spent several nights in Nice with Katie, my Mother, Sister and then just the two of us.

We decided Nice in nice…. Here are some of my favourite parts:

• Having Brunch/ Petit Dejeuner with Katie in the old town and then checking out the food market (a theme of Katie’s sailing holiday). We went back to the market with my Mum and Martha as it turns into an antiques market on Mondays. It was great to look at all the antiques – especially the designer handbags and jewellery. Geoff and Martha were less interested so opted to sit in the bar with a cold beer and some shade instead
• Walking over the hill by the port and looking at the stunning views of the town
• Cooling off with a swim in the sea on Nice beach

Cap Ferrat and Ville Franche

I’d never heard of Cap Ferrat before we arrived. It’s a headland between Nice and Monaco (very near to Nice) where the rich and famous live. A few of the famous names include Bill Gates, Tina Turner and at one time the Rothchilds. We sailed past this headland a couple of times and anchored in Ville Franche with my Mum and Sister.

I think anchoring was probably Martha’s highlight of the holiday as we could jump into the sea off the back of the boat, sun bathe on deck and avoid the busy rushing around of Nice and Monaco.

Monaco

And then there was Monaco – a part of the trip I’d been looking forward to although I had no idea what to expect. We were mooring in Fontvielle marina just on the edge of the Principality so, after a quick lunch, a change into smarter clothes (you can’t go bear feet or bare-chested in Monaco) we headed off into town. After getting a little lost and wandering what all the fuss was about we stumbled across the Casino, Café De Paris and then the old town – this was much more what of what I expected.

• The casino: We came here twice, one in the day time and then all dressed up at night. The casino has both “slot machines” as well as the grander and more imposing card and roulette tables. I went armed with my coins for the one armed bandit only to discover that in Monaco the smallest amount of money you can put in a machine comes in note not coin form… It took about 20 mins for Geoff, my Mother and I to work out how the one armed bandit works (no more pulling the arm and seeing if the pictures match – here they have lines, bets and rows??) and after being 30 cents up we lost all of our 5 Euro bet. I don’t think gambling is the main attraction of the casino, instead I think it’s the people, watching the roulette games and staring in wander at the Feraris and Maseratis parked outside. Unfortunately Mum didn’t bump into George Clooney as she hoped so we consoled her with a glass of white wine instead
• The marina: Monaco Marina really isn’t all that amazing, but I have become a bit of a sad boat spotter and like looking to see whether we’ve seem any of the super boast elsewhere on our tour. W2, one of the most glamarous and beautifully designed boats we’ve seen so far was there – it is pretty cool. I should have taken a photo but failed to so you’ll have to take my word for it
• The old town: The old town is really pretty and I couldn’t help finding the fact that there’s a dress code for walking around the streets  quite bizarre but nice. We made a special; effort to go and see the changing of the guard at 11am which I’m glad we saw although I’m not sure I’d rush to go and see it again
• The second hand private jet shop:  Where else in the world would you find a shop selling second hand private jets just off the high street??

So all in all it was an interesting place to visit and I’m pretty sure I can say that everyone that came along with us enjoyed it too. Monaco had to be a location for this year but now I’ve done it I think I’ve seen enough glitz and glamour for a while.

So back to Nice for us to drop Martha and my Mum off, get the boat cleaned and stocked up before we head off the Tuscan Islands.

Once again there’s no book update – we’ve been too busy but, Mum did ;eave us with enough books to fill a small library so we’ll be reading a lot over the next month or so.

As this is the rich men’s play ground were both looking forward to seeing how the other 0.5% of the population live and have some people on-board with us to experience it. Katie was joining us for a week, my Mum and sister for 3 nights and Susan for a day of sailing from Antibes into Nice.

St Tropez

To make sure we entered this part of the trip in style Geoff and I rounded the headland into the Golfe of St Tropez with Ice Ice Baby playing out on deck and me dancing away.

I wasn’t sure about anchoring just off the marina breakwater instead of the anchorage a few miles down the coast as I didn’t want us to be the only boat there. Geoff pulled put the binoculars to check out the situation and was confronted with what he described “a small armardour” of boats outside the marina. We weren’t going to be on our own but we were going to be one of over 100 and the smallest boat by a long way… so we decided to join the big boys and anchor off the marina.

I can’t decide whether rich people go to St Tropez because they like being there or because they like being seen there. Either way, I had to see it with my own eyes and, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

Amazing super yachts worth more money than I could dream of, designer shops, pretty little French streets and lots of very expensive cars. There’s nothing like St Tropez to make you realise that there are a few people in this world with a hell of a lot of money.

I’m unsure whether I was in awe of the boats or a bit put off by the extravagance of them and the fact that despite their speed they only really travel between here and Monaco (about 20 miles).

One afternoon Geoff and I nearly got invited onto one of the Gin Palaces – we’d taken the dinghy down the Golfe to another seaside town and on the way back started waving to someone in a Super Yacht (Dea Blue). I’m not sure how the waving started but he waved us over towards his boat. Geoff was all up for heading over and seeing if we could go on-board but I chickened out. Oh well – maybe we’ll get another chance!

Katie joined us for some of St Tropez so to celebrate us being here and get into the swing of the rich and luxurios life on this coast we made Pina Coladas and drank them on-deck while we watched the sun set.

Cannes

Katie and I fell in love with Cannes for several reasons – the main one being it’s food market. We spent a whole morning here buying food for lunch, dinner, snacks and whatever meal we would make up. Fresh figs, doughnut nectarines, smelly goats cheese, olive tapenade, multiple varieties and colours of tomatoes, beautiful flower arrangements – the list goes on.

Cannes also had a beautiful old town which was great to explore and was full of lovely places for eat. The steep streets were a bit hard to navigate with our heels on our night out but we persevered and had a lovely meal and drinks out.

As we were staying here for 2 nights we decided to head a bit further in land to Grasse famous for it’s perfume industry. It was an interesting trip and nice to see the mountains as well as the coast. We had a tour of a perfumery (in French so we didn’t really understand it) and had a walk around town before jumping on the bus and heading back to Cannes.

Antibes

A pretty and busy old walled town buzzing with holiday makers, artists stalls and popular cafes and bars. If we had had more time we would have stayed here a bit longer but none the less we got to have a good look around and to check out the local restaurants.

We hadn’t booked into the marina but thought we were lucky when we called up and they were able to “squeeze us in”. And they meant it literally. We had a mooring which was just about wide enough for us to fit into and to make matters slightly worst we were touching the bottom. As we left the marina the next morning the keel was literally scraping through the mud – not something we want to be doing again in a hurry.

Susan joined us here in the morning, the four of us had breakfast on-deck and then headed for a sail to Nice.