Tuesday 14th June 2011 - Genova, Porto Antico

Eliza B
Ron & Elizabeth HOWARD
Tue 14 Jun 2011 20:29

Since our last progress report, we have crossed the border into Italian waters, we have resolved the wi-fi communication issues, we have revised our forward plans and we have fixed the dates for our visit home.

 

After our delightful expedition to Taradeau, we returned to Eliza B at Ste Maxime and discovered an ‘Italian week’ exhibition on the seafront.  On display were stalls offering cheese, pork (slices or sausages), truffles and Venetian masks plus various fashion items which were of less interest.

 

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The next morning (Friday) we set off eastwards – after a short thunderstorm had passed over.  Unfortunately the wind, such as it was, was coming from exactly the direction we wanted to go – making the sails flap and the sea building into an uncomfortable rolling swell.  This was especially uncomfortable as we passed Cap d’Antibes and the confused seas were not helped by the many super-yachts (A.k.a. ‘gin palaces’) rushing past us.  We were very pleased to identify the huge pyramid-type multi-storey housing complex marking the location of the Baie des Anges marina in which we sought refuge for the night.

 

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The next day was very similar with head winds and rolling seas as we passed Monaco, so we gave up and headed for the next marina at Menton Garavan.  We explored part of the old town and came across a family wedding at the large church in the old town.  Menton is about 1 kilometre on the French side of the French-Italian border and the Italian influence is very clear in the buildings.

 

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Sunday morning brought more of the same weather and we were starting to wonder what had happened to the lovely Mediterranean climate we had been enjoying the previous week.  As we crossed the border, marked by a very dramatic ravine and a modern bridge carrying the A10 autostrada, Elizabeth remembered to change the courtesy flag.  During the afternoon the wind (and waves) started to increase and by mid-afternoon we sought refuge in the port at San Remo.  The port official helped us to tie up just as it started to rain and he asked us to report to the office with our documents later in the afternoon. 

 

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Once the rain had stopped, we decided to take the ‘Nav.bag’ – which contains all the relevant registration and VAT papers for the boat and us – because we weren’t certain what he had asked for.  (For French marinas, showing your boat registration certificate was usually sufficient.)  At this point, the wooden plank which had been acting as a fender board on our trip through France and was now serving as our ‘gangplank’, decided to give up.  Fortunately, I wasn’t on the plank at the time; unfortunately, Elizabeth was.  Elizabeth fell in the water and so did the Nav Bag.  Having checked she was ok, and noticing the Nav Bag floating a few a metres away, I requested she recover the bag before I helped her back on board.  The next two hours passed by with us separating all the documents, patting them with kitchen roll and laying them out on the front back in order to dry out (unfortunately you are required to carry original documents which are not easily replaced). (Note from Eliz: you see Ron’s concern for the documents rather than his somewhat bruised and wet wife……)

 

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After all that excitement, we decided that we needed to stay for a few days and that coincided with a lousy weather forecast for the following four days.  So we had time to look around the old town, buy a new umbrella (ours had blown away when I put it down in order to rescue Elizabeth) and also try and buy a new plank of wood.  San Remo is a very old and interesting place.  The old port has been expanded into a very large marina which is the home for many sailing and motor vessels (the one on the extreme right of the picture was 70 metres long). 

 

San Remo is very famous for growing flowers and the surrounding hillsides sport many greenhouses but the flower market has moved out of town and starts at the un-godly hour of 4 am – so we took their word for it.  But we did find a large indoor market with lots of fruit and vegetables.  We also discovered that most beaches are ‘private’.  They are attached to a bar or hotel and you pay for the use of parasols, deck-chairs and amenities.  There are some public beaches but they are few and far between.

 

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In order to maintain contact with the electronic/digital world, Elizabeth paid for use of the marina wi-fi.  Unfortunately it wasn’t working for either of our computers.  We had been told about ‘a wi-fi area’ in town  so we set off in search.  The first, a rather nice-looking café / tea shop where I had noticed three young women gathered round a computer wasn’t wi-fi-ed (they must have been looking at photos) so we had to cross the road to MacDonalds.  However, it still wouldn’t work – perhaps we hadn’t spent enough or they knew we were reluctant visitors.  In desperation, we managed to find a ‘Vodafone Italy’ shop where they sold us a dongle on special offer with three months validity.  Since we later got the money back from the marina and the dongle works perfectly, we are rather pleased and we are now back in contact with the outside world.

 

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The weather has now improved and we are back to gentle winds and reasonably smooth seas so we are now making progress.  On Friday we visited Imperia (a town formed by Mussolini from the two neighbouring settlements).  It has obviously spent a lot of money in a beautiful large marina which is nearly finished.  On Saturday we practised our sailing skills and tacked for miles but made little real progress before motoring to Porto Finale Liguria.  On Sunday we managed some sailing for an hour – at a reasonable speed and in the right direction – before the wind dropped and we had to motor to Arenzano which is a pretty little marina which has been recently updated and is totally dedicated to sailing boats and small pleasure motor boats (as well as the local fishing vessels).  It was a very pleasant stop. 

 

During that trip we encountered number of ‘obstacles to avoid’, in addition to the wash of unfriendly motor boats, there were parts of trees, young people paddling their surf-boards and boats full of divers displaying a non-standard flag.

 

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We had not intended to stop at Genoa, (Elizabeth had decided it would be too industrial and probably too dirty and ugly.)  However, having spent too much of the morning walking into town to fill a couple of fuel cans, we had not left ourselves enough time to make our next planned destination.  So the choice was pick a destination nearer or wait until early the next morning; we decide on the former and we pleasantly surprised when we successfully navigated the three traffic separation channels, found the harbour entrance, understood the confusing dock layout, passing cruisers, ferries and container-boats, and arrived at the ‘old port’ marina.  It is a lovely place and we went for a walk yesterday afternoon and explored the old town.

 

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IMG_0154trim_1.jpg   Apparently, Genova is the home of St George, as shown by the mural on the front of the town hall, the patron saint of England, as well as the home of Christopher Columbus and one of Italy’s largest and oldest ports.

 

We slipped our lines and left our berth this morning ready for another day’s sailing (or motoring) but we got no further than the main dock area.  We were stopped by a Coast Guard launch who explained the port was closed – some problem at the entrance – and we should hang around there until they told us we could proceed.  After about an hour of not knowing, together with a lot of other boats, we decided to return to the marina and spend the day doing nothing – or, more accurately, catching up with the blog.

 

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Having lost about a week of our plan because of weather delays, we have now decided that we will aim for Pisa where we hope to be able to leave the boat for a week while we come home for the week from Thursday 23rd June to Thursday 30th June.  We are also recognising that it will be more realistic to consider Elba as our furthest point before turning round and retracing our steps.  We are also planning on coming home for 2 or 3 weeks in August.

 

 

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But the Italian ice-creams are good!

 

Ron & Elizabeth HOWARD

Eliza B,  Moody 36 (1998)

 

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