During the early hours of the 1st of May the weather changed. We received a Navtex update of severe winds in the area and especially the top of Corsica, which we were due to pass through. Decision made we changed course to Calvi and four hours later and through rough seas we arrived. Just in time as it happens as literally 10 minutes after mooring up the wind increased further and it would have been a major isssue mooring.

The entry to Calvi was beautiful and spectacular  and the photos and videos below say it all.

After attending to Arctura we all went out for a well deserved lunch. One of the best hamburgers I’ve had, topped with Foie Gras.
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Just before dawn I saw Venus rising in the east just above the horizon.Relieved from watch by Ed at 0600 and after a handover and chat I went to my bunk for a good 3 hour sleep.

0930, up and had coffee and joined Paul on deck for a chat and glorious visit by a pod of dolphins. Ed catching up on sleep and joined us at 1130.

Weather looks good for push onto Elba. We are currently 45 mile from Toulon to our North East. Weather is currently an easterly 10kts and veering south and then west/north westerly F4.

It’s Sunday at 1540 and I’ve just had the most amazing shower. Ed put on the generator and heated up the water for me. I feel as fresh as a daisy and I now sit here on deck and absorb the Mediteranean sun. The sun is out and no land in site, just water, water everywhere. Paul prepared a beautiful lunch of pizza and green salad. The wind is a steady 10 it’s SE.

Ive just given Ed a break to take a shower as Arctura isn’t healing too much and we have to take these opportunities as they arise. Glorious day, with wonderful friends.

2045 Sunday just about to start my watch and the sun has just set and the sky is half clear and half obscured. All clear on the horizon. No ships in site.

2118 The sun has set about an hour ago and now the moon has predominance over the sky. The stars and planets are beginning to come out. First Jupiter and then Mars, followed by a sea of stars that we call our galaxy, The Milky Way. What a wonderful world we live in. The nearest land is about 100kms away and the nearest people to me apart from those on the yacht are also that distance away.

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It was with a tearful farewell from Carolyn that we slipped lines for the last time and left our berth in Barcelona. With Carolyn waving us goodbye and Bon voyage we motored out of Port Vell and onto Port Olympic for fuel.We motored from Port Olympic for a couple our hours and then the wind picked up sufficiently for that start of a glorious sail. The watch system worked well and after lunch we settled into our routine. 3 hours on and 6 off. My first watch was between 1800 and 2100 and at 2000 we served up the Spaghetti Bolognese that I had prepared earlier that morning.

After my initial watch I retired for a reasonable rest and some sleep. Being woken up at 0250 by Paul for my next watch which began at 0300.

The sky was cloud covered and so no starts or moon. However, the phosphorescence of the wake of Arctura was amazing. It was like seeing a little Universe in the sea below me at the stern of Arctura. A wonderful light show, sometime exploding in bright galactic bursts.

Not much traffic except for one cruiser and one oceanographical data buoy, which we left on our starboard side.

Well we all arrived safely in the wonderful city of Barcelona, The crew comprised of Ed, Paul and myself.

We settled in onto Arctura and after a rest from our respective flights and journeys headed out to our favourite restaurant “PETRA” for a wonder smoked sardine salad, followed by Confit de Canard and topped with a lemon cake and COFFEE !!!!

The chef brought us this a special treat after we enquired what the fish of the day was. And how wonderful it was too

The crew. Ed, Paul and myself and the Confit Canard

Just about to take off from Gatwick and heading to Barcelona for an adventure of a lifetime.

Sailing from Barcelona to Sardinia via a multitude of place – WE HOPE.

Watch this space for my adventures along the way

We started the day by taking a tour bus around the town and then ended up in a resytrant full of locals and have a fantastic lunch menu of spaghetti vongole. Then after visiting some local shop, back to Arctura for a siesta.

1900 we wr picked up by our new friends Marta and Massimo for some barbecued blue marlin ( freshly caught I may well as ) and beautiful Sardinia tomatoes and home made olive oil. Thorough enjoyable time and fantastic to meet such a wonderful couple of new sailors.

Well we finally caught a fish on what is probably our last day of sailing. On our way to Cagliari we landed ourselves a whopper. It took me 1o minuets and all my strength to land this wonderful beast, which we believe to be a Blue Marlin. I managed to get it clsose the the stern of Arctura and Ed promptly deployed the gaff and despatched our catch with a few blows to the head with our every faithful winch handle. Once on board and gutted we estimated a go 4 kgs of edible fish. The rest was thrown overboard for the delights of the dolphins. Our chef Paul cooked an amazing meal with the most succulent and tender fish we have ever tasted. Reddish/Pink flesh a real delight to eat. We also rescued a couple how had extreme difficulty in mooring up in 20 kt winds with me jumping on board and Ed orchestrating event on the pontoon. After safely mooring their yacht, they visited Arctura to express their gratitude and we were all invited to their flat tomorrow evening. Needless to say we gave them four large fillets of our Marlin to cement our newly found friendship. Watch this space for an update of how we got on.

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