This year our lovely high maintenance boat, Verano Azul required extensive servicing (almost 800 engine hours & 7 years). We therefore drove down through France , stopping overnight in pretty Beaune before completing the drive to Sanremo. A day or so of preparing the boat, \240including Andrew changing all 4 starter batteries (very heavy) & lots of other bits & pieces we were ready.

Luckily the weather & sea state were also clement albeit chilly so on Saturday 18th Feb we took VA the 53 nautical miles back to Frejus in France where we could get experienced Cummins engine engineers as well as do the boat lift & bottom clean. We arrived cold but happy from a 5 hour trip in which we saw a turtle & a sunfish but not much else.

Frejus is a modern marina, not particularly pretty (although the old town is) with lovely beaches. We spent 2 more nights on board before taking the boat into the crane lift. As usual a stressful manoeuvre to get into the lift dock & then watch our 30 tonne beauty lifted out of the water & deposited onto the hard. Once on the hard we moved into a hotel whilst Andrew spent time with the engineers ensuring everything was being covered off whilst I walked coastal paths & enjoyed the warmer weather of the South of France. We took the train back to Sanremo to pick up the car on Sunday, meeting a lovely 82 year old couple on the way who kept us entertained all the way from Cannes to Menton.

After a couple of days in Frejus we realised that it wasn’t that great so once Andrew was happy with everything at the boatyard we headed back up through France (11 hour drive) to Ouistreham & back on the overnight ferry home. VA will be delivered back to Sanremo for us at great expense once all the work is done, hopefully in time for our 4th summer on board starting in May.

If we can’t spend 6 months on board VA & \240we need a little boat fix what should we do?? The answer of course is hire a catamaran in the British Virgin Islands. \240Sunny weather, warm seas & lots of amazing anchorages to explore oh & did I mention sunny weather (mostly).

We have spent 5 nights onboard Blu Heron a 42 foot Lagoon catamaran yacht & it’s lovely. We are here with Liz & Steve, friends & seasoned sailors. \240A very stable but spacious boat, not as luxurious as VA but still quite comfortable for 4 of us, we each have a wing.

The BVI is rather lovely with white Sandy beaches, turquoise seas & some rather good rum bars. Nothing is too far away.

We started at Nanny Cay Marina on the South Coast of Tortola. We then crossed to The Bight mooring on Norman Island, a gorgeous spot with a pretty good restaurant. From there we went north past Tortola to Jost van Dyke island, famous for its rum bars. Today we came the 4nm to Little Jost van Dyke & Sandy Cay -wow. Lovely paddle boarding incredible snorkelling & another rum bar.

A few photos so far.

Here is our BVI adventure part 2.

After 2 weeks on board Blu Heron we said goodbye to her today. We visited at least 6 different islands in the BVI, Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Little Jost Van Dyke, Anegada, Saba Rock/Prickly Pear island, Virgin Gorda, Coopers Island and Norman Island. We did get the sail up a couple of times but there was either no wind at all or too much wind so motor was much more reliable. We have drunk lots of rum punch, painkillers and other rum cocktails. We ate the most fabulous lobster on Anegada. We hired a minimoke & drove around Anegada. We have paddle boarded, kayaked, snorkels & swam. We have seen turtles, loads of fish (big & small), pelicans, birds & chickens.

All in all it’s been a fabulous couple of weeks with lots of laughs, the odd mishap (rope around the props), no bung in the tender & water in the bilge but we survived 😎😎.

Now we have said goodbye to Liz & Steve who are flying back tonight whilst we have an Upper Class flight back on Virgin tomorrow (oh yes 😍). Next boating adventure will be back on VA in May.

We are back 😍 yippeee. Now we have a couple of days here to ready everything before we leave Sanremo for good.

After 3 winters berthed in Sanremo we left this wonderful town that felt like our home for the last time. Leaving on Friday was touch & go after a number of unresolved \240mechanical issues from the mega service VA had undergone in the winter but we decided to head out anyway.

Bad decision really because our first journey of 55 nm was shitty, horrible force 5 head winds, choppy, swelly 1m plus waves & it rained on us - not our nicest trip but it felt good to get moving again so it was the right decision. We arrived here in Arenzano, wet, cold & exhausted but happy after 5 hours at sea with 1 dolphin sighting.

Arenzano is a small beach town with a quiet but nice marina (cheap) & a good train service to Genova (which is where we wanted to explore). Today we took the very cheap & excellent train into the city of Genova & had a wonderful day exploring the tiny old streets, the churches & cathedral & huge port area with aquarium. We enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch & walked for miles & miles (15000 steps!) \240returning to Arenzano feeling like we had done Genova justice.

Tomorrow we head out early to do the 74 nm to Viareggio in Tuscany. Goodbye Liguria, it has been fabulous touring here over the summers of 2021 (Covid) & 2022.

Here are a few photos of the past few days.

Thank goodness, our trip here to Viareggio albeit long was very smooth with light winds. What a pleasant change from our first journey. We had a lovely reception from the ormaggiatori here, very friendly and helpful on arrival which is always appreciated after almost 8 hours at sea. Most excitingly en route we saw dolphins & a whale (fin whale I think) who breached & did a tail flick albeit too far away to photograph but very impressive non the less.

So what can we say about Viareggio other than it’s a pleasant enough place without having a lot to do or see. Lots of huge ship builders & accompanying businesses. Lots of tourist restaurants & shops & its ok but not a place you would want to stay long. We have had to spend 3 nights which is 1 too many because of the weather (still wet & very windy ☹️). So a day doing chores onboard and a fabulous day today visiting Lucca (just 20 minute train journey away).

Lucca has the 2nd longest entirely complete renaissance city wall in Europe. Second to Nicosia in Cyprus apparently. The town was originally Roman but now more Middle Ages & very lovely. We visited churches, Duomo, Palazzos, the house where Puccini was born & now a museum to him. We obviously found a tower to climb, Torre Guinigi to get some great views of the city. We wandered through the pretty cobbled streets & along the city walls. A real gem to visit & made the stopover in Viareggio worthwhile. Tomorrow we continue to head south in search of the Italian summer.

PS we have been in Italy for over one week now & I still haven’t had a gelato 😇 can’t hold out much longer though 😂

Part 2 May-June

Cecina - Rome