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…
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