We had a very rolly calm swelly day on the way down here on Thursday and Ali vowed that he was going to wait for decent wind to go to Sardinia as he was tired of rolling around in the swell, so we looked at the weather and it was changeable on Sat and a steady 15 to 25 knots of Westerly wind on Sunday. That was it we would wait for the sail of our lives on Sunday. I was as usual fretting a little as I generally think 15 knots is a perfect wind speed for me (fair weather sailor that I am and bane of Ali's life!) Anyway we woke at 7 on Sunday morning anchored as we had been quite happily in the bay outside of Porto Vecchio harbour for two nights as I was thinking it was time to get up and make the pancake batter the wind picked up. Then the wind picked up, oh yes and then it picked up just a little more! It wasn't westerly either as the reports had told us it was S-SW and would be right 'on the nose' most of the way to our planned port of La Maddalena. We decided to do some school after breakfast and then go out and see what was happening. Well needless to say the further we went out of the Voe the more antsy I got and when we turned the way we wanted to go and the waves were breaking over the boat I just said no way, I don't mind this if it isn't on the nose but it is and that's it we are going back. Now you can imagine the mood that quickly descended over the boat.... but as we were coming back to our anchorage we were recording 38 knots and climbing so I felt a bit better. By the time we got re anchored the wind was blowing constantly at 25 to 30 knots and still SW so even Skipper decided we were actually better off where we were, or so we thought!
We made roast chicken for dinner and it was just as darkness was falling and we were getting ready for bed that the wind really did pick up, even though it is a well protected anchorage we were swinging around like a cork on a float and I started to worry about anchor drag as the wind had changed and we would be shore bound if anything gave. By 11pm the wind was over 40 knots and even Captain was worried so he said he would stay up on the first anchor watch, something we have never done before so I now knew it was getting a little serious. Get some sleep were my orders as I would be on later but sleep was not forthcoming (obviously) and when Ali switched in the engine "just in case" sleep wasn't even a far off option! We had the GPS anchor alarm, the computer and depth gage on to cover all the bases. Amazingly enough this part of the tale ends very well if very sleepily, Ali stayed up until 3 and as the wind had dropped to a respectable 35 knots he got me 'up' for my stint. Having only managed to drowse since about 2.30am my watch consisted of turning the laptop towards the couch, and with every jerk of the boat waking up to see if we were still in enough water. Maybe not entirely under control I must admit. The anchor by some miracle held all night. We listened to the Italian weather forecast in the morning and it was predicting more fierce winds especially in the area we were, we had almost run out of water so we decided to head for the marina and this is where all the fun really began.
As we headed in there were numerous really strong gust and we prayed that we would manage to berth in a quiet lull, it was not to be. We headed over to the side of the marina with the most space but the attendant shouted us over to the tightest bit of the whole place we were crapping it, we were full fendered but it didn't look good, how right we were! We had to turn a tight corner into the wind then head into one spot and back at an angle across the wind into another. This really is the tightest marina we have been in yet and looking at it later there was no chance of success in those conditions. As we went astern I was getting orders to fend off one side then the other and then CRUNCH we hit someones anchor at the other side which pushed our stern anchor arrangement to scrape the boat we were trying to berth next to, unfortunately Italian. We were still trying to get in when the owner joined me on the deck and started shouting his head off at me to which obviously I said sorry a hell of a lot and he continued even though we still weren't completely in and could have done with a bit more help. I was trying to push fenders down between our boats and he says I bent his stanchion too (which I dispute as I am not that strong or he needs better stanchions!) Anyway it wasn't good, he shouted at me for a good five minutes whilst Ali was at the bow getting the mooring lines attached. You stupid woman etc etc you come in here like a destroyer and do not care you say you are sorry but you are not (actually I was but getting less so by the moment.) When Ali cam back aft he seemed to move away and calm down a little but I told Ali what had all gone on and he asked the bloke to show him the damage, which there was a 5cm by 1cm slight scrape. Ali said sorry too and that he had some gel coat onboard and he would fix it for him. OK - what after the bollocking I got typical! Will shout at a woman but not a man! Anyway he then proceeded to rave about how stupid ! was in near perfect English to the crew of the other Italian boat next door, obviously all for my benefit and he got his intended rise as I was nearly in tears by this point and they were all laughing. I decided to take the fight fire with fire route recommended to me by Mark Burgess (cheers mate, not!) I called him over and said that I was actually sorry whether he believed me or not and that we have been sailing for a year from our home port and his is the first boat we had ever damaged. He just started shouting more and Ali pulled me away. He kept on going to anyone who would listen outside loud enough for me to hear inside and I have to admit the tears started falling then after a night with no sleep it was inevitable really. He called Ali up on deck once again to complain about me (was I the only one there??) Lets just say it wasn't a pleasant morning and the real shame we thought was that they had two boys on board who were about ages with the girls, normally we would have been encouraging contact but Kaylee and Alisha were too scared of the nasty man to go anywhere near them.
Anyway the day passed, both boats sat out on deck for lunch but didn't look or speak to each other then the same at tea time but Ali and I had a glass of wine then decided to at least try and speak. We gave the girls some chocolate to take over to the boys which broke the ice then we invited the adults over for some Scotch, a sure fire winner. It turns out they were quite nice really, the kids at 4 and 7 speak perfect English! The girls were delighted and we adults all got on pretty well too. The old bloke is an ex 747 captain and has been sailing around for years so gave us lots of tips, he also said that I would have to get used to the impulsive nature of Italians. It is a wonder what a couple of glasses of whiskey can do for someone!
The night has ended as expected, they left, Ali followed, I cleared up and got the kids to bed then Ali came back for the rest of the bottle of whiskey. Someone came knocking me up to go over to another Italian boat they were all on, I got there, Ali fell asleep and asked to be taken home. We could have been in Gardie!
The wind is finally supposed to die down tomorrow so we can head southwards and hopefully to catch up with John and Shirley the American couple we met a few times last year. Most days are far, far better than this and it turned out pretty well in the end anyway so not too much to worry about. Apparently as the evening went on Ali discovered he isn't an airline pilot but actually some kind of owner and owns two private helicopters so a peerie scratch won't hurt too much!
Here is a picture of the girls taken in Bastia a few days ago they have fairly sprouted up over the last year, and are starting to brown and go blonde in the hot sun againno matter how much we keep them out of it.
Now for the Med wild life report.....
Last post I mentioned the crazy jelly fish, well every day we are out sailing we keep our eyes peeled for fish, dolphins, whales etc. Nearly every day we see absolutely zilch.
Birdlife -
We have been surprised with how little birds there are anywhere after you leave the British Isles the coast seem positively quiet without the squawking of scories.
Here is one little fellow that stopped for a lift in the Ligurian Sea a couple of weeks ago.
When we were anchored up the river Arno we saw a few of these guys hanging around the reed banks. We do see other birds but as they are so few and far between it is nigh impossible to get a picture. Saw a good few eagle types flying around the mountains in mid Corsica ans lots of swallows now wherever there is some kind of belfry.
Now for the sealife, we look and we look in vain for large sea animals, the last time we saw dolphins was in the middle of the gulf du Lyon and before that Gibraltar! No whales in the med we saw one in Southern Portugal last year, Shetland is far better for whale spotting I have never not seen a few whales when sailing around Shetland each year. We have seen a sunfish and Ali saw a flying fish the other day. Now here is what we managed to catch on camera.....
One day we were motoring along to Lerici and we saw a lump in the water, and turned around to investigate, no less than a dead pig. Poor little fellow.
The rest of that day the girls were on high alert for log watch (or wog watch as Kaylee who still can't pronounce l called it) as there seemed to be loads of substantial lumps of tree in our path.
The next sailing day brought even more horror as the only sea life we saw was this poor dolphin, whatever next we thought....
We thought this was a dead cow from a distance on the way to Elba but thankfully it turned out to be another log. It does almost look like ears sticking up though....
Then we spotted this turtle on the way to Corsica!
Finally on Thursday as we motored on down from Bastia we got a very brief glimpse of a few dolphins and this is the only photo I got, it is a dolphin, honest!
That's it! It is funny when you come from a place like Shetland you really take wildlife for granted, especially sea life, Orcas become a normal sight, dolphins regular sailing companions, minke whales almost commonplace, but they aren't and we should think ourselves lucky to live in such a place (especially as it has very few grumpy Italians too!)
That's it for now! The next report will come from Sardinia all going well.
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