Back to Italy

We arrived Porto Cervo on the 14th and I had the luck to meet Chelly, an old colleague from m/y Silver. Later in the afternoon we move inside the marina and during the mooring our keel touched a rock on the bottom of the marina. Luckily no damages were discovered when I dived to have a look on the bottom. It was just a matter of shallow water due to weather circumstances.

Mark in Elba

Elba

Elba

On the 15th we move out at the anchorage for swimming and later in the evening we heave up anchor and depart for the Island of Elba.

m/y Indian Empress in Elba

m/y Ice in Marina di Campo

Porto Cervo

We arrive Elba on the 16th and anchor at Porto Azzurro for a short while. Due to so many boats in the area we move out to Golfo Lacuna. Lot of boat traffic there too but less than in Porto Azzurro. We did not stay here long and we moved onwards the coast to the Bay of Marina di Campo. As it happened m/y Ice was there also at the same time. She also left before nightfall and so did we in the evening and headed towards Capri.

Porto Cervo

Porto Cervo

Capri

We arrived Capri on the 17th and anchored in front of marina Piccola. Here we stayed all night king and next morning 18th we went and anchored in the bay of Cala del Rio. Pretty tricky as the bay is very small compared to our size and considering the swing circle after we dropped 6 schackles of chain due to the depth.

Capri

m/y A at Capri

Cool tenderboat at Capri

In the evening we heaved up anchor and shifted back in front of Marina Piccola. On the 19th we sailed for Amalfi and anchored in front of the town. We did not even stop engines when we heaved up again and moved in front of Nerano as the famous restaurant Quattro Passi is there. In the evening we returned back to Capri. It was hard finding a anchoring spot as the anchorage was chockablock with other yachts.

Svilen & me at Cala del Rio in Capri

m/y Indian Empress anchored Cala del Rio in Capri

Cala del Rio in Capri

21st we stay in front of Capri at anchor and on the morning 22nd we move into Marina di Stabia, just next to Castellammare di Stabia. Nice marina but a very tight squeeze to go in between the wave breakers. It would not be possible in adverse weather.

m/y Serene

Some people really like their toys...

Amalfi coast

Amalfi coast

Amalfi coast

Amalfi coast

Amalfi coast

Plamen @ Amalfi coast

Capri Island

Sunrise over Sorrento

Capri Island

m/y Indian Empress in Marina di Stabia

Cruising South of France

On the 10th we departed Monaco for St. Tropez and did the usual morning anchorage at Pampelonne beach and evening in front of the town for two days. On the 12th we moved in front of Juan les Pins and on the 13th we departed for Porto Cervo.

m/y Predator

South of France

South of France

South of France

South of France

m/y Force India

m/y Force India

Sailing the Italian riviera

So 30th July we departed Valletta for Monaco and arrived there on the 1st August early morning and were kept busy by provisions and last minute setups. We moored in the corner next to the cruise line jetty next to Niarchos m/y Atlantis II.

M/y Christina O

Porto Cervo entrance

We soon left again on the 2nd for Cannes and departed same evening, then we arrived Porto Cervo on the 3rd morning where we moored inside the marina stern to. 

Porto Cervo

Porto Cervo

m/y Nero

On the 4th we were on the move again and arrived Capri on the 5th where we anchored in front of Marina Piccola. 

m/y Nero

Sunset

We did not tarry long here either and left the same day for Bonifacio where we arrived on the 6th. At Bonifacio we anchored for the day to admire the stairs and the fortifications from times gone by. 

Sunset 

Later in the afternoon we shifted to the Roccapina beach for the evening in Corsica. We left by nightfall and arrived St. Tropez on the 7th in front of Pampelonne beach and shifted in front of St. Tropez itself by late afternoon. 

Sunset

Sunrise

Bonifacio

Bonifacio

Bonifacio

Bonifacio

Bonifacio

Indian Empress in front of Bonifacio

We left St Tropez on the morning of the 8th for Monaco and arrived there a few hours later. We arrived Monaco in good order despite the strong mistral wind blowing.

m/y Air

m/y Air

m/y Le Grande Bleu

m/y Maltese Falcon

St. Tropez

French riviera while mistral is blowing

BBQ in the country side

Anil had been invited to a BBQ in the Maltese country side and he asked me taggle along. On the menu was rabbit stew and other stuff to eat. We met up with Anil's friend and we drove off to the hills and soon enough we arrived to a country house that was rather rugged. The surroundings were quite rocky too, not difficult to understand how the stonewalls on the Island have come about when clearing land for farming. Food was good although the stew was not that great but I did not have anything to complain about.

Anchor swivel project

Today we had a bit of a project to replace the swivel on the port side anchor. As we were alongside but our bow was overlapping the end of the jetty by some 25m we could not simply lower it down and hoist it onto the pier. 

New swivel

We used two underwater balloons with 1t lifting capacity and 2 divers with gear, I was one of them and our rescue boat. The anchor was lowered into the water and we attached the underwater balloons and inflated them. After that we gave more slack on the chain and the rescue boat towed the anchor closer to the jetty. There we had a truck with a crane, lent from our agents Melita Marine. 

New swivel

We attached the end of the hook to the chain and the anchor was lifted onto dry land. There we separated the anchor from the chain by opening the schackle that had been used to replace the old swivel that had broken. After that we started installing the swivel which looked easier than it was done. The pin was harder to hit into place and ended up grinding off some material off the end. 

Locking pins

It took some hard black-smithing to hit the pin into place so that we could hit the locking pins in as well. The locking pins were not that tight so in the end we welded them into position to prevent anything dropping out. When all was done it was another job to do the anchor lifting in reverse. Eventually it all went well and the anchor was hoisted into the pocket without any hitches. Job completed.

Welded locking pins

Maltese festa

Rockets in skyline

In the evening I was seriously sunburned from the jetski trip but I went out as I was invited by Diaz and Jasmond to go and see the festa at the Msida church. I have never seen anywhere people being so obsessed by fireworks as during the days I had been to Malta I could see firework displays taking place at different locations over the Island. The festa is arranged for the local saint that the church is dedicated for. I was also told that the people doing the firework displays tinker with these all year long for this day. I think the video I shot shows it pretty well...

Msida church