Yacht JACK TAR: July 2011

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

More Riviera

This post comes from an anchorage off Juan les Pins, near Antibe, both very attractive towns. After two weeks at Cape Ferrat we finally managed to drag ourselves away and with a temporarily benign weather forecast, have moved further west. We keep a constant eye on the mistral, the wind that blows strongly out of the Gulf of Lyon. For the last six weeks it has been almost constant and at its worst has been 50 kts plus. So, we don`t want to get mixed up with that, and of course, as we sail west we get closer to that gulf. Back at C Ferrat we toured to Este, a high village overlooking the coast and which afforded spectacular views. We walked down from the village to the coast. And we fell in love with the village close to our preferred anchorage at St Jean C Ferrat, a beautiful, exclusive, sophisticated spot which retained a very natural atmosphere. Along this coast we have seen an extent of conspicuous wealth displayed which is hard to describe. Apart from the magnificent villas and chateaus on shore, the sheer number of large, expensive motor yachts is hard to describe. And the Ferraris, Rollers, Bentleys, Lamborghinis etc are a dime a dozen. Along the way we managed to duck into Nice and purchase a new outboard for the dinghy; the old one having reached the end of its useful life and so was buried at sea. The high season is now truly upon us and the tourists are everywhere. The air traffic into Nice is amazing with one every few minutes all day long and into the night. And the anchorages get very crowded during the day, but usually thin out each evening as most rush off to a marina

Chateau at St Jean Cap Ferrat

Looking down to St Jean Cap Ferrat

View from Eze; JT is anchored in the bay in the far distance

Exotic garden at Eze

Sculptures at Eze

Inland view from Eze

Not a bad place for a drink; rooms with a sea view Eu 1500/night

Our anchorage and entrance to the port at St Jean

Weather

Watefront restaurants at St Jean

Passengers arrived at this private yacht by helicopter

But this one had a flight deck and hanger for two helicopters

and carried two "submarines"

As for this one [cropped & expanded]

what can you say?

Antibe old town

Antibe

Chateau Murfin at Juan Les Pins

Sunday, July 17, 2011

On to the French Riviera

As I write we are at anchor at Cape Ferrat on the French Riviera not far from Monaco. We had spent a week at anchor at nearby Villefranche sur Mer, but the mistral blew up today and sent huge rollers into the bay forcing us to give up what had been a delightful situation, with a conveniently close public quay at which we could leave the dinghy while away touring. But, updating progress, we sailed from La Spetzia to beautiful Santa Margherita Ligure where we spent another week at anchor in the harbour, the weather being quite benign. It is a lovely place and while there we visited Rapallo, Portfino and a San frutuoso, a small village on a rugged coast accessible only by boat or by foot. We walked from there back to Portofino via a rough track with coronary inducing climbs at either end. From Sta Margherita we crossed to the so-called Italian Riviera before coasting down to our present locale. The coastal scenery along this part of the French Riviera is simply stunning; the best we have seen with high mountains dropping down precipitously to the sea. And the French culture and cuisine, [ the bread is to die for], is refreshing. And we have discovered that the locals are very fond of a fine pale rose wine which is delightfully light and not at all sweet. A wonderful aperitif. Whilst at Villefranche we have taken the train to visit Nice, Monaco and Menton, all well known attractive places. On the eve of the Bastille Day holiday we had a front row seat for an amazing, sophisticated fireworks display; the best we have ever seen, including Sydney n. year. And we continue to meet like minded yachties, lately American and Australian, with whom we have shared salty stories and a few libations. Some of the photos are again out of order as the blog editor played up. Double clicking on the photos brings them up full screen.