Brindabella

Vessel Name: Brindabella
Vessel Make/Model: Najad 405
Hailing Port: Suffolk Yacht Harbour, UK
Crew: Simon, Fiona and Daisy the dog!
About: Simon and Fiona had Brindabella built in Sweden before she was launched in 2009. They sailed her from Sweden back to Suffolk in the UK. They are now exploring the Mediterranean.
26 March 2024
23 March 2024
22 March 2024
21 March 2024
20 March 2024
19 March 2024
18 March 2024
30 October 2023
16 October 2023
14 October 2023
13 October 2023
12 October 2023
11 October 2023
05 October 2023
04 October 2023
02 October 2023
01 October 2023
Recent Blog Posts
26 March 2024

Marina d’Arechi

Position update: in Marina d’Arechi

23 March 2024

Salerno

Sunshine bathed the anchorage in the early morning when Daisy went for her walk. We left in calm and very low winds, so we motored all the way to Salerno. There was a lot of debris in the water such as bamboo and branches. I had to avoid a log which was attached to a floating upright tree!

22 March 2024

Baia del Buon Dormire

We left the anchorage at Centerio very gingerly, so as not to touch the shallow sandbar. It was a cloudy day, but the sea was calm. We saw two dolphins briefly approach the boat and then disappear. There are very few marinas along this part of the coast, so we planned to anchor at Palinuro, where we [...]

21 March 2024

Cetraro

While at Santa Maria we debated whether we should continue north or go to Tropea for a few days. There was settled weather for the next few days and strong winds forecast for next week. We needed very calm weather for the next two stops because we would be anchoring. If we stopped in Tropea, which is [...]

20 March 2024

Santa Maria

On Wednesday we had a good forecast for passing through the Strait of Messina. This is a narrow stretch of water between Sicily and mainland Italy. There can be strong tides here and it is better to have the tide and wind with you when making this passage. Unfortunately, the website that shows the current [...]

19 March 2024

Sicily – Riposto

The next stage of the cruise was from Siracusa to Riposto. It was a beautiful morning and very calm when we took the anchor up in the bay of Siracusa.

18 March 2024

Sicily - Siracusa

We had spent the weekend preparing Brindabella for the cruise. We got the sails up and fitted everything that we had removed for the winter layup. The cupboards and fridge were also filled with food and drink. By Monday morning, we were ready to set sail.

15 March 2024

Sicily - Marina di Ragusa

Today we were lifted back into the water for the weekend. We will spend a couple of days putting the sails up and provisioning for the cruise.

07 March 2024

Sicily - Marina di Ragusa

We arrived back at the boat on the 7th March and gave her a quick clean before being lifted into the yard on the 8th March. Fiona and I moved into a hotel for the week while the yard have been applying new antifoul and polishing the topsides.

30 October 2023

Sicily – Marina di Ragusa

We spent 12 days in Marina di Ragusa doing a mixture of visiting the sights of Sicily and working on the boat. The marina really started to fill up while we were there, and it is a popular over wintering spot. There were boats from many different countries including the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and [...]

Ile Riou

15 September 2020
Simon
On Tuesday we moved past Marseille, around Cap Croisette and into the Parc National des Calanques. Les Calanques is a stretch of coast from Cap Croisette to Cassis and has steep limestone ridges from two mountain ranges meeting the sea. This coastline has several Calanques which are fjords that provide protection from the sea and are perfect for anchoring. They often have steep sided cliffs up to 100m in places.

The landscape is spectacular and made up of limestone mountains and beautifully clear water. The seabed has many white sandy patches and lots of Posidonia grass. When anchoring, it is important to anchor on the sand and miss the sea grass.

Some of the anchorages are deep and at the last island, we were anchored in over 20m of water so used nearly all of our 60m of chain. We have a further 30 meters of rope attached but that has not been used so far.

We have been anchored in Calanque de Monasterio on Ile Riou. There is a small sandy beach and room for 2 yachts to anchor. We were lucky when we approached. While we were looking around for the ideal spot to lower the anchor, a guy on a French yacht in pole position signalled to us and said they were just leaving, and we could anchor there.



We spent two days at this location with lots of swimming from the boat and just chilling out. We have been anchored in 8m of water and the bottom is clearly visible. It is an absolute delightful anchorage and I am sure will be one of the best from this year's cruise.

Bella enjoyed the beach on the island.





We very quickly become settled in a new location and it is always difficult to move on, but there is always more to explore and there could be somewhere better around the corner. The grass really is greener on the other side!

Time: 2:15 hours Miles: 9nm Total Time: 66:00 hours Total Miles: 369nm
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Brindabella's Photos - Main
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2012 cruise to the Atlantic Coast of France
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15 March 2024
16 Photos
16 April 2023
102 Photos