Mirabella

On the Friday, we left Santa Margherita in very warm, calm conditions and no swell. The sea was flat and the wind very light. Once we were out in the Ligurian sea, it was the perfect opportunity to try out the Code Zero sail. This is a very lightweight sail that can be used in light winds instead of a jib. It worked very well in these conditions.

We used the Code Zero sail for a large part of the journey, but then we were completely becalmed and had to motor the last hour of the trip. We rounded the marina, filled with fuel and radioed for mooring assistance. We are now back in our permanent berth at Varazze.

We knew rain was coming the next day, so when we reached Varazze, we washed and deflated the dinghy, put a protective sock up on the jib and started to stow things away.

The following day, we met the new owners of Brindabella who are staying on the same pontoon as us in the marina at Varazze. They invited us on board for drinks and asked us some technical questions regarding the boat.

We also saw our friends, a family that we met back in 2021, another couple that we met two years ago, and we made the acquaintance of our new neighbour and the couple in the boat opposite us.

It was very busy in Varazze over the holiday period, the beach was full, there were a lot of holiday makers in the town and many people on their boats. The night club was in full swing with loud music, lasers and fireworks.

After two weeks of perfect warm weather, it was all change on Sunday. The wind started to whistle, the sky grew grey, and the clouds hung over the hills. People changed from tee shirts to rain macs and the beach was empty!

We are at the end of our sailing trip for the spring. We achieved our objective which was to launch the new boat and test it out in familiar waters. We will commence our trip home in 2 weeks and then return to the boat in early Autumn to sail Mirabella again.

Thank you for reading our blog. Good-Bye!

Time: 6:15 hours Miles: 31nm Total Time: 61:15 hours Total Miles: 304nm

After stocking up with provisions and filling with water, we made the short journey across the bay to Santa Margherita Ligure. It was a hot day and the water was extremely calm. We spotted three small dolphins close to the boat.



Santa Margherita is a very pleasant town, smart houses, hotels and shops against a backdrop of pine trees. There were only three yachts in the anchorage and it was quiet. We went ashore for a coffee and some focaccia then had a barbecue later that evening.



Early the next morning, we saw the lifesaving crew of the Helios hotel, row out in their canoes and they started to feed out concrete slabs, large buoys and swimming buoys to designate the swimming area off the beach. Luckily, we had anchored in a position just outside this buoyed area.

The following day, it was Labour Day, a public holiday in Italy. We were later gradually joined by around 15 yachts anchored in the area, but there was no one on the inside of us, as we were close to the swimming area. There were two French boats in the bay. The calm weather had meant that they were able to make the passage from ports such as Nice. Simon and Daisy had a swim off the boat and as the water was a bit cold for me, I dipped my feet in.



Time: 1:00 hours Miles: 5nm Total Time: 55:00 hours Total Miles: 273nm

We motored most of the way to Chiavari as there was little wind and the sea was calm. We passed the Cinque Terre. An hour before our destination, the wind picked up and we had a good sail into the bay and towards the marina in Chiavari.

We have been here once before. It has a smart town and grey sandy beach with a long promenade. There is a park between the railway station and town. In a large, tall pine tree, we spotted a nest where there were two sizeable heron chicks. We then spotted the two parents leaving the nest to fly off and fetch more food.

There was an excellent fresh food market in the square. We bought some burrata and gorgonzola cheeses. Burrata is a speciality of the Puglia region of southern Italy. It is extremely nice with focaccia bread.

In the last week, the weather seems to have become warmer and more settled.





Time: 6:00 hours Miles: 30nm Total Time: 54:00 hours Total Miles: 268nm

Just before we had left Viareggio, Simon had spotted a fishing boat that had caught some live tiger prawns. After two customers in front of him had bought a substantial quantity, he was able to buy the last ½kg portion.

We had a great sail. There was a steady wind, and it was sunny and warm. It was Liberation Day, a public holiday in Italy. When we turned into La Spezia, there were a lot of different sized yachts out sailing and 15 boats at anchor against the island just off Portovenere.



In the gulf of La Spezia, we saw a huge black yacht with a crew of 14 guys sailing it. The yacht was called Blackjack and after looking it up on the Internet, we found it had competed in the Sydney to Hobart and also Palermo to Monte Carlo yacht races. They were keeping the yacht at the marina in Le Grazie. It looked as if they were practising hoisting and dropping the sails.



We had the fresh prawns for tea, boiled first than finished in olive oil and garlic with a salad.

There were five yachts anchored overnight in the bay at Le Grazie. At 10pm, there was thunder, lightning, rain and wind. We saw one boat re-anchor in the storm. We looked out to see if any of the boats had blown too close to us, but they had not, so we set an anchor alarm and went back to sleep. Luckily the alarm didn't go off and the storm was short lived.

On the Saturday morning, the little church was tolling its bells, we think this may have been to signify the Pope's funeral today. Sunday night, we had a BBQ with some entrecote that we had previously frozen and brought from France.



Time: 4:45 hours Miles: 20nm Total Time: 48:00 hours Total Miles: 238nm

The forecast stated that there would be swell and wind for Wednesday night to Thursday. We could move on during Wednesday or stay put until Friday. We decided to head back in the direction of Genoa. We sailed to the port of Viareggio, which was our first visit to this town.

The entrance has a long sand bar, so is difficult to turn into and quite shallow. It was a bit tricky to moor up because of the swell and wind but we had help from 3 staff to tie us up safely.

The port is a local's holiday resort, with a long sandy beach, beach clubs and designer shops. There is a canal here too, where some boats are moored, including the two boats serving fried fish take aways. A large part of the port is dedicated to construction and workshops for super yachts.

We had a walk around the beach and town and noticed that the Italian and EU flags were flying at half mast, following the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday. The resort is well known for its carnival which takes place in February.
In the evening, we ate at a traditional fish restaurant that had been serving fish since 1928. Our berth was facing the port entrance. We had a lively night, with wind of 25 knots and swell rolling in from the sea!

Time: 3:00 hours Miles: 12nm Total Time: 43:15 hours Total Miles: 218nm

It was calm and sunny for our trip to Marina di Pisa. We had the sails out for half of the journey, then motor sailed into the marina. The temperature seems to have gone up a notch since entering Tuscany. The marina is sheltered from the wind. We went into the town and walked along the beach. There were two swallows there that looked like they had built a nest in the marina car park garage.

Time: 6:30 hours Miles: 31nm Total Time: 40:15 hours Total Miles: 206nm

At lunchtime, after buying some cockles for Pasta Vongole, we left La Spezia and returned to anchor at Le Grazie. There was little wind, some sunshine and miraculously no swell. We anchored and had a peaceful afternoon and evening. Ashore near the little church, there was a Good Friday church service with singing and a procession all along the quay. The entire waterfront was lit up with twinkling yellow lights. They had a perfect evening for it!

On the second day at Le Grazie, we walked to the next town of Portovenere.

Time: 0:45 hours Miles: 3nm Total Time: 34:30 hours Total Miles: 178nm

The forecast showed that the weather was worsening and we were going to get some heavy rainfall for the next few days. Therefore, on Sunday, we travelled the short distance to the marina in the city of La Spezia. We would have more to do in the city and could dodge the rain showers as necessary. We arrived at midday and moored side to, on a long pontoon. We just put the cockpit hood up as the rain started. In the afternoon, we walked to the superyacht marina on the opposite side of the port.

The following morning, we went to the market for some fruit and veg. We found a Co-op supermarket, where we bought some mussels from the fish counter. Simon cooked moules frites for dinner.

We could see from the forecast there was going to be an increase in wind and swell for the next few days. On Tuesday, it was a dull, cool day and the wind had started to create some swell in the marina. We decided to take a short train ride to the Cinque Terre, five hilltop towns, above the Ligurian sea.

We visited two towns, Monterosso and Vernazza and had lunch out. While at Vernazza, we saw that the sea was becoming more and more agitated. It was then that I was relieved that we had come by train and not by tripper boat. We watched as the passerelle from the boat to the quay was swinging, like a moving staircase. It was difficult in the swell for people to disembark and board the boat. From there, the passengers would then have a 30 minute journey in the very lively sea, back to La Spezia. The following day, all of the tripper boats were tied up in port and all excursions cancelled!



We kept checking the weather forecast and saw that some strong South East winds were going to come through on Wednesday night. Early evening, we started to prepare for the wind, putting out extra lines and rubber snubbers on the boat and the linear pontoon. However, we saw two men from the marina office who were checking on all the boats. They advised us to turn the boat around, so that we would be pointing into the wind and swell. This was good advice, so we spent some time turning the boat around and retying our lines whilst conditions were calm. We went to bed and braced ourselves for the wind.

At 4am there was a noise that sounded like an express train, a disconcerting hum that got louder and louder. The wind and waves in the marina got very agitated and we were suspended by the ropes and blowing off the quay. We saw 32 knots of wind on our instruments. Meanwhile the rain started and this was now torrential. We were lucky that there were no boats anywhere close to us, so there would be no collisions. The wind and rain lasted all day.

We had a break in the wind of two hours, when we got off the boat to give Daisy a walk and went into town for a coffee and to get some shopping. We were just back on board when the wind started again, this time it was from the South West and was pounding us from the side of the boat and blowing us onto the pontoon. We adjusted our lines and prepared ourselves. Again, we had torrential rain and the wind blew again until around 10pm. From then on and overnight, the swell lessened, and the rain and wind finally abated.

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