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Thursday, August 14th, Porto Vecchio, Corsica,
France
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On the way to Filicudi
on Tuesday morning, we finally reached our friends on "Airbender,"
who had encouraged us to meet up with them there.
It turns out, they had already left the island. To
make matters worse, they reported the only decent
anchorage on the island was full of jellyfish.
With a southerly breeze in the forecast for the next two
days and a nasty mistral blowing down from the northwest
following that, we decided to make our way to Sardinia
with just a brief swimming stop off the northwest coast
of Filicudi.
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With
a waxing moon, our night watches are spectacular.
As usual, Joe takes the first watch. He enjoys
most of the moonlight, waking me up at 1am, about an
hour and a half before the moon disappears on the
horizon. The girls are recovering from several
late nights in a row and have also been enjoying the
relaxing passage. We manage school, they
bake banana bread, write, draw and read. We sit
together occasionally, happy to have the time to listen
to and converse with each other. They are growing
up so quickly!
Emerging for my watch the first night, I'm lucky that
the wind is picking back up. I turn off the
engines, turn the boat a little further into the light
breeze, and watch our speed settle in around 5.5 knots
in the 6 knots of wind. With flat seas and the
moon setting in front of me, the sky darkens into a
kaleidoscope of tiny white lights twinkling all around
me. Shooting stars streak by so bright and close I
jump. The best of them leave a dusty trail of
luminescence in their wake. It is a magical time,
in the middle of the sea, coasting quietly through the
water and soaking up the scene.
As
Joe takes over after sunrise, we find ourselves twenty
or thirty degrees high of our course to southern
Sardinia. Our friends on Gone Native have plans to
be in Corsica in a few days. Why don't we go
straight to Corsica? It takes Joe a few minutes to
think about and digest the idea, but what the heck.
There wasn't anything specific he was looking forward to
in southern Sardinia. It is always great to have
friends around, especially for the kids. It adds
just six hours or so to our passage, putting us in well
in front of the mistral that is looming in the weather
forecast. Corsica it is!
As I
stand watch our second night at sea, I catch sight of a
solitary dolphin jumping towards Zia in the moonlight.
Catching my breath, I walk to the bow, hoping to see
more. It was not to be. Not that night.
But I have no doubt that many more wondrous surprises
await us as we continue on our voyage.
Next Entry
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Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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