Vicki

It’s time once again to hoist a new guest flag – this time the Italian tricolore. We’re sailing in italian waters now. Our first stop along the Costa Azzura in Italy should have been San Remo, we turned into the harbour but were disappointed to find a huge, characterless and almost empty harbour, so we spun around and sailed on. We anchored for a midday swim in water that was totally crystal clear. Then onwards to Imperia, a terracotta coloured little town. As soon as we had tied up I decided that we should go out for dinner and enjoy our first real italian pizza – depending on if we could find a place to withdraw money first!

Next day onwards to Finale di Ligure, not much to see here and the town was too far away to walk to. Luckily we found a small bar on the harbour front where we could buy the necessary things – water, beer and cigarettes, and a small beach just over the breakwater where we had our evening swim and played ball. The best toy we have had on Sunray is a ball that we picked up in our net in Cannes Harbour, we have been playing ”Piggy in the Middle” every day now!

Early start next morning, we are going to cross the bay of Genova and sail directly to Santa Margherita, where John is waiting to meet us. We engined all the way across, on water that looked like oil, not a single ripple in sight. Santa Margherita is a beautiful picturesque town, nestled in hills covered with thick forest. To one side of the town is another pretty town Portofino and on the other side is Pagana – a small cove with a tiny beach. On top of the small headland in the middle of the bay was a beautiful palace with the flag of "The Order of the Knights of St. John" flying proudly.

This is where we shall be finally meeting up with John and hopefully the Grand Master too. We called John and asked him to just step out on to the terrace, he did so and to his great surprise saw us down below waving frantically ! We agreed to meet the next day for lunch at the palace so we anchored in the little cove of Pagana for a swim before heading into Santa Margherita for our mooring place for the next two days. Per spent the evening ”fixing” his famous sun sheild which has turned out to be his nightmare, whilst Mike and I played cards and made fun of Per and his ”circus tent”. The following morning was our big day, we first had to tidy up the boat (just in case we would be having guests on board J) and then had to make ourselves presentable to meet the Grand Master!

We cycled up to the palace in the baking heat, and were greeted by John. We had a few minutes to ourselves before His Highness Fra Andrew Bertie came to join us and we had a glass of wine made specially for the Order, before going into the dining round for lunch – a four course meal – something the humble crew of Sunray have not experienced for a LONG time! After lunch and coffee John showed us around the grounds, and the castle ruins at the bottom of the gardens, and of course the palace itself.

After a final drink we said our goodbyes and left. We had a wonderful time there. The Grand Master is a very interesting person to talk with and we felt very welcome in his home. Maybe one day we can pay him back in some small way.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the town until supper time which consisted of a light chicken salad ”picnic” on the front deck to watch the sunset in Santa Margherita.

We wanted to visit Portofino the next day but when we tried to enter the small harbour the ”Capitano” came speeding out in his little boat to tell us that there was no place at all. We found the coves nearby too deep for anchorage and were not too impressed by Rapallo’s harbour so instead we turned back to the pretty bay of Santa Margherita, this time at anchor.

Onwards to La Spezia, our compass is heading due south again! We sailed past spectacular cliffs and small villages nestled right at the edge of these mountains – Le Cinque Terre . Mike spent most of the time with his eyes glued to the binoculars to try and see where the roads to these villages were. The rest of the trip was uneventful, except for the the drowned wild boar that we passed along the way. It was the last thing we expected to see, dolphins, whales maybe but a dead wild boar in the middle of the sea, that was a pretty unusual sight! We anchored in the bay of Porto Venere, and Per and Mike took the dinghy over to the town to explore the Citadel at the top of the town. I took the opportunity to sunbathe and read my book in peace. Later on in the evening we returned to the village for a walk through the narrow winding alley ways filled with tiny little boutiques selling everything from wine and pasta to the usual souvenirs and postcards.

Next stop Livorno, a ”transportation” day to get us closer to our next destination – Elba. This was a good day for sailing instead of the trusty old Volvo engine, but after hoisting up the main sail we heard a nasty noise from the mast and on investigating, discovered that some rivets had worked loose on the ”rod rig” so we had to stop in Livorno and hope to find a ”rigger” who could help us.

We were in luck, we found a good place in the harbour, and the Harbour Master himself called a friend of his – Francesco – who agreed to come and look at the problem in a few minutes – keep in mind it is Saturday afternoon in August in Italy !! Francesco came, surveyed the situation and sped off again to return with more tools, drills, screws and whatnots. He started work and then returned the next day to finish it off. An Italian, working on Sunday in August !! I hope we remembered to take a photo of this phenomenon! He finished so early that we even had enough time to set off for Elba by midday .