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.
15 April 2024
13 April 2024
11 April 2024
09 April 2024
08 April 2024
05 April 2024
04 April 2024
02 April 2024
29 March 2024
26 March 2024
23 March 2024
22 March 2024
21 March 2024
20 March 2024
19 March 2024
18 March 2024
30 October 2023
Recent Blog Posts
18 April 2024

Isola d’Elba – Porto Azzurro

Position update: Isola d’Elba – Porto Azzurro

15 April 2024

Porto Santo Stefano

We had to leave Giannutri early the next morning as the wind direction changed and we would have been pushed onto the rocks. The weather was due to change. There was a Gale Force 7 with gusts forecast on the VHF radio, from the French Riviera and down across Corsica. It sounded like the Mistral. In the [...]

13 April 2024

Isola di Giannutri

We have now reached the island of Giannutri which is one of the Tuscan islands. It is wild and exposed. The island forms a natural crescent shape, shallow enough to anchor close to the shore, otherwise it is too deep. There is a little harbour where the ferry lands. We anchored quite close to some rocks, [...]

11 April 2024

Riva di Traiano

We motored round from Rome and the sea still had remnants of swell. Three and a half hours later, we reached the marina at Traiano. This is a large modern well protected marina with cafes, restaurants and chandleries.

09 April 2024

Porto di Roma

At 8.30am, we slipped our lines at Nettuno and headed towards the port of Rome. It was warm, but the air was muggy with little wind. On the VHF radio, we heard a Force 7 to 8 gale warning for Corsica, broadcast in Italian, French and English. Simon had already seen on the forecast an increase in swell [...]

08 April 2024

Nettuno

It was a calm day with a light wind, so we motorsailed from Ponza to the marina at Nettuno. We had been here last year and had to watch the depth at the marina entrance. In one patch the depth sounder recorded 2.7m, we draw 2.1m. On the approach to the marina, we prepared to tie up, alongside rather [...]

05 April 2024

Isola di Ponza

After a brief walk around Ventotene, we had breakfast in a café and bought a few food items in a little grocery shop. It was calm at sea, and we saw an army helicopter overhead, that did a fly by and circled the boat twice.

04 April 2024

Isola di Ventotene

After buying a few provisions, we left the island of Procida bound for the island of Ventotene.

02 April 2024

Isola di Procida

It took two and a half hours to motor out from Naples to Marina Grande on the island of Procida.

29 March 2024

Naples

Early in the morning, we were up walking Daisy and trying to decide whether to use Good Friday to travel to Naples. The forecast for the day was calm, but the following few days were going to be very windy. Simon had contacted Powerboat Marina in Santa Lucia, Naples and they replied that they had a berth [...]

La Spezia

06 September 2021
Simon
Le Spezia is a medium sized town with a large harbour. There is a large naval base, small container port, cruise terminal and two marinas. We chose to go into Assonautica, the smaller of the two marinas and the one close to the town. In season, this is normally fully booked as they only have a small number of spaces for visiting yachts. In September, we got a berth. On arrival, we radioed the marina, and the chap came out to greet us and walked along the marina to show us to our space. As soon as we saw it was an along side berth, Fiona was running around adjusting all the fenders and taking ropes to the bow as recently we have been used to med mooring which requires a different configuration.

We really liked La Spezia. It was very low key but lots of shops and a very good market selling good fruit, veg and great local fish. The fish shops often sell fish from faraway, but at a market they normally only focus on the local fish.



The second night, I wanted to make Spaghetti Vongole. The market sold the important vongole which came from just across the water from our last anchorage. Another stall sold Spaghetti. Not just one size but about 8 different sizes of Spaghetti. I chose number No 7 which seemed about right. With cherry tomatoes and parsley from another stall and the wine onboard, we had everything needed. I cooked the dish that evening and it turned out rather well. It's one of those easy Italian recipes that's simply delicious.



There are about 12 trawling boats that go out from La Spezia. They depart at 5am and return just after dark. A couple of nights we went along to the fish quay to watch them unload their catch.

We saw a few anchovy boats and realised that the anchovies being sold in the market were very local. Most came from Monterosso, one of the villages just up the coast. Back at the market, we got a good helping of fresh anchovies for our next evening meal. I coated them in flour and cooked them in about 1cm of olive oil and served them with a light salad.



Time: 1:15 hours Miles: 4nm Total Time: 76:00 hours Total Miles: 462nm
Comments
Current Location
Brindabella's Photos - Main
46 Photos
Created 15 March 2024
102 Photos
Created 16 April 2023
100 Photos
Created 2 April 2022
77 Photos
Created 20 July 2021
54 Photos
Created 7 August 2020
105 Photos
Created 30 March 2019
120 Photos
Created 13 May 2018
69 Photos
Created 1 May 2017
69 Photos
Created 31 May 2016
66 Photos
Created 28 May 2015
50 Photos
Created 18 June 2014
Mini cruise to London for the week
7 Photos
Created 10 May 2013
3 month cruise from Suffolk Yacht Harbour to Golfe Du Morbihan in South Brittany
89 Photos
Created 7 April 2012
2012 cruise to the Atlantic Coast of France
77 Photos
Created 6 April 2012
2 month cruise from Suffolk Yacht Harbour to Brest
21 Photos
Created 18 May 2011

About & Links

Favorites
Photo Albums
15 March 2024
46 Photos
16 April 2023
102 Photos