Start of the Passage to Gibraltar

Yesterday was a nice day in terms of weather. It was a little bit warmer than it has been, and there was no rain or wind. As soon as we got up we started our “get ready to go to sea” routine. We planned to leave shortly before sunset. Eric worked at getting things ready to go on board while he waited for the Simrad repair guy. Christi went to pick up fresh fruit and bread for the passage. Conveniently enough, there is a supermarket directly across the street, right next to the restaurant we like. And, from the fancy awning and red carpet, it looks like a nice one.

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It wasn’t open. Odd, since it is normal business hours on a weekday. She went and peeked into the windows and realized it is a nightclub, named “Supermarket”. Oops. She set off Continue reading

Welcome to Isle de Porquerrolles, Cote d’Azur, France

Yesterday, Eric went to check in as soon as the marina opened. The lady asked us if we intended to leave Le Lavandou at all. Yes, we told her, we wanted to go to Paris for a few days, possibly as long as a week. She told us we would have to go to the marina on the other side of town. Apparently, the waves can be violent and crash over the sea walls and cause damage to the boats near the wall. She had no “safe” parking spot for us, so we either had to stay with the boat in case we needed to move her or we needed to move marinas.

We had noticed yesterday that Continue reading

Welcome to Le Lavandou, Cote d’Azur, France

This morning we woke to winds screaming at 22 26 knots an hour. The marina was lumpy. The ocean was full of whitecaps. We attached a second mooring line to the bow, even though it didn’t really fit right, figuring something holding us to a second concrete block under the water was better than nothing. We guess we aren’t moving Kosmos today, after all.

We decided to go for the four hour hike along the coast that was supposed to be absolutely beautiful. But after Continue reading

Exploring St. Tropez

This morning we slept late and got off to a slow start. Eric went to the marina to check in and almost fell over when they told him it was $87.00 USD per night for a slip. Ouch. We certainly weren’t prepared for that. Isn’t this the off season where slips are supposed to be cheaper? We know St. Tropez is the stomping ground of the famous, but we figured that it would be less expensive than Monaco, the stomping ground of the rich. We suppose that famous must trump rich. Since we came from Monaco, there were no check in formalities.

The marina does have Continue reading

Welcome to St. Tropez, Cote d’Azur, France

As soon as we got up, we started working on getting ready to go to sea. We were only making a short day hop, so getting ready went fairly quickly. When we checked out with the marina, we found out there was a 20% VAT (sales tax) on top of what we had been quoted. We wish they had mentioned the VAT before the moment we pulled out our wallet to pay.

We pulled out at 1100. We are sad to report that the fenders were all covered with a thick black slime that managed to get all over the entire exterior of the boat. It is pretty gross.

The ride over to San Tropez was Continue reading