American Sailing Association – Med Sailing Adventures

A Brazilian Sailing Adventure

November 18, 2022

After an eight-and-a-half-hour flight from Miami, Latam flight 8191 landed at Guarulhos Airport of Sao Paolo.

Getting our bags was a bit confusing as duffel bags were delivered on a different carrousel than for regular suitcases. Immigration and Customs were only a mere formality and soon we headed to the door marked “Saida” or “Exit” where our driver was waiting for us to start the four-hour drive to Paraty.

In no time, we were on less congested roads with large and small farms dotting the landscape. We drove on the highway linking Sao Paolo to Rio De Janeiro but, after about two hours, we took the two-lane road heading straight towards the coast to Ubatuba and our final destination of the day, the historic colonial city of Paraty.

350 islands and even more beaches waiting to be discovered

The views of the sea from the road were spectacular and gave us an idea of what we would be experiencing in the week to come.

We came here on an invitation from Wind Charters who were putting a Brazilian-made Delta 41 sailboat at our disposal to discover the area with the idea of promoting this destination with American sailors.

We had invited long-time flotilla supporters, Kevin and Delana from Oklahoma, to join us on this adventure. Med Sailing Adventures was about to become a South Atlantic Sailing Adventure.

Our crew for the week

After having checked in at our hotel, Pousada Bartolomeu, in the Old City of Paraty and, after a quick shower, we went for a walk and lunch in this UNESCO Heritage Site of Humanity.

Paraty was founded in 1597 by Portuguese colonizers who built a port here to ship riches from the hinterland, like gold, precious stones and silver, to Portugal.

The city was built in typical Portuguese colonial architecture and, according to some locals, looks like what Lisbon must have looked like many centuries ago. Well, kind of…

Street cleaning in progress

The streets of the old city are paved with huge cobblestones, real ankle breakers, and you have to watch carefully where you step in order not to end up with a strained ankle. Colorful houses line these streets and were once the homes of the rich. Of course, in those days, sewage systems were nonexistent, and the streets would end up being a disease-causing mess. Not to worry too much though. They had figured a way to solve the problem. Twice a month, at the new moon and the full moon, the tides would cause the seawater to flood the streets of Paraty and, when they receded, flush all the garbage in the bay. Et voilà… Problem solved.

Nowadays, the area is a popular attraction and tourists from all over the world come to visit it, enjoy the tropical surroundings, the hundreds of neighboring islands with white sandy beaches and warm waters.

Paraty “by night”

The antique houses have been converted into bars, restaurants, art galleries and souvenir shops and the Old Quarter has become a very lively place.

After navigating the cobblestones, the size of small boulders, we found Banana da Terra, an inviting restaurant with a beautifully decorated patio covered in ferns and orchids.

As we were going to have dinner that evening with the owners of Wind Charter and their staff, we opted for a light lunch. I had an appetizer of scallops and The Admiral a crab soup.

Paraty is known for its Cachaça, or alcohol distilled from sugar cane juice, and they make several types of derivative drinks and cocktails with it like Gabriela, Caipirinha and Jorge Amado. I had a Jorge Amado with my meal. A mixture of passion fruit juice, lime juice and Gabriela, it is deliciously addictive but quite treacherous.

You now know how to make it, but you will have to join our flotilla to get the Gabriela…

Lunch over, we met with Kevin and Delana who were staying at the Casa Simone Pousada, around the corner from our hotel, and went for a walk that inevitably ended up in a bar where we had, you guessed it, Cachaça and Jorge Amado. We texted Mariani, the Sales Manager of Wind Charters to join us but she arrived too late for the drinks.

Around 19:00, the owners of Wind Charter, Guilherme and Germano, joined us and we went for dinner at Rio do Ouro, another great eatery in town.

The delicious food and the Caipirinhas helped make the ambiance a lot of fun. Our Portuguese hosts were fluent in English which was definitely better than our Portuguese, although with my Spanish and French, I can read and understand it.

Having said that, we were able to communicate during the week, using a mixture of Spanish, French with plenty of hand gestures.

The following morning, Mariani and Karine came to pick us up with two small cars and, while Mila and Delana went shopping for provisions, Kevin and I got introduced to the Delta 41, our home away from home for the next seven days.

Wind Charters is a good-size company with sixteen yachts, mostly Brazilian-made Delta sailboats in the 37’ to 41’ range. They also have a couple of Lagoons and a Brazilian-made Cat-Flash 41 sleek-looking catamaran that really impressed us. I will definitely want to skipper that beauty when we come back for a flotilla event.

Who wants to join me on this sleek cat?

The marina is modern, clean and located in a gated community. The staff members of Wind Charter are efficient and knowledgeable, but English is not their forte, which could create communication problems when checking in. Fortunately, Marcos, our technician had a very good knowledge of Spanish, and we had no problems understanding his instructions.

As soon as Mila and Delana got back from provisioning (they forgot the beer!), we dropped the lines and set off for our Brazilian adventure. Our destination for the night was a peaceful anchorage on Ilha da Cotia. Several sailboats and smaller motor yachts had preceded us, but we found a secure place to drop the hook. It was now getting dark and time for a Jorge Amado…

We cooked a tasty spaghetti, without meat (forgotten with the beer) and a bottle or two of red wine.
Life is good. Time to go to bed but a little drama pushed our bedtime a bit back.

The small beach of Ilha da Cotia

We were sitting in the cockpit having a bit of Cachaça, for medicinal and digestive purposes of course, when we noticed a boat dragging her anchor and heading our way at a fast clip. No crew members to be seen. They were already tucked in for the night. We started yelling to attract their attention and had roving fenders ready. About another hundred yards away from us, crew members on another boat started yelling too. Finally, the crew of the wayward yacht came up from below, but they had no clue what to do.

First, they shouted back at us that we were moving and not them. When they saw that they were the ones drifting, and, when they realized what was going on, they were in total panic on how to handle the situation. They had booked a crewed charter but, at the end of each day, the skipper would secure the yacht for the night and the charter company picked him, leaving the customers with their privacy. Without the skipper on board and with no sailing experience, they were floating further away towards the rocky shore.

We yelled for them to start the engine so they could raise the dragging anchor. Just in time, before hitting another yacht, they were saved by the crew of the other boat who had come to their assistance with their fast RIB.

After they had been safely anchored, the cove turned quiet, and everyone got a well-deserved rest.

The freshest oysters you can buy

The sky was sunny when we woke up on Sunday and, while we were enjoying a late breakfast in the cockpit of our Delta 41, Malicia, a local fisherman paddled by in his dugout and offered to sell oysters. We ordered two dozen, which he shucked right there in his canoe. They were oh so fresh and the whole thing cost us about $15.00. What a deal…

Living the dream!

The skiff from the charter company came by to drop off the skipper on the wayward yacht and we explained to the company rep that the skipper had not properly anchored his yacht before leaving for the night. I guess he must have gotten quite an earful afterwards.

From Ilha da Cotia, we sailed to the other side of the bay of Ilha Grande to the small island of Cedro for a swim and lunch at the beach restaurant of Bar do Coqueiro. We had delicious empanadas and a large bowl full of small fried shrimp, of course all washed down with numerous delicious Cachaças and Jorge Amado cocktails.

We took in the scenery and pushed the little daughter of the owner on her swing but, with no beer, bread or meat on board, we needed to go to nearby Saco de Tarituba and its small fishing village where there are some provisioning possibilities. Kevin, Delana and Mila paddled to shore in the rain to buy whatever was available in the small store. We had some snacks, cheese and wine for dinner and decided to spend the night at anchor among the local fishing boats.

The following morning, Monday, November 7. Kevin and I paddled to the shore in search of additional food. We found wine, pasta, bread and some veggies and were directed to the local fish store where we bought two beautiful snappers and more shrimp. The fishmonger cleaned and fileted one of the fish and removed the scales and innards of the second one. The filets ended up as a delicious ceviche, prepared by Kevin, for lunch and the whole snapper was destined for the grill.

The picturesque small port of Tarituba

You have read now twice that we had to paddle our dinghy. Well, the yacht came without an outboard engine, but we got a rail-mounted grill. Unlike the Magma grills in the U.S.A., the grill here was not propane-powered but worked on charcoal. So, we had to light charcoal with alcohol and waited for it to heat up sufficiently to grill on.

After our shopping was done and we were back on the yacht, we pulled the anchor and motor sailed, sometimes in brief rain showers, to the small bay of Piraquara de Dentro.

This bay is very well protected from winds from all quarters but, as our water tanks were getting low, we opted to go to nearby Porto de Frade, a luxury resort with a well-equipped marina. There was no dock space available, and we got a buoy close to the entrance for the equivalent of US$40.00. Not a bad deal. Fortunately, it came with free water taxi service.

Rather than cooking on board, we opted for dinner on shore. The restaurants in the resort did not appeal to us and we wanted meat. The concierge of the resort suggested that we go to Angra dos Reis, the main city of the region, twenty-four miles away, and recommended a steakhouse in the Mall of the Marina Piratas. I will agree with my fellow crew members when they say that the food was good, but I had expected a so-called churrascaria. Little did I know then that I would have more churrascaria than I bargained for during the following week in Rio de Janeiro…

On our way back to the marina, in the dark, our taxi was stopped by a police control with some mean-looking officers carrying menacing submachine guns. We must have looked honest because they let us through without even verifying our papers.

Our water taxi brought us back to our boat for a well-deserved night rest, of course after a Cachaça for digestive purposes.

The following morning, we went to the dock and filled up our water tanks and motor sailed to nearby Ilha Cunhambebe Grande, named after an Indian chieftain who revolted against Portuguese invaders.

Cunhambebe was one tough guy with a penchant for Portuguese human cuisine

The Indians massacred the foreign invaders and ate their bodies. The Portuguese did not let them digest this too well because they beat them and decimated Cunhambebe and his followers. They killed them all and that was the end of that revolt.

The island is beautiful with a very nice anchorage, but the rest of the crew was not as enthusiastic as I was, and we ended up in the anchorage of nearby Ilha de Itanhangá. We dropped the hook under the impressive sheer monolith of a rock. There was a floating bar nearby but nobody to serve us.

Kevin played with his drone for a while, recording video images that I hope to put online at some point.

Mila, Kevin and Delana paddled to shore and hiked a trail all the way up to the top of the monolith from where they had a spectacular view of the surrounding area.

That night, we had the snapper grilled on board and served it with a tasty pepper stew and Mila’s signature potato salad.

It was absolutely delicious. Thank Goodness, we had not forgotten to reprovision wine while at the Marina Frade resort. A bit of celebration was called for and Kevin and I sipped on some good tasting Cachaça and enjoyed great cigars. Life is good…

Wednesday morning, we woke up to sunny skies. As with every seven-day charter or flotilla, Wednesday is the day that we realize that our trip is almost over. Only two full days left after this. Truly a hump day…

A nearby beach, called Praia da Piedade has an adorable small white colonial church, right on the edge of the water. Several trails lead from there to nearby beaches on the island of Ilha Gipóia. Legend has it that island is haunted by the ghosts of the first adventurers who got marooned here.

Whatever the stories, it is a delightful place, worth visiting. We were anchored off the beach off Praia da Piedade and I decided to stay on the boat while the rest of the crew paddled ashore near the church. They followed a trail and, at the end of it they found (of course) a bar that served cocktails. Meanwhile I was doing anchor watch near an oyster farm.

The adorable little church of Praia da Piedade. Are that two ghosts taking selfies?

Before sunset, we brought the boat to the northside of the small Ilha da Piedade and anchored for the night in front of the bar. Unfortunately, it is only open during the day. Apart from a few empty local skiffs and launches, we were the only boat in the anchorage. I cooked a Spanish-style Camarones al Ajillo dish of shrimp served with pasta. With no neighbors in the anchorage, we had a very quiet night.

And it is Thursday! Time to sail back to the other side of the Bahia da Ilha Grande and sail we did.

Before raising the sails, we stopped for some swimming and snorkeling at the Ilhas da Botina, two small rock formations with palm trees growing on top and surrounded by crystal clear green waters full of fish.

Ilhas da Botina

We played around for a good hour until the anchorage started filling up with tour boats carrying day trippers from Angra dos Reis. These waters are like an open-air aquarium. I looked for octopus in the rocks and for sea turtles but no luck. We swam among lots of triggerfish, zebrafish, and other smaller types of which I do not know the names.

As soon as we left the Ilhas Botinas, the wind picked up and we reached peaks of eight knots of speed on our almost straight shot of a thirteen-mile-long port tack from Ilha Grande to the entrance of the Saco de Mamanguá, which de locals call the only fjord in Brazil. It is a long and narrow bay that ends in a cul-de-sac with, on the southeast side, depths of less than 2 meters and a swampy area.

Fun sailing action

On the way to Mamanguá, we passed several empty crude oil tankers at anchor, waiting for their next load.

Halfway down the “fjord” we found the village of Praia do Cruzeiro and anchored there for lunch before continuing further inside to Bananal, a stunning anchorage, well protected from all winds and with white sand beaches. A perfect place to spend our last night before returning to the base.

Or so we thought… We had left our hatches open with the mosquito screens in place, but these screens were no barrier for the pesky No-See-Ums. We all got attacked so aggressively that we had to close the hatches at half past midnight, trying to kill as many as we could find and trying to go back to sleep.

At six o’clock, I heard Kevin start the engines and soon he and Delana raised the anchor to escape the onslaught of these miserable insects.

Bananal anchorage, a mosquito’s paradise

In the hope to improve our day by finding fresh oysters for breakfast, we made a beeline for Ilha da Cotia, where we had spent our first night. No oysters and still plenty of flies inside the boat.

Around noon, we left the anchorage and visited nearby Paraty Mirim, a tiny village with a restored colonial church and a long beach with some bars. The wind was blowing and, while Kevin, Mila and I paddled ashore to explore the area, Delana stayed on the boat. Taking a rest from walking around, we had a Jorge Amado in a rustic bar and learned about the history of this settlement.

When the Portuguese first started bringing African slaves to Brazil, Paraty was one of the ports where they would be sold. However, after several weeks on the ocean and carrying God-knows-what kind of diseases, the slaves were disembarked in this small village of Paraty Mirim and kept for forty days in quarantine. Survivors and those deemed to be in good health were then transferred to Paraty to be sold.

The small church of Paraty Mirim, inaugurated in 1746

Supposedly, Paraty Mirim was a smaller version of Paraty with a similar architecture, but we did not find any ruins to confirm this.

The wind was still blowing straight into the beach and paddling that dinghy back would have been an exercise in futility. Fortunately, we found a local water taxi willing to drag us back to our yacht and we got ready for our final leg, back to the base, where the dock crew was waiting and helped us dock.

They came on board with insect killer and fumigated the cabins to kill the last bloodsuckers that were still hiding in nooks and crannies. Being on shore power, we finally were able use the air conditioning on board without having to worry about open hatches and No-See-Ums.

For our last dinner in Paraty, we chose the restaurant of the marina where we enjoyed a delicious meal and excellent service and soon, we were in the AC-comfort of our cabins for our final night on Malicia.

We got checked out at around eight-thirty the following morning, had breakfast at the marina restaurant and boarded our taxi for the four-hour ride to Rio de Janeiro, where, like any other tourist, we had to visit the Sugar Loaf Mountain, the statue of Christ on top of the Corcovado and, of course the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema.

NOTES:

This is a sailing area largely unknown to foreigners, except for Argentinians who come here to charter, and it deserves to be discovered by North Americans.

The weather in November is not supposed to be as rainy as what we experienced but it did not bother us that much. When the sun comes out however, the scenery is spectacular,

We have only scratched the surface of what can be seen and done in this area. Too bad that we did not have an outboard on our dinghy. We would have been able to access more secluded places.

The Delta yachts are Brazilian made. They are comfortable yachts with the same IKEA-like interiors (as I call them) as the Bénéteau’s, Jeanneau’s and other mass-produced sailing yachts.

They sail well and they offer excellent value for the money. A 41’ Delta costs, ready to sail, about $150,000.00 compared to almost double that amount for a Bénéteau Oceanis 40.1.

These boats have no wastewater tanks. The one we sailed had electric heads and everything went overboard.

If you wish to charter in Brazil, you will need to provide a copy of your ASA IPC or be able to prove that you have the ASA 104 certification. Contact us for charter rates and availability in Paraty with Wind Charters.

Will we return? Absolutely… And we hope that you will join us there for our 2023 flotilla.

Capt. Jean De Keyser

Med Sailing Adventures.

THE APOCALYPSE IS COMING!

February 2, 2022

It was Sunday, mid-January 2022, and the yacht brokerage company that I work with in Burnt Store Marina was closed but one person got my name and phone number and called me to ask if I would be interested in selling his yacht. I answered that I would be there in five minutes.

When I arrived at the office, a young man in his forties introduced himself. Let’s call him Louis. He struck me as very weird. He looked like the banjo boy from the movie Deliverance all grown up. Very weird vibes…

Louis told me that he had bought this yacht the week before from another broker, whose name I will not mention. He wanted to escape the Apocalypse (no… I am not making this up). Louis, who does not know the first thing about sailing and sailboats had decided to buy a $400,000.00 super sailing yacht to escape it all because he was convinced the Government was after him and that the Apocalypse was about to happen.

The yacht had been owned and kept at the dock of a gentleman who had done a circumnavigation on her and he wanted now to buy a power boat. He hired the broker to sell her and then came Louis who bought her at $500.00 below the asking price. Apparently, a cash deal.

**The best way to escape this? A $400,000.00 luxury – off the grid- yacht**, **of course…**

The seller wanted the yacht off his dock, but Louis did not know how to handle this boat and finally the broker and the seller moved her to the transient dock of Burnt Store Marina, here in Punta Gorda, and that is where Louis found me.

As this whole deal stunk to high heaven, I started asking him questions about his plans, where he was from, how he was going to learn to sail, etc. I figured that either he must have inherited a large sum of money or gotten some other kind of windfall. I understood that he is on disability following an accident. He kept on ranting and raving about the apocalypse, and it was obvious that this guy had a mental problem.

What I did not understand is how a broker could have such a lack of ethics to sell a very expensive yacht to a person who, under normal circumstances, should be institutionalized. How in the world can you tell a person with a mental disability that it is OK to buy such a yacht and take his money? This is so flagrantly unethical and it almost reeks of abuse of a mental patient. Like stealing candy from a baby. Two friends of mine who hold degrees in psychology had quickly diagnosed poor Louis with paranoid-schizophrenic disorder and he definitely should not be on the loose. This guy is a danger to himself and his surroundings.

What made it even worse is that Louis, who by now was aware that he would never be able to sail that yacht, called the selling broker and asked him to put his boat back on the market, one week after he had bought her and this at the same time that he was asking me to sell her.

So, the yacht was sitting there at the transient dock of the marina, but Louis does not have insurance and the marina wants him out by the end of January. No slips available anywhere in southwest Florida. Louis is in a monumental pickle, and I suggest that he bring the yacht to a haul-out and storage place where she will be safe until he figures out how to handle all this. He tells that to the broker who scares him by saying that I have no yacht broker’s license or bond (not true) and that, if he hauls the boat and stores her on the hard, the sun will destroy his yacht in the shortest time. Louis panics and, in his state of mind, there is no way to reason with him.

I told him that, under the circumstances, I could not be of any further assistance. Before I left him, he asked me to check the A/C outlets. When I climbed on board, he pointed to a big shiny stainless-steel object and asked me what it was. I explained the use of the winch for him… Hopeless…

I went below to check on the A/C outlets, I saw the door to the head open. I asked him if he was using the head on board or if he used the marina facilities. He was filling up the waste tank and had no clue how to empty it.

The craziest part of all was that, when I asked about the British standard outlets, he knew enough about the story of the yacht to tell me that the seller had bought her in Barcelona from a previous owner who was a British Doctor and who had brough the yacht from the States to the Mediterranean. I knew right there that this yacht originally came out of our marina. The previous owner of my old charter company here had sold that yacht to this Doctor right at the time that I bought the charter company and I remember her at our dock. “Pelican”, although under a new name, was still as beautiful as in 2007 and impeccably maintained. It is a very small world, indeed.

Last I heard is that she might already have been sold again, and that Louis had left in his car for Montana where he is looking for a place to survive the Apocalypse. I never checked if he had a banjo…

OUR ASA TUSCANY AND ELBA CRUISE WAS A BLAST!

July 13, 2021

Post-pandemic life is starting to become more or less normal again.

After an exciting cruise in the Gulf of Fethiye in Turkey, we came back to the USA for two weeks and were on our way back east to Italy for the ASA Tuscany cruise.

Getting up on June 29 at 04:00 to catch a 07:00 flight from Ft. Myers to Dallas, for our connection to Rome, is not exactly my idea of fun. I am not an early morning person, and the attitude of the TSA agent did not help to get me in a good mood.

What is it with TSA agents in the States that they must show off their “power” by shouting and yelling? You do not see that in other countries. We had this tattoo-covered guy standing in front of the luggage scanning machine barking “90 degrees, turn the trays 90 degrees” while not making eye contact.

What an image we must project to foreign tourists visiting our country…

After spending the entire flight from RSW to DFW asleep, we had a five-hour layover in Dallas. We took the Skytrain from Terminal A to Terminal D and had an overpriced and mediocre airport breakfast there.

Before we left our house in Punta Gorda, I could not find my noise-cancelling headphones and, as there is no way that I was going to spend thirteen hours on a plane with screaming kids without being able to cancel them out, I ended up investing in $150.00 Skull Candy Bluetooth headphones. It ended up being a great investment with that raging rug rat (RRR) two rows behind me.

The flight time between Dallas and Rome was spent sleeping and reading Tom Clancy’s “Locked On” novel while drowning out the RRR’s screams.

I am still amazed at the senseless mask regulations on airplanes. In order to be allowed to board the plane to Europe, you must show a negative COVID test which means that everyone on board is “healthy”. I would assume that many are also vaccinated. The air on the plane is cleaned and renewed every few minutes. Why the face pampers, as I call them? On top of that, the virus must be the dumbest thing alive not to take advantage of the fact that we all take our masks off for over thirty minutes during dinner and breakfast on board. Call me a rebel, if you wish…

The thump of the wheels at touchdown in Rome pulled me out of my uncomfortable sleep.

Getting through immigration and customs in Italy was a non-event. We had filed our negative COVID test results and our European COVID tracking documents electronically.

***Waiting for the train to Follonica in Roma Trastevere Station***

We collected our luggage and headed for the train terminal, bought our tickets to Follonica, the closest station to Scarlino, and boarded a super clean and fast train to Roma Trastevere station where, half an hour later, we got on the connecting train to Pisa. Two hours later, we arrived in the small station of Follonica and, after a short taxi ride, finally reached our hotel, La Darsena, in walking distance from the charter base. It had taken us over twenty-four hours to make the trip, door-to-door and, after a quick shower, we crashed for a good four hours of sleep.

***Our first Tuscan sunset of the year.***

The following morning, Thursday, we had breakfast at the hotel and went for a walk to the marina.

Except for one or two unbooked sailboats, the charter base was empty. Business must be good.

Back at the hotel, I spent the rest of the day taking care of answering emails and booking yachts for our flotillas in Croatia and the Seychelles while the Admiral was, doing bookkeeping, arranging for payments of the charter boats, and doing other administration tasks.

We took a break for lunch and found this small fish store that doubled as a takeout restaurant with a few tables outside. The food was amazing, and they had an impressive choice of the freshest fish.

***A delicious lunch at our local fish store.***

It was so good that we returned the following day for more.

Across the street from the fish store, there is a trail that goes into the national preserve of the Maremma. This part of the country is a mixture of agricultural fields, forests and swamp and is home to the Butteri, the Italian version of cowboys who herd their longhorn cattle there. The only other place in Europe that I know where they have these “cowboys” is in the French Camargue.

***The swamp of the*** ***Maremma National Park. A birder’s paradise.***

We hiked for a few miles on a boardwalk in the swamp to a blind from where we could spy on the local birds, after which we headed back to the hotel for more work on our laptops and a short siesta.

That evening we had a delicious dinner in one of the restaurants in the marina.

Well rested on Friday morning, we had breakfast at our hotel, checked the emails and went for another walk to the marina for some shopping in one of the local stores.

Scarlino marina is a modern and luxurious place, home of several excellent eateries and pricey shops.

There are three or four charter companies here and they have a well-equipped boat maintenance and yacht storage facility. It is only a few hours sail from our first destination, Porto Azzurro on the island of Elba.

***Marina di Scarlino with the Island of Elba in the back***

Friday night, we had dinner at our favorite local restaurant, Il Veliero, with our Boat Mates, Bob and Cathy from Lake Tahoe.

I introduced Bob and Cathy to my favorite dish, Tagliatelle al cinghiale or tagliatelle pasta with wild boar. Lots of tagliatelle but not much boar…

Many Prosecco’s and a few wine bottles later, we headed back to our hotel, a fifteen minute walk.

Saturday morning, after our breakfast buffet at the hotel, we packed our stuff, checked out and schlepped out luggage from the hotel to the marina where we had to wait until the afternoon to get checked in on our yacht, a Sun Odyssey 479. Spacious and comfortable. We did our provisioning at the well stocked supermarket in the marina and, when getting back to the boat, we were told that she was ready for us to board and get settled.

Having verified during check-in and vessel orientation that all the systems on board were working, we dropped the lines for our 18NM crossing to Porto Azzurro on the island of Elba. Wind on the nose and motorsail all the way.

We had sent an email to the local port authority asking for a berth for the night but, when we arrived there, all dock spaces were taken, and we ended up at anchor at the entrance of Cala di Mora. There were already lots of boats on the hook and we had to do quite some maneuvering to make sure that we would be safe for the night. Secure at anchor now, this called for a celebratory drink of wine after which we got in the dinghy and went to shore to have dinner at our favorite place, our friend Umberto’s Pegaso restaurant on the waterfront.

***Great to see our good friend Umberto again. Thanks for the Grappa!***

We were received with open arms after the long 2020 absence. My favorite food that night was the marinated anchovies followed by a Pizza Mediterranea with mussels and more anchovies. A half-liter of beer helped wash down my meal. I wish I had some poetry talent in me so I could write an ode to the humble anchovy, one of the greatest gifts from Poseidon, God of the seas. Umberto came to sit at our table for a chat and shared his best grappa with us. This after dinner drink went down very smoothly and, if I had consumed a few more, maybe I would have made an attempt at poetry.

Back to the boat in the dark for a well-deserved night of sleep. And end of day one.

Sunday and our destination of the day is Portoferraio, a lovely city where Napoleon lived in exile for a short period of time before having the bad idea to return to France, raise an army again and then finally be clobbered into submission at Waterloo.

**The flag of Elba, designed by Napoleon Bonaparte**

The locals still keep him in their hearts because he helped make – albeit unknowingly – Elba into a major tourist attraction. During his stay he even gifted the island with its flag, which they still use today. A white background with a diagonal red stripe in which there are three bees, Napoleon’s animal symbol.

Again, there was almost no wind and we had to motor most of the way to Portoferraio. We decided to stop for a lunch and a swim in the bay of Calvo. A colorfully painted Moby ferry was docked unloading and loading cars and passengers.

**The** ***colorful Moby ferry in the small port of Calvo***

Before our trip to Italy, I had bought a drone and I had spent quite some time, prior to the trip, practicing flying and maneuvering it. So, now was the moment to put that practice to work. I put the drone on the swim platform and off it went towards the Moby ferry when I realized that it was not taking pictures.

I turned the drone around and tried to make it land again on the swim platform. Easier said than done and I had no other choice than to try to grab it by hand. HUGE mistake… Those little props are deadly weapons and they cut deep in my fingers. Blood splattered everywhere on deck… It was a painful mess.

Fortunately, Damien the possessed demonic drone finally stopped, and we almost threw it overboard.

***Cleaning up the scene of the crime***

Mila had to dig up the first aid kit and started bandaging my fingers. It would take a good week for them to heal completely. After having turned my fingers in mummy-like bandages, she now had to clean the blood from the crime scene. Needless to say, I was of no bleeping use for the rest of the day and would not be handling any lines for most of the rest of the trip.

Damien was returned to his bag. We may give him another chance in Sardinia. Maybe taking off from and landing on a catamaran will be an easier job.

***Portoferraio. Is that Napoleon’s ship waiting for him?***

We weighed anchor in Calvo and headed for Portoferraio.

Its waterfront is very colorful and picturesque and, once you get through the main gate by the port, you enter the old city. Right there, on the left-hand corner is my favorite gelato place. Just great ice creams… So many flavors and so little time. I needed a big one for medicinal purposes after my drone disaster.

Later that evening, we had dinner in a trattoria next to the main gate. You just cannot get bad food in Italy.

***Cathy and Bob at*** **trattoria in Portoferraio**

We wandered back, along the waterfront to our yacht. During the day this is a busy street with a lot of traffic but, after six o’clock or so, it is for pedestrians only. Plenty of ice cream-licking people watching the diners sitting at the terraces of the restaurants and vice-versa.

We pulled in the gangplank of the boat and went to sleep but not before a last drink, again for medicinal purposes only, of course.

Monday morning, after some provisioning and after withdrawing money from the local ATM, we paid our docking fee and pointed our boat to our next port of call, the island of Capraia, 26NM away on a 303 heading.

The island is a national park and only has one small fishing port that is increasingly becoming popular with cruisers. You have the fishing port, and you have the village with the fortress overlooking it from the other side of the small bay.

There are a few restaurants in the fishing village of which two are really good. Surprisingly, there is only one restaurant in the hilltop village. Mila and I had taken a small bus to the upper village (Euro 0.80 R/T) and wanted to have dinner there but there was no table available without reservation.

Back to the waterfront… Same story. We only found one place where were given a table inside and the food was good but not that great. Beggars cannot be choosers.

Meanwhile Bob and Cathy who wanted to have a romantic dinner, just the two of them, had a delicious meal at a place where they had made a reservation. Oh well…

We awoke a bit late on Tuesday and Bob and Cathy had decided to walk from the lower village to the upper and back. A good way to shake off some of the sea leg stiffness. When they came back, we sailed to our favorite swimming anchorage on the island, Cala del Moreto, on the southside of the island just behind Punta del Zenobito. On the eastside of the point there is this strange geological phenomenon where two different type of rock meet. One is dark red from the iron ore and the other looks greyish like your average granite. Imagine the forces of nature at work here millions of years ago when these islands were trusted up from the bottom of the sea.

**The** ***primeval wild beauty of nature.***

Refreshed after our swim, our next destination was Marciana Marina, 20NM away.

A bit of wind to start, then motorsailing again… We will have to sacrifice one of the crew members to Aeolus, God of the Winds…

When we arrived at Marciana Marina, and notwithstanding our previous emails requesting a reservation, there was no space at the docks. Fortunately, they have a very nice anchorage near the entrance of the marina. We dropped the hook, opened a bottle of white wine and watched the show of all the boats coming in for docking and anchoring. Quite a show… This was amateur hour. It is amazing how many sailors have no clue about anchoring.

Bob and Cathy went ashore with the dinghy looking for a Wi-Fi connection to reschedule their travel plans to Corsica. Mila and I stayed on board and watched the clown show.

***At Anchor outside of Marciana Marina.***

That evening we had dinner in our favorite restaurant in Marciana Marina, Affrichella, located on a cute little square behind the main church, then back to the boat for a well-deserved rest.

Wednesday morning, 06:15; a loud bang against the boat made me jump out of my berth and go topside where I saw a 46’ Jeanneau clanging its anchor against our starboard aft pulpit. I had noticed this boat come in last night and anchor out on the forward port quarter of our boat. I had my doubts about their decision to anchor so close to us and here they were after their anchor had slipped.

I tried to push their boat away with my bandaged fingers and put a fender between us.

***Peaceful anchoring night scene*** ***at Marciana Marina***

Mila came up first followed by Bob. The neighbor’s chain was now under our hull. I told the skipper of the other boat to release more chain to free our hull and moved our forwards, until we were free, then told them to raise their anchor and get out of there.

They finally motored away and dropped their anchor about 200m from our boat. I saw that our pulpit had been damaged and jumped in the dinghy to get their insurance information because they had damaged the pulpit.

They may have screwed up their anchoring, but they were friendly folks and gave me all the info I needed to pass on to my charter company. They will solve it…

Of course, no more sleep after this. We had planned to stay another day and go to the top of Monte Capanne, the highest point of the island but clouds were rolling in and Bob and Cathy said that they preferred to go back to Porto Azzurro as they had so much enjoyed Umberto’s hospitality and cuisine.

***Cathy at the wheel with Swee’pea, our mascot***

So, Thursday morning, we sailed back to Porto Azzurro. We had some really good winds and truly enjoyed the ride. I had made sure that we had a place at the wall this time.

On the way, we passed Calvo again where Damian the Possessed almost amputated my fingers.

The colorful Moby ferry was at its jetty again, but we easily resisted any temptation whatsoever to stop and take the drone out. Onwards to Porto Azzurro…

We arrived in the port basin and called the harbormaster for our dock assignment.

He could not find our reservation and we had to bob around for about fifteen minutes before we finally got our yacht at the wall.

As soon as we had settled in, we walked to downtown and made reservations at Pegaso.

***A refreshing warm weather favorite, Aperol Spritz.***

Millie and I walked around a bit, then sat down for an Aperol Spritz at a café on the main square.

Life is good.

At 19:30, we showed up at Pegaso’s for a delicious meal and, yes, we ate basically the same thing as last Saturday. Umberto was running all over the place. This guy is amazing, a real human dynamo, supercharged, but he found the time to sit down with us to chat and have us enjoy two grappa’s each for the guys and limoncello for the ladies. We then went back to our boat for our last night before returning to the base.

***Close reach back to the base. Looks like the jib needs a bit of trimming.***

Early on Friday, Bob and Cathy went for a last walk and we then dropped the lines to return to Scarlino but, first, we had to go to the marina of Punta Ala because the fuel pump in Scarlino was broken and we had to return the yacht with a full tank. .

We had a great sail all the way, clocking over seven knots. What a way to end this cruise!

After having refueled in Punta Ala, we went under jib only for the last five miles to Scarlino. Even with the headsail only we still reached over five knots.

We parked our boat for the last time and made arrangements for Bob and Cathy to get a taxi to the train station. They needed to go to Livorno to catch the ferry to Corsica. We will see them again next week in Sardinia.

Mila and I stayed on board for the night and got checked out the following morning.

***End of the trip… We fold the ASA flag that will be raised next in Sardinia.***

Dragging our heavy luggage for half a mile under the blazing sun to the hotel was no fun and, after check-in, Mila immediately started taking care of the laundry while I checked all the unanswered emails.

Around 13:30, we went for lunch to our favorite little fish store. Back from lunch, Mila started working on accounting and administration while I took a two-hour nap.

A few more hours of working on the computer and then dinner at a small deli around the corner from the hotel. A bottle of delicious local red wine, a wild boar mousse, a selection of tasty local cheeses made for the perfect finale of our stay in Tuscany.

Next stop Sardinia.

Join us in September of 2022 for our next Tuscany flotilla.

Capt. Jean De Keyser

July 10, 2021.

ADDENDUM:

On July 11, we took the Moby ferry from Piombino to Olbia in Sardinia.

Many of the Moby ferries are highly decorated, inside and out with Loony Tunes and other popular characters like Batman, etc.

We were on the Moby Aki where a large fiberglass rendition of Sylvester the Cat welcomed us at the reception desk.

The ferry carried cars, commercial trucks, campers and motorbikes as well as regular pedestrian passengers. Most of the passengers hung out on deck or in the restaurant and bar areas where there were even playgrounds and arcades to keep the kids busy.

We had decided on renting sleeper seats in a special quiet area of the ship and, from the portholes, we could see, during the passage, our sailing grounds off Elba.

The ship got even close enough to Montecristo so we could get some decent pictures. No Count of Montecristo to be seen. The island looked pretty desolate and rocky but, if you want to learn a bit more about its very interesting history, you should check out the Montecristo Wikipedia page.

After a five and a half hours, we finally arrived in Olbia and took a taxi to the apartment we rented for a few days. More information on our stay to follow.

Capt. Jean De Keyser

TURKEY IS TOPS! Our 2021 ASA Sailing Trip

June 9, 2021

After a thirteen-hour long flight from Miami to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, with screaming kids in the row across the aisle from my seat, we arrived in what I would call the hair implant capital of the Middle East.

Nowhere else have I seen so many men walk around with partially bandaged heads following a hair implant surgery. They were at the airport and visiting tourist attractions. They were everywhere. Somehow, I prefer to remain bald… Bald is beautiful and way less painful…

We took a taxi to our Airbnb in the Taksim Square area. The house was located in a small alley at the bottom of some streets from the main drag. It looked a bit like Montmartre in Paris.

Independence Avenue with all the luxury stores was nearby and, although there was a COVID lockdown in effect with all restaurants closed for sit-down dinners, we found one that let us come in for a delicious dinner. Someone must have greased the hands of the local lockdown enforcers.

An adorable little red tram runs from one end of Independence Avenue to Taksim Square on the other end.

The following morning, we visited Taksim Square and took a cab to the Fatih neighborhood to visit the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi museum. As soon as we got out of the taxi, we were accosted by a nice local guy who showed us to the door of the Blue Mosque. He insisted that he was not a guide and did not want any payment but, if we could, please, visit his small store in the nearby bazaar.

***Seven Hills restaurant with view of the Blue Mosque and of the Bosporus***.

The Blue Mosque was a disappointment because they were doing major work inside and we could not see the famous ceilings. When we left the Mosque, our guide was there to take us to his “small shop” which turned out to be a modern and beautiful oriental carpet store with literally hundreds and hundreds of colorful hand-knotted carpets. We were invited to sit down, drink a welcome tea and, about one hour of negotiating later, we were the proud new owners of a gorgeous silk carpet.

Next stop, a rooftop restaurant with a view over the Bosporus and with a huge menu of seafood and excellent wine. After having enjoyed this delicious meal, we headed for the Topkapi palace, historic home of the Ottoman Sultans. They sure lived in the lap of luxury and surrounded by unbelievable beauty and I don’t necessarily mean the Harem…

Last stop of the day was the Hagia Sophia. This used to be the main cathedral of the Orthodox Church, became a mosque, a museum and, recently again, a mosque. It is huge and, when it was a church, must have been stunning inside.

That night, we found another restaurant where we could eat inside. By now, we were getting more familiar with the Mezze or Turkish appetizers, like smoked eggplant bites, marinated seabass, stuffed grape leaves and more. Not much room left for a main dish but enough to eat a few decadently sweet Baklavas.

***The decadent but addictive Turkish Delights and Baklava***.

The following morning, we had to get up at 4:30 AM to get our taxi to the other airport of Istanbul, Sabiha Gökçen Airport on the Asian side of the Bosporus for our flight to Dalaman from where we took another cab to Fethiye where our charter base is located.

It was an hour-long drive from Dalaman to our hotel in Fethiye and we were impressed by the modern infrastructure of the roads and bridges. The road was lined with colorful flowering bushes like Bougainvillea, Hibiscus and Oleander. No palm trees but lots of Mediterranean pines, olive and citrus trees.

We were booked for one night only at the Unique Boutique Hotel in Fethiye but, next trip, we will make sure to stay longer. It was absolutely beautiful with super friendly staff and a great restaurant.

***The Unique Boutique Hotel in Fethiye with the ECE Marina in the background***.

The room was tastefully decorated in a rustic Mediterranean style with an unforgettable view from the balcony of the marina and the bay.

We met our crew for dinner, Arthur and Khristina from Indianapolis, our friends, Casey from Cape Coral and Eric from West Palm Beach. Our last crew member, Julie from Chicago was arriving the following day late, due to some confusion with the airline bookings.

It became immediately obvious that we were going to have a great week together. We immediately sensed a great chemistry among us. Many hours later and after many Rakis, the national drink, similar to the Greek Ouzo and the French Pastis, we retired for a well-deserved rest.

Saturday morning, we went to the marina to do our provisioning and to get checked in on the yacht.

***S/V Sail Sirius, Bavaria 50 Cruiser. Our home for the week.***

All went smoothly and, in the early afternoon, we sailed to our first overnight stop, Kapi Creek. Winds were in the 20 knots, and we were flying on board of our chartered Bavaria 50. Kapi Creek is a well-protected anchorage with a restaurant that, due to the lockdown, was closed.

There was no docking space available, and we had to anchor out with stern lines to the shore. The dockhands from the restaurant came to help us put the stern lines out and told us that, for around $20.00 per person, they could deliver dinner to the boat. Thirty minutes later the dinghy reappeared with an unbelievable spread of food that we enjoyed on board with plenty of local wine and Raki.

The following morning, Ismael, one of the employees of the charter base, showed up in a RIB to deliver us our last crew member, Julie, and soon we weighed anchor for a second day of sailing. Not too much wind to start and we had to motor sail for a few hours, after which we only needed the genoa.

***Special delivery of our last crew member, Julie. What a service!***

At the end of the day, we sailed to Göcek, the other main city with marinas in the Gulf of Fethiye. We called on CH 73 and got a dock for the night. D-Marina is a modern, well-equipped place and host to multi-million yachts of Russian oligarchs and Middle Eastern millionaires.

Göcek is a vibrant small town with a charming tourist shopping area with plenty of restaurants. As these were still closed, we had again a festive takeout buffet brought to the boat. Wine and Raki were served abundantly…

On Monday morning, after a late and leisurely breakfast, we headed west in the bay of Fethiye again for some brisk sailing and, around lunch, we anchored in the crowded Tomb Bay where we could see antique Lycian tombs carved out from the cliffs. Holding was bit risky, and we decided to sail to the anchorage of Kucuk Kuyruk.

***Typical anchorage with Med mooring***.

The wind was blowing and after several futile attempts to anchor with stern lines to the shore, we started looking for another place to spend the night. We finally found Cigdem Koyu a tiny bay with a narrow entrance and opted to secure the yacht across the mouth of the bay with a bow line to one side of the shore and the stern line to the opposite shore. Even though we were mostly out of the wind, it made for a rolling night. We had dinner on board, courtesy of our lovely female crew members.

Our participants started emerging from their cabins around 08:00 and we enjoyed a nourishing breakfast while watching the goats climbing over the rocks on the shore. What a peaceful scene. Breakfast over and dishes washed and stowed away, we started sailing again, enjoying the 15 to 25 knot winds, courtesy of the Meltemi.

June 1st and the lockdown in Turkey is officially over. Restaurants are open again for sit-down service and we voted to spend the night in Wall Creek, home of the waterfront Adaia restaurant. We docked starboard to dock, squeezed in between a Jeanneau 469 and a Lagoon 420. Capt. Casey expertly docked our Sail Sirius in between these yachts. We immediately made 8 o’clock reservations for dinner and struck up a conversation with Lola, a Russian crew member on the neighboring Lagoon. She told us about some submerged ruins on the other side of the bay. Five of us set off on a discovery expedition to the ruins but I had to give up when my old ankle injury started acting up. I will try again next year…

Dinner that evening was delicious and the service excellent. The fusion of Mediterranean and Near Eastern cuisine makes for an interesting but tantalizing gastronomy.

***Great sailing with consistent winds***.

Wednesday midpoint of our trip. Let us make the most of our sailing as we only have two days left after this. Fortunately, the Gulf of Fethiye is close to 70 square miles and counts hundreds of small bays, coves, inlets, and islands to make it the perfect sailing playground. We left Wall Creek for another day of spirited sailing with plenty of tacking and jibing and docked for the night at the restaurant in Sarsala Creek. It was not as luxurious as the previous place but the view from the hill above the restaurant made up for it. Spectacular…

That evening we splurged on Mezze and more Mezze and on a delicious lamb dish.

We had hoped to have shore power and water at the dock, but the restaurant did not offer these facilities so we opted to spend our Thursday night again in Göcek where we would also have access to Wi-Fi. The restaurants in town were open, but Eric and Julie offered to cook on board and went shopping for food. They prepared a delicious meal with, again, generous quantities of wine and Raki.

A local cat climbed on board in the hope of getting some food scraps. Needless-to-say, after such a great dinner, we spent a blissful night.

Our last day has arrived and we need to be back at the charter base by 16:00 but, first, a hearty breakfast at a local eatery in Göcek with plenty of Turkish coffee and some more, final shopping. We left the marina and raised the sails but, in between some of the islands and the mainland, the winds were too squirrelly, and we had to wait until we got out in the main Gulf area to really get good winds and off we went towards Fethiye. It made for a very enjoyable sail, and, with a tinge of sadness, we dropped the sails to enter ECE Marina, our base in Fethiye where we pumped out, refueled and got back to our slip. An hour later, a male nurse came on board to perform the COVID tests that we needed to be able to fly back to the States.

A last dinner together is always a bittersweet occasion, but we celebrated it at one of the top seafood restaurants in Fethiye, Hilmi, on the waterfront. This place was amazing. They had an unbelievable choice of Mezze, and the fishes in the cooler counter were so fresh that they still seemed alive. We chose to limit ourselves to a large selection of Mezze and desserts and to skip the main entrees altogether. From our vantage point, we enjoyed a spectacular sunset. With dinner over, we crammed into a taxi and returned to our yacht for a last night aboard.

***And a stunning sunset for our last dinner together…***

The “Admiral” and I had to get up at 03:00 the following morning to catch our flight to Sabiha Gökçen Airport. From SAW, we had to take a bus for the one-hour long transfer to Istanbul International.

We had to wait to get our negative test results by email before we could check in and get into the duty-free area. IST is an unbelievably modern and beautiful airport with all the most luxurious duty-free fashion shops. I do not know of any airport in the USA that could compare to this one.

Fourteen hours later, we landed in Miami, breezed through customs, got our car back and drove three hours to our home in Punta Gorda. We travelled twenty-four hours, door-to-door…

Exhausted but with unforgettable memories, we crawled in bed.

***Great and fun crew. New and old friends***. ***We will get to sail again with them…***

We will return next year!

WHEN SAILING AND HISTORY MEET… MED SAILING ADVENTURES AND NIKOLA TESLA

August 3, 2020

The Krka National Park with its stunning waterfalls has been one of our favorite destinations when we sail in Croatia.

Located upriver from the historic city of Sibenik, it definitely is one of the most popular tourist attractions of the country. Whereas “normal” tourists travel there by car or bus, we do the trip motorsailing up the river, through a canyon and across a lake before reaching the small village of Skradin with its history reaching back to the Roman times and beyond.

Skradin has excellent marina facilities operated by ACI. You either dock at the marina or take a buoy across the river where the swans will come beg for food.

From Skradin you can hike or bike to the Krka falls or you take one of the gullet ferries.

Hiking through the forest surrounding the falls or when swimming in the cool fresh water with hundreds of small fish darting to-and-fro around you, you do not realize that this magical place was the location of the second oldest hydro-electric plant in the world. It opened on August 28, 1895, only two days after the one at Niagara Falls. Pieces of the old turbine can still be seen there.

It was the brainchild of Nikola Tesla the incredible genius and constant nemesis of Thomas Edison.

Tesla, an ethnic Serb, was born in Smiljanin in what is now Croatia when it was still part of the Austrian Empire. He was the brain behind the development of the alternating current and, when he arrived in the States, he teamed up with Westinghouse.

His invention of the polyphase alternate current was used during the 1893 Chicago World Fair to supply power to the lighting of the show and the functioning of several electric motors.

Tesla died in the United States in 1943 but his final resting place is in Belgrade, Serbia.

History, culture and gastronomy combined with fun flotilla sailing makes for unique vacations experiences.

Although the so-called pandemic has ruined our plans for for 2020, we are looking forward to returning to all these interesting places with old and new sailing friends in 2021.

In the meantime, stay healthy and safe!

Capt. Jean De Keyser

HOW TIME FLIES… AND OTHER NEWS…

June 23, 2020

***Celebrating Father’s Day and our twelfth anniversary***

As they say in the social media vernacular, OMG! It has been since April that I have not written a blog… Time to catch up with the Med Sailing Adventures Team…

So, for those of you who have not followed our Facebook postings, the Admiral went to Peru in March to visit her parents in Lima and to celebrate their birthdays with them. Little did she know that the virus would strike so fast and, before she knew it, she was stuck in Peru with a very strict stay-at-home policy. Meanwhile, I drove to Florida to our house in Punta Gorda. Sick and tired of the cold and the snow.

Being in sunny Florida, while there was still the occasional snowfall in Chicago, helped me a lot coping with the solitude caused by Mila’s absence.

She finally made it back on June 6 and we are now staying on our sailboat in Burnt Store Marina. We sold our house here as we wanted to downsize but have not decided on a new property yet. In the meantime, we celebrated Mila’s half century and our twelfth anniversary and we are enjoying our stay in the marina.

There is something to be said for staying on a boat in a marina. It is so peaceful and we sleep so well at night. The fellow liveaboards are very nice people, always willing to help, and the sunsets as seen from a boat are spectacular.

While I was still in the house here, in solitary confinement and with Mila south of the Equator, my therapy was mainly cooking and enjoying a good wine. I would post what I called food-porn pictures on Facebook but, ever since she came back, I have not posted too many. So here is one to wet the appetite of the ones who are gastronomically adventurous.

I brought our small Weber gas grill on board and prepared a typical Peruvian dish called Anticuchos de Corazon. They are skewers with pieces of beef heart marinated in a spicy mixture made of Peruvian peppers and herbs. It is a finger licking delicious dish. If beef heart makes you a bit queasy, you can also make it with chicken.

Today, we received a notice that the European Union countries will probably ban entry for U.S. citizens and residents for fear that they might re-introduce the virus in Europe. The crazy part is that they will allow visitors from China. Go figure but, in the meantime, we will not be able to return to the Med until 2021. Our trip to the Seychelles is still on for October of this year.

Although we will miss sailing with our friends in the Mediterranean, we are looking forward to 2021. Most of this year’s participants have already committed for 2021. Unless a new plague, revolution or out-of-space alien invasion hits us, next year should be a banner year. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

We will probably stay a few more weeks in Florida and then drive back to Illinois to see the kids and the grandkids and all our friends up there. Hopefully, we will be able to do some sailing on Lake Michigan as well.

More news in a few days!

Stay healthy and safe.

Capt. Jean De Keyser and “Admiral” Mila.

STORMS CAN MAKE FOR INTERESTING DISCOVERIES

April 19, 2020

You always experience something fun and unexpected when sailing.

A few years ago, we were cruising in Croatia during one of our flotillas. We had just visited the moving beach of Zlatni Rat on Brac (pronounced Bratsj), one of the larger islands along the Dalmatian Coast.

Discover Zlatni Rat, most famous beach in Croatia — ***Zlatni Rat beach, near Bol on Brac Island***

Brac is renowned for its white stone and the locals say that stone from their quarries was used for the construction of the White House. I don’t know if it is true, but it makes for a good story.

The beach of Zlatni Rat is a large pebble beach that protrudes from the island into the Hvarski Channel that separates the islands of Brac from Hvar. The beach moves following the tides and currents and basically it sways from East to West with the pebbles rolling back and forth. Quite interesting…

This was Thursday and, the following evening, we had to be back at our base in Kastela, near Split. The flotilla week was almost over. Our plan was to sail along the south coast of Brac through the pass of Splitska Vrata, between the islands of Brac and Solta and then go to the charming small fishing port of Milna on Brac’s west side.

***The typical fishing village of Milna***

Unannounced, and not mentioned in the forecast, a storm came up from the northwest and, in a minimum of time, we were heading straight into the wind and the high waves. The three yachts in our flotilla were bucking like broncos. The crew members had donned their foul weather gear and were shivering while we were being pelted by rain and some occasional hail. It was blowing a stink with some gusts exceeding 35 knots.

It was getting darker when we fought our way through the Splitska Vrata and we rounded Zaglav point towards Milna where there are three marinas. We did not have any reservations as, most of the time, you do not need them. You just show up and the dockhands tell you were to dock. Unfortunately, that night, there were no slips available. They had cancelled a sailing race and all the contestants had taken shelter in the three marinas. Anchoring outside was not an option with the weather as the bay in front of the entrance to Milna did not offer any protection.

***Google Earth view of Milna, Lucice and Splitzka Vrata pass***

A quick look at the charts showed that the closest place with the best protection would be the anchorage of Lucice (pron. Loo-tsjee-tsay). However, to get there, we had to retrace our steps, get back outside in the storm, through Splitska Vrata pass and back in the direction from where we came. We should see the bay of Lucice on our portside. No way we could miss it and, sure enough, as soon as we turned inside the small bay, the water was flat and we were out of the wind and the storm.

We headed towards the westernmost shore of the bay where we would get the most protection. The charts showed this as a particularly good anchorage but, when we got there, we saw mooring buoys. That would make our lives easier. Our three yachts each picked up a mooring ball and soon a local fisherman came over in his skiff to tell us that we had to pay for the use of the buoys but, if we would eat dinner at the small konoba (restaurant) on-shore, the buoys would be free.

It was already getting late and, after having been cycled and recycled through the Adriatic washing machine, nobody was in the mood to cook on board and soon we headed to shore in our dinghies.

The restaurant was located under the pines and was totally off the grid. An old Cummings generator at the back of the owner’s house was making a racket and provided electricity for the house and the konoba.

The kitchen was an open-air grill and all the food was prepared over charcoal. The waiters spoke very little English and there was no menu. They would explain in a mixture of German and English what was available, and it boiled basically down to lamb, fish and scallops. The scallops grilled in their shell on the charcoal were delicious. Unlike in the U.S.A. where you get them cleaned up so that only the white meat remains, in the Mediterranean they serve them with the orange colored corral. It makes a big difference. As far as the fish was concerned, it was still swimming when we picked up our buoys. That fresh…

***View over Lucice Bay from the restaurant***

***It does not get more authentic and rustic…***

From what we understood from the waiters, the owner of the restaurant was a retired star soccer player who had his heyday during the Yugoslav Tito years. We were welcome to visit his house and look at all his trophies.

The gentleman, whose name I cannot even recall, met us at the door. He welcomed us in Croatian because he did not speak a word of English of German and, with the help of one of the waiters who could babble a bit in English, he tried to tell his story. We understood that he must have been one of the top players of his times. His house was a shrine to his achievements and there were pictures on the wall of him shaking hands with the likes of Tito and Brezhnev. Too bad we could not communicate better which makes me jump a few years fast forward…

***Relaxing the morning after the storm***

About three years ago, during another flotilla, and after I had told our participants about this story, we decided to go back to Lucice and show them that same place. It had changed quite a bit. Now they wanted us to pay for the buoys regardless of whether we were going to have dinner at the konoba or not. It seems that the wife of the former star player had taken over the business and she was not exactly customer friendly or, as a matter of fact, not friendly at all. It was a bit of a disappointment but, fortunately, the scenery of the anchorage was still as spectacular as the first time we came here.

We wanted to see the house and the owner again and when I told one of the waiters, who spoke a perfect English, that it had been a pity that we had not been able to communicate with the owner, he told me that he did indeed not speak English or German but was fluent in French. When I met him, I reminded him of our visit a few years ago and we had a good laugh about the fact that, if we had both known at that time, we could have talked in French.

Lucice is still one of our favorite anchorages on Brac but, hopefully, the owners of the konoba will get their act together and the business will become again more customer friendly like when we came there the first time.

If it had not been for that storm, we would probably never have discovered its beauty.

Stay safe and healthy!

Capt. Jean De Keyser

YOU ALWAYS LEARN SOMETHING WHEN SAILING IN FOREIGN PLACES!

January 24, 2020

All these wonderful destinations that we are so privileged to visit have fascinating attractions that we can discover during our flotillas.

Take, the island of Elba for instance, one of the gems of the Tuscan coast of Italy and one of our favorite places to sail.

Elba is nothing short of spectacular. Beautiful ports each with their own interesting history, crystalline waters, gorgeous nature, this place has it all.

Etruscan, Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans and many others have left their imprint on Elba’s history. During the antiquity, the Etruscan and Romans mined the iron ore on the island. Later on in history, Elba was governed by the Republic of Pisa, the Republic of Genoa, Spain, even France and Britain.

***The view from Napoleon’s home in exile. Why would you leave this place to get defeated in Waterloo?***

Its main claim to fame was that Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled there after he lost the Battle of Leipzig. During his short stay there, he even designed the flag of the island, featuring his personal symbol, the bee.

***Napoleon’s Flag of Elba with his bee symbol.***

In my humble opinion, he should have stayed on Elba. He had a nice house assigned to him in Portoferraio and could have had a quiet retirement but he decided to return to France and got eventually clobbered in Waterloo. I am sure that his final exile on the island of St. Helena, where he died, was not as agreeable as on Elba.

Portoferraio, is a lovely city with interesting museums and many restaurants that serve delicious authentic local cuisine. An impressive fortress protects the entrance to the municipal marina.

***Portoferraio and its Municipal Marina***

Porto Azzurro is another attractive port with a very nice marina in the Golfo di Mora. It is protected by two fortresses built by the Spaniards. One that is still used as a jail today was built on the same blueprints as the citadel of my native city, Antwerp in Belgium. Unfortunately, the one in Antwerp does not exist anymore. The waterfront along the port is home to plenty of good restaurants but the visitor should also go discover the charming inner city. Don’t forget to stop at Zero Gradi on the main square facing the port. You will enjoy some of the best gelato in Italy.

Another interesting place is Marciana Marina on the north side of the island. It boasts a large fortified tower in the well protected port and, like Porto Azzurro, has a pleasant center of the city with excellent restaurants.

***Fortified tower of Marciana Marina, built during the reign of the Republic of Pisa***

When we dock our yachts in Marciana Marina with our flotillas, we make it a point to go into the mountains to the old city of Marciana which dates back to the Romans. It is definitely worth a visit. From there it is a short hike to the cable lift to Monte Capanne, the highest point of Elba 1,019 meters above sea level. What a view from up there!

Cable lift nacelle
Monte Capanne lift
In the clouds

Elba has so much more to offer, like beautiful beaches and resorts that will welcome sun worshipers for a relaxing vacation but, as far as I am concerned, a sailing trip offers the best perspective to discover this wonderful place in the Mediterranean.

For more information on how to join a sailing flotilla to Elba, contact us at sailing@medsailingadventures.com

Fair Winds and Happy Travels!

Capt Jean De Keyser

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