La Grande Motte: Now that we were safely back in La Grande Motte, we needed to clear in and get started on the “to-do list”. Stephane was taking the month of August off – and he sorely needed the break- so Rafael was now our main contact. Once he and Anthony reviewed the list of ~45 items, Rafael began coordinating the repairs and upgrades while we…
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At the end of the last post, I promised some details about the passage. What a roller coaster ride it was! This video is from early in the trip and shows us sailing south around the heel of Italy with great wind! Once through the Straits of Messina, we had very little wind and had to motor-sail for about 36 hours. The wind started to fill…
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We left Marina Kastela in Split and headed south to meet Even and Eva from 3T. It’s been 14 years since we last sailed together in the Pacific and 8 years since we’ve seen them at all and now they were just 110 NM south of us in Kobas Bay where their boat is kept. We split the trip up into 2 legs, stopping for 1…
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We’ve been quite busy since I last posted. We came into Split (Croatia’s 2nd largest city) and docked at Marina Kastela to wait for Anthony’s brother and family who arrived on July 5th. This gave us a good opportunity to wash down the boat, provision at a nearby hypermarket, wash clothes, etc. Being at a marina means we can use their dock water to wash off…
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After a lovely 3 days in Mljet, we sailed to Lombarda (~12 NM) a small fishing village on the south end of Korčula. We were anchored by ourselves in the bay and watched the charter boats come in and out of the nearby marina. Korčula has a walled medieval “old town” similar to the one in Dubrovnik, but smaller. Legend suggests it was the birth place…
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After a nap and then another 8 hours of sleep, we were ready to get off the boat and stretch our legs a bit. A trip to the Old City was the perfect opportunity. We found out how to take the bus (much cheaper than a taxi) on Sunday morning to have a look around. If you’ve ever watched Game of Thrones (We have never seen…
Continue reading ...The 2nd half of our passage was slightly more boring than the 1st half, mostly because we motored more and sailed less – especially during the last 3 days. But, we weren’t without some interesting moments to break up the monotony. The Straits of Messina were really beautiful – lush hillsides covered with white houses and red stucco rooftops just like you see in pictures of…
Continue reading ...We made it! It took 7 full days, but we’re finally in Dubrovnik. The sail was mostly uneventful, but punctuated with several memorable incidents, so I’ll split the post in half so it’s not so long. We headed out on Saturday, June 5th around 10:30 am with good wind. On our way out, barely 3 miles offshore, Anthony was at the mast, playing with the sail…
Continue reading ...We left La Grande Motte on Thursday at 11:30 am– later than we had hoped, but leaving land takes lots of time. First, we had to fill up with fuel, which is not as simple as driving to the nearest gas station to “pay at the pump”. We had to leave our berth (which we already explained is no small feat), maneuver along rows of other…
Continue reading ...Our EU/Schengen clock is ticking away fast and so we need to get moving out of the Schengen area. Americans are only allowed to stay in the Schengen area for 90 days within a 180 day/6 month time span (there are 20+ EU countries in the Schengen zone which allows for borderless travel). We’ve explored the long-term stay visa options for France and Spain, but COVID…
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