I didn’t get the bug for photography on this trip. I was a little pre-occupied with trying to unwind while at the same time being tormented by Barclays bank and their unbelievable incompetence regarding a simple letter of consent on my flat sale. It’s a long and very boring story and suffice to say it pains me to read that Barclays are set to announce £3bn profits. Well, you don’t have to be a genius to work out how they made those profits…  It’s fairly evident to anyone with a bank account that banks have robbed more people than people have robbed banks. Barclays, never again..  and someone remind me next time not to go on holiday while trying to sell a house..

First night after leaving Cannes, at anchor between the adjacent islands.

Caraway at La Spezia in the Bay of Poets. This is near to where Shelley drowned in a storm while sailing back to Lerici from Livorno. We had a super time here. The marina was only about €14 a night and very relaxed and friendly. The town behind the marina was charming and interesting and we even found an internet cafe!  We also took a bus around the coast to Portovenere and had a brilliant lunch of Bruchietta with a glass of Prosecco (darling) overlooking the sea.

Drinking a glass of Prosecco on board Caraway at La Spezia.

Nina filming dolphins while motoring from Elba to Capraia, the Tuscan islands. We saw more dolphins on the way back to the mainland from Corsica. In fact we had three pods visit us with one family playing around for over 30 mins. One dolphin leapt out of the water three times in a row to get a better look at us.

Moody conditions as we approach St Remo on the Italian mainland after crossing from Corsica. We were glad of some cloud in fact having boiled in the heat for weeks. On this passage we had very little wind as usual and motored all the way (18 hours). We left Corsica about 4:30am and arrived about 10pm. We tried to find a space in the old port where there are a few free moorings against the old wall. All the spaces were taken so we headed for the new port, expecting to have to pay way over the odds but having to accept it because it was late and we were tired and had no choice. In the end they charged us €25 which was less than expected and slightly below average for the Italian Riviera.

The harbour master in St Remo was clearly having a laugh with us. Seeing we were sailors in a very small boat he decided to stick us in an enormous space surrounded by huge gin palaces (stink boats to us). He must have guessed we hate stink boats. We were clearly an oddity, attracting a stream of booze soaked gawpers with sun burnt faces to come down from their top decks to ogle us as we moored up. It was unusual arriving at night, because as all sailors know, stink boats are safely tied up in harbour by nightfall.

My reasons for detesting these beasts are many but the mains ones are: They consume an incredible amount of fuel making an enormous pollution problem in the process. They create horrendous wash which ruins most anchorages in the Med but most obviously all those from Toulon to Portofino. This wash also makes it extremely unpleasant and often impossible to sail in light airs, forcing all the sail boats to motor too. Stink boat owners also like to run their generators. Well, they need them for their air-conditioning and TV sets. They run these generators at anchor causing more pollution and noise and ruining everyone else’s evening.  Stink boat owners (usually men) and having very small penises like to buy toys to try and compensate for this failing. Well, they have to do something with that money since they lack the imagination to do something useful with it. These toys; jet skis, fast launches, helicopters and so on, cause yet more pollution and noise.  Of course, nothing will be done about this disgrace and since I want to go sailing with sailors I have not changed my mind about leaving the med.

Recently I had a couple of dreams that several people had died, one of them Sir Ranulph Fiennes! When I woke up I put on the television to see the news and find out if it had really happened. He hadn't died thankfully, so I looked up the meaning of the these dreams on the internet and read that dreaming about death signified life change. Clearly it's a big decision to leave the med and go sailing somewhere else. I have also sold part of my main residence in London which has been part of my life since 1993. So there is a lot of change happening, but it is exciting as change brings new adventures and experiences.