Porto Vecchio
Altea
Fri 15 Aug 2014 11:59
24 July 2014
J and I swam into the beach in the morning. The water was beautiful. The swim back to the boat, against the rising wind, still hitting 20 knots, took twice as long, but was good exercise.
For the short hop round to Porto Vecchio we just unrolled the genoa and had a great down wind run. Must break out the spinnaker pole soon and practice with poled out genoa and the mainsail held out with a gybe preventer on the other side. But that is for another day.
We were very pleased to be able to anchor right up in the neck of the bay just a short dinghy ride from the harbour. After grabbing some petrol for the dinghy at the fuel berth, we eventually found somewhere to tie up the dinghy - hardly anywhere seems to make an effort to make this easy. Pizza is the mission, and after a walk up the hill to the old town and a beer in the very pretty little square, we have a tiny side street restaurant to ourselves. A proper wood fired pizza oven and an engaging young french man, who clearly owns and runs the place, delivered exactly what we wanted, with a carafe of cheap red plonk to wash it down. Perfect.
We had been so hungry that we had eaten on the tick of opening time, and as we walked back the square was just being prepared for the evening trade. A couple of record decks were set up on the pedestrian crossing to provide the entertainment and we promised ourselves to come back tomorrow, less tired, and ready to enjoy the evening atmosphere.
25 July 2014
At anchor
We needed to re-stock, and after some research we had located a large supermarket round the other side of town. We managed to get the dinghy into an inlet close by, where the others went ashore, and I stayed to mind the boat.
In the end we had so much stuff that a taxi was required, and I went back round to the town quay in the dinghy to wait for them. As I was waiting I watched an irritated man in charge of renting out some boats nip through a visiting dinghy's security wire with 3 ft bolt croppers, as if he was clipping a toenail. They had mistakenly parked in one of his slots, and he clearly did not like it.
Eventually the others arrived with the shopping, greatly amused that the taxi was a Porsche Cayenne.
In the end, after stowing all the provisions, we stayed on board that evening, and decided to stay yet another day for our trip to town.
26 July 2014
Still at anchor
A relaxing, if frustrating day. The wind still blows. It looks like it will be too choppy to get the dinghy down. Then at 5 ish it drops, and we get all showered and dressed ready for the trip. Then it blows up again, and we stand down, getting changed out of our shore clothes. We settle down to a game of cards, and the wind drops as night falls. Too late. Porto Vecchio's night life will have to wait for another trip, we have itchy feet and need to get moving.