October 1, 2017 – after a month of boat projects in Port Camargue, France, we set off east with our friend Bettyjane to explore the Mediterranean coast of France, and then on to Corsica, Sardinia, and Italy.

We worked our way along the French coast as far east as the Porquerolles, a set of islands near the city of Toulon.  Here and at several other anchorages Dave enjoyed snorkeling to check the anchor – something we can’t do in Alaska!

On October 5 we got up at 2 am and made a 16 hour crossing to the island of Corsica, a region of France.  With a full moon and clear skies, visibility was good.  The amazing amount of ship traffic visible on the AIS system kept us alert all night.

We landed at the town of Calvi, on the NW coast of Corsica, in 30 knots of wind.

This was one of many times the wind picked up just as we were ready to take the sails down! We stayed at Calvi for 4 days, enjoying swimming at the beach, hiking to the citadel, and eating out.  While we were there we were visited by customs officials who reviewed our papers and confirmed that our boat is VAT-paid so we do not have to exit the EU to reset the temporary importation tax clock.  Good news!

On October 9 we headed south along the western coast of Corsica.  We anchored out in the Golfe de Peru about half way down the coast, then spent the next night in the harbor at Bonifacio on the southern tip of the island.

On the way there our port engine quit.  Dave determined there was a clog in the fuel intake line, and after blowing it out the engine started up again.  This was not the last time we would be glad to have two engines!

Our next hop was south to Sardinia, an island region of Italy.  This was the first time taking Wally Walou out of France and we had been informed that we were required to check out of France at a customs office; however, contrary to information in our guide book, there is no customs office in Bonifacio.  After some more research we determined there is no requirement to check out after all, so we headed south and east into Italian waters, destination Porto Cervo, on the NE end of Sardinia. This short passage was full of beautiful granite islands.

Checking in to Italy was more involved than we anticipated.  We arrived in Porto Cervo at 4:00 pm and tied up near the Coast Guard office (in Italy the Coast Guard also assumes customs duties), but it was closed.  Dave took the dinghy to the harbor office, which was also closed.  He waited there until the harbormaster appeared and said the coast guard office would open at 10 am tomorrow.  So we paid for a night and stayed put admiring the beautiful villas above the harbor.  Porto Cervo is a high end destination frequented by movie stars and the rich and famous, with giant yachts in the summer.

The next morning at 10 am the coast guard office was indeed open and after copying what papers they required, they informed us that we needed to purchase a stamp at a shop 6 kilometers away, bring it back to the Coast Guard, and then they would issue the papers we would need for our boat to be in Italy.  So, we put together our folding bikes and rode the 6 km to buy the stamp. The ride was ALL uphill mostly with little or no shoulder and cars that have no concept of what Americans think of as “enough room”!

Back at the Coast Guard we made it just before lunch and Dave presented the stamp, the officer said his boss would need to review our papers but he wasn’t there, and they were closing the office for lunch, so please to come back about 4 pm….;-)  At this point we were pretty certain we were not going to make our planned sail around the corner to the city of Olbia, where Bettyjane had a flight out the next day.  At 4:00 Dave went back to the Coast Guard and they confirmed all was in order and issued us a “Constituto”, basically a cruising permit that we were required to turn in to the Coast Guard at the last port before we exit Italy.

The next morning we waved goodbye to Bettyjane as she got in a taxi to Olbia to catch her flight, then moved the boat south around the corner to Golfo Pevero.  On the way we passed numerous beautiful granite islands with high cliffs, and watched dolphins jumping in the distance.

We anchored for 2 nights in Golfo Pevero which we dubbed the “Dog Beach” due to lots of locals walking dogs there.  Dave wanted to change the pitch on the props so he created an extension for his snorkel by attaching a hose to it, and with Sally holding the hose out of the water and handing him tools from the dinghy, we managed to re-pitch both props.  This gave us an extra knot of boat speed on one engine and almost 2 knots with both!  During this exercise we saw a partially submerged float part of a summer mooring ball near our boat so we tied a plastic bottle stuffed with orange rags to it to warn other boaters of the hazard.

On October 15 we moved south and anchored in a bay called Liscia delle Saline, just outside Olbia.  We started in the dinghy on a 4 mile trip into Olbia for groceries but in about a half mile the motor started making odd noises and we were not able to accelerate over a certain point so we shut it off and rowed back to Wally Walou.  After taking the motor off Dave determined we needed a new prop; fortunately there is a Yamaha dealer in Olbia.  We moved Wally Walou into the harbor in Olbia and got a slip for 2 nights, took a taxi to Yamaha and ordered a new prop which would arrive in a week.  So, after provisioning and other chores were complete, we moved south and anchored 3 nights in Cala Coda Cavallo (horse’s tail cove), a nice bay in a marine reserve.

Here we hiked, snorkeled and played on our Stand Up Paddleboards (SUPs).  On the 21^st we moved SE around the corner to Porto Brandinghy for shelter from the forecasted high winds over the next 2 days.  At 4 am we got up and watched the Orionid meteor shower!  The next day the winds arrived, and with minimal sleep we made it through a day and night of winds consistently in the 40s and gusts over 50 knots.  This was our first time anchoring out in such high winds and our anchor held beautifully.  The next day Dave swam and took pictures of the anchor with a GoPro and found it was thoroughly buried and barely moved!  We were thankful for good anchoring gear, a sandy bottom with good holding, and nothing leeward of us but open ocean.

After picking up our new dinghy prop we crossed over to Italy, our second night crossing and the first one with just the two of us.  Again the ship traffic was amazingly heavy including one unlighted boat we only saw on radar (no AIS signal), and another lighted boat that didn’t see us until the last minute, then scurried out of our way.  We had intended to stop at Giglio Island off the west coast of Italy but the anchorages were too small, rocky, and dangerous so we decide to continue on.  This is where the cruise ship Concordia crashed on the rocks several years ago, and the massive structure built to right the ship is still in place.  We eventually made it to Isola d’Elba (Elba Island), where Napoleon was exiled.  The crossing lasted 24 hours, ending with dolphins playing under our port bow.  Toward the end of this crossing Dave blew out another clog in the port engine fuel intake line.  He later discovered the problem was pieces of sealant around the access port had crumbled and fallen into the tank.  We anchored for 3 nights at Barbarossa Beach, snorkeling over huge clams about 1 foot in diameter, exploring nearby Porto Azzurro, and hiking on a scenic cliff-side trail.

Next we moved to the north side of Elba Island to a cove called Cala Concia across from Portoferraio, the capital of Elba.  We stayed there 3 nights and SUPed, dodged ferry traffic, and explored the historical sites of Portoferraio.

On November 2 we crossed over to mainland Italy where we anchored for 2 nights at Cala Barbiere.  As with most of the places we anchored we were the only boat there, a nice surprise considering how crowded these areas are in the summer.  From here we worked our way south along the Italian coast.  Temperatures were cooling off so at times we wore our full storm gear.  We came to the conclusion that the reason most people don’t cruise the Med in the winter is 1) most sailboats don’t have heaters, and 2) many shops are closed for the season so it’s hard to find food and supplies. Also the prevailing southeast winds this time of year make for swells that can be very uncomfortable depending on the anchorage.

November 10 – 28 we were tied up in Porto Turistico di Roma, a harbor just outside of the Rome airport.  Our friends Janet and Wally joined us and we took trains and explored Rome, Naples and Pompeii.

The 4 of us celebrated Dave’s birthday with a day sail and dolphins playing under our bows – birthday dolphins!

On November 28^th we began our journey north and west back up the Italian coast and to France.

Our goal was to arrive back in Port Camargue in mid-December to give us several days before our planned trip back to states for the Christmas holidays.  Instead, because of the numerous storm systems that blow through this time of year, we spent several days at different locations hunkered down waiting for weather to clear.  We anchored out at the picturesque fishing town of Santa Margherita, on the NW coast of Italy, for almost a week.

We planned to stay put there until a storm came through, and thought our location would be protected from the forecasted wind direction.  We were wrong.  We woke up to increasing winds coming directly at us and soon waves were breaking underneath our boat.  As we debated whether to stay or move into the nearby harbor, the rope bridle holding our anchor broke!  That made the decision easy.  Dave worked to keep the boat into the wind while Sally was on the bow bringing up the anchor and getting drenched by waves.  We later discovered that in our haste to get out of there we yanked on the anchor so hard we bent the shank!

We pulled in to the nearby harbor and tied up behind the breakwater, glad to be in calmer waters. As we were tying up one of the very helpful dock guys casually mentioned that this bad weather had been forecasted for several days…

The next day after the storm passed we walked back to the beach where we had been anchored and were shocked at the extent of debris that had washed up.  Backhoes were clearing gravel and logs out of the doorsteps of the beach-side buildings.  We felt fortunate that the storm hit in the daylight while we were awake so we were able to react in time, and we did not ourselves become part of the debris on the beach!

The next day we headed west, dodging floating debris from the storm.  As we were sailing along we felt a bump, and soon realized we had hit a large tree limb and its branches were hung up on our port daggerboard.   It wouldn’t come loose on its own so finally we raised the dagger board and put the boat in reverse and it floated away.  No damage!

On December 17 we arrived at San Remo, the last major Italian town before the French border.  After tying up we went to the Coast Guard office to return our cruising permit and check out of Italy.  There we learned we were supposed to have given our permit to the Coast Guard upon arrival at every port we visited in Italy, then go back and retrieve our permit with the Coast Guard’s signature before leaving each port. We apologized and said we didn’t know about that procedure, and fortunately they let us go with no penalty.  In hindsight we were glad we didn’t know about it, as it would have been very cumbersome!

From San Remo we moved west into France and arrived back in Port Camargue on December 21, our first time sailing on winter solstice!  Since October 1^st we had covered about 1300 nautical miles.  During this adventure we learned to pay attention to wave height and direction forecasts because the sea state can make for a very uncomfortable ride in the Mediterranean, which has notoriously short, steep, choppy seas.  In spite of the forecasts saying otherwise, during the last couple of days we experienced 3 meter waves with short (few second) periods, and 30 knot winds on our beam.  We did our best to slow the boat down by reefing and altering course direction but even with all 3 reefs we were still moving at 12 knots, which would have been great fun only if the seas were calmer!

All in all our first real cruising experience on Wally Walou was a success and we look forward to our next adventure to Spain this spring!