The Garagnani family joined us in Martinique

That was an unexpected pleasure meeting  up with the Garagnani family in Martinique. As per usual all last minute arrangements but it did work beautifully. Carole not so keen to spend 10 days on Mr X had rented a villa in the hill of the Anse a l’Ane, complete with swimming pool and a view to die for. We could even see Mr X in the bay down below, well, the top of its mast anyway.

We had a fabulous time touring the island and finding the best beaches. Finally managed to set up the hammocks and it did feel like a real holiday. The last 2 days sailing were fun too, I think they enjoyed the snorkelling from the boat.

Highlights: lazing around in the hammock on the atmospheric Atlantic beaches, walking up the waterfall in Ajoupa Bouillon, drive up the mountains in the clouds….and plenty of good food (in and out) and excellent company….without forgetting hot showers and a brand new camera!

Karen all at sea

Driving

 

True to her word, Karen came and found us in Gran Canaria.

Glad she did, we had such a good time, well I certainly enjoyed it and I think she did too. It was great to catch up, reminisce and gossip.

And much to my surprise she did want to try the sailing thing too.

See how she got on…

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Garagnanis onboard

All on board - The Garagnanis

All on board – The Garagnanis

The cruising Garagnanis

We needed to get fuel and water before we set off any further. Carole was arriving on the Monday 8th August, so we had the afternoon and a night to recover from the lack of sleep. The rade of Toulon is not especially pretty, it is  one of the biggest French naval base and it is littered with huge war ships of various shape and size.

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Shake down sail

Wednesday 6th July

Finally, after a week of frantic preparations, we sailed out of the river to the open sea. Slow start in the morning, we are waiting for the upholsterer to deliver the last missing cushions….just as well really, Lili arrived last night and we want to go through all the safety briefing before we set off. Weather is beautiful, Lili is in her swimsuit and off we went northward in very little wind. Getting back to sea is a joy, the lack of wind at the start makes it easier to set all the sails before it pipes up late morning as it usually does. We are aiming for Riva Traiano, 28 miles from Fumicino. Managed to get 5.7 knots in 12 knots of wind!  Lili is extremely good helm. We got there in about 7 hours which gave us plenty time to explore the marina and have a leisurely dinner on board.

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Italy July 16 (18.07.16)