Sardegna - Ostia - Palma de Mallorca and the Haul-out

          24^th September, Cannigione, Sardegna

We spent the day making preparations to leave by 7:30pm to ensure that we arrived into Porto di Roma, Ostia by early afternoon.  It takes us alot of time to ensure that everything is stowed away so that it doesn’t move when Josie Maria is underway, as well as ensure the route is programmed into the Raymarine plotter and we have supplies for the journey!!  We have decided that we like arriving in new places when it is light and the marinas we intend to stay are open - so we need to arrive during daylight hours.  We have found that it is much more difficult arriving when the Marina office is shut – it is as though the port is ‘closed’.  You are then left to anchor (Guernsey), find a mooring (Cannigione – made possible because Maurizio and Franco met us in their dingy and helped!) or tie up alongside a reception or fuel berth (Palma de Mallorca) which requires a very early start after a very late night!!  So with all this behind us arriving in Porto di Roma when it is open, becomes a priority!!

Tonino and David on Josie Maria in Cannigione

Franco anad Cristina in Sardegna

John and Franco

In the marina in Cannigione: Cristina, Franco and Lina

Our Sardegna-Ostia crossing can be summarised by a beautiful sunset followed by a moonlit crossing, a magnificent sunrise, a couple of alarms and dolphins!!

The crossing was a quiet one with winds from the south/southeast at 10-15knots

- during this short voyage we had a couple of engine warning alarms that were telling us that water was in the fuel system.  David and Vicki had transferred fuel from the storage tank to the main tank before we started to Ostia, so it was thought that water may have got in somehow – however a check of the oil fuel filters found no trace of water.  During the night we were also greeted by a few dolphins – always a welcome sight! 

We are looking forward to seeing family in Ostia and hoping that the engine will behave as we want to do more than “travel to great places and fix the boat!!” as John likes to say.

25^th September, Porto di Roma, Ostia – Italy

We arrived at Porto di Roma, Ostia (Rome’s costal suburb, and ancient Rome’s port) in the afternoon, greeted by our Italian relatives who were keenly waiting at the dock waving us in.  It certainly is different from being greeted at the airport.

We were met by Adolfo (cousin), Sergio (uncle), Cinzia (cousin) and her husband Giuseppe, Mariangela (cousin) and her daughters Ambria and Alyssa . Later we were also greeted by Giampiero (cousin) and his sons Valerio, Marco also Roberta (cousin) and her daughter Manilla.  It was wonderful to see everyone – Adolfo even made us a delicious pasta lunch on Josie Maria as we settled into Marina life. 

After lunch Vicki became an expert in making expresso for all (thank God for the Nespresso machine), although only having 4 cups did make it a bit tricky!!  Our welcome to Ostia was quite overwhelming but totally fantastic and we spent quite a bit of our time showing off Josie Maria and her endless cupboard and other spaces where we stored away our things.

One of the frustrating things about arriving in a new marina is that all the power sockets so you can connect power to your boat are different.   Fortunately John managed to have a converter made, which we hope to use in future med ports… fingers crossed!!  Giuseppe also helped organise a laundry service for us – so good to have help.  In the evening we had delicious Pizza for dinner at Mariangela’s new home.

26^th September, Porto di Roma, Italy

In the morning Emily and David set off on the folding bikes to the local markets to purchase some fresh milk and find items we can use for the up and coming Toga Party. We spent much of the rest of the day visiting relatives and made plans to take folks out for a sail and a swim on the Friday and Saturday afternoons, allowing us time to recover from late nights.

Lunch Break in Rome while Toga Hunting!

Tonino (cousin) and his wife Cristina were very helpful in taking us all to Rome and looking at various placed were we could purchase a toga.  We didn’t have much success – and we don’t think they exist.  In the end we purchased some bed-sheets that we can reuse as instead of the doonas on Josie Maria, in the hotter climates we are heading to.

27^th September , Friday - Porto di Roma, Italy

In the morning John and David headed of on the bikes to local Ostia markets.  John’s plan was to stock up on rare and essential items – Pancetta and Porcini mushrooms. Along the way John purchased and David sampled his first porchetta – slow, wood roasted pig, stuffed with aromatic herbs….yum!!

We set sail in the afternoon, for a short trip to and from Ostia, slowly making our way to one of the beaches that make up Ostia, called “Canale dei Pescatori”.   Onboard was was Emily and Taylor, as well as Roberta (cousin) and her husband Marco as well as her daughter Manilla.  John’s other cousin Giampiero and his oldest son Flavio. 

Taylor and Emily

Giampiero

Once we arrived near a good beach, we laboured to move the seabobs from the laz and into the water.  We are getting much better at doing this, having improved the technique in Sardegna.  The guys had so much fun, with Marco, Giampiero, Flavio and John racing each other - Flavio was the overall winner.  We decided headed back fairly early as two of our party were not coping with the motion very well – there was a bit of a roll as we anchored close to the beach.  We also were visited by a few large jelly-fish, which were not a favourite of anyone in the water!

Marco and Seabob!

Flavio and Giampiero - Guess who the fastest is!

Marco and John

28^th September , Saturday - Porto di Roma, Italy

We went out for a day sail again, with relatives who could only make it on the Saturday.  Dario (cousin) and his wife Manuela and their children Massimo and Aurora were joined by Stefania (Giampiero’s wife) and her children Adriano, Giulio and Valerio.

What made it even more exciting is that Adolfo joined us, sailing along side with his yacht “Margherita”.  Adolfo,  Maria Cristina (cousin), Emma (Adolfo’s wife) and two of Adolfo’s friends and fellow “Margherita” boat owners and their children were on board.  We enjoyed sailing both yachts towards the beach we anchored off yesterday.  Josie Maria dropped anchor and we launched the seabobs for more fun in the water, unfortunately, “Margherita” needed to head back back to Port.   However, Josie Maria stayed at anchor for an hour or so, while Valerio, Giulio, Dario and John enjoyed the seabobs.   Onboard Massimo (2) and Adriano(3) enjoyed treasure hunting in Josie Maria’s bilge – lifting every floorboard with the “suckers”.  The younger children loved being the ‘Capitano’, on the way back to the Marina– holding onto the helm, while the autopilot did the real work!!  We headed back to Porto di Roma with just enough time to prepare for our Toga Party!

Adolfo at the helm of Margheritia

Margherita

Our Junior Crew: Adriano, Massimo, Aurora and Giulio

Massimo and Adriano searching for treasure in the bilges

Sailing with Margherita

Massimo, Aurora and Adriano at the helm

Capitano Adriano

The Toga party was a smash hit!  The party was held at ”La Fraschetta” in Ostia. Getting there was a hoot.  As we left Josie Maria in our toga’s we received a lot of stares.  I guess Italians are not used to seeing tourists in togas – especially leaving a marina.  At the beginning we were not quite sure how many relatives would actually come dressed in a toga. We had dialogue and pictures on “whatsapp” reminding family members what an actual toga looked like and how one might fashion it from bed sheets.  One would think that toga parties must be the norm in Italy, especially in Rome.  Unfortunately not so…it was such a hit that we are hoping to start a trend!!  The majority of party goers were dressed in togas - we had used bedsheets, safety pins, old curtain material (to make us look special), and fake leaves on our heads.  Roberta crafted some very elaborate togas, complete in every detail for her family and other cousins like Tonino.  Roberta’s toga’s would have certainly won the toga prize if we had thought of having one!  Stefania, had also created laurels of ‘foglie di alloro’  (bay leaves), for her entire family -which grows in abundance in Italy if you know where to look – so everyone looked amazing and we had so much fun.

The food served ensured a true Roman experience, with had trippa (tripe) in a tomato based sauce, baby suckling pig, ‘Spaghetti alla Matriciana’ and about another dozen dishes!!  A very talented traditional singer entertained us until 2am, with original Italian and Roman songs…which we sang and danced (including a conga!) to while we drank excellent locally produced wines. 

David Preparing his Toga!

Emily and Taylor

Francesco and Guiseppe

John

Gianluca and Sergio

Michela and Manilla

Tonino and Cristina

Emily and Vicki

 

After the party, Emily and Taylor decided that they would kick on and go to Rome and try the nightclub scene with Manila.  Oh to be young!! – John David and I headed back to Josie Maria for a snooze!

29^th September, Sunday - Porto di Roma, Italy

We got up quite late, and started getting some things done on the boat.  John got carried away doing some emails at the local coffee bar which has free wifi and lost total track of time.  Tip for any coffee shop.  Have free wifi and it will keep your customer there ordering coffee and cakes.  

We were invited to have lunch at Lina and Franco’s house, we enjoyed a delicious home made lasagna, and Emily exclaimed that it was just like John’s mum Maria used to make!  We felt really spoiled with all the delicious food and drink!!

Traditionally a liquor is served after the meal. Popular ones are limoncello and another called ‘Mirtillo’ (made from bitter herbs), both which Lina had made at home.  Mirtillo is a little bitter but good for digesting your food after a meal. Vicki is ‘intolerant’ to limoncello (long story) so she passed on that, but John and David quite enjoyed their Mirtillo and followed it by good coffee – necessary to stay awake in the afternoon!

We spent the afternoon working on boat maintenance and passage planning for the next part of the voyage back to Palma de Mallorca.  We decided that after looking at the weather forecast it might be best leaving for Mallorca on Tuesday morning, giving the whole of Monday to do a bunch of maintenance work.  We were mindful of avoiding another gale in the Bonifacio Strait, or sailing into difficult conditions after arriving in a gale when sailing from Cannes to Sardenga.  We have had our share of gales and strong winds and with 3 crew who do suffer from sea-sickness, felt that delaying our departure for more reasonable weather was a wise thing to do.  This meant that we would get into Palma de Mallorca on the Friday morning, requiring Emily and Taylor to fly from Palma de Mallorca to Ibiza for the closing week parties they had planned attend.  We are hoping that the internet will be working on this passage as we will need to do these flights and hotel bookings on the way.

30^th September, Monday – Porto di Roma, Italy

John got up quite early and by the time everyone was getting up he was already in the galley cooking up a storm.  He decided that now that he had amazing ingredients obtained in Sardegna and Ostia, that he would make three large pots full of pasta sauces so that when we are underway we could easily make a lasagne, a meat pasta or a Matriciana pasta.  The Toga Party feast has inspired him.  He spent ages cutting up locally sourced pancetta and stir frying it with onions.  Delicious aromas wafted through Josia Maria, and everyone demanded a pasta lunch!

Emily and Taylor went with Fabrizio, John’s cousin-in-law to complete last minute provisioning, just to make sure that we had all the other items needed for 3 day trip.  Meanwhile Vicki and David got stuck into the weekly maintenance schedule – which consists of cleaning the water filters, checking the oil filters for any water, and looking at the fan belts making sure they are not loosening up (although Josie Maria’s should auto tighten). This took up most of their morning.  David also started work on fixing the compressed air tank rack in the lazarette, which had broken off – the rack is now secure but we will need to complete this in Palma de Mallorca.   After a day of work on the boat we went out in the evening to a farewell pizza dinner at Stefania and Giampiero’s house, along with Tonino and his wife Cristina, Franco (uncle) and his wife Lina and the rest of their family in the evening.  It was a delightful evening, and made us very appreciative of our extended family, and a little harder to leave them all behind.

1^st October, Tuesday – Porto di Roma, Italy to Palma de Mallorca

After laboriously packing the Seabobs and other items back into lazarette, and completing final checks we are ready to go.  John decided to take the girls to refuel the dingy, but along the way to the fuel wharf, a somewhat large wave hit them and they came back laughing, but totally soaked.

We left Ostia bound for Palma de Mallorca around 1pm, we had intended to refuel with Diesel prior to leaving but discovered that the fuel dock was closed until 2.30pm.  We could have waited – but decided that we had enough fuel for the journey and started the passage to Palm de Mallorca.  We also discovered that our log (a device that measures how much you are moving through water) was not working so we could not tell how fast we were going nor the distance travelled. Vicki removed it, and had a shower of water as David stuck his finger in the valve!!  After cleaning out the sensor while sailing we were back in business.

We had light winds and a calm sea, so were motor sailing to ensure that Emily and Taylor made it to Palma de Mallorca in time to catch flights to Ibiza for the nightclub closing parties.  The night was clear as there was no moon – lots of stars- absolutely beautiful.  We also had to slow down to avoid colliding with a fast tanker, which was travelling at 17 knots.  The tanker called us up on the VHF radio to ask , “what is your intention?” – we did cheekily say that, “we wanted to keep our current speed and course”, but that is exactly what the tanker wanted and they had right of way so we did have to give way to them, and we told them, that “we would avoid them!!”.

2^nd October, Wednesday – Sardegna, Italy on our way to Palma

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise and a calm Bonifacio Strait.  

Bonifacio Strait

Vicki, David and Emily decide not to refuel Sardegna, as we are expecting 25 knots on the beam and great sailing weather all the way and have enough fuel to make it.  We also thought that given that we were being hauled out in Palma de Mallorca, it would be best not to add the fuel if it was not necessary to reduce the haul out weight.

The day was beautiful, although the wind did not pick up as expected.  The sea was calm and the wind 5 to 15 knots (closer to 5) so we motor sailed and reduced the engine revs to conserve fuel.   The sky was clear, enabling VSAT and internet – so those flights were booked for Taylor and Emily and Vicki managed to email PalmaWatch and Oyster all the documentation and paperwork necessary for the haul out, warranty and maintenance work being organised in Palma de Mallorca.  The clear sky also meant that we had another night of bright stars – something we never tire of seeing.

We also had a pesky dragon fly buzzing around in the middle of the night, attracted by the most minimalistic lights we had on so that we would not loose our night vision.  It remains a mystery how insects make it into our boat in the middle of an ocean!!  Vicki was doing very short logs in the logbook to avoid being dived at, as the very large dragon fly had decided to make a home in a nook of the navigation table!!  David tried to evict it 3 times, but it was very persistent!!

3^rd October, Thursday – on the way to Palma de Mallorca

During the night we experienced another EVC System error  - the error that in essence did not allow us to use the throttle on the motor and was repaired by Oyster while we were in Palma de Mallorca on our way to Cannes. We are concerned that this may lead to the same issues, which could be quite serious - as we need our engine!  We are getting the engine and generator serviced in Palma de Mallorca by Volvo, and will ensure that this is followed up as well.

After a calm night the wind picks up at 9am (24 knots), shortly after this there was an ‘All Ships Safety’ alert on channel 16, and for the next 12 hours we were subject to 25-35 knot winds and moderate lumpy seas - not exactly the beautiful sailing that we had in mind.  We reefed our sails and were hit by gusts of 40 knots - the ocean became a battlefield of 2m-3m high waves, keen on pounding Josie Maria. The wind, which was behind us, as well as the short Mediterranean Sea swell meant that the sea motion was quite irregular and seasickness tablets were in order for some of us (i.e. John, Emily and Taylor) to be able to function.  However John, Taylor and Emily did spot a pod of dolphins – always a welcome sight!!

David came up off his watch to help Vicki secure the tender, which was moving erratically with the current Davit-Fender set-up and the sea/boat movement.  The fenders in the tender needed refilling with air – and Vicki needed more height to do this!!  This is something we need to get Palmawatch folks to take a look at and come up with a better system of securing the tender to the davits. David and Vicki also take in the genoa and put out the staysail, which seems to improve the boat movement (a bit!).  John relieved Vicki of her watch so she could organise food – a challenge with the movement - Spaghetti Bolognese, with pre-cooked sauce and steam veges was tricky!!  Impossible to do when you feel really sea-sick.

It was the beginning of a terrible night. Emily lost her dinner as it bounced off the surface she put it on, and flying around your bed in not fun….we need more pillows!! The girls were laid out in their cabins, the saloon and then upstairs in the cockpit trying to find a better position that would reduce seasickness. Perhaps they should have stopped reading their absorbing novels.  John spent most of his free time lying down trying to sleep the seasickness off before his next three-hour watch.  We also had another “no power” moment and Vicki had to come on David’s watch to reset the main circuit breaker while David was at the helm in the dark, there was so much cloud it was really black, because when the main circuit breaker goes the autopilot and all the lights do too! This is quite a scary situation because if total power goes, the autopilot also fails to function and Josie Maria goes wherever, and it could cause an accidental gibe – this is where the boom swings wildly across and can damage the mast or break something or someone. David quickly made sure that Josie Maria kept heading in the right direction while Vicki resent the main circuit breaker and power was restored.

4^th October, Friday – Palma de Mallorca

In the early morning the wind dropped and the sea became smoother, we also had a little bit of rain and another EVC engine system alarm.  We motor sailed into Palma de Mallorca at 8:30am, where we were met by the Pierre and the friendly staff at PalmaWatch and the Oyster warranty office who will be taking charge of all the maintenance and warranty work that needs to be done at the STP dockyard.

We were greeted with the delivery of our yacht drogue, courtesy flags and a few other replacement parts as soon as we had tied up to the marina berth.  It was so nice to come in a calm port and we are all looking forward to a shower and a snooze. 

STP is amazing, there are boats out of the water everywhere – propped up with wooden logs and minimal metal scaffolding.  There are huge tents around boats having work done on them and a queue of boats being lifted in and out by several huge cranes.  Some of these boats are monsters, dwarfing our previously large Josie Maria. We get a real insight into the boat business side of Palma de Mallorca.

We are told that Josie Maria will be hauled out at 8am on Monday the 7^th October and the thought at this time is that she will be out for 2 to 4 days.  A lot depends on when the work is booked, and exactly what is found when she is hauled out.  It is anticipated that some problems, like the leak in the fore-cabin and any damage that hitting the rock in Sardenga may have caused may take more time to fix.

5-6^th October, STP Wharf, Palma de Mallorca

Vicki, John and David have two quiet days on the boat, working through many things we simply have not had time to address, while Emily and Taylor head to Ibiza for the closing parties.   We had to think through the work-list and prioritise the items, as well as sort gear on the Josie Maria and identify exactly what we have and where it is.  We also are starting preparation for the ARC+, in ensuring that we have the safety gear, sails with efficient rigging and enough provisions and spares for the trip both to the Canaries, via Gibraltar and then to Cape Verdes and across the Atlantic.

Vicki organises accommodation for all crew while Josie Maria is out of the water – initially the nights of the 7^th and 8^th October.  Palma de Mallorca is an amazing place, the tourism and the boating services industry drives their economy, and there are lots of great places to eat and drink, the locals are really friendly and the weather is beautiful.

7^th – 20^th October Palma de Mallorca – Josie Maria Haul-out

On the 7^th at 8am the Haul-out process commenced at the STP Dockyard.  David backed Josie Maria into a narrow concrete pen, two bow lines and stern lines to keep her into place while felt pads were put under the lifting straps to protect hull.  Prior to the haul out we ensured that the water-maker inlet and outlet valves were closed, and we did a fresh water flush of the water-maker the morning of the haul-out.  We did not preserve the water maker because we believed at this stage that she would only be out of the water for 2-4 days.  However this was not to be the case.

Josie Maria's Haul-out

On Crane

scaffolding and wooden poles

It was clear when Josie Maria had been hauled out of the water that there was another, more serious issue than a dent in the keel which occurred as a result of hitting the bommie in Sardegna, and this required some work to repair, which was going to take a minimum of three days – the date at which she was to go back into the water was moved to the 18^th October.  During the week a few more items needed to be added to the worklist and in addition there were several maintenance and some warranty issues that could not be done until Josie Maria was back in the water.  These included the rigging check, the service of the water-maker and the change of the smelly hoses to the aft heads(toilet).  We decide at this stage to fit the storm trysail to the mainsail track (as a spare main), rather than add an additional track – which it seems may not be possible with our current mast!! At this stage it was clear to us that we would not be leaving Palma de Mallorca until Tuesday the 22^nd  October at the earliest – and this might be pushed back a day or two…..This meant we needed rethink plans for Taylor and Emily – as they are leaving us in Gran Canaria, and were unlikely to arrive there on Josie Maria before their international flight left.   

During the first week, we sent a couple boxes of clothes, unrequired bed linen and used pilot books and charts back home – just trying to have what we need on Josie Maria, as the quiet weekend we had on Josie Maria allowed us time to sort through most of the storage areas and sort what we needed and what we didn’t.  We also started catching up on some of our pressing work requirements – and are still working on them!!  John, Vicki, Emily and Taylor spent a long weekend in Paris while Josie Maria was on the dry dock and were not allowed near the boat, as she was covered in a tent!  Paris was a lot of fun, we really appreciated having some vacation time, while other were working on our boat!!

We also had several discussions considering crew and role options for the trip to the Canaries and the ARC+, which pre-empted David leaving us.  David was such a great help and is a wonderful man, so it was difficult to see him go.  We had a lot of fun with David and appreciated his experience, particularly his skill at boat handling and his sense of humour.  He will be missed and we hope that we will meet somewhere on our voyage in his own yacht!!  Thanks David, it was a pleasure having you as part of ‘the family’ for a while and we wish you all the best!  This meant that John and Vicki spent several days looking for the best crew for the trip – there are so many great people out there – but in the end we decided to welcome another fellow Aussie, Alan and his son Vance, who arrive in Palma de Mallorca on Monday 21^st October.  Alan is extremely experienced and is happy to take a back step and allow two novice skippers to learn the ropes, and John and Vicki felt that with David and Amit joining us in the Canaries it was a good fit.  It has also meant that John and Vicki have had to take full responsibility for everything – which is a good thing – although a bit scary at times when you are doing everything for the first time.

On the 18^th October at 11am(ish) Josie Maria was lowered back from dry dock (without most of our belongings, weighing 30 tons) into the concrete pen.  The engine service was completed in the water– very important because reverse was forward and forward reverse – glad that was checked before we took off!!

It was John’s first time as the helmsman parking Josie Maria in a marina berth, we had Ceasar from PalmaWatch with us as we gladly accepted his help to move Josie Maria from STP to the Port de Mallorca marina.  Josie Maria was very difficult to steer out of the concrete pen – but we managed it, then after several attempts and some assistance from the ‘Marinarios’ and Ceasar, John managed to squeeze Josie Maria between two boats, stern to, on the outside wharf at Port de Mallorca.  Yeh!! As soon as we had tied up at Port de Mallorca the Seafresh (water-maker) technicians arrived to do a preliminary overview, prior to the service, which will be done on Monday.  We had thought the whole process would take 1 hour, but it took 5 hours!!  Taylor and Emily had come to help hold fenders – and assist where needed, so we were very hungry by the time we had finished!!  Taylor, Emily, Vicki and John had lunch at 4pm and after lunch John and Vicki went back to hotel in the old town to collect boat papers and passports to that we could pay for the marina berth.  We decided to pay until Thursday….given that at this stage this is when we believe

 that we will be ready to leave.   While at the marina office to pay for the berth, and connect Josie Maria to shore-power (as this could not be done until we had paid an the office was shut when we arrived) we were able to talk to the riggers who are happy to show us how to put up the cruising chute, rig an improved the preventer system and move the antennas back on the spreaders that currently press into the mainsail while we are running downwind.  This will be done on Monday – which is going to be a very busy day!!