Spanish Coast

Spanish Coast

After leaving Roses, we sailed down the coast to Blanes with the Gennaker in full flight. Its something I’ve noticed up here is that very few boats actually fly Gennakers or Spinnakers. I don’t know the reason for this, maybe its too much like hard work!

                   Hard work-yeah right!

We anchored just off the beach at Blanes and went ashore, up the steep coarse sandy beach. They were having a local Ceremony celebrating their past and had large manikins depicting the early settlers that a person gets up inside and walks it down the Promenade.  Some of them dance around in circles, these things were up to 5 meters high, how they didn’t fall over I don’t know.

We had a cheap meal here, Tapas, wine and Beer for 9.50 Euro! Once again the town waterfront was full of families of all ages having a good time and it just endorses the point of how valuable they hold their Family units.

From Blanes we sailed further down to Barcelona where we pulled into Port Olympica Marina. There is nowhere on this part of the coast for anchoring as it is all open to the elements and there are no bays as such.

Barcelona is a city bustling with people and the ambience is one of a buoyant economy even though they are still struggling to get out of the Recession. There are several Tower Cranes and demolition going on, which is a sign that things are happening. The people are friendly and I can imagine it must have been a great place to be when the Olympics were held here in the early Nineties. The remnants of which are still apparent and are kept in good order. We took an Open Top Bus again and one of the stops was right outside the main Olympic Stadium which is open to the Public and free entry. Once we got our bearings of where things were after the Bus, we hired a Scooter for the day, something I just had to do before leaving Europe!

The Scooter was great fun and ideal for getting around the city without worrying about parking etc. You just pull up on the footpath and leave it there.  We went up to the castle that overlooks Barcelona to check it out. The castle had had a chequered past, with many different uses over time including a Prison with terrible Tortures and Killings, and at one stage under Military rule actually launched periodic attacks on its own city of Barcelona to show them who’s Boss. It was a castle that was not held in great regards by the local Community for a long time and was deemed the ‘Evil Castle.’  It all just reinforced the realization in our minds of how much History and turmoil Europe had gone through to get to where it is today, unlike us from little New Zealand with only a history of a couple of Hundred years.

While we were in the Olympica marina, I thought Id check to see how much it was to pull boats out of the water here and it was the cheapest price so far that I had come across. I had to take the boat out of the water at some stage to take the Water maker intake out and put it back in the right way around. It had been put in backwards in Croatia as they reckoned that was the ‘right way’ but once underway, it would lose its prime in sloppy seas, take a gulp of air and refuse to re-prime. So this had to be done before we took on the Atlantic Crossing.

Any way, while lifting the boat out, the boys on the Crane were in a bit of a rush and while I was putting towels down the front bow to protect it from the Strops, the guy was lifting the boat and caught the rear strop on the Prop. I yelled at him to hang on but it was too late and it bent the Prop shaft.

The boat had to go up on the hard longer than expected as we had to wait for the replacement Shaft to come from Belgium and things don’t happen fast up here in this neck of the woods.

Characters you meet

We were on the hard for 7 days and it wasn’t one of the most pleasant places to be with dust and dirt everywhere and having to climb approx. 5 meters up and down the Ladder to get off and on. Things like going to the Toilet and even cooking and doing dishes were an effort. The people we met there on the other boats were characters and it made the stay a bit more bearable.

Yockhim was a German, married to a Dominican Republic lady, whom he’d left at home to run the Business, bought a cheap 5 metre Yacht and went sailing. He had no idea when he may go home again and didn’t seem too worried about it either.

He had come to grief on a beach where he ran aground and the waves had snapped his retractable Keel off, so was trying to get that fixed. He lived on the sniff of an oil Rag and smelt like one too, but he was really humorous and looked at Life in a great manner.

Through him we met ‘Hugh’ while over at his boat one night for a drink. Now Hugh was larger than life itself, and at 65, was in peak condition endorsing this the first time we met him by showing us how supple he was, and the positions he could get his body into. He looked like a cross between a sixties Hippy and Jesus.

He had done about all there was to do in life, from playing music with the best Musicians in the world to being a master Boat Builder. Music production, Cinema photography for the BBC, you name it he had done it. How he managed to fit all that in to his 65 years was amazing and he was also Heir to the ‘Tetley Teas’ family fortune as well. With that fortune that he was due to receive once his Mother past away, he was not going to spend it, he was going to put Giant Declination Plants in the Caribbean Islands to give them Fresh water to get the Community to thrive again, a remarkable man.

Then there was another young guy whose name escapes me that was working on one of the boats there and doing a great job. He had come from Venezuela and was lucky to get out with his life.  Whilst in Venezuela, local thugs had kidnapped him and they tried to get money out of his family. He managed to talk his way out of it some how and they dumped him and his dog out in the middle of nowhere, stole his car and left him naked. He jumped on a plane to Spain the next day and hasn’t been back. He warned us to be very careful whilst sailing past this part of the world when we do, something that I already had in mind and wasn’t really looking forward to.

After 7 days, we were nearly gong crazy( well crazier) and it was good to get Falshator back in the water when we did. We filled her up with Diesel and head for the Balearics. It was another frustrating leg with no wind to speak of and we motored most of the way. We could have waited for  better wind conditions but we felt we’d already overstayed our time in Barcelona, beautiful as it was, it was time to go.

                      Our first fish caught off the Boat, great eating!!

We arrived in Palma de Mallorca, and backed Falshator into the berth to find our friends Kerry and Janice Mair from NZ right opposite us. It was great to catch up with them and we had dinner at the Yacht Club there with them and a few quiet dinks later on board Falshator, that went on till three in the morning.

Here we ran into difficulty getting our replacement Docking Station for the Sat phone into the country.  Spanish Customs had held it and wouldn’t release it until we paid 250 euro in Taxes and Duty! I put it to them that we were a ‘Yacht in Transit’ and were not importing it into the EU. They said I had to get a Custom Agent to represent me, I got away with not paying the Taxes, but with Agents fees, DHL fees, duty etc, it still cost 208 Euro, they always win.

The weather is hot and the skies blue, I think we are going to enjoy cruising these Islands!

                    Outside the Church in Palma de Mallorca

                  Sword fighting with real swords, they're crazy!

Going Inland!

Going inland!

We jumped on the fast train to Paris and somehow managed to get 1^st Class seats cheaper than economy so had a very comfortable ride through the French countryside (which is not unlike NZ countryside) and up to Paris.

                              1^st class seats and you spent the time asleep?

            

After spending a bit of time sorting out how the Underground Rail system works there, we arrived at our Hotel, which was pretty close to downtown Paris and the Notre Dam.

The Underground system works well here and for just over 3 euro you can get on and off and go anywhere.

We found the best way to see Paris and its sights was to jump on an Open Top Bus and get the commentary that goes with it. This, we used as a Research Trip to work out where we wanted to spend some time.

Going up the Eiffel tower was an experience with having to wait in line two hours before we got to the base entry. We chose to climb the two lower stages and are glad we did.  You get to see more of the construction methods they used back then, of which has stood the test of time. The view from the top was worth the wait, Paris is beautiful and we spent Shellys 50^th birthday there.

We saw Sharna, our daughter off as she was heading back to London, then back to NZ from there, and it was a bit sad to see her go as it will be a while before we see any one of the family again.

                        At the Train Station in Paris with our Daughter Sharna

                     

Paris was extremely tidy and there were so many eateries to choose from.

I loved the Man Made Beach on the side of the River in downtown Paris where people have to pay for their site. All the fun of the beach, but with no water to swim in?

Bit like a Pub with no Beer isn’t it?

                                                    Man made beach

                                               A keen Starter at the Bottom

                                                     

From Paris we jumped on another Train and headed for London where we stayed in The Russell Square Hotel, which was designed by the same Architect that designed the interior for the Titanic. The layout, especially the Stairway was pretty much identical to the Ship. I wandered through the Hotel exploring the old majestic ballrooms and formal Dinner rooms that seldom get used nowadays, but you could picture how elegant it must have been in its day.

We jumped on an open top Bus here as well, but it was no where near as good as the ones in Paris and Malta with poor commentary and half the time we had no idea where we were!

We crossed off all the things to see, including walking across and sitting on the London Bridge, as the road was closed for a local Bike Race that was on at the time.

Fooling with Mrs Brown in the Underground, yeah all right -she’s got better legs than me Ok

We joined the masses that waited to see the Changing of the Guard, only for it to be cancelled at the last moment.

Once again it was good to see Paris and London but I was looking forward to getting back on the boat, away from the crowds and back on the water. We flew back to Nice from London and caught the bus back around to Cannes.

Once back, we had left the keys to the Boat with the local Hanse Agent and they had replaced the VHF/AIS splitter and the Multi Charge controller for us under Warranty, so now all Electronics are working (touch wood, tapping the wooden table here!)

                                                    Cannes Beach

                         The prestigious Carlton Hotel where all the Stars stay!

                                                          

Leaving the Marina at Cannes was like trying to cross the Auckland Motorway at peak hour on a push bike with Super Yachts and Ferries trying to back in, exit or both, and the wash outside the Marina was like a washing machine. We headed back to the same anchorage we’d stayed at on the way in, just inside one of the two islands off Cannes. Once past the shallow passage between the Island and the mainland that had the shallow alarm going off, and dodging the little kids from the sailing schools, it was good to be back sitting at anchor, kicking back and having a swim in the warm waters.

On the way south we stopped at St Tropez where we anchored for the night. During the night the wind shifted 60 degrees and came up. We were awoken by a loud bang as another boat had drifted and hit us. By the time I got to the cockpit, there was a French boat trying to come on board, and while I was trying to fend him off, check for damage and wake up, I looked up to see him motoring off into the night. Cheers mate!!
The wind got worse and at 2.30 in the morning, we had to move and made the decision to motor across the bay to a more sheltered anchorage. It wasn’t easy, with by now 40 knot winds and water coming horizontal across the boat. I found a Sandy spot and in 8 meters let out 85 meters of Chain to make sure we held our place. There we sat for two days before the wind calmed down. Once again, the weather sites had not predicted the strength and direction correctly, something that is really apparent in the Med with wind that comes out of nowhere.

The damage from the boat hitting us luckily was minimal with about a 20c size chip and a small scratch. After that night, we have our Fenders out every time we are at anchor.

We made our way down the French coast, stopping at little anchorages along the way. One of the nicest ones were Six-Fours off Port Du Brusc.

This was close to the Island of Ile des Embiez that was owned by Paul Ricard. He was a local Industrialist, who rose to fame with his unique drink that he concocted in his bedroom. Ricards went on to be one of the leading Breweries in the world and even built his own Racetrack that Formula One has used. He bought the two islands here and aside from manufacturing his Brew from here and employing many locals whom he made share holders in the business, made them into great places with Marinas and Aquatic research Centers.  He was a fascinating man with a can-do attitude.

We spent a few days here waiting for the Westerly to stop and a predicted Northerly to kick in that would give us a good point of sail to cross the Bay of Leon and down to Roses in Spain.

It was predicted for Wednesday the 20^th, so after an early night we set sail at 3 am that morning. To start with, it was still Westerly and we had to sail at 20 degrees down off our Course but after 2-3 hrs it did start to go to the North and I could bring her back onto the Lay Line. We could ease the sheets a bit and were making good progress at over 9 knots. The whole leg of 126 N Miles took just on 16 Hours and we averaged 8 knots, which I was pretty happy about and Falshator is proving to be a fast passage maker.

Spain!

We got into a Bay just around the corner from Roses, which is on the Eastern side of Spain just south of the French Border and picked up a mooring belonging to the local Restaurant there. It was around 8.30 at night and we just sat back and cracked open a Beer and the tender from the Restaurant was there beside us asking if we wanted a lift to the Restaurant,- much as we loved the promptness of the service, we were pretty beat and communicated as best we could-Thanks, but No thanks, Tomorrow.

                                          On the Restaurant mooring

                                  The Restaurant Tender doing a roaring Trade

                   We had to wait outside the Restaurant for a Table, it was that busy!

                                                             

We motored round the corner to Roses Marina and low and behold, someone actually answered the VHF and we were showed to our Berth.

We stayed there for 3 days, having a good look around before going out and anchoring for another two days, it was a pretty cool place to hang out at with Kids everywhere all around us on Yachts, Windsurfers and Paddle Boards and plenty to do ashore.

I had to get some Dental work done here after an accident with a Bungy Cord and a Block on the Boat taking on my mouth,  and the Mouth/teeth coming off second best. None the less, it was all fixed up in 15 mins and 60 euro, the same work in NZ would probably have been a couple of sessions and closer to $1000!

First impressions of the Spanish are they are friendly and happy people and will do whatever they can to help you out, once they have worked out how to understand you, haha.

                  Pouring down at Roses- I think this is the 3^rd time we’d seen rain in the Med

           One of the beach Bars at Roses, complete with the locals playing their games next door

                                                      The Local Brew!!

We are at present in a Beautiful bay just south of Roses where there are people stacked 10 rows back on the beach and the Bay is full of all manner of Boats. We are leaving in a couple of days heading for Barcelona where I’m hoping to get the replacement Sat Station for the Sat Phone delivered.

The Sat Station accommodates the Sat Phone into it and has an external aerial attached to enable better Satellite fix’s and Wi-Fi to our Laptop whilst at Sea. This is where I’m hoping to get my Weather reports from, but its taken me a couple of weeks to work out that it was faulty and the supplier have come to the party to replace it. It all means pulling out the wiring that took me ages to run through the boat, pack it up and send it back, but it has to be done. Here’s hoping the replacement works!!

Sardinia

Sardinia

The sail up to Sardinia was light and on the nose again. We left at 0700 and motor-sailed till 2330 that night then started sailing. The wind and swell built and the night was testing with constant reefing and trimming going on, switching from outboard sheeting to inboard and back again. We made good time though and knocked off the 200 mile journey in 27 hrs averaging 7.1 knots getting into Porto Corrallo in time for Coffee Time(1030, on the boat)

From there we went up to Porto Frallis, which was a beautiful spot with clear water, good anchor holding and Restaurants/Bars on the beach.

We stayed there a couple of days as it had a great relaxed feel to it, with a Holiday park on the shore as well.

We called in at Cala Gonone, mainly because the boat needed Fuel, and we were the only Yacht there in amongst all the little Fishing boats and a couple of Launches.

On the way up the coast we called in at a Marine Reserve where there was supposed to be no Anchoring, but blow me down, there would have been at least 50 boats off all shapes and sizes anchored in there, so thought, well when in Rome so to speak and stopped there for Lunch and a swim.

The further north we went up Sardinia, the dearer everything became and one night anchored out of a Marina(as the cost was a prohibitive 185 euro a night in there for Falshator) we went to dinner at the dockside and were released of some well earned Euros but the food was exceptional. This was at Porto di Cugana, which is a fairly exclusive area.

It was here that I had a wee mishap trying to idle up the estuary to get past the no anchoring zone (where a lot of boats were anchored!) The chartplotter and Pilot book showed 4.5 metres and I was watching the depth guage while idling up past a boat. The alarm which is set at 3.5 metres went off which wasn’t unusual and then we went from 3.2 meters to 1.8 in a matter of two meters and got a wee bit stuck.

I had both Shelly and Sharna out on the end of the swung out Boom and a fellow yachties tender hooked up to the top of the Mast via the Gennaker Halyard to pull Falshator over so that we could motor back off the Mud. Yep, it happens. Lesson learnt-don’t trust the chartplotter or Pilot Books, especially in tidal Estuaries where the bottom is constantly shifting!

On the way up from Sardinia to Corsica half way across the gap we crossed paths with a boat flying a Kiwi Flag and called them up on the VHF. John and Robin Coombridge had been up here sailing the Med for 7 years. They had finally decided to head back towards New Zealand and we might catch up with them before the Atlantic Crossing this November.

Corsica

We approached Corsica from Bonificio where from the sea you can see the seas work at play. The houses that once sat proud on the Water front had been slowly undermined and I doubt whether any one would be foolish enough to live in them now, as they are perched precariously above the water, about to fall in due to massive erosion under them.

We made it to Campomoro where there were a lot of Yachts anchored for the night.  It was the deepest we had anchored in at 25 meters, but a safe anchorage.

We went ashore in the morning and had Croissants and Coffee for Breakfast, well we are in France now!

We stayed in the Marina at Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, (they pride themselves on their independence) where Napoleon Bonaparte was born and there was a lot of history there. It was a nice place to wander around and having Dinner in one of the many Restaurants on the Waterfront there was a lesson in French Lifestyle, with lots of Young Families out for the night and it had a real community feel to it.

This little fishing boat was parked close to us, not a bad little cruiser/trawler

We headed up the coast and stayed at Calvi, another nice spot with all sorts happening on the waterfront.

The last couple of nights on Corsica were spent in an anchorage around the corner from Calvi where it was packed with boats and people on the small beach with the proverbial Beach Bar that we just had to try out.

Cannes

The sail up to Cannes was a mixed bag again with 26 knots to start with and the last 5 hours motoring as there was no wind. But once again, made good time and did it in 13 hrs, averaging 7.6 knots.

We have just got into the Marina at Port de Cannes and had a look around. Cannes is amazing and after the initial Sight seeing tour on the Road train, we are looking forward to checking it out proper.