Mirabella

Position update: La Spezia

Time: 1:00 hours Miles: 3nm Total Time: 33:45 hours Total Miles: 175nm

We had breakfast ashore at Santa Margherita and picked up some fruit and bought a squeaky soft chicken toy for Daisy! It was another calm day, with sunshine and we motored to Le Grazie. We have been here several times before and knew a good spot to drop the anchor. The first night we went ashore for a pizza.

The following day, we saw several training yachts. The crew were practising Man Overboard procedure and reversing up to the pontoons, ready for med mooring. We had a barbecue in the evening. The little town of Le Grazie was very pretty at nightfall with its beautiful old church lit up yellow and the streetlamps along the harbour.





Time: 6:00 hours Miles: 33nm Total Time: 32:45 hours Total Miles: 172nm

In the morning we called into Delta to collect our life raft which had been sent on to us from Sweden. After getting a bit of shopping, we were out on the water again, heading for Santa Margherita. It was a beautiful day, calm and sunny. We saw a large trawler which had seagulls following it and following the seagulls, were four small dolphins.

As we came past the Port of Genoa, a tanker turned across us and out to sea. I looked at it through the binoculars and saw that it had the same name as me, Fiona!

Further out from Genoa there was a couple in a rubber dinghy acting a bit suspiciously. They came to look at us, stopped in front of us and then went a long way out to sea. Simon thought that they hadn't got enough fuel to travel out that far.

We anchored in the bay at Santa Margherita, early evening and had a barbecue.



Time: 5:15 hours Miles: 31nm Total Time: 26:45 hours Total Miles: 139nm

We left Sanremo at first light at 7pm. The sea was very calm and so we motored most of the way. It was sunny and warm. Halfway during the journey, we rounded a small private island. The water seemed to be busy with small fish and we saw some small fins showing out of the water. It became evident that the fins belonged to around 6 tuna that were feeding on smaller fish. On the last hour and a half of the journey, the sea state changed and became very unsettled, a bit like motoring through washing machine water! It was even more choppy near Varazze marina entrance.

We have now arrived at the marina where the new yacht should have been delivered to by truck after 100 nautical miles and 22 hours at sea over the past two weeks.

We have a berth here at Varazze for the next year. It was great to get into the berth after a long journey. The marina is very well protected from swell and we had a quiet night.

Time: 8:30 hours Miles: 50nm Total Time: 21:30 hours Total Miles: 108nm

We needed to visit Sanremo to complete the import process for our yacht. It was also the first major marina after leaving France. The process took longer than expected and we were in the port for 6 days. For many of those days, the wind was blowing from the east (the direction we are heading), so were not able to move on anyway.

Sanremo town has an old feel about it with a mixture of old narrow streets or alleys and a larger modern shopping area. We walked up through the medieval alleys to visit the Santuario Diocesano Nostra Signora Assunta – Madonna della Costa, which is a large church perched on the hill overlooking Sanremo. The interior of the church was fabulous and the views over the town made it worth the climb.



Back in the old part of the town, there was a small restaurant we visited before, which we wanted to seek out again. We found it and had a nice, simple Italian lunch! We had also visited Sanremo back in 2021 on our way from France to Italy.

By the 6th day, the import process was complete, and we were free to proceed further into Italy.

Time: 5:15 hours Miles: 25nm Total Time: 13:00 hours Total Miles: 58nm

After 3 nights at Antibes, we moved on to Port de Nice. Port de Nice has a few separate areas for yachts. There is one area for super yachts, one for normal yachts and a section for smaller day boats. There is not a dedicated visitors area in the marina, so you need to phone ahead to check they have space.

We love the marina in Nice, it has a very pleasant feel about it. In many ways it is like Dieppe in Northern France. Around the port there are plenty of restaurants.

Time: 2:15 hours Miles: 10nm Total Time: 7:45 hours Total Miles: 33nm

We left the anchorage at Île Sainte-Marguerite mid-afternoon, bound for Antibes. There was a gentle wind, and we had our first sail in Mirabella. The perfect conditions gave us a great feel for the boat under sail.

We last visited the marina in 2021 on our way from France to Italy. The roads inside the marina had been smartened up with new tarmac and a new shower and toilet block had been built.

Port Vauban at Antibes is a huge marina. The walk from our berth around to the office took some 15 minutes one way! We know this as we went to the office three times to attempt to pay. The first was after 6pm, so they were closed, the second time was Saturday, they were closed and finally on Monday, when they were open!

We were in Antibes for 3 days. During our time we visited three markets on the Saturday. A fruit and veg market, one for antiques and a general market as well. The walk back from the city around the sea wall was pleasant.





On Sunday night we had a meal out at Da Vinci, an Italian restaurant close to the marina.

Time: 2:30 hours Miles: 8nm Total Time: 5:30 hours Total Miles: 23nm

We left Port Fréjus after filling the tanks with fuel and motored out to Île Sainte-Marguerite. There are two islands there, just off the coast of Cannes. Between the islands is a great place to anchor.

We had been here back in 2021 and originally planned to anchor off the small dinghy port on the island of Saint Honorat. However, they were upgrading the harbour, and it was closed. We therefore, moved across the channel and anchored off Île Sainte-Marguerite. There were a couple of small beaches there to get Daisy ashore.



There are many things that we needed to try for the first time and anchoring here for a couple of nights meant that we tested the anchor and generator, both worked well. We also started to organize things on the boat.



Time: 3:00 hours Miles: 15nm Total Time: 3:00 hours Total Miles: 15nm

Our replacement for Brindabella is a Hallberg-Rassy 400 called Mirabella. We ordered the yacht in 2023 and first viewed her during the build in 2024. She was completed later that year.

The plan was to have her transported to Varazze in Italy, where we had left Brindabella and our items in storage in Genoa. On the 6th March, 2025, the truck from Germany collected her from the yard in Ellös, Sweden. However, as with anything to do with boats, you can have an outline of a plan, but what happens varies a lot. This was to be the case with our delivery. Unfortunately, our transport company was not granted a permit to drive from France to Italy! We needed to find somewhere to unload the yacht in France, and it was already on its way.

These things normally take weeks to plan, but we had just 2 days. Fiona and I then spent a frantic day phoning and visiting yards in the South of France to find one capable and available to unload and rig the yacht. Eventually, we struck gold with Chantier Naval Port Fréjus. They unload and rig many yachts each year. When they asked when we needed this doing and I replied two days' time, after the initial shock, they said yes!

The yacht arrived at the port overnight on the Thursday and when Fiona and I got back to the yard early Friday morning, the truck was already waiting there.







During the day they got the windscreen on, stanchions up and pulpit assembled and lifted her into the water.

Over the weekend, we started to unpack things and get ready for the mast to be rigged. Staff from the yard were very proficient and got the mast rigged and sails on during Monday.

Fiona and I spent the next few days both preparing Mirabella and driving to Genoa to collect our items from storage. By Wednesday, we were ready to depart for Italy.

It is with great pleasure and tinged with some degree of sadness that we hand over Brindabella to new owners. She has been a fabulous yacht that we have sailed for some 16 years. Somehow a yacht is far more than a physical object. She has been our home, transport and kept us safe in all types of conditions.

We had Brindabella built in Sweden in 2009 and sailed her back to the UK passing through Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium and finally to the UK. From there we sailed to Brittany and back for 6 years exploring Normandy, North and South Brittany reaching La Rochelle.

In 2017, we commenced our cruise to the Mediterranean. We sailed through Western France, Northern Spain and down the coast of Portugal to Gibraltar. After then, we had a year cruising out to the Balearics, covering Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca. Returning to Spain, we continued to the South of France, Monaco and on to Italy. From Italy, we cruised to Corsica and Sardinia and down to Sicily.

Over the 16 years we have cruised some 15,000 miles covering 11 countries and visiting well over 250 ports. We have estimated that during this period we have had over 120 friends, family and guests on board for drinks or meals.

We have passed Brindabella on to new owners and we sincerely hope that she gives them the same opportunities for great cruising and enjoyment that we have had.