As we were motoring along we noticed the storm petrels flying low over the sea for the first time this trip. They love rough weather and it seemed as though they sensed the storm to come and were out warming up and exercising their wings ready for some sport. Sometimes when it has been calm conditions for a long time they swoop and dive over our wake to relieve their boredom. In the evening, we took a walk in the town and bought some mussels in garlic sauce for our starter.
Ajaccio is the capital of Corsica and very French. It has been spoilt by much utilitarian looking building all round the bay and the best that can be said is at least they all the the same and match each other so nothing incongruous. We came back to the pontoon and found that more boats had arrived and it was now nearly full. We ate the mussels, lasagne and strawberries. Michael noticed that a green light was showing on the throttle control which should not have been and we were puzzled about it. Scrabble Ann won.
May 28
We slept in and had boiled eggs for breakfast at 11 am. Then Michael phoned Andreu to ask about the mysterious green light. Andreu advised him what to do and Michael crawled about under the engine flicking switches all to no avail. Andreu called Volvo who advised the Eddie Electronics method of switching everything off and then switching it all back on again – it worked!! Thanks for being there Andreu!
Ann went off to Carrefour, the Tesco of France, for shopping and the wind was already getting frisky. When she returned she found all the boats and the pontoon swinging about and up and down quite frighteningly. The wind was certainly more than was forecast for here and Michael was manning the ropes and fenders. Michael’s back has been doing very well in spite of some quite heavy activity with ropes and whatnot and he has had no migraines. At night on the boat there is usually the noise of the ropes gnawing and snatching and the water slapping on the side but we are so tired by the time we go to bed we are able not to notice them and sleep soundly.
After the shopping trip there was quite a big menu this evening. Michael had bulots (that’s sea snails) and then he cooked lemon sole and veg followed by strawberries. Then scrabble – Michael won and we turned in hoping that the wind would moderate during the night. May 29 It did a bit but not a lot so there was much creaking of ropes, splashing of water, swinging about and jerking. Michael woke at 3 am and did an inspection to find that one of the ropes attaching us to the pontoon had somehow become caught round our boarding ladder. Ann woke and came up to help. We lowered the ladder and waited until a surge of sea loosened the mooring rope until it came free. It was still very windy and also very cold. So we settled again after that.
May 29
M woke at 10am and A woke at 11 am!! We found that the wind was less but the sea was still surging. The boat was some 6 ft from the pontoon at the back to avoid the boat banging against the pontoon during a surge so we decided that it was a day to spend on the boat. No going ashore today. We had early lunch and settled down to read and listen to music and plan our onward journey down the coast of Italy.
We are due to fly back home from Corfu on 17th June which means we have 17 more days to get there because we want to arrive there around the 15th to allow time to pack and clean the boat before we leave it until September. If we do not get the weather we want and are unable to complete the full trip we shall consider leaving the boat in an Italian marina and flying home from there. We would then return in September and go on from there. In the galley Not much more to add about today except we had asparagus, steak and strawberries and Michael won scrabble.