Hello dearest friends and family,

Most of you won't know that shortly after sending out my last ChaliGram on April 1, Chuck questioned our cruising plan, so......... typical of our lifestyle, it CHANGED! Instead of heading southeast to the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Minorca, etc) then to Sardinia, Corsica and finally Sicily, we decided to head NORTHEAST .... back to France, which we loved so much last year. However, we'll only be along the French coast til about mid-June, so we're hitting our favorite spots we discovered last year and will try out a couple of new ones. Then.... instead of turning around at Menton -- the last harbor town in France -- we'll continue to cruise along the Italian coast starting with San Remo. We think. We now have TWO rendezvous' with land traveling friends/family in July and August, so being on mainland Italy makes life a lot easier. Then it''ll just be a question of how we go to Sicily, but it'll PROBABLY be over to the east coast of Sardinia, then down and over -- with a quick stop in Tunisia first to re-start our EU VAT (tax) clock (the boat can only be in the EU for 18 months at a time).

SO! We finally left Barcelona on April 29th and spent a couple of days up the coast in Blanes. From there, we did an easy, uneventful and pleasant 160 mile passage -- about 28 hours or so -- crossing the Golfe du Lion. Happily, everything worked: new mainsail, the watermaker (HOOORAY FOR CHUCK!!!), engine and refrigerator. I just love it when that happens! We landed in lovely La Ciotat where we stayed a week. It's a real working town, and has open air markets 2x week, a laundromat, a good grocery store, lots of restaurants, and.... the old port is cheap! Last Sunday they were practicing their (water) jousting.... a popular competition along the French coast. It's the 3rd time we've visited there. It's the kind of town, we'd love to be able to secure a permanent berth and LIVE there.... but alas, the waiting list for a berth is 9 years long!!! Now we're in beautiful Sanary sur Mer, a mere 10 miles to the east of La Ciotat, where we visited last September and fell in love with the place. Too bad it's so damned expensive, because we'd love to stay here for much longer than the 4 days we've already paid for. Of course, with tomorrow's forecast for a gale in western provence, we may end up staying another night anyway. There's so much "wait and see" to our lives. Last September, we met a lovely British couple, Peter (Ashdown, world renowned champion race car driver from the late 50's/early 60's) and June who own a house down here. Well! They're back for the spring, and we've had a couple of lovely social gatherings together. We just returned from their gorgeous home where we were treated to lounging around their pool before a delicious lunch of BBQ'd kebabs, chicken drumsticks and lambchops, roasted veggies and salad. YUMMMMMMMMM. It's amazing how much better food tastes when someone ELSE cooks it, isn't it? What a treat! Zoey was stimulated the entire time we were there wandering in their garden and sniffing everything! Not only did she NOT sleep -- which is her usual past-time -- but she was active ALL AFTERNOON. I had to carry our little old 94 year old dog (she's 13.5 in human years) back from their house to the boat. And now...she is crashed! not moving. Little lamb still THINKS she's a 6 year old. Towns are beautiful, but it's really the social events -- the PEOPLE -- that are the real difference makers in how we feel about a place.

SUNDAY: Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers. It's a beautiful day in Sanary, albeit very windy with quite a bit of chop in the water...soooooooooo, we decided to stay another day. We just got back from the Sunday morning food market and picked up some scrumptious fresh made genovese pesto raviolis which i'll cook up for dinner tonight.... also picked up some coffee beans, and delicious gruyere cheese. yumyumyum.

I haven't taken that many photos since we took so many last year of the same places, but can't send this out with SOME pictures, can I????

https://picasaweb.google.com/109427354797294807716/ChaliGram123RerunLaBelleFrance?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLjOpaPppK-9Cg&feat=directlink

Love, Alison, Chuck and Zoey



Alison Spinney
Living the Dream in Med-France
OnBoard ChaliVentures 3