Oct 19 2019
I realised a really busy Monday would start with calling the technician. It was not that easy to reach him. But in the end I did. He explained that his department boss in Germany had ordered him home with first available flight. When I asked why? He explained there was a German warning for travel to Turkey! I told him that the warning is only at the boarder zone between Turkey and Syria! No problem really. In the end we decided it would be best if I called his boss.
Oct 05 2019
Not much happened during my watch, aside from some lightnings and far away thunder. And of course the lights from the big cruisers and merchant ships were visible.
At one a.m. it was my turn to sleep and I was grateful for that. According to our plotter, the ETA in Loano was 04.20h – perfect timing!
I woke up earlier than I had to, due to waves drumming on the boats hull…Apparently, the weather became worse. So I got dressed and went upstairs.
Patrik and a thunderstorm, roaring directly above us, greeted me when I entered the cockpit! GREAT!!
At least we could see the shore and its lights, but we were still 1.5 hours away from Loano. Boy, did we long for land!
It was time to place the fenders, which was my task. Just for a moment, a worrying thought crossed my mind, what if I fell overboard? Patrik wouldn’t have a chance to hear or see me in the water…. *gulp*
Anyway, I managed and returned safely to the cockpit. Only about 40 minutes left…
Finally, we were outside the marinas entrance and in the dark it looked a bit confusing at first, plus several yachts were anchoring outside. We just hoped that none of them had forgotten to switch on their anchor lights…
Sep 28 2019
The sun greeted us the next day and after we had our coffee we took the dinghy into the pretty port of Porto Azzurro. And it IS a very pretty marina with a little village surrounding it. After we walked around for a bit we had a cappuccino in a nice coffee at the waterfront – with a view to our Luna Azzurra and the other yachts anchoring in the bay.
Afterwards we bought some bread and two six pack of water and went back to the dinghy and to Luna Azzurra. Anchor was raised and off we went, towards an anchor spot in the bay of Lacona. We were even able to sail for a change!
The bay turned out to be a perfect spot with good holding and surprisingly few boats anchoring. So we really could choose were we wanted to stay. People were swimming and having fun and the beach was quite busy, a perfect late summer day!
It didn’t take long until Patrik and I were in the water, enjoying the refreshment of the 27 deg. C warm water. *haha*
Sep 21 2019
Our over night sailing between Loano to Rosignano and our visit to Naples. This is a short movie from our first post on or holiday inclusive arriving Cala de’ Medici shipyard in Rosignano and our visit Naples.
Sep 14 2019
This time we were lucky with a train back to Rosignano: As soon as we arrived at the train station, we just had time to buy the tickets and the train rolled in. Twelve minutes later we were back in Rosignano again – marvellous!
It was exactly 12 o’clock lunchtime when we left the marina Cala de Medici, off to Elba! Our aim was a nice anchor spot in the Golfo di Procchio. We arrived there at 7 p.m., after a nice sailing and perfect weather!
There we suddenly realised that our two batteries were dying… crap!!
This meant, we were forced to book a berth at the marina Portoferraio, in order to buy new batteries. Our original plan was to just anchor outside the marina and take the dinghy in, to have a look at the historical city. Yeah, well…..plans changed.
So we spent one night at anchor and took the dinghy into the city the next day.
Realising that someone had emptied the fuel canister for the Mercury (without telling us), it was a worrying trip to the island, hoping to have enough fuel to be able to cross all the ferries in time. Luckily, we did!
Sep 06 2019
More people arrived at the station in order to catch the train towards Florence. Two of them – a very friendly Italian pair, whom we already had asked for directions a bit earlier -were suddenly beside us again and we began to chat a little… as good as possible, with our Italian and their English knowledge.
It turned out that they have a holiday home in Vada (which lies between Rosignano and Cecina) and she had to return home due to her parents, which are 95 years old.
Shortly before Donatella’s train arrived – meanwhile we had even introduced ourselves – Sergio offered to drive us to Cecina. We truly couldn’t believe it….Such kindness towards total strangers!
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