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Season 2 Licata Marina

The last night of Tunisia we spend with Bronwyn, Grant, Lee, Lesley at a restaurant called Condor. These two couples are heading east, crossing to the caribbean at the end of year, where Garry wished to go till he realised we have alot to learn and do before we can cross.

My meal as always was a fish start and steak main which was amazing, the best meal I had in the last 4 months. Grant suggested some great places to visit going west and the best anchor app to use. This anchor app turns out to be a god send in the shit anchorages we are good at finding.

I made passage meals for the journey and started to stow away belonging that had been left out for 4 months. We switched on Starlink and to our amazement it worked, well done Elon I wonder when you got that switched on in the last 4 months.

We set off at first light, Bronwyn came to our pontoon helped us with our lines and took pictures of us leaving the marina. Cheers Bronwyn.

Its a 30 hour sail to Licata Marina in Sicily, our 2nd over night sail. We got clear of land found some wind and put the sails up, before we knew it we are sailing at 7 knots with no motor.

What a start to the season the sun is shining the wind is blowing in our hair and then just when you think you have escaped Tunisia the coast guard turns up but himself right in front of you so you have no choice but to pull in head sail and stop just so they can one last time say whats your nationality, number of soles on aboard and your last port.

Sunset was around 7pm we had done 10 hours of sailing making good head way at 1/3 of the way across, darkness fell and the wind picked up.

It was garry’s turn to freak out on the night sail found he found the wind to be a little too windy at 18-25 knots but we took the west side of Pantelleria to go around due to that being the leeward side of the island.

After Pantelleria we had to cross the shipping lane and it was still dark, the moon was not helping as it was a waning gibbous moon at 67% which made visibility poor. At 5.45 am the sunrise happened we were still crossing the shipping lane but now able to see the tankers, with 10 hours to go and two thirds of the way completed.

We arrived at arrive at 4pm greeted by Sean and Tex who made us dinner on his boat which was gratefully received as we were exhausted. Sean gave us the low down to where everything was, Tex had already given us the social calender. BBQ on sundays from 1pm, happy hour from 6pm at Blue Skies Bar Friday and Tuesdays.

After a whole day resting to recover from the crossing we ventured out to Lidi to see what i could buy that we could not get in Tunisia. 30 minute trek up a hill Lidi was located, it amazed me that it looked just like the ones at home, identical in fact and set out the same way.

In the afternoon we had a walk to the green channel marker on the edge of marina wall, we came across a caravan which was a home for a lot of cats.

As the days passed by it was nice to have somewhere different to explore and still putting off boat jobs I suggested a walk to Castel Sant’Angelo which is still in the province of Agrigento but if you listened to Garry its miles away.

It stands on the extreme eastern offshoot of the Licata mountain and towers above our marina at 130 metres above sea level.

I kept climbing the flights of stairs whilst Garry followed staying nearly there think of the view.

The bastion was inaugurated in 1640 finally and constitutes a rare example of Baroque Fortress built in Sicily in the 17th century.

The castle has never suffered any attacks of any kind, so still in pretty good knick. The view was amazing from the top you could see both marinas and a large cemetery in front.

In total we climbed 34 flights of stairs 3.68 miles 9475 steps on this walk.

Since returning to the EU Starlink was working and my I Phone completed its first up date for 4 months due to having wifi. One of the apps it loaded was a Fitness app that follows your progress through out the day cheering you along with notifications ……you can still do it ……close your ring. This became a challenge between me and Garry who can close their ring 1st.

With a singing all dancing chandlers in the marina the boat jobs commenced, we also found the most amazing hardware shop combined with a DIY store so was able to buy parts to assemble my shower idea.

We continued attending all happy hours as its our only connection to the peeps, the beers are 3.5 euros with pizzas available from next door for 4.5 euros. This means no cooking for me or washing up for Garry and they deliver to the table.

Our 1st BBQ sunday I turned up with a chocolate cake cooked in the new gas top oven, which went down a storm as I had 3 people ask me for the recipe. They looked disappointed after telling them it was a Tunisian packet mix. Another week i turned up with a nut roast which also went down really well.

We bought a pole in Tunisia for downwind sailing our job was to we fit and install a ropes to hoist it up, down and out. This required Garry going up the mask in a tiny seat attached by a knot i had tied on the halyard that starts from the top of the mask. His life totally in my hands I managed to get him up and down with no problems but I will say its hard work on the arms.

My birthday arrived we had picked a restaurant to eat at that evening, we had not book just turned up at 6pm only to be told they don’t open till 7pm so went to blue skies for a beer then potted back at 6.55pm then only to be told they still not open.

Garry’s there trying to talk to an Italian 2nd generation family restaurant manager about having a beer here till they were ready. It my birthday right i not begging for someone to serve us so I told them not to bother themselves and walked out.

Went back to Blue Skies ordered another pint whilst we googled other restaurant’s in the area, we found a fish restaurant called La Taverna Del Duca 6 mins around the corner finished we our 2nd beers and potter over.

Being the only 2 customers in restaurant we had their undividend attention they got us 2 more beers and we ordered starters and main the food arrived at the same time as our 4th beer which is never a good start to a 2 course meal pissed before you eat but the food was lovely would definetly go back there again.

Easter commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in Sicily it was fascinating as they are very religious and they took to the streets on what we witnessed 3 occasions.

The Virgin Mary’s suffering then the crucifixion and lastly the passing of Jesus where they paraded a coffin around the streets. It was the first time since 2019, the streets were full of Sicilian people all taking part in the proceedings.

We missed the raising from the dead time of Jesus Christ, as we departed to Malta and thats where the stories head to next.

Winter 22/23

1st Jan 2023

New year, more new challenges.

So we were due to leave on the 3rd January but weather had got colder and I had brought a new thick furry duvet made in Tunisia. We had two oil filled radiators on nearly permanently and Missy is not insulated. Garry realised that leaving was way to early just like everyone had been telling him. So we paid for another 2 months and the boat jobs carried on.

Mike changed the fridge and freezer thermostats, also had someone make new anchor rollers which we then swapped out old for new. We dug out the old sikaflex on two sides of the front port side window and re sealed to stop the rain leaking into boat, or so we thought.

We met Alan a surgeon who travels to work all over the world, who is based in Yasmine Hammamet on his boat. Alan suggested Garry fit a blue tooth shunt so he could see what power was coming in and being used. On a boat its all about the power consumption and whether the batteries can be recharged in line with you need for power.

With Mike’s help we had ordered a new antenna with wiring as our VHF had a weak signal. Mike called upon help from Adel a lovely chap that makes upholstery internal, external, spray hoods, bimini, covers and lots lots more. Mike was hoisted all the way to the top, he replaced the antenna and connected the new wires then they pulled the new wires down the mask whilst removing the old.

I polished all external metal work, we removed the netting and plastic covering on stanchion wires. I put the Missy art work on our tender and water proofed the bimini canopy.

Mike took Garry to buy 2 bow thruster batteries even though we had located the second battery on the boat which the old owners had not changed and replaced it in France it was too late as the old new one took the new new one out and now neither were any good now.

On the way they dropped off the wooden grid which lays between the helm positions as one side was all rotten and needed replacing.

The Chap did an amazing job in a few days at the cost of 16.50 English money, you would not get that service in the UK.

Tex who we had met in Bizerte had joined us at Yasmine Hammamet marina just before Christmas with Sean a man that can source anything in the gigging world out on the road.

We agreed to help Tex move his boat down to the next marina as he was on his own as Sean had flew home. Port El-Kantaoui was 30 kn south of Yasmine Hammamet and would take 6 hours. We had never been on a catamaran so we agreed as Tex had been very hospitable, and Garry thought it would be a good experience.

It was a good day motoring/sailing, Tex’s first time he had parked his own boat in a marina and a superb job he did. We were staying the night on Tex’s boat so went out for something to eat in the evening. I had a lovely steak a few beers then an early night as the next day we had to find a way home by taxi.

Finding a taxi to take us turned out to be harder than you think as the local taxi’s are not allowed to cross border and that was the taxi we needed, a local taxi man helped and a 50 mins drive back to the marina was achieved.

My diet was going well, drinking once a week was helping with my mental health. On occasions people dropped by boat for coffees and chats. We even got a home warming gift from Faiz when him and Jo popped in. This plant is now in the naughty corner as it keeps throwing its self on the floor every time we keel over or find ourselves in bad swells.

Some enjoyment was found when we were invited out for lunch to celebrate Jo and Mike’s 42nd Wedding Anniversary and what a great turn out for a fabulous couple.

Left to right Sheila, Faiz, Mike, Jo, Garry, Stephan, Joel, Di Anne, Grant, Bronwyn, Amanda, Tim, George, Jeff

On the 7th Feb we were reminded it was winter when around 9 pm Missy broke free from her port rear cleat. The wind had changed direction and was pushing Missy off the dock from the rear port side.

We were watching TV when she slammed against the boat next to us, we felt an all mighty bang but had no idea what had happened till we went outside. The wind had pushed Missy off the dock from the rear port side and broke the cleat clean off the dock.

Now it was throwing it down with rain and hail, we were outside in flip flops and coats trying to retrieve our rear line and spring from the water to re secure on the french dudes cleat next to us, so we would be secure again.

20 minutes it took us we were soaked through to the skin and freezing by the time the time we had properly communicated what needed to be done and executed the plan.

A day off was needed so we jumped on a train, standing room only and headed off to Tunis. The train ride was 1 hour 20 minutes and what a ride it was, the trains are in a worse state than they are in England.

We had a walk around the street markets, finding an indoor food market where you could buy goat, horse, camel and cows heads.

Did not take long to see all the sites so we headed out of town to find the chandlers Garry had found on google. A fast taxis ride out of Tunis to the waters edge by Harbor Sidi Bou Said where the glorified fishing shop was located.

I made Garry walk around the area to find somewhere to have a late lunch and we found a great French restaurant and had these amazing burgers.

Diet went out of the window but I was doing really well with the weight loss and felt I deserved a treat.

18th Feb was when the weirdo that had been following me on Sundays to and in the shower block was found. I was summoned to the police Station at 8.30 pm to ID the chap I had taken a picture of, Garry had emailed Imed the boss of the marina 6 days before.

When at the police station I confirmed they had the right chap and asked them to tell him to stop following me. This turned out not to be so easy as the police then bungled us into a police car with the weirdo and took us to another police station in Hammamet down the road.

The cross examination started as to what he had done or not done obviously with language barriers all rolled in. I was asked if I wanted him to go to jail, which I did not feel comfortable with as he had never touch me just followed.

Eventually he got a good shouting at by all persons in the police station including what looked to be other suspects there at the time and we were allowed to go.

Admittedly drinking once a week had gone out of the window, the marina had got a lot busier as people return to their boats after spending Christmas with their families.

Grant and Bronwyn an Australian couple who would turn up any day at the boat and suggest a few beers out in the afternoon. We went out for a sunday afternoon walk with Amanda and Tim, Tim is a solo sailor whose wife Amanda comes to visit. That day ended up in beer, wine and pizza at the brasserie. We had an evening meal at our favourite restaurant L’Amiral with Victor and Lupita a couple trying to buy a new boat and sell their old catamaran in time for the start of the season.

Mike and Jo hosted an afternoon BBQ at their house which was a fascinating journey into a bizarre unique collection of belongings accumulated over the 17 years of being in Tunisia. The couple put on a fabulous spread of food feeding everyone, beers where drank and taxis home happened very late.

Our time at Tunisia was coming to an end, we had received our last parcel from Andy (thanks Andy your a Legend) we were ready to leave the marina and find somewhere new to explore. The weather was still cold so we booked another marina where Tex was in, Licata Sicily for 4 weeks.

Our last get together before we left was a BBQ by the marina’s pool everyone turned up with their bbq’s and food to cook. I turned up with coleslaw and potato salad with a cool bag full of beers.

Victor offered us a ride home, I found it funny that Victor drove his tender around the marina. But i guess it is our car so putting your laundry in the car and driving to the launderette is not that far fetched.

Next the journey to Sicily..

Contacts

Port Yasmine Hammamet:-

(216)72241111 contact@portyasmine.com

Hammamet Yacht Services:-

Mike and Jo Turner 0021624407172

mickandjoeorizaba@hotmail.com

TSM

Adel 96225151

Yasmine Hammamet Marina

Thursday 3rd Nov 2022

We arrived at the marina around 4pm we filled our fuel tank to the brim costing us 0.670 Euro per litre and was then guided to our spot we were going to be in for the next 2 months. After securing Missy the first thing we did was go hunting for a restaurant that sold beer as it had been 4 days since our last top up and we were hungry too. This mission was easier than you think for a Muslim country. We messaged Martin and Clarissa to see if they were coming out for a beer too, as we had their wine to give them.

The couple joined us for a beer it was like bogof in english prices, a good catch up was achieved with both parties having had one nightmare story and for once ours was not the worse being told. They had travelled around from Bizerte just like us but they had done the journey in one therefore travelling at night.

Martin and Clarissa were sailing around the Cape Bon peninsula when they found themselves in trouble, the boat had sailed onto a load of floats tied together with 150mm dia rope. Their ordeal lasted 14 hours, Martin was able to cut the rope in the end with a knife and free themselves from what was thought remains from a fish farm.

After sleeping in late Friday I woke to go shopping with Clarissa so she could show me, where the food shops were. First we had to experience the 7 minute van ride to the next little village Hammamet Sud at a cost of 0.800 Dinar which was terrifying, I was amazed how the van passed its MOT. I soon realised that not all vans went that fast or their condition was that bad.

Shopping was like England use to be before all the big supermarkets took over and shut all the individual shops. Here there is still a butchers shop, veg shop, fish shop, bread shop with many more all had some of their produce on the path so easy to spot. I was a little surprised at the butchers road side display, a cow’s head with a pair of hoves. I soon learnt that they changed daily to include cock and balls too next to the head. Charity shops here are called frape shops I found leggings for 2.500 dinar what a bargin.

Friday nights are happy hours at the local Marina Palace Hotel which the Marina collaborates with so we can use the outside, inside pool and also the bar (pints have 10% off fridays). All boaters turn up at 7pm for beers and swop tales of adventures on the high seas. Also advice on completing boating jobs, where to source materials in Tunisia and any pits you may fall into along the way.

Apparently we were luckily as the Marina was hosting an event the next night at the hotel where free booze and dancing was going to be happening. Food was good but only Tunisian wine on offer so I had to buy my beer, no change there.

Left to Right Garry, Mike, Me, Claudio, Joel, Di Anna, Faiz, Clarissa, Amanda

Our first boat job was to stop all stantions from leaking water into boat, all 16 of them.

We had to remove boat trim, ceiling panels and cupboard spaces to find all plates.

Jeanneau in their wisdom had used steel plates that rust, very well but had made sure all plates could be accessed in the future ….. umm. All plates cleaned, painted with a solution as to not re rust and sikaflex applied to stop water ingress. Job fully completed and considered to be a good one !!!! Hind sight is a wonderful thing, not leaking but rust still happening.

I soon settled into a routine of swimming, walking for exercise and boat jobs. Then the weather got too cold to swim, walks got repetitive and boring due to the area being small places either shut or closed for winter.

Before we knew it, it was December and I was searching for Christmas decorations in a country that did not celebrated it and I was missing home more, by now the street and house would of been fully decorated in England.

Friday night was always a highlight to look forward I got to talk to someone else and possibly drink too much. But as 25th approached people started to fly home to have Christmas with their families and we were left behind.

Mike and Joanne came to the rescue with some Christmas lights and a promise of Christmas Dinner happening at a local bar, where everyone turned up with different food on the day which made a buffet.

More boat jobs were being completed with daily missions out to source some part to complete the job. Major parts are just not available to purchase in Tunisia so we had ordered parts in the UK and had them delivered to Andy at his factory so he could ship them to us in Tunisia.

Our 1st box had arrived but we had to collect from the post office, a 40 mins taxi ride to Nabeul with our passports as proof of ID, handed over our ticket only to be told its with the Inspector. 2.5 hours later we went home with no parcel but instructions to print all invoices, boat papers and ID in duplicate and return tomorrow am. 4 parcels we had sent to us at Tunisia and we had to beg for all and bury them in duplicate copies of the same documents everytime so they could tag the parcel and make us take it to the Customs at the marina so they could open our parcel and vet the contents.

Christmas day arrived I made a nut roast in my rubbish boat oven it took hours and hours. A good afternoon had by all turkey, roast potatoes and all the trimmings it was delicious. A much needed day to feel the christmas vibe I love so much. Everyone was so welcoming, eager to chat as half these people live on their boat alone miles away from their family, friends and country.

New Years Eve turned out to be a spectacular night all for 40 quid a person, 7 course meal and entertainment with unlimited drinks even the beer.

After chatting with Hells I made my New Year’s Resolution – drink once a week and start the OMAD diet so I can where a bikini for summer. With 2 stone too lose i was going to have to be dedicated to my cause and faithful to myself.

Hello Tunisia

25th October 2022

We had arrived in Marina del Sole a great cheap marina with the intention of chilling for a few days before the crossing, for me any excuse to prolong the inevitable over night sail. I was now in charge of checking the weather app as Garry had been reading his app wrong since we left South of France which explained a lot.

Garry uses Predict Wind which was set to use the Beaufort Scale not Knots of wind so when Garry looked at his app, 8 knots he thought but it was a Force 8 Gale 34-40 knots of wind, and we went out in this more than once.

Having discovered this little gem on the way down Sardinia, and now very weary when it came to weather. I was keeping an eye on the weather for the crossing which was better tomorrow as the swell and wind were on the rise from the day after.

So we got straight to doing some provisioning of beer, milk, butter, salad and vegetables. Bought wine for Martin and Clarissa as they had been told you can’t take alcohol into Tunisia, which was incorrect, but dairy was apparently hard to get hold of.

26th October got up early, we went through the process of checking out of Italy starting with the Police who stamped our passports and then customs to stamp our Zapptax documents so we could claim back our vat for the items we were exporting out of the EU.

Having cooked a vegetable pasta for the passage, we were already to leave at 12.30 pm. We nearly had a fresh fish to take with us which had jumped out of water and landed on the pontoon but i booted him back into the water so the dolphins could have him instead. The journey was going to take 24 hours and we could not arrive before noon next day as they would charge us for an extra day.

Let us say the passage went fine we did not run into a container in the middle of the sea or sink the boat, obviously I am here to tell the tale. It was nothing like what I was thinking, yes there were times that I became anxious about the tankers whilst in the dark because you can’t tell how close they are to us.

The daylight disappeared and the sunset was amazing, then the sun rose again and that was breath taking to. I have never been so keen for a sunrise, so we could see the actual distance the tankers were from us.

We do have the AIS which most vessel have so pressing on their boat symbol on the Raymarine told us how fast they are moving, what their vessel is and the TCPA Time to closest point of approach. My online day skipper course taught me about port, starboard, stern and steaming lights for different sized vessels.

I did work out that if you can see their port and starboard lights they are close which I found very useful and if really bright we should be altering our course accordingly.

Once I saw quite bright starboard, steaming and port light’s as we cross in front of a tanker, holy shit but it was fine the tanker probably altered his course by 1 degree and as Garry was asleep I did not want to wake him.

40 nautical miles away the Tunisia Navy contacted us on the VHF wanting to know where we were going, number of souls on board and our nationality. 23 nautical miles away our Starlink stopped working, so netflix was turned off. What a welcome, here’s a country that controls their peoples contact with the outside world.

Having already been to Tunisia over 10 years ago, a holiday rep told us 3 things – Tunisia people are not allowed passports, the zebra crossing are not like home they don’t stop and the Smirnoff vodka is like 10 times the price, due to import tax the government have slapped on top.

We arrived at Bizerte marina just after 12.30 pm was guided to the quarantine dock and told to stay on boat whilst they got the doctor to see us. Doctor arrived, we handed over our Covid passports and that was that.

Now allowed to leave the boat, we was escorted to the police, customs and coast guard. Police took retina scans, pictures and thumb prints. Customs asked us many silly questions, searched boat and confiscated our satellite phone which we had no idea how to use.

Now all checked in we moved the boat into our spot inside the marina as we had booked two nights here and then went on the hunt for a cash point and orange shop to get a sim card for internet access.

We found both easy with the help of google along with a few butcher shops, which was most amusing to me, as they hang outside the head of the cow they are selling.

That afternoon we just chilling and planning an early night when we had a visitor turn up, he seemed pleased to see us as for two weeks he was the only UK flagged boat in the marina until we arrived.

We agreed to join him on his boat for a couple of beers later, Tex has a lovely catamaran which he had just bought and sailed it from the same marina we had been in France, Port Navy Services.

As it turns out Tex is a musician he was the drummer/keyboard player for Transvision Vamp back in the 80’s . He has travelled the world singing Baby I don’t care and I want your love along with many others songs.

We spent two nights with Tex swapping gigging stories and the horrors both boats had endured on our journeys down to Tunisia as both our boating experiences were short.

We had booked a marina spot in Yasmine Hammamet for 2 months to hide from the winter weather starting from the 7th November but that was 115 nm away, which we had planned to do over six legs so less than 20 nm a day.

I had selected 5 anchorages to stop over night at with attractions on the shore, possibly plans to get off the boat for beers maybe in the evenings.

We had been instructed to tell coast guard when we were leaving and we needed to collect the satellite phone so we could take it with us to then to hand back in with the customs at Yasmine Hammamet.

On the 1st days sailing around Tunisia we had our first Dolphin sighting for 5 seconds and must of spoke to the coast guard 4 times, asking us for our heading, number of people on board and their nationality.

When we arrived at our anchorage for the 1st night the coast guard asked us why we have stopped, I mean really , did they expected us to travel the whole way in one go?

Some anchorages were good, some where bad, but none of them had beer. We stopped in a lovely anchorage at Haouaria where we visited Roman Caves in the morning before we set off sailing for the day.

It turned out chatting to Coast Guard would be a running trend over the next three day but on the 4 night we were moved on from our anchorage and told to anchor around the corner in front of a fishing port.

Next morning we set off at 6.30 am to sail the 40 nm left in one day as we were sick of being harassed on the VHF. We started moving out from the area we had been made to anchor in then a coast guard boat chased us down asking where we were heading, we think they thought we had just arrived in the country.

After a long day of motoring we arrived at Yasment Hammermet marina at 4pm where we filled up our diesel tank in order not leave air for bugs to breed. The cost was a whopping 0.036 dinar per litre with 3/4 of a tank needed it cost 260,000 dinar bargin. 1 dinar = 0.27 p 70 quid in total.

We handed in satellite phone to customs, paid the marina for the next 2 months and moved the boat around into our allotted spot. The dash was over, we were here and not moving for the next 60 days yey now off to explore Yasmine Hammament.

All dashed out

3rd October 2022

Woke up late obviously needed the rest we decided we would visit the Leaning Tower of Pizza today. After a slow start to the day we final got ourselves on the move around 1pm, Google had told us that you buy bus tickets from a Tobacconist around the corner from the bus stop.

We found the bus stop, checked out times and then I went in search of tickets. Most shops close at 1.30pm till 5.30 so off I trotted leaving Garry at bus stop. Got there 1.25pm to find the lovely lady locking the door behind herself. Never mind a good friend always says just hop on public transport and use the we did not realise card.

Bus arrived on time so we got on still hoping maybe we could pay on the bus, but Italy’s public transport had only just dropped the wearing masks and the driver was still shut away from all customers so we rode for free.

30 minute bus ride then a 30 minute walk we found the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Free for all to walk around and ogle at a building with a lean.

In true Ems style we walked back to area where we got off bus and it was beer o’clock somewhere in world so we enjoyed a couple whilst working out how to get back to boat. Everything is always clearer after a drink lol but we found the bus station and bought tickets then headed back to marina.

With the winds still up in wrong direction we were forced to stay in yet another marina on the 4th October just another 20 nm further along to the coast called Cala De Medici . Not that I am complaining, because by now I had enough of this shuffling along everyday to a shit anchorage where I would have a shits night sleep, worrying about the boat dragging anchor and ending up in the shit on a pile of rocks.

Everyone thinks we are living the dream but in reality its boring and very tiring spending 24/7 on a boat motoring or trying to sail everyday to the next destination. I was missing my freedom of just being able to walk outside my back door into my garden or walk around the charity shops every Friday afternoon by myself. Chatting with the Olds every 5 days or so and eating Chris’s lovely cakes.

The home sickness and pending over night sail with only Garry to talk to made me feel scared and lonely. Friends at home carry on with the rat race, being too busy to talk. I just wanted to go home but knowing my once loved home was no longer my home.

With the 90 day clock tick tick ticking we again left the marina to move our new home to Baratti a little beach in front of marina it was calm of everything, no wind but cloudy water. We dropped anchor, waited for 2 hours and then went ashore in the hunt of beers to help sleep.

Our beach landing turned out to be a complete fail as it was a wall not a beach so ending up heading towards a private motor boat area. A lovely fisherman pointed at a dock so we left the tender there and headed to the pub.

In the morning we were leaving main land Italy to jump across to Elba, so after another rolly night we started to lift the chain. We were in 4 meters with 20 meters of chain out, today the water was clear and i could see the anchor laying on top of sand ….. whoops.

15 nm to Porto Ferraio on Elba it took 5 hours to motor across we had picked an anchorage with good protection the other side of a ferry dock. On approach many ferries were passing us, they are massive compared to us with cartoons painted on the sides.

When it came to passing the ferry dock to get to our anchorage it just had to be at the time one was leaving and one was arriving. We were playing piggy in the middle of these two giant ferries as they pivoted perfectly around in front of us.

The anchorage bottom was mud and water very calm it felt like the boat had been cemented in and was not moving amazingly as we were right next to the giant ferry moving in and out all day.

We jumped into the tender to go a shore to find the co-op to buy beers to celebrate our crossing, Navily had mentioned a place to leave the tender. When we turned up it was a very small part of a dock which had been fenced off because of a derelict factory, 3 other dinghies already there, so no room for us.

We tried another spot but could not find a way through the derelict factory so we jumped back into the tender and as Garry did he dropped his new reading glasses into the water which was 6 metres deep and muddy as hell. As most things are winding me up due to homesickness and the dreaded overnight sail, I had a moan as its just another shit thing Garry was inflicting on us. No beers no glasses we went back to boat.

In the morning of 7th October we managed to park our dingy by the coop, there was a market on too so we had a walk around, bought a frying pan and water sterilising tablets. Getting ready for arriving in Tunisia, my thoughts of the worst that could happen on the over night sail repeatedly played on my mind.

Over the next few days we start to plan which side of the Corsica to go down east or west and now knowing wind direction plays a big part of an anchorage getting this right was crucial. Our anchorages were ok as we managed to get beers in both, winner winner and the only highlight was at watching a sea gull stealing crisps someone had left at a table in the restaurant.

The day came to crossing over to Corsica 9th October we crossed at 10am, we had big waves and lots of wind. We picked the quickest route in the direction for wind assistance, setting sail aiming for one of the marina at the top of Corsica. But as we got further from of the lea of land we found waves breaking on port side, pushing the boat over so had to change heading for a better more comfortable sail. Knowing we needed to be in marina that night, it looked like the marina was going to a lot further down than what we planned.

After a long day Port Bastia was our nights destination and they were not answering our VHF calls, so we slowly entered the marina and parked our self nearly on the end of the dock. This is when we found our plank of wood to be a little short so had to use the tender as a crutch.

Later that night in the dark and pouring raining another boat also had the same problem with contacting the port on entry. So they too just motored in but with only one space on the end left they were struggling to get both bow mooring lines in place so we threw on our wet weather gear and got them to throw their lines to us so we could pull their boat towards us enabling them to get the mooring line on the port side tied on. Later they knock on our boat and give us a bottle of wine for helping them out, cheers.

The next 15 days was a bit of a blur for me the weather was horrible, we ran out of water on the boat. We had some highlights but mainly lows as we picked the wrong side of the Islands to travel down to the bottom of Sardinia.

We did get the AIS sorted in Sardinia, we found Blue Jellyfish in an horrendous anchorage we picked in front of a beach and enjoyed my last supper pizza before the dreaded crossing.

I would love to thank everyone who supported me through this part of our journey as I was a nervous wreck about this crossing. I had built up this picture of us sailing into a tanker in the middle of the sea and sinking the yacht. I only nearly book a flight home twice in this period of time, not bad going. I also want to thank Garry for being a very supportive, understanding partner as I was a nightmare.

No Sleep Dash Part 2

20th Sept 2022 – 3rd October 2022

After leaving the comfort of the Frejus Marina our 1st destination was island of Ile Ste- Marquerite an Anchorage called Belvedere Du Dragon, we decided we would try again our first tender beach arrival and walk to the Fort Royal De I’lle Sainte-Marguerite Fortress which had prison cells and Roman Relics at the Museum of Iron Mask.

In the morning from the boat we picked our spot to ride to, which tree to padlock the dinghy to and what route to walk. On arrival our spot we found had sharp rocks under the shallow water, I quickly learnt I needed shoes i could wear in water because i needed to get off the tender and put my feet on these sharp rocks.

Being the determined sole i am i jumped right in, pulled the boat and Garry to the tree, as the end goal was a lovely walk in the sun. The visit to the museum was worth the damage to my feet but new shoes went on the ever growing list of things to buy.

As my last night’s sleep was ok we decided to stay another night. That afternoon i suggested a little tender ride to the next Island Ile Saint Honorat to see the monks. Garry took one look at the newly found swell concept which he had never known about and said it to rough for 1 nm crossing, our outboard engine won’t cope.

Well it took a while but i convinced Garry it would be fine, with the promise not to fall in ……. adding extra weight like life jackets, grapnel anchor, fire extinguisher and spare fuel as it added weight we started our journey across. As it turns out it was fine but i quickly understood Garry argument for not going, the ride was wet, bumpy and Garry had to point the tender at an angle to the waves so we did not tip over.

After another lovely walk around a different island with a look at how the Monks lived, we headed back to our boat full of luxuries. The tender ride was better on the way back as it was not into the waves.

Later that night the music started coming from a night club possibly miles away, noise travels far on water. The party carried on all night and the boat started rocking too as the swell had picked up. Morning came so did my sea sickness with little sleep for me it was a long journey with large waves and uncomfortable sea state.

We arrived at Ville Franche Sur Mer the anchorage called Anse De I’Espalmador, a very large bay with lots of boats at anchor. In the morning after a great nights sleep we walked around old key with hundreds of others as a Tui cruise ship had rolled in that morning. Its amazing how that many people can spoil an area, services get slow, rubbish in area builds up.

We decided to stay another night so we could explore that afternoon the next cove over called Saint Jean Cap Ferrat , lovely walk, a couple of beers and it was off back to the boat.

The swell had picked up making it very hard to get on from the back of boat, the rear of boat was moving up and down very fast in front of our eyes. Every time we got close to the back of boat the tender would go under and be pushed down into the sea. Whilst we sat in tender wondering how the hell we were going to get on, this is when I realise the curse of the 2nd night, swell appears it and I can’t get no sleep tune starts to play.

24th September we trudged to the next place, it starts to raining as we pass Monaco so we missed seeing that delight. Our anchorage came and went because we would not fit.

We finally had to stop at Rada Di Poggio in Italy Sanremo, as it was getting dark we dropped our anchor knowing this was going to be a long night. It was our 1st night in Italy, which was going to be spent rocking side to side all night. We used the big screen had movie night and no sleep was had by either, but we did learnt how to say “please may we have 2 beers” in Italian.

25th we moved the boat as soon as we could see to Porto Di Andora, the anchorage Baia Dei Saraceni another rolly anchorage but more sleep than last one.

With the clock ticking weather getting worst the march went on, Garry trying to do 30 nautical miles a day in order to get to Tunisia and the over night sail was playing on my mind.

26th Sept planned to stop at Seno Di Paraggi but anchorage was full so carried on to Santa Margherita Liqure anchored in front of the beach, great nights sleep.

28th decided to stay another night so had a long walk around and our anchor app recorded everywhere we went. In the bay here all of their buildings were painted to look like they have unique brick patterns. The look was amazing they looked really expensive structures till you got up close and saw they were all painted.

Morning of the 29th September with 2nd night anchorage saga I had no sleep so moved La Spezia at anchorage Le Grazie it was raining, waves were big and horrendous so stopped after 8 nm at Golfo Di Levante anchorage Sestri Le Vante in front of a little fishing village as it turns out rolly too also no sleep but better than motoring in the sea state to La Spezia.

30th I have lost a day really not surprised with the trend of no sleep going on.

31st At La Spezia anchorage Le Grazie was a mill pond which was surprising due to weather we had on way here was really bad rain, no visability. Garry’s glasses got wet so he just ran off to clean them and we were trying to miss a sand bank on way into cove at the time….

On the 1st Oct We went a shore, its sat am no one was about. Walked up a large hill to see a Villa, Romana Del Varignano which was closed but could see into our bay and the bay next door.

Took pictures of both bays which the other bay was apparently a top secret military base and you’re not allowed to enter, we found later whilst eating really bad pizza at Rio Gourmet.

2nd Oct 2022 Weather looked like rain was on the way and the wind was in wrong direction, making no anchorage along the next straight viable to stop in. A marina it was going to have to be, Turistico La Madonnia was the 1st and Garry had sent email but we had not received a reply. It was a sunday so we set off anyway thinking they would reply sometime before we get there.

The sea state was weird the VHF kept repeating bad weather warning for Corsa Island which was only to our starboard side across the water. Soon the marina came into view, we still had not received a response but Garry took one look at the breaking waves around entrance on the side and chickened out.

So on we went to the next marina another 14 nm more, this one was on Navily to book without email. Port De Pisa sent us a message to ring for instructions before entering port as large waves are breaking on front entrance. Holy shit we had no choice but to motor on and attempt the entrance in.

A 3 metre wave pushed us into the entrance of the marina, staff member in tender in front of us frantically saying slow down and 35 peeps from the harbour wall watched as we surf into the marina, what an entrance.

We book two nights straight away after that ordeal to recover as Garry had also discovered he had 50 Tetley tea bags left and I had realised the the leaning tower of pizza was a 30 minute bus ride away.

A good two nights sleep was achieved but who knew what was coming next.

The 9 week mad dash Part 1

12th Sept 2022 – 20th Sept 22

Our 1st few days we just sailed or motored following the path we had taken with Chris staying in the anchorages we had already been to. 1st night the little cove we had lunch in we stayed over night, Six Fours Les Plages in front of beach stopped two nights due to thunder & lighting all day and did not fancy moving in the rain. We had planned to complete our 1st beach docking in the tender but never managed to get ashore due to weather.

On the 15th we set off to Porquerolles to have pizza but wind direction was not in our favour for that anchorage so Rade De La Badine opposite side of bay we stayed but with the pending 34 knot winds the next day which we did not fancy Porquerolles Marina it would be to hide from winds.

Saturday 11am we set off across the bay, swell was up and winds were around 28 knots. We radioed the marina on approach but they were not answering, last time we just pottered in and someone greeted us. This did not happen unsure of what to do or were to park we tried to turn the boat around to wait on a free pontoon we had passed. However the bow thruster failed and with the wind up we nearly crash into a couple of boats whilst turning around.

After what seemed to be a horrindous ordeal we hot footed it out of marina and back across bay picking our spot a little further out from beach and putting more chain out as we did not know what to expected with these winds approaching.

That afternoon whilst waiting for the winds to turn up Garry decides he wanted to go for a little tender ride to collect a new bow thruster battery from a marina shop further around the bay. I talked him out of it for a few hours as we were waiting for the winds but once they had came gone and Garry gets something in his head it happens whether i like it or not. He had planned out the route apparently down to the last detail and found 3 marina shops on google in that area where 2 marinas were.

We put the tender in the water and started the journey to this Marina, as it turns out wind creates swell so the 40 minutes ride was a little rocky and wet for Garry on the back, me however with no tender seat was sitting on the floor in the front nicely protected from the spray.

We made it to what Garry thought was the empty part between the two marinas, its was full of little sailing dinghies, a club had just arrived back from an afternoon of racing. We coasted on in with all eyes on us and what the hell we were doing in their posh sailing club area.

Garry left me in the tender whilst he went to get the battery, after 20 mins Garry arrived back at the tender batteryless saying the marine shop that stocks batteries is a 30 mins walk away. So we attached tender to this pontoon and off we went with google app pointing us in the right direction. Indeed their was a shop that sold batteries, never thought about carrying the battery back did Garry!!!

We carried the battery between the two of us one handle each and started the long walk back. Arriving back at tender with longer arms then before we threw the battery in and started to go home but then it spit and spluttered to a halt. We had ran out of petrol in the motor and Garry never packed the can we had purchased and filled only a week ago. Lucky the posh club had their own fuel dock so we paddled off to buy 1.23 euros of diesel to get us home to fit the battery.

With new battery in place we could now enter a marina and not having a shower since we left Port Navy Services, Garry booked us into Frejus Port for 2 nights not realising it was 50 nm away. It was a very long way, a very long day, all for a very long shower yay!!

Whilst in the marina Monday was food shopping, new flip flops for Garry and sort a noise the engine makes on start up. Richard, Claire Ellis and Albus a lovely Dulux doggie from Stourbridge had pointed us in the right direction to a shopping centre.

The shopping centre was just what we needed it catered for all our needs including an old persons shopping trolley to save carrying the food we had bought. You just don’t realize how spoilt you are when you drive to the supermarket, you put your shopping in the boot and then drive home no carrying involved.

On a mission to sort the noise the engine is making on starting, Garry takes apart the ignition board to look if the switches he had purchased would fit. No was the answer so Garry put the switches back in and starts the engine to check if all is good, which the engine starts but still makes the noise.

However not all was well as Garry then could not stop the engine and he had to radio the marina boat yard to see if a engineer could attend the boat to assist in our predicament. Within 15 minutes a nice chap arrived, showed Garry how to stop the boat engine and a quick lesson on engine ignitions.

That evening we had been invited on to Claire & Richard’s boat for beers and nibbles, our 1st invite out to another boat. Keen to be on our best behaviour we only took a few beers, bottle opener and our own glasses.

A good night was had swapping stories about sailing, our journey so far all whilst drinking all our beer and theirs (sorry). The night flew by and the beers ran out so it was time to go home.

No Mans Land

8th September 2022

On our return to Port Navy Services we could not return to moor along side the dock so we put Missy in an area next to the Port in 4 M deep and stern tied her to the shore. We were among abandoned boats, sunken ship wrecks in a thick black fog of mosquitoes.

We had been told about this area the port use to dump boats where owners have stopped paying for the spots on the hard. Its quite sad to look around once loved boats that are now left here to rot. One very large trimaran was owned by a man that had died, he had spend 40 years building this boat and with no family it just sits there in the water attached to a floating dock with all the others.

We dropped our tender in the water, then made every mistake possible when lowering the outboard down, apart from dropping it in the water. Once the outboard was connected to tender we excitedly christened our tender as we rode around the corner to collect our parcels from the office. The Bluetti battery pack had arrived but no solar panels were in the box so we had to wait for another parcel, the next 3 days merged into one.

A new neighbour arrived on the 9th they just dropped anchor at the start of the inlet as I was making dinner, within 10 minutes I spotted the Police turn up in a large rib with 5 men on board and stop at the boat just arrived. It was not long till it was our turn for the police to come along side and just one of the armed Policeman boarded our boat asking for papers. I got the Passports, Insurance, Registration and proof of recent purchase, for him to check over. As it turns out they were very concerned about us being smugglers as our AIS said our boat’s Name was Batopoupa and our newly labelled boat said Missy.

The French policeman seemed to understand we had recently purchased the boat but made his thoughts known, telling us we needed to change the AIS name to match boat. This is the one thing we had been struggling with the most, marina radios are a one time program for the AIS name.

The chap insisted on searching boat just in case we were smugglers, as soon as he started towards the companionway he spotted George who made him jump and before we knew it all 5 Policeman were on board taking turns to admire George. They left us after all had been down into the boat and pushed George in the tummy just to make sure we had not stashed anything inside him. (really he is a much loved part of our family it would be rude)

We had Sunday lunch with Stuart at the pizza place in town, Stuart got takeaway pizza for Peter’s family and we sat around chilling by their plot for the afternoon.

We had left the tender in a slip the port uses to take boats in and out of the water, I walked over to check tender was not in the way when noticed the water level had dropped. Potted back to everyone mentioning the water level to Garry which Peter commented the level can drop at least 1 metre or so in this area.

We had left Missy sitting in 4 metres of water, I looked at Garry can we go check Missy is ok. On our ride around to the cove you could see the tide marks at the waters edge, it was quite a drop in water. On entering it was very clear that Missy had moved and wrecks that we had never seen around the edge were now visible. Missy was still floating admittedly as her draft is 2.1 metres but the Navigational instruments now showed we were in 2.9 M.

Monday 12th September was when all parcels we had been waiting for were delivered and it was time for us to say good bye to Stuart so our sailing journey could start.

First Anchorage First Anchor Drag

Tuesday 6th September 2022

We were still at Port Navy Services in the water, rafted against another boat using electric we were not entitled too because we were paid up to the 28th August which obviously had been and gone.

After feeling an increasingly unwelcome vibe from a lovely lady that worked at the port over the last few days whilst doing the toilets we felt we should move, as maybe we had outstayed our welcome some what.

Garry had ordered a Bluetti battery bank with its own Solar Panels to be delivered to Port Navy Services which was not going to be there till the 10th and we were still awaiting the art work for the Tender.

It was decided we would potter off for a little sail as now we lived on a boat, we could move it anywhere. After a lot of searching anchorages on Navily, knowing the wind direction we agreed on LLe Ratonneau a little Island in front of Marseille. The anchorage was called Baie De Grand Soufree which is on the lee side of the Island and not too far way from Mosquito City only a 7 hour sail.

Our alarm went off at 7 am it was raining, well this is a good start for a nice little day sail. By 8 am the rain was stopping so we set sail, the sail was not too bad for our very 1st journey on our own, admittedly we motored a lot and arrived at 3.30 pm.

This anchorage was not that well protected as the Port du Frioul wall was low and you needed to tuck the boat in close to the rocks. We did not fancy this so we checked Navily for another spot and moved around the corner to Havre De Morgirel.

On arrival there was 25 boats in the anchorage and we were the biggest, some were little power boats just there for the afternoon. Anchor was dropped, as we backed down on the anchor we ended up with our stern quite close to the rocks, too close for our comfort so decided to wait till some boats moved and we could then pick a better spot.

After an hour or so we picked up anchor and moved into the middle of cove at 12 meter depth we let out 40 meters of chain. This time i dived in, checked anchor was buried into sand, all good but still I sat there waiting to see if we dragged as we were still among 15 boats all around us.

Doubt set in and I could not stop worrying that this was not a good place to anchor, the wind was due to change direction overnight. Garry joined me in on the wondering so stayed up whilst I got an hour’s sleep, my time to watch was 1 am. At 1.45 am the wind direction changed a whole 180 degrees, the boat swung around as your bow always points into the wind. Straight away i knew we were getting close to the boats we had been looking at all night.

I woke up Garry by now the wind had picked up to 20 knots, it was thunder @ lightning the rain was pouring down and vision was limited. Garry started the engine, I grabbed the torch which turned out to be less than useful and was not good enough to see jack shit.

We kept the engine on, in gear moving forward for what seemed an age whilst i pulled in some chain and the wind died down. 45 minutes the terror lasted we stopped moving towards the other boats and the anchorage became calm in the darkness.

During our struggle we did notice other boats in the anchorage came up with their torches, up root their anchors, reset and then disappear back down below.

In the morning with no sleep to speak of I re dived on the anchor to see what our chain and anchor had been up to overnight. As it turns out one reason why we did not crash into the other boats was a concrete block on the sea bed that the chain had wrapped it self around. More sleep was needed and in the safe knowledge now we were not going to move i went back to bed for a couple of hours.

We wanted to stay another night somewhere else so we motored around the Island to another anchorage as the wind was shifting direction for tonight. We had found an anchorage on Navily that looked OK but trying to locate it from a far we motored right pass it, so decided it was not big enough for us.

I was very tired and now fed up, Garry had received confirmation that the Bluetti had been delivered to the office, so we sailed back to Port Navy Services.

Up to our elbows in work

Garry’s Friday night was spent installing the 5 new batteries Chris had taken Garry to collect, thanks Chris. In no time at all the new batteries were connected to the house bank and being charged from shore power we were not entitled to use ! whoops.

We hatched a plan to leave the boat as soon as the mosquitoes would let us in the morning and go collect the Macerators. Then spend the day installing all 3 so we would have working toilets.

It was a lovely 35 minute walk to collect the Macerators, the sun was shining we had a great feeling it was going to be a good day. On our return we started to set our plan in motion to change all three toilets today.

Garry switched off all stop cocks then started to remove the pipes which was disgusting, actual shit ran out. Their is a saying clean up your own shit but really this was someone else’s.

I took the bowl and pipes upstairs, started the cleaning process removing the water stains and grime from years of use. Rinsing out the pipes a decision was made to change as previous owner had cobbled together some piping so it worked. The screws that held the bowl in place Garry also decided their was a better way to secure the bowl and Macerator in place.

Soon the memories of all those You Tube videos came flooding back ……. boat jobs takes at least 3 times longer than planned.

Not only have you got no space to work, the ramming yourself into small spaces takes time, effort and getting yourself out too without getting stuck. You also never realise that the people who fitted the toilet had done such a bad job the last time.

You start to need difference parts that are not on the boat and then with no car to use to visit a shop or chandlers this trip takes a lot more than 5 minutes.

By the end of the 1st day we had managed to bodge one toilet in place which on trying the switch still did not work PMSL. Knowledge was going to needed so we ventured out quite close to mosquitioes time to visit Peter a lovely Polish chap who had his family living on the hard in the dock.

After a quick up date of how the day had gone he said he would pop around to the boat and have a look. Peter and his wife arrived as the mosquitoes started to appear from nowhere, we invited them in and shut the hatch. To Peter’s Wifes amusing I then got my electric fly squat bat out and started to exterminate the little shits that had managed to muscle their way in before I closed the hatch.

Peter got down to sourcing the problem, whilst Garry made tea and I gave the normal boat tour to someone new on your boat. As it turns out the sea cock was blocked and was not letting the sea water into the toilet, a simple hose on pipe and ram water through solves that problem.

After one long day’s work we have one toilet working so we cracked out the beers to reward ourselves and sat their thinking the next two toilets are going to be more of a challenge as the rooms are a lot smaller.

It took 3 days to complete this originally one day job and a big lesson was learnt, be more prepared.

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