The BIG ONE is starting ......

the last time I wrote a report on our blog I was sitting in shorts outside in the cockpit on a mild summer's night while crossing the Med from Corsica to Menorca. It seems like a very long time ago and I feels like we skipped autumn and have gone straight to winter. Right now we are in Gibraltar; the wind is blowing out the west from the Atlantic and it is freezing outside.

Let me fill you in briefly what happened over the past 6-8 weeks. Our summer Med tour finished with a trip from Corsica via Menorca back to Mallorca. Crewing on board for that section were Sandra and Andreas. A severe mistral storm however delayed our departure from the port of Bonifacio on the southern tip of Corsica by 4 days. During one of the nights we logged winds of more than 40 knots while being tied up precariously at the narrow end of a pier.

When we finally left port we crossed the Strait of Bonifacio towards Sardinia on a very stirred up and choppy sea. After a heavy day sailing we were hiding behind the Asinara peninsular for some relief before heading out again for a rough night towards Menorca. By mid next day the sea and wind calmed down and the last day of the crossing we had to motor again because there was no wind at all. That’s typical for the Mediterranean. 

In Mallorca we were joined by Elke, Simon, Sandra and 11 month old Kien. The trip continued down the east coast of Mallorca and was followed by another brief visit to the wonderful Cabrera Island. A short stop in Palma and then we were headed for our temporary home of Port Ginesta to the south of Barcelona.

The arrival followed a frantic 4 weeks of [again … more] preparations to get ready for the second part of the journey. The job list was to the tune of 4 pages long, but I won’t bother you with the details. We finally finished ‘dressing’ PasoDoble and now she has a neat covered outside cockpit area, designed to provide shelter against wind, sun and later on ….. mosquitos, whilst being anchored or moored.

We also managed to finish the HF radio installation and the fine-tuning of a few electronic components which needed attention. In style, we just made it to turn the workshop back into a boat the day before the crew arrived for the departure to Gibraltar. Here they are – Martin, 

Hans-Peter, Emanuela, Eloi and Dani

This trip was our first transit only section, described as 540 miles going south along the Spanish coastline towards the Strait of Gibraltar. The BIG adventure has begun .....

The weather report predicted favorable winds from the north-east and we set sail on the afternoon of October 29. During the afternoon and evening the winds increased and we were flying with the sea rolling in from behind. The night was a little uncomfortable and the new crew needed some time to get used to the motion. By midnight we passed the delta of the Ebro and changed course to pass between Denia and the island of Ibiza. We continued south on that course along the coast for another 2 days, passing Alicante and Cartagena on the Costa Blanca. Even visible from the boat, the Cabo de Gata in the province of Murcia has a lunar-like landscape and in some places is dryer and sunnier than the Sahara desert. Sometime during the day a shoal of dolphins visited us and displayed their magnificent abilities to glide effortlessly through the water, right under our bows. We were lying on the trampoline net taking it all in.

The wind had abated by then a little and between motoring and sailing we reached the port of Almeria and called in for a night of good rest. Before we entered the port we decided to take advantage of the sun and calm sea and have a last ‘bath’ in the Med, and a relaxed lunch.

Feeling strengthened again we headed out and spend the next day and night passing the Costa del Sol with a magnificent view of the Sierra Nevada and the highest mountain in Spain, Pico de Mulhacen.  The next morning the wind started to pick up again and by the time we reached Puerto Banus just to the south of Marbella we had 25 knots and thundering rain. This weather continued most of the day and through the night. The following morning at 6 am we decided to postpone our departure for a day as lightning and thunder continued and it didn’t look like we would have a chance to reach Gibraltar going against the wind. The weather predictions however promised better conditions for the next day and when we headed out of the marina we had sun and soon after 15 knots of steady winds from the west. By midday we had 2 reefs in the main and genoa and gusts to 35 knots. Although we were sailing hard the rock of Gibraltar didn’t seem to be getting any closer. It took another 3 hours before we finally rounded the Punta de Europa and could change tack, heading into the bay of Algeciras towards Gibraltar. We hoisted the Union Jack and the yellow customs flag and weaved our way through the fleet of anchored merchant ships and ferries. When entering the port we found out that there was no space in any of the marinas in Gibraltar for our catamaran. We decided to fill up with tax-free diesel and go across to Spain again. After a quick change back to the Spanish courtesy flag again we entered the Puerto Alcaidesa in La Linea de la Concepcion. The wind was still blowing a stiff 25 knots out of the west and the temperature was dropping. By the time we were finally moored it was just before dark. It took us all day to do just 40 miles and the boat was salt crusted.

The next morning was spent with getting PasoDoble back into ship-shape and afterwards we were heading into Gibraltar, crossing the border and the tarmac of the airport runway by foot, ready to check out this bizarre British set-up at the southern tip of Europe.

COTE d’AZUR ….. tres jolie ….. and back to CORSE

it always has been and still is a playground, a place to gaze and [for some] a place to show off …… and very full over summer – that sums up the Cote d’Azur.

Antibes is one of the 'hyped' spots along the French Cote d’Azur. This was where we met our new crew – Simone & Bernward with their 4 amazing children Damian, Miriam, Paula and Lea.

It was the first time for them to be on a sailing holiday in the Med and to be counted on as an active crew – with Damian being the supervisor.

A week is not all that long. The idea was to do a round trip and cruise down the coast, find a few quiet anchorages, spend a few days around the Iles d’Hyeres and then return to where we started so they could pick up their car again and continue their land holiday - and that was exactly what we did. We past the Iles St. Margarite with its spectacular abbey and fort right on the water edge. Then found a quiet anchor spot around the Cap Roux and continued the next day past the absolute playground of Plage de Pampelonne to Iles Levant, our first stop in the Iles d’Hyeres group. We had to motor quite a bit as wind was still scarce, but the next day we found some wind and sailed to Ile Port Cros.  We had a nice cruisy day there exploring the island and a snorkeling educational marine park. On the way back towards Antibes we dropped anchor next to the Ile d’Or – I thought I mention that just in case there are some ‘Rin Tin Tin’ fans amongst the readers. We dropped into St Tropez town on the way and explored the very busy streets. Then we arrived back at our starting point Antibes.

All in all we had a wonderful week and made the experience that the PasoDoble can also accommodate a family with 4 children.

The following week was scheduled without crew on board and the plan was to head back to the west coast of Corsica, find a quiet spot to finish off some of the many started and unfinished jobs around the boat and then – relax a bit, in one place. We achieved both in the Port of St. Florent on the north western corner of Corsica. But first the mistral showed some of its teeth and we endured a very heavy deluge during our last night in Antibes. After cleaning up the boat we took our chances and tagged ourselves to the last winds of the mistral from the night before, heading out for an overnighter around 5pm. The passage was mixed with steady NE winds of around 20 knots to start off for the first few hours and we logged good progress. Then the wind dropped off and we motor sailed for a few hours under a starry clear night sky. At about 4 am the wind came up again, but this time from the SE and steadily increased to about 20 knots. We had to reef the genoa for a few hours with the wind changing to a SW. By mid morning we were motoring again with a light northerly breeze. At 4.30pm we dropped anchor outside the port of St.Florent and stayed in the bay for a few days before more wind and some fierce looking clouds convinced us to get a mooring in the port.

The following Saturday we were joined by Fleur, Marco, Heidi and August for a 2 week journey down the west coast of Corsica.

The trip started uncomfortably wet and windy with a choppy sea, something the west coast of Corsica can offer any time. We made it to Ile Rousse where we were allocated a mooring right next to the ferry terminal. A rather interesting and intimidating experience to have breakfast with a close up view of the big Med ferries [check the guy hanging out the bow hole].

The forecast of force 8 winds we received the following day convinced us that it was a good idea to stay put. Instead we explored the light house precinct close by and looking out onto the rough sea made us feel better to be on land. To our surprise we found a sheltered bay just under the light house and even snorkeled.

The next day was only marginally better, but we decided to move on. We motored into a heavy head wind with short, choppy sea and some of the still not so sea experienced crew on board felt rather uncomfortable, but we made it to Calvi that day. After that experience and still no improvement on the weather we stayed another day in Calvi to recover. It was worth it as Calvi with its spectacular mountainous backdrop had plenty to offer.

The wind abated and we continued our way south, happy to find some beautiful anchor spots in the abundant nature of Corsica’s west coast after days in ports. A sleep out on our great trampoline under a beautiful night sky was included - only cats can offer that ......

Ajaccio was our next stop where we picked up Susanne. After replenishing supplies we headed out again in search for more nature and found it aplenty. We rounded Cap Rosso and weaved our way through a rocky passage with some incredible underwater rock formations and colours, requiring some special piloting. After many futile attempts we finally caught our first fish and baptized our newly installed gas BBQ.

After some more spectacularly beautiful yet completely different anchor spots and some exhilarating sailing in the strait between Corsica and Sardinia we arrived at our final destination of Bonifacio at the very southern tip of Corsica. Having been there before about 7 weeks ago we already knew the attraction of the place and were not disappointed. The upper town is perched on top of overhanging rocks about 150m above the sea the town and is steeped in history, claims a visit of Napoleon Bonaparte and is well worth a visit. Behind the natural protection of the rocky sandstone cliffs and through a narrow entry lies a picturesque harbour. Contrary to our first visit during peak season we even managed to get a mooring this time.