Josie Maria: September 2013

Sorry that its taken us a while to post. We have been very busy and each time we wrote something, we did not have internet to post ! Finally we have managed to finish off the massive post and find a cafe with internet.

We do need to explain a bit more about our general travel plans. We originally agreed with Oyster to let them show our new Oyster 575-19 at the Cannes Boatshow on the 10-15 September. This meant that we had to get her there at the very latest on the 7^th September so that Oyster could clean her up and do a photo shoot prior to having her ready for general exhibition.

Our plan was to export our boat from the UK through Guernsey thereby saving on the 20% VAT, but paying Australian GST on the value of the boat (less expenses) once we entered Australia, thereby saving a bit of money.

While we were going to be in Guernsey we had hired Mike to provide us with several days of close quarter sailing training on a 40 footer to advance our studies. Unfortunately just before we left Ipswich we had a problem with the watermaker and a faulty Zodiac tender. This delayed our departure for several days, meaning that the course we paid for was not possible to be delivered. John found this quite frustrating, as he had hoped that things would have been thoroughly tested before the handover. His recommendation to any Oyster purchaser is to spend several weeks after handover putting their new Oyster through its paces to get iron things out. We would have done this had we had prior experience in purchasing a new yacht. We had wrongly assumed that, like a car, you simply drive off !

23rd August – Lisbon, Portugal, at the port of Cascais

John, David and Vicki were able to visit Lisbon for the day while Rory and Mike undertook domestic and maintenance duties on the boat. Vicki wanted everyone to have some time out but the guys “wanted” to work!! Vicki and John wanted to enjoy their first real break and did!

We had a taxi ride to the centre of town and John managed to savour his favourite Portuguese dessert – Portuguese tarts!! John wanted to know if the ones sold in Australia were just as good as the real thing. Well, he can say that they are just as good.

We jumped into a taxi and asked the driver, who spoke poor English, to take us to the centre of town. Once we arrived, we jumped out to a little park surrounded by small shops – a very quite area. After wandering around a bit we found a large entrance made of ornate marble and sandstone, and soon after realized it was actually a cemetery.

David joked that we must have asked the taxi driver to go to the “dead center of town” and that is why we were left near the cemetery. Our original thoughts of Lisbon, thinking that the cemetery area was the center of town were not good. While David managed to get a haircut at a local barber, we took a look at a hastily purchased map, and finally realized we were in the wrong area. We hastily made a new plan and visited the Castello St Jeorge, had a lunch with the best views in Lisbon and where we met the cook, the events manager – who are hoping that we will bring many people back….John had dreams of a conference….

After lunch we managed to find some delicious port and wandered into the tourist center. We then found another place that sold even more amazing old port and John could not help himself in buying more bottles. The taxi driver that took us back to Cascais was a great tour guide and showed us many interesting places to visit, we had a very scenic drive via the coast road, after stopping at his favourite chicken shop so we could taste what Portuguese chicken in Portugal was like…. John liked it, but it does not beat the Portuguese chicken we buy at our favorite place in Sydney. On our next trip to Cascais we will have to visit those interesting places!!

When we arrived back at the marina in Cascais the wind had picked up, it was a good thing that Rory and Mike were there to reinforce our mooring lines – Vicki took some photos of how Rory did all this so that we will know how to do to this ourselves in the near future!

24th August, leaving Cascais for Cannes via Gibraltar

In the morning we undertook provisioning, a little bit of shopping for clothes, fishing gear (John thinks we never have enough or the right bits), and some more of those delicious Portuguese tarts. After filling the water tank with water and stowing all gear away we set off to the fuel jetty at 2.20pm to fill up our fuel tank and start the voyage to Mallorca. Vicki undertook some boat handling training in the strong wind and did well.

It was quite windy when we left and there was yet another missing fisherman, which the Coast guard requested that we kept a look-out for. It was another poignant reminder as to why we have these great life vests with AIS (Automatic Identification System) SART (Search and Rescue Transponder) capability – so in the unlikely event that we do have a man overboard we can locate them on our Raymarine plotter. We don’t know if the fisherman was ever found and that was the sad part of our journey as we kept constant lookout.

25^thAugust, Cascais to Gibraltar

Wind dropped…motoring to make up time, oil leak from engine dipstick – started having engine problems. We don’t know why we are getting this leak, and we need to contact Oyster to help try to figure this one.

Wind picked up again close to midnight – so we were able to sail at 8-9knots!

26^th August, Gibraltar

Passed Gibraltar to Port (left) and Morocco to starboard (right) at 0700. We didn’t see whales – but we did see dolphins at 6pm!!

I cant believe how close the mainland of Spain and Africa are, and its now quite a hot day. It would not take much to cross over with a dinghy. I think Europe might have a bigger problem with illegal immigrants that we do in Australia.

We had out first BBQ on Josie Maria!! Rory was the master Chef with David and John doing the cooking – the guys had a beer too!! The BBQ was to a magnificent backdrop of the setting sun, the sea calm, and very little wind – what a change it makes in the Med.

27^th August, Heading to Cannes

At 0800 we were visited by a large pod of dolphins – there were dolphins as far as the eye could see. John took a video of a sea of pods of dolphins which we sailed through to our way in the Med. As the sun was rising, it was one of those surreal moments of our voyage.

Today was a punctuated by fishing. John has two deep-sea Tiagra fishing rods and Tiagra 50W reels set up on the stern (back) of the boat with 150 pound lines and 300 pound leaders. He has been experimenting with various lures, and has now switched to smaller lures that he purchased in Cascais because apparently his large Atlantic lures are too big for the med. At 0900 Mike was all excited as the reel on the rod emitted a scream and the rod bent hard. Mike worked hard to bring in, but was not impressed when he pulled up a plastic bag !

At 1100 the engine coolant alarm went off again and we had to stop the engine to let it cool down and then turned the engine back on. We don’t know why the engine is overheating. We added more coolant but we don’t think we need it. Let see how this works out.

28^th August, Heading to Cannes ? Maybe

Just before 0100 in the early morning hours the engine alarmed again regarding the coolant – we think that the expansion tank holding the coolant might actually be overfull. We turned engine off to cool down and removed 500mls of coolant from the expansion tank.

We decided to fire up our Volvo Penta 150 around 5am, and a few hours later the coolant alarm went off again. We decided to take a further 400ml of coolant from the reservoir out as we still suspect there is too much coolant still in the the reservoir . We are getting worried about our engine as another fault has developed ; we are unable to go into neutral and the engine automatically now cuts off. This is not good as we cannot totally rely on our engine any more. Sailing all the way to Cannes is looking less likely and we are now thinking that we need to stop of at Palma de Mallorca to get these issues looked at by Volvo and Oyster.

We approached a marine park so we quickly pulled in our fishing lines. We tacked through the Formentera and Ibiza gap with no engine as we are not game enough to turn it on and have it alarm again. We are reserving it for later if we need it. We turned the engine back on mid-day and things appear ok, but after all these engine problems we are getting concerned and are looking forward in reaching Palma de Mallorca.

John put his lines out after we had passed through the marine park. This time he has decided to go all out and use a 300 pound leader with ball bearing swivels and put away his smaller ‘Med’ lures he was advised on using, after the last fish bent the smaller hook clean and got away. He was well rewarded and caught a large green fin tuna with the help of Mike who pulled it in at the end and John gaffed it. After spending 3 hours in the galley filleting the beast, with strong seas around, we had fresh sashimi for afternoon tea. John put in a brave effort cutting it all up and David bagged tuna steaks for our freezer so we can have it later.

We decided to head off to Palma de Mallorca, a Spanish island which also happens to be the major destination for folks wishing to leave their boats in the Med over winter. It has a lot of facilities and Volvo has an office there, as well as Oyster. It will make it much easier for us to do maintenance work on her. It’s also Rory’s base of operations and he promises good food and wine.

We arrived and tied along the fuel berth at Puerto de Palma, Mallorca. Vicki did he first solo mooring at night and it all went well. She is slowly building up her confidence as Josie Maria is a bit longer than 17.89m once you take into account the Zodiac tender firmly fixed on the davits at the back of the boat.

28^th August - 2^nd September , Going to Palma de Mallorca !

On the morning of the 28^th August we moved from the fuel berth into Marina (Real Club Nautico) – berth 34. The boys were up early, but we were still sleeping when we hear “Josie Maria… JOSIE MARIA” as the “marinaro” was trying to wake us up so we could move the boat and another boat could come in to fuel up. Guess we were pretty tired after all. I think the boys had a bit of a laugh.

We spent the next few days resolving more warranty and maintenance issues. John likes to joke that we come to nice places so we can fix our boat. We really do need to do more sightseeing. As we outlined before, we had planned to head off from Ipswich to Gursney so that John and Vicki could do some close quarter boat handling training but that had to be cancelled because the boat had water maker issues before we left as well as a damaged tender which needed a bolt plate refixed. Later in Cascais we also had watermaker issues which Rory managed to resolve by figuring out why the pressure was so low. Rory also advised us to put some extra protection on our sails as he thinks they will be shredded by the time we get to the Caribbean, so while in Mallorca we took the mainsail down to have it measured up by a sail maker, and had leather patches placed on areas where the wear is the greatest.

The Volvo guys arrived and we discovered that the reason why the new engine was cutting out is that the throttle electronics have developed a fault - another throttle part was quickly organized by Oyster to be quickly flow in and at this point we were told the part would be fitted on Monday, with the guys making plans to leave from Palma on Monday afternoon.

The main reason why we are heading eventually to Cannes, France is to be at the boatshow. We originally agreed with Oyster to show Josie Maria at the boatshow so we are under pressure to arrive there by the 7^th September. Vicki and I are also under pressure to arrive before then, as we have family arriving in Cannes to celebrate her 50^th birthday. When we realized that the engine part was critical and Josie Maria was not going to leave Mallorca without it, we made contingency plans to ensure that we did arrive in Cannes to see family as well as Josie Maria undergoing the engine repairs and travel to Cannes.

Whilst on Mallorca we also met Julie, a fellow Aussie, who did the same First Aid course that David, John and I completed in Sydney (what a small world it is) and what a pleasure to see both Julie and her husband!!

Our most memorable day in Mallorca was one where we hired a small car and drove into the hills to a unique restaurant in a remote area, for a lamb lunch. There were lots of sheep running around while we ate them, and a small black lamb had to picked up and moved from under our car so that we could leave – he wouldn’t move even when the engine went on!! After this we drove on to Sollier (pronounced So Yeah!!) , and had a drink overlooking the small bay and seaside resort.

3rd September, Boat in Palma but John & Vicki fly to Cannes

Our contingency plan in place is put into motion - John and Vicki fly out to Cannes, via Madrid, because the critical engine part is delayed by a day. In hindsight this was a good call because it was to take three more days before the engine was working properly. Josie Maria is left in the capable hands of David and Rory who motor Josie Maria to Cannes from the 5^th to 7^th September – just in time for the Cannes Boat Show (but too late for Vicki’s 50^th) – so we are glad that we made the decision to meet family and celebrate Vicki’s 50^th in Cannes as we had planned!!

3^rd-16^th September, Family time in Cannes, France for Vicki's Birthday

Apart from our obvious enjoyment in seeing family and friends - Highlights were:

· Dinner on “Palme D’Or” a 2 Michelin star restaurant
· Lunch at the Martinez’s seaside restaurant - in particular their giant burger that all the boys struggled to finish, and dessert that looks like a make-up palette complete with a free lipstick!
· Trip on large motor yacht to St Tropez, lunch at Club 55 and dinner at Michaelangelos in Antibes (for Vicki’s 50^th)
· Winery tour of Font du Broc and Chateau Cote De Provence and delicious truffle lunch at Brunos
· Fragonard tour, lunch at the golden goat (name in French) at Eze and trip to Monaco and the Casino Royale (to celebrate Katy’s Birthday!)
· Trip to Isle de Lerin’s, St Honorat from Cannes by ferry.

17^th -20^th September Cannes, France to Cannigione - Sardenga, Italy

We are now back on board Josie Maria – we were planning on leaving for Sardenga in the afternoon of the 17^th but were concerned about taking Josie Maria and Taylor and Emily (new crew) into gale force winds and 4 metre seas so decided to stay put in Cannes. On the 18^th the sea conditions looked much the same so we decided to change our route to Sardenga to be one that was more sheltered on the lee side of Corsica.

Much of the trip was smooth seas and sunshine - Emily and Taylor saw dolphins!

We experienced gale force winds at the top of Corsica and then as we left Corsica, just before the Bonifacio Strait. Unfortunately we also lost one of our sun bathing mattresses overboard as the wind and waves washed copious amounts of water over them. David and Vicki managed to turn the boat around – it took 6 minutes to furl the mainsail and take in the fishing lines before turning around and retracing the course to attempt to find the missing mattress. This goes to show how long it would normally take if we had a Man Overboard situation !. Fortunately Emily found it floating in the white caps and we had several attempts at retrieving it with a boat hook. We had to do this in gale force winds with our harnesses on and clipped on the life lines. We had put tape on our life lines to prevent damage to the teak deck – this proved to stick and make it impossible to move quickly up and down the jackstays (a bit of seatbelt chord that you clip your life line onto to stop going overboard on the foredeck) – these have now been removed. It was necessary to move very quickly as the mattress proved to be very allusive!! We actually ran over the mattress twice and managed to touch it with the boat hook twice – it was apparent that it was far too heavy, full of seawater to lift with the boat hook. Fortunately John’s got out his fishing gaff hook and was able to spike it, with John and Vicki managing to lift it back on board (albeit with a hole!!). A great team effort with David at the helm, Emily at the bow hooked on with her harness in her bikinis as the spotter and Taylor in the cockpit with the binoculars. It turned out to be a good exercise in retrieving an object in gale force winds….it highlighted to all of us how difficult picking up a man overboard would be, and how difficult it is to see anything in breaking, lumpy seas. David thought it was quite miraculous that we found it, and were able to pick it up. The conditions change so fast!! The girls were sunning themselves on the foredeck and had just come down for an early dinner/late lunch when the conditions changed. In future the mattresses will be taken inside when not in use!!

19^th-24^th September, Cannigione, Sardegna, Italy

We had made good time to Cannigione, but the mattress hunting exercise meant that we arrived at night, too late to check-in to the marina. Franco (John’s Uncle) and Maurizio (John’s Cousin) met us in their dingy and helped us tie up to a mooring for the night. Zia Lina (John’s Aunt) cooked us a delicious dinner. Fortunately the anchorage was sheltered from the wind – we were very happy to be on a quiet and safe spot and get over the sea sickeness that was felt by some.

In the morning the sun was up, the sky bright blue and clear, but the wind was still over 30knots in the bay and so we moved into the marina for a cosy berth. We spent the day relaxing, socializing and eating!! We decided not to venture out until the wind dropped as the sea was too choppy and we wanted to visit nearby islands with John’s relatives on the boat.

On the 20^th and 21^st September the wind had dropped to under 10 knots so we visited several small bays, in Isola Spargi and Isola Santa Maria. Sardegna has many small islands (isola) scattered around its aquamarine waters. The sea was smooth, idyllic weather, hardly anyone around as its no longer August and the tourists have largely gone back to work. August is the most busy month in Italy. We managed to get the Seabobs and snorkeling gear out – and had a generally relaxing time. The Seabobs Carago V7 lived upto the videos we saw of them on the net. Very Bond. They are twice as heavy as the new V5, but they go much faster. John really enjoyed their speed and it did not take him long to master the ‘deep dive’ on one of the units. Tonino and John also took Vicki and Cristina on tow and visited a nearby beach on their Seabobs. They got a lot of stares as people marveled at these unique sea toys. It made all the hard work in getting them out of the lazarette worthwhile. However they take many hours to charge which is a bit of a disappointment. They are going to be great to use in our Caribbean adventures.

On the 21^st we did have a slight problem on our way out of Santa Maria beach, and hit a submerged rock…. No-one was hurt, but our gimmbled stove bounced out of its gimmbles. Talyor, Emily and Vicki fixed this while the guys immediately anchored and dived under the boat to survey the damage. A video of the damage was taken so that we could seek advice on what to. We had lots of question. Did we need to haul Josie Maria out of the water? Was there other damage? It was now imperative that we ensure that Josie Maria is structurally sound to continue our voyage. We also learnt, when in doubt stop the boat, and reconsider and when in dangerous waters reverses back over your known safe course, and those isolated danger marks…give them a very wide berth!!

On the evening of the 21^st we celebrated Franco’s Birthday, but we also manage to do this on the 22^nd – but only after Roma beat Lazio in a soccer game!!. Franco was not planning to celebrate his birthday on the right day as such an important game was on. Rome beat Lazio 2:0

On the 22^nd, the boys went for a swim in the morning and the girls had a domestic day. It sounds a bit sexist, but the girls were looking forward in getting a bunch of chores done and the boys really wanted to go for a swim. Post the Cannes boat show we smelt a strong sewage odour from the heads (bathroom) of the aft cabin and Vicki needed to find out the cause, as there was no strong odour in the heads prior to leaving Josie Maria at the show. David helped her and it appears that the holding tank was overfilled during the boatshow, and unfortunately this lead to some spillage. It also explains why Vicki suffered from an infected eye after getting the boat from Cannes, as we now realize that sprayed sewerage got onto stored items and then onto her eye. Antibiotics were used to help her overcome the infection.

The area has now been scrubbed 3 time and sprayed, but some of odor still lingers.

On the 23^rd September we went to some local markets in the morning, had lunch with family and then spent the day sending emails to Oyster regarding Josie Maria’s encounter with our submerged rock, but we had difficulties with the very large video file John send over the internet, so we send to Oyster a much smaller compressed version. They provide us with contacts to have the boat looked at, but by that time we had already gone to Porto Cervo to see if there were Haul Out facilities and what availability they had.

Internet is still quite an issue for us as we have to rely on marina’s with wifi connection or purchasing a 3G card, which we could not find in Cannigione.

While at Porto Cervo we spoke to an engineer who looked at the video of the damage to Josie Maria’s keel and he organized to meet us onboard her at 8am on the following day. Very nice of him to do so and this will help us decide if we need to haul her out here in Sardegna or if we can make the crossing to Ostia, Rome, our next destination where there may be better facilities and where we can spend a bit more time as we have relatives there to see as well.

24^th September, leaving Cannigione, Italy for Porto di Roma, Ostia

Our engineer arrived promptly. He was a lovely man who inspected Josie Maria from mast to engine – fortunately he could see no structural damage – he pointed out that there were no visible cracks anywhere and that no keel or engine bolts were loose. He inspected doors to see if anything was swinging wrongly and if any panels had come loose. After about an hour of pulling all our floorboard out and taking a look a just about everything below, his advice was that she had suffered no damage other that what we could see at the point of impact and that there was no need to haul her out for repairs –unless we wanted to for cosmetic reasons (at the moment we are thinking that we may do this in Palma de Mallorca, as we now have an area with no anti fouling and don’t really want to attract growth). He commented that the Oyster 575 was a solid and very well built boat.

After getting the all clear, we have decided to leave late on tonight so that we can arrive at our next port during lunch time as we like getting in while there is light. We are heading off to Ostia, a suburb of Rome. Ostia was the ancient port of Rome, and where more of John’s relatives live. Franco and Lina have also decided to leave Sargedna tomorrow and we will again see them at their home in Ostia. We are also looking forward in catching up with the De Margheriti side of the family, with a possible scuba dive being organised by Adolfo, John’s cousin.

One of the highlights we are also looking forward to is the Toga Party that Vicki is wanting to organize with Stefania. We have invited all of John’s relatives to Vicki’s crazy party and many have never heard of a Toga Party ! Imagine that, Italians not knowing what a Toga Party is about. Some are even asking if you wear clothes underneath your toga. Should make for some interesting photos. We will be in Ostia till the 30^th where will then head off again to Palma de Mallorca to carry out some of the maintenance and repairs we spoke about.