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Forked River
Arrived on
3rd Jun 2013 |
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72°f
partial clouds.
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Blog updated: 14th Jun 2013
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Our latest 5 Diary Entries
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15th Sep 2011 - 2nd Oct 2011
Heading West – through Corsica and the Balearics to Gibraltar
We were definitely on the fast track as we hopped from one famous Mediterranean island to the next. Fall was in the air and we were continuing to feel that it was time to say goodbye to Europe and the Middle East and the three incredible sailing seasons we had spent there. We have often met American cruisers who have been in Europe cruising for a decade or more. But not us - we were finally getting a bit homesick.
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Diary Photos
| 15th Sep 2011 Four-month old Sam calls us home |
| Keep in mind that we were under the spell of our first grandson, whom we met in July, and who spoke to us on our computer’s desktop every morning when we checked our mail. Surely you grandparents out there can understand! |
| 15th Sep 2011 Bright Ayes in the distance, as seen from the cliff tops of Bonifacio |
| After leaving Sardinia, we sailed to Corsica, just a few short kilometers to the north. Corsica is French, and we were still salivating from the month we spent in France after we made landfall in La Rochelle over two years before. In spite of the tour books which declared that Corsica has only been part of France for 200 years and is defiantly independent, we found it to be French – beautiful, proud, and stylish. They don’t quite have the talents in the kitchen of their northern fatherland, though. Maybe fatherland isn’t the right word – the Corsicans would likely call France their oppressors instead.
Bonifacio has a citadel within whose walls is a charming maze of alleyways perched precariously on white chalk-colored cliffs overlooking the most amazingly deep blue sea. We anchored at the foot of these cliffs in 60 feet of water, and we were astounded that we could easily see the bottom through the Corsican-blue water. |
| 15th Sep 2011 The lower town of Bonifacio |
| From the same cliff top as the prior photo, Wayne turned the camera 180 degrees to snap the classy Bonifacio harbor. While a bit chic for us country folk, we still enjoyed strolling along its waterfront. |
| 15th Sep 2011 Bonaficio’s harbor |
| While anchoring Bright Ayes, we watched this beautiful square rigger Sea Cloud, under full sail, as she glided across the strait and disappeared into Bonaficio’s narrow harbor. She dominated the vista from several overlooks in the upper village and seemed a perfect enhancement to the stunning views. |
| 15th Sep 2011 Bonaficio’s sandstone cliffs, taken from our bow |
| In order to appreciate the height of these cliffs, look carefully at the small beach in the shallow cave in the lower right corner. Take my word for it – there is a kayak there with two people walking in the sand next to it. |
| 16th Sep 2011 Refilling our tanks |
| We were quite surprised to find the price of both the diesel and propane in Bonifacio to be very reasonable, so we filled our tanks. Reasonable, that is, if you consider diesel at nearly $8.00/gallon to be reasonable! We have paid as much as $10 in other parts of Europe. Not wanting to exchange our clear corrosion-proof fiberglass propane tanks for aluminum or steel tanks, Wayne has become very proficient at purchasing propane in a metal tank, transferring the propane to our fiberglass tanks, then returning the empty tank to the seller. He has accumulated the various fittings and hoses needed to complete the operation in most European countries, and his expertise is the envy of many a cruiser we meet. |
| 17th Sep 2011 Ajaccio’s harbor in Corsica |
| Ajaccio (pronounced a-jock-show) is the capital of Corsica. Its crown of mountains that nearly encircle the harbor made a grand backdrop to the colorful fishing boats that decorate its piers. We rode out a mistral here, anchoring in the shelter of a couple of cruise ships on one side and the mountains on the other. The meltemis of the eastern Med had been replaced by mistrals in the western Med. The mistral (or maestral) is a cold dry northwest wind which is formed when air from France is blocked by the tall Alps and is funneled to the Rhone valley and into the western Med. We saw winds of no more than 25 knots in the harbor, but heard reports of 35 knot winds just outside. |
| 17th Sep 2011 Napoleon was born in Ajaccio. |
| Thanks to numerous statues, museums and streets honoring or named for its favorite son, it is hard to imagine missing this fact as you walk through town. |
| 18th Sep 2011 Limited view from the train to Corte |
| We had read that the narrow gauge rail train ride from Ajaccio to the former capital of Corte should not be missed, but this must have been before the trees grew up to block the view of the mountains and just after the train’s windows were cleaned. The best part of the ride was the people we met in transit. On the way to Corte, we enjoyed getting to know Peter, a Canadian on a backpacking vacation. On the trip home we were fascinated by the life story of Sandra, a multi-national beauty born on an Indian Ocean island, who had lived in New Caledonia and France and graduated from nursing school in Corsica. She was completing ten days of hiking and camping by herself on the mountain trails for which Corsica is famous. In fact, the train station was full of hikers as we waited for our trip back to Bright Ayes.
We asked the well-traveled Sandra if she had visited the U.S., and she replied that she was more than a little intimidated by the thought. After probing a bit more, she admitted that she didn’t think her nursing degree would be accepted in the U.S. I could tell that Wayne was fantasizing about finding her attending to him, should he ever find himself in the hospital! |
| 18th Sep 2011 Beautiful Corte |
| While the views from the train were a disappointment, the destination, Corte, was not; and we had plenty of time to explore it. There were only two trains daily between Ajaccio and Corte, so we had eight hours to get to know this charming town before our return trip in the evening. |
| 18th Sep 2011 The Citadel of Corte |
| The highest point in Corte is a fortress built in the 15th century and augmented in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its stone walls amid the surrounding mountains were hauntingly beautiful. We toured the Museum of Corsica, formerly a military hospital, which is just below the citadel. Corte was the capital of the Corsican independent state during the 18th century, before the French conquered it. During World War I, German prisoners of war were kept in the Citadel. |
| 18th Sep 2011 Quaint Corte |
| We leisurely walked through the ancient stone-paved streets, lunched in a charming café, and shopped in Corte’s shops. Still we had four hours before our train back to Ajaccio! |
| 18th Sep 2011 View of Corte from its citadel |
| When we saw a soccer field from afar, we decided to see if we could attend the match that was obviously in progress. There is a university in Corte, so we speculated that maybe it was a university match. We were pleasantly surprised that we could walk right into the stadium and sit down, and even more pleasantly surprised when we realized that the players were all 10-13 year old boys. It was opening day for the fall soccer season, and we watched several mini-matches between what appeared to be all the teams in the league. It brought back memories of being parents at little league games, tennis matches, basketball games, and cross-country meets. From there, it was just a short walk back to the train station to await our ride home. |
| 20th Sep 2011 Unplugging the head the hard way |
| Back in Ajaccio, we prepared to sail to Menorca, one of the Balearic Islands of Spain. However, our toilet was plugged. After disassembling the plumbing from the inside, Wayne determined that the problem was in the last elbow near the overboard through-hull. He purchased a plumber’s snake (one of the few tools he didn’t have on board) and attempted to clear the jam from the outside. When this didn’t work either, he resorted to one final trick involving water pressure from the garden hose that we use to wash down the deck and clean the anchor locker. Of course this was the simplest thing he had tried, and it worked almost immediately. However, I firmly believe that he saved this idea until the end so he could get full enjoyment from the process. |
| 22nd Sep 2011 Time at sea |
| The mistral had left behind some telltale strong wind and seas, making the first few hours of our two night passage to Menorca pretty rough. I was very disappointed that I lost my dinner during my 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. watch and asked Wayne to relieve me after he had been resting for just an hour. But I awoke at 2 a.m. feeling much better. Since the seas had calmed down by then, I took over and gave him some badly needed sleep. During the remainder of the passage, it was calm enough to allow reading and even work on my needlecraft project. September is a beautiful month for sailors with clear sunny days and crisp cool nights. |
| 22nd Sep 2011 Mahon, Menorca |
| We had planned to visit the Balearic Islands of Spain a year ago when we were headed from Cartagena, Spain, to Tunisia. However, we feared the increasing frequency of stormy weather as winter approached, so we did a non-stop three day passage, saying we would have plenty of time to see the Balearic Islands on the way out of the Med. Fast forward to 2011. Of course, we were again itchy, sensing the need to reach the Canary Islands before “the gales of November came calling.” But this time we did spend enough time in two of the Balearics (Menorca and Mallorca) to appreciate that they have much more to offer than simply sun, sand and sangria.
We arrived in Mahon, the capital of Menorca, in time to do some sightseeing. Mahon has a distinctly British feel, since it was once a part of their empire. The island itself is much quieter, less inhabited, and less visited than its neighbor Mallorca (sometimes spelled Majorca, always pronounced Mayorka). |
| 22nd Sep 2011 The streets of Mahon |
| We searched Mahon for a new 3G sim card for our computer’s dongle. If that makes no sense to you, fear not. It made little sense to us either until recently. Since we began cruising four years ago, we have been able to use a wifi amplifier and antenna on the boat to pick up an unsecured wifi signal from shore, from which we could pirate internet. However, the number of unsecured wifi sites has steadily diminished over the years as to be almost non-existent now. The dongle, with a new sim card for each country we visit, lets us connect to the internet using the plentiful cell phone towers to provide us with signal. If it still makes no sense to you, suffice it to say that we had a purpose in mind as we meandered through the streets of Mahon. |
| 22nd Sep 2011 One stop shopping |
| Next to Mahon’s huge old cathedral is its market (mercat). We have found that almost every town in the Med has a central church or mosque and a market for fresh meat, fish, and vegetables. Never have they been this close together. We took a break from our sim card search and listened to an organ recital in the cathedral, which had a beautiful old pipe organ. Then we shopped for fresh veggies and fruit next door. |
| 22nd Sep 2011 Menorca, we little knew thee |
| We left Menorca after only one night in Mahon, realizing that like Sardinia before it, Menorca is probably the beautiful unspoiled island that it claims to be. However, we didn’t want to spend the time and energy to find out. This happens more frequently now – we find it easier than ever before to leave stones unturned. We interpret this as a sign that it is time to head towards home. We have seen and done so much in the past few years that the law of diminishing returns applies. |
| 24th Sep 2011 Porto Cristo, Mallorca |
| Mallorca, unlike its little sister Menorca, is a bustling mecca for tourism. This beach in Porto Cristo was deserted on an early September morning, but in August it would certainly be jammed. Bright Ayes is alone in the anchorage in the distance, also likely a rare sight in high season. In spite of the sparse tourist population, glass bottom tour boats roared by us on their way into the harbor at regular 30-minute intervals, causing us to hold on to whatever we were doing lest it topple over. Thankfully, when the sun |
| 24th Sep 2011 What are those drops of water on that hand grip? |
| While the rain came with a frighteningly strong gale-force wind, we were still grateful for the deck washing. Our four-month drought was over, the salt was washed off the deck, and the lines became supple and easy to coil again. |
| 25th Sep 2011 Early starts |
| Early starts
As we made our way across Mallorca to its capital of Palma, we sailed about 50 miles a day before stopping to anchor at night. In mid-summer, this was nothing. But as the days shortened, we needed to leave in the early morning darkness to ensure arrival before dark. This meant some beautiful sunrises underway – a sight we never tire of in spite of the number of them we have witnessed. |
| 25th Sep 2011 Another great view, day or night, from anchor – Palma, Mallorca |
| We anchored in Mallorca’s large harbor, just a few meters from the landmark cathedral that dominates its skyline. This cathedral was built over the course of 300 years from the 14th to the 17th centuries. It was severely damaged in an earthquake in the 19th century and restored in the 20th with the help of famous Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. It looks fabulous today – can we say the same for anything built in the U.S. during the time that Columbus discovered America? |
| 27th Sep 2011 Palma’s shopping district |
| Palma is a city I where I could happily live. It was difficult to believe that it is on a relatively small island, since it has the mainland big-city feel without the big city dirt and smell. It is filled with landscaped parks, wide tree-lined boulevards, cobbled lanes, and beautiful Gothic and baroque buildings. It has a good bus system, which we found we had to use since, after one night in the anchorage with the cathedral view, we were told by harbor officials to move elsewhere.
The other sailboat anchored near us was from New Zealand, and we commiserated with its skipper Kerry about the need to re-anchor. We followed him to a very pretty anchorage off a beach just a couple of miles from downtown with frequent bus connections to town. We found we had much in common with Kerry, who was also on his way to Gibraltar, then on to the Canary Islands and across to Trinidad, just as we were. We spent a very enjoyable day touring Palma with him, and he had dinner on Bright Ayes that night. |
| 27th Sep 2011 Palma’s mammoth harbor filled with mega-yachts |
| Walking along Palma’s large harbor is a jaw-dropping experience where pier after pier after pier of mega-yachts, both power and sail, are kept behind locked gates. We have seen many ports in Europe and the Caribbean that serve as home ports to mega-yachts, but nothing comes close to Palma. While mostly privately owned, they have a professional crew who lives aboard, cares for, and maintains the boat for likely infrequent use by its owner and hopefully frequent use by other parties who charter it.
Although Kerry was alone on his yacht, he was visiting a childhood friend who skippers one of the smaller of these mega-yachts in Palma. Kerry had been told by his friend that chartering one of these yachts for one week can cost between $100, 000 and $1, 000, 000!
This brings up one more terrific thing about Kerry: he had access to a car that he had rented for the week with his friend, who had to work the yacht he skippered during the week. So on our second day in Palma, he drove us to Mallorca’s hinterland, its sloping northwest coast, reputed to comprise “the other Mallorca.” |
| 28th Sep 2011 Hinterland, its sloping northwest coast, reputed to comprise “the other Mallorca.” |
| On the northwest coast, there are no sandy beach resorts. The coastline is rocky and largely inaccessible. Villages are built largely of local stone atop rugged hills and mountains. Valldemossa is known for its famous residents: composer Frederic Chopin and his female lover writer George Sand, and more recently Michael Douglas and his wife Kathryn Zeta Jones. We visited its museum, which features a very effective wide-screen video of the history of the village narrated by Douglas. After watching it, we were pre-programmed to love what we saw – he has a very convincing personality. In all fairness, what we saw was beautiful, just as Michael said it was. |
| 28th Sep 2011 Kerry and I in the gardens of the Real Cartuja de Valldemossa |
| The monks were expelled from this monastery in 1835 (don’t know why), and it was turned into apartments. For a short time it was home to Chopin and Sand, and it still holds Chopin’s piano. |
| 28th Sep 2011 A little further up the coast is the village of Deià |
| This photo is shot from the balcony of the home of wealthy Austrian traveler Ludwig Salvadore Osterreich who, like Michael Douglas, fell in love with this coast of Mallorca and did much to promote it. His late 1800’s home is now a very pleasant museum. |
| 28th Sep 2011 Delicious and what a view! |
| Kerry’s friend had recommended that we stop for lunch at a “can’t miss” restaurant perched atop a mountain by itself. We shared marina arroz (seafood and rice soup) for three, and it was indeed a “can’t miss” lunch. |
| 28th Sep 2011 Sóller, Mallorca |
| Unlike the other villages we passed, Sóller is a seaside village on a coastal valley backed by the stone cliffs of the Tramuntana Mountains. From here, we turned the car around and headed back to Palma. I’m sure that Kerry wishes this had been our last stop, but it wasn’t. |
| 28th Sep 2011 The Port of Valldemossa |
| On the trip up the coast earlier in the day, we had stopped at the mountain village of Valldemossa. On the drive back down the coast, Kerry wanted to check out the sign that pointed to the port of Valldemossa as a potential sailing destination. We wound our way down a narrow one-lane mountain road, full of switchbacks. Several times we had to back up or pull over in a wide spot to let an oncoming vehicle pass. At one point a rock outcropping made a canopy just over the top of the car. When we finally reached the bottom, the tiny port we found was just large enough for a very limited number of small fishing boats, but certainly not for a cruising sailboat. But it was an innocent little village and before setting off again to wind our way up the road, we spent a few minutes exploring it.
When we arrived back at Palma, Kerry was very dismayed to find that his laptop, zipped into his backpack in the back seat of the car, was missing. As he reconstructed when, if ever, he had left the car unlocked, he realized that it had been in the port of Valldemossa, that innocent little village. When we stepped out of the car to stretch our legs, Kerry didn’t think it necessary to lock. But it was the few minutes we spent exploring the village that gave an alert thief the opportunity to search the car and steal his laptop. Even in paradise, bad things happen. |
| 1st Oct 2011 Underway to Gibraltar in lumpy seas |
| Wayne downloads a weather forecast every day. Maybe because of his farm background or his experience as a pilot, he is very interested in weather, and has been known to sit in front of the weather channel at home for long periods of time. As a result, he interprets weather reports well and when the window to sail a passage rather than motor it appears, we take it. As a result the third famous Ballearic Island of Ibiza remains one of those stones left unturned that I mentioned earlier. Its reputation as a party island in the summer months and a hangout for the rich and famous was not terribly alluring to us anyway.
The three day and night passage from Mallorca to Gibraltar was primarily a nice sail. For a while, the waves were larger than the wind speed, making it uncomfortable, but I had learned my lesson on the passage from Corsica to Menorca. I began taking Stugeron, a British seasickness medication which seems to be the most successful of the many remedies I have tried. While it makes me feel a bit drowsy and dry-mouthed, sometimes it is worth it. |
| 2nd Oct 2011 The Rock of Gibraltar – a welcome sight |
| We arrived in Gibraltar, where we had spent about a week last fall when we entered the Med. Its looming presence after several days at sea was definitely welcome, but it also signaled the end of our Mediterranean adventure. Nostalgically, we were reminded of the many wonderful people we had met and the sights we had explored during the past year in 11 countries and way too many islands associated with those countries to count. All precious memories now. |
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