Mirabella

Position update: Marina di Pisa

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

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