SV Ostinato: September 2017

July 8 - Oblia Sardinia:

King and I arrived back at the marina from our Palermo flight at 1 a.m. Walking down the docks it began to feel odd that we had not arrived at our slip but Ostinato was not where we remembered her to be. We walked further. The marina was overflowing with returned charter boats during our absence making it feel a bit different from what we remembered. My pulse started to quicken....where the heck is Ostinato?! Finally, at the very end of the dock, there she sat, all by herself, on the outside where we had refused to dock when we first arrived. Definitely, not where we had left her! A bit disconcerting, especially the part about not reconnecting the power cord. Luckily, between the wind generator and the solar panels all systems were happy.

We had picked up a rental car with the intent of resupplying groceries and driving south to see the east coast. After a few hours of driving, it became clear we were both way too tired to enjoy this little adventure so we wisely turned around and dropped the car back at the airport where we hopped a bus back to the marina. King talked the driver into making a special stop at the end of the marina drive vs us walking 1/2 mile from the bus stop. I'm sure we both looked like wilted puppies. It was a wise decision to go back to Ostinato. We slept hard.

The next day King repaired something and I spent the day catching up on laundry while we had water and power. Winds were blowing 25 knots which made doing the sheets an exciting event. Once they were done, the wind dutifully calmed to a light breeze. From Cala dei Sardi marina, we did a short motor the next morning to Cala di Volpe, a long bay with huge moorings for the big mega yachts that were in no short supply. We snuggled up into the head of the bay for the night where we could anchor less than 20 feet and sand. On that short trip, the fresh water pump died. King also determined that one of our house bank alternators was OK but the regulator was toast. So much for a fun day on the water.

Mega yachts made us look tiny.
If you look closely at the center of the ship you will see one of several "dinghies", a 40 ft sailboat! Yikes!!!

July 11- Mistral winds were forecast so we hauled anchor in search of mooring balls in the Maddalena islands where we might ride out the high winds in beauty and not worrying about dragging. We sailed, motor sailed and finally stowed the sails and motored around the entire archipelago and the only mooring balls seen were under private contract, not part of the park. While

Our safe anchorage at Cala di Volpe
part of the Aga Khan's Costa Smeralda

we could anchor, the pilots, and what information we found online, indicated you could not stay on anchor overnight. That made the entrance fees into the park a bit hard to justify. Back we went to Cala di Volpe where we at least knew the holding was good. Ostinato, with another 15 or so small yachts tightly packed into the head of the bay, hunkered down for the next three days in 30-40 knot winds. King occupied his time chatting to his new BFFs in Seattle at Balmar about the inner workings of alternators. On the 3rd day he gave in and ordered a new regulator from the State's that would be sent to a company in England that would arrange for delivery to Bonaficio in Corsica. On the afternoon of the 4th day, the winds laid down enough to allow us to put the dinghy in the water and briefly go ashore for pizza. It could of been cardboard for all I know but just getting off Ostinato made it the best pizza ever!

July 17 - Ostinato left the protected anchorage of Cala di Volpe for Porto Pozzo and headed west. At this point, we were simply waiting for weather that would

Our first sighting of a flying dinghy in Porto Pozzo...
Happy to report it landed successfully

allow us to cross the straights to Corsica that a) was not on the nose and b) blow 2 knots or less. Porto Pozzo would be our jumping off place. Waiting there would get us closer and give it one more day for the seas to calm a bit. The anchorage was wide but provided great protection from the Northeast. We spent a peaceful night before our 6 a.m alarm to haul anchor. Next stop Bonifacio, Corsica!

Little did we know we were trading peaceful idyllic (but too much wind) Sardinian anchorages for a marina on speed. Getting there early gave us front row seats for the boat docking excitement. The marinaros could always manage to squeeze in one more boat which came and went continuously throughout the day. Restaurants lined the docks, tourists clogged the sidewalks and music blasted until the 5 a.m. For this, we paid €135, the highest marina fees of the summer. We decided that while the rock facade with the "fort" on the top of the cliff, was eye catching from the sea it was less than pleasant up close.

The regulator we had planned to pick up here was still roaming somewhere about the French countryside. The delivery company had been hacked in mid June and continued to be in utter chaos. King had called his contact in England and requested they recall before we arrived in Bonafacio. Waiting in the marina was not where we wanted to be especially at that price. When we arrived a "do not accept package for Kingsley Ross" was taped to the counter. Even so, the package was accepted later that day but we were never notified. We filled our water tanks and left early the next morning.

On our way north to Porto Pollo (yes, seems to be a popular name), we enjoyed a nice downwind sail making speeds of 7 knots when suddenly the wind just died...No, not slowly tapering off but just completely disappeared, poof! Very strange. At the same time seas got very confused with waves coming right at us. Three minutes later we were hit with 25 knot winds from the opposite direction (on our nose of course)! Getting the sails under control was quite the circus. We both were starting to really dislike the winds in this part of the Med.

We spent the night in Porto Pollo in clear blue water with sand for the anchor. Perfect. The next morning a ride to Filitosa, Corsica's 3000 BC equivalent to Stonehenge was on the agenda. Following the directions from friends who were a few days sail ahead of us, we found the bicycle rental shop with no problems. King's eyes widened and he grinned from ear to ear when he saw a line of electric bikes. He had wanted to try one since he first saw one several years ago. There was no question which type of bike we would rent. The ride meandered past the beaches, through the countryside, around cow pastures and up medium inclines that were enough to make me say "thank you, thank you, thank you" for the electric motor. Filitosa was good but the bikes were the stars of the day.

The standing stones at Fillitosa have carved faces

After dropping off our bikes we picked up our favorite "on the road" meal, rotisserie chicken and a baguette and hauled anchor. Next stop took us halfway up the coast of Corsica to it's capitol, Ajaccio to meet up again with Trish and Dave on Rob Roy. We found them across the bay in Anse Sainte Barbe on a mooring ball and snagged one directly behind them for the night. It would be a quick reunion before we were off again the next morning. We made the most of it with appetizers on Rob Roy and dinner on Ostinato. The group managed to pull together wine, the rotisserie chicken, salad and brownies. Who could ask for more?

The following morning, we waved goodbye to Rob Roy for what likely would be the last time this summer, and continued our trek north.

Even from the marina's mooring balls
it was a long wet dinghy ride into Calvi

Our next port was Calvi on Corsica's north western coast where we would rendezvous with SY Horizon. We hadn't seen Vince and Barbie, who are new neighbors at Shell Point, since Marina di Ragusa in early May. After a wonderful reunion at anchor, everyone moved to a mooring the following day to prepare for the next blow. Since it looked like we would be here a bit we inquired at the marina about getting our package delivered but once they knew we were in the anchorage they declined. The Information Center came to our rescue but no one could tell us exactly where the package was so the plan was once more abandoned.

July 30 - We stayed in Calvi for over a week moving between anchorages to seek protection depending on the direction of the winds or moving to the docks to add water to the tanks or back to the main anchorage to get close enough for a grocery run. We were starting to watch the calendar as days ticked off and the beginnings of worry slipped in about our ability to make Spain in time to meet granddaughter, Julia in early August.

At long last, a tiny weather window opened giving us just enough time to jump to Toulon, France, 125 miles away. It would be a long day. To get us there before dark, we pulled anchor at 3 a.m. and crept slowly out of the anchorage. The only light came from near by boats masthead lights and the on again, off again illumination of the lighthouse just overhead. No coffee this morning. As soon as we were clear, King offered to take the first watch so I could snuggle back in bed for a few more hours sleep. Sweet!

Continuing this summer's tradition, the trip across was an 18 hour motor sail. We arrived at 2000 (8 p.m.), dousing the main and getting the anchor down just as the sun set in a beautiful cove in the marine reserve of Ile de Porquerolles, to the southeast of Toulon. Even the roll that found its way into the anchorage couldn't disturb our sleep.

We arrived at the anchorage just as the sun was setting
Ile de Porquerolles, near Toulon, France

While the forecast showed more high winds in our future, it felt great to be in mainland France. It was time to top off the fuel tanks so we were off to Toulon the next morning.

A boat load of new recruits for the French Vol Coastguard
Learning how to secure the boat was lesson #1

The expected 5 knot morning breeze was more like 20 and was increasing so while at the fuel docks, King checked out marina costs. They squeezed us into a spot that required King to back what seemed like a mile down the pontoons.....I might add, he should of gotten a standing ovation from everyone who came out to gwak. Once we arrived at our designated slip, we discovered the mooring lines they gave us were attached to the boat next to us. Really? Thankfully, a yacht a few slips over planned to leave in a few hours so we sat tight.

Nothing makes me smile more than seeing the kids out for their sailing school. This group was in Toulon,

We spent 3 wonderful days in Toulon. The marina was perfectly located in front of the city. There was a huge Carefore grocery that King would not let me loose in without supervision, plenty of museums to feed our souls and the bread...oh the French bread, to feed our bodies.

While the French are not known for their fish & chips, King couldn't resist!

The high winds seemed to be rolling in every 2/3 days and then hanging about for 3 days. At times they would be OK where you were but not good where you were headed.....and visa versa. That was our problem leaving Corsica for the French mainland and hte problem we faced on the next passage. Our morning rituals included a visit to the WINDY weather app that painted the picture of of high winds screaming down into the Gulfo du Lion from the Rhone Valley in bright reds and oranges. The pilot book says the Gulfo du Lion has the highest percent of the gales in the Med. We decided long ago that we are more blue/green kinda sailors.

July 2 - The 2 day window we had been closely monitoring was holding so we did a quick morning visit to the grocery, topped off water tanks and prepared to depart Darse Vielle Marina at noon. Our next destination, the Costa Brava, where Spain reaches the French boarder. The land breeze was close to 20 knots as we motored Ostinato out of the marina. It looked like we might get a bit a sailing in but once we were away from shore, the winds eased round to our nose at 5 to 8 knots. The traffic in the Gulfo du Lion overnight was modest, mainly sailing yachts heading east or west. For my midnight to 3 a.m watch, I awoke to fog, a phenomenon we had not experienced in years......and who worked out that watch schedule anyway?! The entire cockpit was dripping with dew and visibility was only about 1/4 mile. I kept one eye on our AIS screen and another scanning the water, knowing that not everyone had AIS. It was a tense hour before the fog began to lift.

We motored into Cala Jonquet at 0930. What appeared to be a tranquil anchorage in the pilot books quickly turned into a major destination for small boats looking for a "secluded" beach. The holding was weed and sand so it took several tries to get secure. On one attempt we pulled up the anchor of the boat behind us. Fortunately, he was waiting for us to get settled to depart so we didn't get any much deserved dirty looks. While we caught up on our missed sleep, boats arrived and winds changed so no one had a clue where our anchor was. It was payback time. King decided it was not a good recipe for a place to spend the night. Sure enough, the boat beside us was floating on top of our anchor. They kindly scooched over for us to pull our chain aboard. We move on up the coast about 10 miles to a spot off the beach near the Port of Roses marina. At 2000 a battle of the bands began around the huge bay. This did not look promising but either we were too tired to care or they wore themselves out early. Everything was quiet by 2200.

While this looks great...behind us was filled with jet skis and mooring balls

Have we mentioned it is vacation time in Europe? It seems that most of Europe is on vacation in August and they all have boats. What were listed as anchorages in our pilot books are now loaded with mooring balls, which are filled with small power boats. This is also the time for the highest marina charges. Finding anchoring space, with any protection, was much harder. Those that you can squeeze into typically have jet skis and power boats dragging about inflatable bananas. It takes a bit for the waters to calm down in the evening but if you can hold out, its lovely. Lucky for us the winds have been kind and we were only two days out from Badalona which would serve as our home to explore Barcelona with granddaughter Julia.

The Columbus statute
at the end of Las Ramblas

A great visit with granddaughter Julia!

I had planned to end the blog here and include a few pics our adventures with Julia but, of course, that was before the unthinkable attacks on the Las Ramblas in the center of Barcelona. Luckily, we had decided to visit the Gaudi Park that day and then on to the Gracia Street Festival but it was hot and near siesta time so the three of us decided to return to Ostinato for a rest. We would go to Gracia Festival in the evening. Or, at least, that was the plan before emails and texts began arriving asking if we were OK. We stayed home that night as did many others in Barcelona asking "why|" and being thankful that we were safe.

Barcelona is such a wonderful city, I have struggled with ending this blog on such a sad note. Often something happens in our travels that one of us will say "That's gotta go in the Blog!" Our favorite for Spain so far was on a side trip to visit The Dali museum. We sat down for lunch and the waiter asked if we were English "No, American" we said in unison never sure what to expect. He became very excited ..."did we like Elvis?" he asked. "Well yes, of course. Everyone likes Elvis" we said. He went on to tell us he was going to Memphis next year to see Elvis' home. He then began to unbuttoned his shirt and opened it wide to display a 10" tattoo of Elvis' head on his stomach. I have to say, I'm not that big of an Elvis fan but what are ya gonna say? My only regret is we were all so dumbstruck that no one thought to ask for a picture. You will just have to use your imagination!

P.S. We are happy to report that while the first regulator that was shipped to Bonifacio continues to be missing in action, a second was shipped in from the State's and has found us in Barcelona.