They didn't let us use the pool! Only for yacht club members, so instead we spent a tiring afternoon lying on the bow cushions, soaking up the sun. So cruel.
We woke on Monday to glorious blue skies and after the usual early morning chores, dropped the ropes and sailed out of port onto an equally glorious blue - and utterly calm - sea. We had seen a little cove on our way in, so made our way there with the intention of anchoring off, but discovered that it was all restricted to smaller craft and our only option would have been to drop anchor in the entrance channel - which wouldn't have made us popular. Instead we found a place nearer to Portofino where we spent the day, again making good use of the bow cushions. Frank had his first swim in the Med of the year and came out looking slightly blue (although he reckoned it was positively warm compared to Lake Garda)so I kept my toes firmly away from the ladder!
Early evening we came into Portofino which is quite charming. In fact, it doesn't look quite real, it is so pretty! It could easily be a film set for some 1950s musical although the prices are definitely 2010. There was a bit of a kefuffle mooring up as the lazy lines were tangled on the seabed and eventually required a diver to go below and release them. The whole process took a lot of shouting and gesticulating, in typical Italian style!
The day finished with an excellent meal at the Splendido Mare, accompanied by an excellent bottle of wine! And that would have been that, had the wind not come up during the night which meant a lot of noise and movement for Zaffina and a few sleepless hours for us. And then the binmen decided to empty the massive glass bins at 8 o clock this morning...tons and tons of glass crashing down, bottle against bottle, into the lorry! An effective if unwelcome alarm call. So we reckon we may move on today!
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Sunday 23rd May 2010
We’ve finally done it – our first voyage of the year and what a glorious trip it was. Well, apart from a shower of rain that is! As usual, those last minute jobs took longer than expected, and having hoped to leave Varazze before 3pm, we were still preparing to set off as the afternoon was slipping away. Our final concern was the fact that one of the generator filters was blocked with sea debris, something which should have been picked up during the engine service.
Once we were sure that everything was ship shape, we finally slipped the ropes and nosed out of our winter port, almost two weeks behind schedule. Whatever the delays, the sea was worth waiting for; icy calm under a blue sky, and Zaffina did what she does best – she flew down the coast, apparently enjoying being back at sea as much as we were. Our enjoyment of the journey lasted longer than the blue skies; although the sea remained utterly still, we could see we were heading towards rain and despite hoping to be south of the shower which was clearly falling on the land, we got a bit of a dousing and had to move to the lower helm position. Fortunately it didn’t last long and as we turned past Portofino and towards our destination, we moved back up top and savoured our arrival in port…to a serenade of church bells!
Rapallo is lovely, a typically Italian seaside town with traditional, grand but rather faded, villas and apartment buildings around a small sandy beach. It is surrounded by wooded hills, with little villages and churches high on the slopes overlooking the Med.
Our Italian neighbours, on a Sunseeker of equal size to Zaffina, are very snooty and obviously thought we were the crew when we came in! We’ve probably reinforced the image by doing all our own cooking and cleaning on board as they sit in their cockpit with eyebrows raised, sipping cocktails, and just managing to squeeze out pained smiles if we dare to wish them a good day! I am tempted to spit cherry stones at them when they’re not looking!
Anyhow, the sun is shining so we’re off to explore and suss out the nearby swimming pool. All is good…
Once we were sure that everything was ship shape, we finally slipped the ropes and nosed out of our winter port, almost two weeks behind schedule. Whatever the delays, the sea was worth waiting for; icy calm under a blue sky, and Zaffina did what she does best – she flew down the coast, apparently enjoying being back at sea as much as we were. Our enjoyment of the journey lasted longer than the blue skies; although the sea remained utterly still, we could see we were heading towards rain and despite hoping to be south of the shower which was clearly falling on the land, we got a bit of a dousing and had to move to the lower helm position. Fortunately it didn’t last long and as we turned past Portofino and towards our destination, we moved back up top and savoured our arrival in port…to a serenade of church bells!
Rapallo is lovely, a typically Italian seaside town with traditional, grand but rather faded, villas and apartment buildings around a small sandy beach. It is surrounded by wooded hills, with little villages and churches high on the slopes overlooking the Med.
Our Italian neighbours, on a Sunseeker of equal size to Zaffina, are very snooty and obviously thought we were the crew when we came in! We’ve probably reinforced the image by doing all our own cooking and cleaning on board as they sit in their cockpit with eyebrows raised, sipping cocktails, and just managing to squeeze out pained smiles if we dare to wish them a good day! I am tempted to spit cherry stones at them when they’re not looking!
Anyhow, the sun is shining so we’re off to explore and suss out the nearby swimming pool. All is good…
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Saturday 22nd May, Varazze
At last, we’re back on board Zaffina!
We arrived in Italy ten days ago to discover that the winter work was far from complete. Unsurprisingly, we were somewhat irritated, having given several months notice of our intended departure date, but there was little we could do except rant and rage a bit. Then we hired a car and went to Tuscany, which was simply breathtakingly beautiful, for a few days and on to Lake Garda for a few more. Weather was rubbish in Tuscany, rather better on Garda but we had an absolute ball and enjoyed every moment of our unexpected trip.
We got back here on Thursday fully intending to book into a hotel for another night. I had earmarked a place in town, which looked elegant but faded, but when we went to investigate a little closer it actually looked really cruddy, (which elicited a knowing “I told you so” from Frank!) A reception area in shades of dark brown with fake wood panelling is never a good look and we decided that the Italian star rating (this was a 4) is obviously somewhat different to the rest of the world! We then popped down to see how work was going on Zaffina and have a meeting with various people involved, and discovered that it was almost finished so the natural thing to do was to move on board. It's lovely to be back on her, although we'd forgotten how hard the mattress is in our cabin and we'll have to get used to the equivalent of sleeping on a board again!
Today is just perfect, no wind, no cloud, guess the temperature is somewhere in the mid twenties. All being well (provided the last jobs are done and there are a few to be finished and no sign of any workmen yet) we'll set off this afternoon. We had a sea trial on Thursday and while I was driving her and Frank was below, I spotted the first dolphin of the season - a good omen, I hope! We are starting to address those important chores like buying food - the fridge had champagne, ketchup and a small cheddar cheese in it during our first night. Even masterchef contestants would have a problem with coming up with something appetising from those ingredients! (Although they could add in some marmite rice cakes and custard from the store cupboard...yummy!)
We feel we’ve got to know this part of the Ligurian coast really well and we love it now; there are any number of quaint coastal towns and hilltop villages, beautiful countryside and a backdrop of mountains. It’s been great to see Varazze in the summer when it really comes alive, but we’ve been here long enough and the rest of Italy beckons. We’re already worried about the problems we may encounter with finding berths through the height of the summer, as we’ve heard that it gets even more crowded here than in Mallorca or the South of France, but we hope to spend nights at anchor whenever possible. We’ve already called 2 ports for places but just got a vague “try later” which isn’t overly encouraging but we’re keeping fingers crossed and hope to be somewhere near Portofino by tonight or tomorrow at the latest.
We arrived in Italy ten days ago to discover that the winter work was far from complete. Unsurprisingly, we were somewhat irritated, having given several months notice of our intended departure date, but there was little we could do except rant and rage a bit. Then we hired a car and went to Tuscany, which was simply breathtakingly beautiful, for a few days and on to Lake Garda for a few more. Weather was rubbish in Tuscany, rather better on Garda but we had an absolute ball and enjoyed every moment of our unexpected trip.
We got back here on Thursday fully intending to book into a hotel for another night. I had earmarked a place in town, which looked elegant but faded, but when we went to investigate a little closer it actually looked really cruddy, (which elicited a knowing “I told you so” from Frank!) A reception area in shades of dark brown with fake wood panelling is never a good look and we decided that the Italian star rating (this was a 4) is obviously somewhat different to the rest of the world! We then popped down to see how work was going on Zaffina and have a meeting with various people involved, and discovered that it was almost finished so the natural thing to do was to move on board. It's lovely to be back on her, although we'd forgotten how hard the mattress is in our cabin and we'll have to get used to the equivalent of sleeping on a board again!
Today is just perfect, no wind, no cloud, guess the temperature is somewhere in the mid twenties. All being well (provided the last jobs are done and there are a few to be finished and no sign of any workmen yet) we'll set off this afternoon. We had a sea trial on Thursday and while I was driving her and Frank was below, I spotted the first dolphin of the season - a good omen, I hope! We are starting to address those important chores like buying food - the fridge had champagne, ketchup and a small cheddar cheese in it during our first night. Even masterchef contestants would have a problem with coming up with something appetising from those ingredients! (Although they could add in some marmite rice cakes and custard from the store cupboard...yummy!)
We feel we’ve got to know this part of the Ligurian coast really well and we love it now; there are any number of quaint coastal towns and hilltop villages, beautiful countryside and a backdrop of mountains. It’s been great to see Varazze in the summer when it really comes alive, but we’ve been here long enough and the rest of Italy beckons. We’re already worried about the problems we may encounter with finding berths through the height of the summer, as we’ve heard that it gets even more crowded here than in Mallorca or the South of France, but we hope to spend nights at anchor whenever possible. We’ve already called 2 ports for places but just got a vague “try later” which isn’t overly encouraging but we’re keeping fingers crossed and hope to be somewhere near Portofino by tonight or tomorrow at the latest.
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