We’re back, after three and a half weeks on board Luna Azzurra. Amazing, how fast time flies!
This time our friend Pascale from Luxembourg joined us the first ten days. She came by train on August 12th and together we drove to Loano the day after.
We planned to sail to La Grande Motte, where she would take the train from Montpellier on August 23 and – via Paris – travel back to Luxembourg. She had already organized her trip home, bought her tickets and so on 🚂
Everything went as planned, the six hours drive to the marina, then grocery shopping, pumping-up our brand-new dinghy, the SUP’s, charging our brand-new e-propulsion outboard engine and generally settling in on board. For Pascale it was the first long sailing trip, so understandably, she was extra excited. Well, she loved her cabin, which was a good start 😍
Sunday morning arrived and although it was a bit raining and cloudy, our spirits were high and we looked forward to our adventure! Arrivederci Loano 👋
Unfortunately, Pascale didn’t feel 100% and Patrik and I tried to make her as comfortable as possible. At least the rain stopped after a while and the sun came more and more out. We even saw several pods of whales on the horizon, accompanied by a Whale Watching vessel.
We wanted to spend our first night anchoring in Diano Marina but the swells there were too annoying, so we decided to try our luck in Porto Maurizio/Imperia. The same swells there, so we continued our journey, hoping that San Remo would be calmer. Luckily it was and we enjoyed a sunny evening.
We warmed up our Chilli sin Carne which we’d prepared at home and – at least Patrik and I – had a nice evening. Pascale still felt a bit sickly and couldn’t eat much. She was sure it wasn’t seasickness, though, so our fingers were crossed that she would feel better fantastic the next day!
And *YEAH* she did! What a relief!! 👍
From now on ALL of us enjoyed the sailing trip, although the weather wasn’t always perfect. Especially, the swells at several nights made it quite uncomfortable, which was a shame of course. And we never really experienced this sea like a mirror, which is nice when you want to go swimming.
However, from San Remo we continued to Nice, where we anchored in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. The sun was out and the temperatures rose. We decided to stay for two nights and the next day we took the dingy and visited the town. Dinghy and e-propulsion worked outstanding, so we were more than happy with our purchase!
The town turned out to be a little gem, clearly worth to visit again, or maybe even book a berth in the pretty marina. Perhaps another time!
On Wednesday 17th August we woke up with rain and some thunderstorm 🌩
We left and our next anchor spot should have been with the Isle Ste Marguerite…. Well, we ended up close to Port de Crouton, since the shelter was supposed to be better there.
It was a bumpy ride with some drizzle, but at least not a long one. After two o’clock we dropped the anchor in the bay – and suddenly it started pouring down while I was at the bow *haha*
About two hours later we realized that we were slightly gliding – bad anchor holding – so we had to raise the anchor and start the anchoring process again. Well, this time it held!
Our bad luck continued though. When we wanted to start the stove for our dinner (potato wedges and vegan burgers) the gas bottle was empty. No worries, we always have a spare one on board! It turned out that this one was also empty……… CRAP! Someone in Loano must have stolen our full bottle and even had the nerves to replace it with an empty one!! F@#K!! 🤬
At least we had enough salad in the fridge, so it was salad and bread for dinner 😳
Well, we took it humour and added a nice bottle of wine – cheers!
