Finally moving again!

ScottC said:

Actually - the third picture is not a Riva - but, as I discovered later, a J-Craft.

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Wifey B: You should have known that since it's a Swedish boat.

I think that's a J-Craft Torpedo, La Decadence from Saint-Tropez. Don't mind you tossing it in with the Riva's at all.

ScottC said:

1) Lighthouse with an artistic touch at the entrance to the Port of Saint Tropez

2) Also spotted at Saint Tropez

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Today in Saint Tropez I have seen your nice vessel from a distance; love the stylish classic line.

La Mer said:

Today in Saint Tropez I have seen your nice vessel from a distance; love the stylish classic line.

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Thank you for the kind comment, La Mer. Were you on-foot? By car? I did not see a fine Fleming entering the harbor...but I may have missed it!

BandB said:

Wifey B: You should have known that since it's a Swedish boat.

I think that's a J-Craft Torpedo, La Decadence from Saint-Tropez. Don't mind you tossing it in with the Riva's at all.

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I've only seen one J-Craft in Sweden...thus, it never occurred to me that J-Craft could be a Swedish brand. Wow! I managed to get close enough to this one in St. Tropez to see that the short name started with "C" and ended with "B". I could not read the 1-2 letters in the middle as they were not visible due to a passerelle.

Peter B said:

Scott, it's a pity you didn't get to St Tropez just a coupla weeks earlier, as the Sail GP races with the foiling 50' cats raced there about then. I watched it on Foxtel. The winds were light though, so several of the races were shortened in time, and there were no major dramas.

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Hi Peter,
There was actually another sailing event getting under way while we were there LES VOILES DE SAINT-TROPEZ – Site Officiel
This is actually why we had to leave St. Tropez earlier than we wanted to. The marina was clearing out insignifcant power boats, like ours, to make room for an onslaught of sailboats!

An interesting discovery today...

I marveled at the significant number of boldly colored "go-fast" yachts in St. Tropez. Black, burgundy, lipstick red, royal blue hullls, etc. I witnessed most of these being rinsed off daily by the yacht dealers and by local services. Of course they always looked stunning and there was never a water spot to be seen. Hmmm...how is it that I can't rinse off a thing on my WHITE boat, without having visible water spots.

Saw the answer today, in the second picture below. The rinser-offers always use a temporary water filter to remove the minerals and other impurities from the water!

Stunning sculpture near the entrance to Port Vauban in Antibes. Note the people in the lower right corner of the picture and you will appreciate the size of this work.

Click on pictures with text to more easily read the description.

ScottC said:

I marveled at the significant number of boldly colored "go-fast" yachts in St. Tropez. Black, burgundy, lipstick red, royal blue hullls, etc. I witnessed most of these being rinsed off daily by the yacht dealers and by local services. Of course they always looked stunning and there was never a water spot to be seen. Hmmm...how is it that I can't rinse off a thing on my WHITE boat, without having visible water spots.

Saw the answer today, in the second picture below. The rinser-offers always use a temporary water filter to remove the minerals and other impurities from the water!

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It first hit me a few years ago when car washes started with spot free rinses. Seemed like magic water to me. Now I find out there are several different methods in use. The effort is as you describe removing the minerals or TDS, Total Dissolved Liquids. There are three main ways of doing so, Deionization, Distillation, and Reverse Osmosis. Two companies I know providing Deionization using what they refer to as resin are crspotless and spotfreefinish. Also some on Amazon. Now you start to know a bit about the secrets of Rain-X too as they provide a spot free wash. I believe some of the car washes even have small equipment for distilling water which is nothing but heating it to vapor and then removing the particles. As to reverse osmosis, we've rinsed using water from the boat, created by the watermaker and I didn't understand at first why it left fewer spots.

Also tremendous difference in TDS by location.

Whether such systems are practical or cost effective for the average boat, I can't say. Really don't work much differently than your water filter on your sink but just a lot higher volume.

ScottC said:

Thank you for the kind comment, La Mer. Were you on-foot? By car? I did not see a fine Fleming entering the harbor...but I may have missed it!

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Hi ScottC; we were aboard the yacht of american relatives on my wife’s side; anchored Wednesday night in Gulf of Saint Tropez position 43° 16.515' N / 6° 37.644' E not far from mega-yacht Atlantis II; a short ride to Saint Tropez with the tender and crew Thursday early morning to buy croissants and pastries was when I saw your vessel; I liked the hawsehole very much.


Have you seen Atlantis II while you were there? She was built for Greek tycoon Stavros Niarchos, Aristotle Onassis’s brother-in-law; she still remains in the hands of the Niarchos family ;

La Mer said:

Hi ScottC; we were aboard the yacht of american relatives on my wife’s side; anchored Wednesday night in Gulf of Saint Tropez position 43° 16.515' N / 6° 37.644' E not far from mega-yacht Atlantis II; a short ride to Saint Tropez with the tender and crew Thursday early morning to buy croissants and pastries was when I saw your vessel; I liked the hawsehole very much.


Have you seen Atlantis II while you were there? She was built for Greek tycoon Stavros Niarchos, Aristotle Onassis’s brother-in-law; she still remains in the hands of the Niarchos family ;

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Aha! The boulangerie run. By the time we manage to get off the boat and to the boulangerie, they're either out of croissants...or closed for the day :-(


We did see Atlantis II. Awesome! Passed it a few times. We showed up for our original reservation at St. Tropez (coming only from Marines des Cogolin) only for St. Tropez to tell us "sorry - we're closed" come back later. This was due to a short-run Mistral. We found it rather amazing, as we came from Cogolin running on electric with <50cm. waves. St. Tropez explained that their insurance didn't cover boats entering the port during such windy conditions. After arriving in the port the next day, I could fully appreciate their position on this. Entering the port with the heavy winds would be no problem. But maneuvering in the port with such winds could result in insurance claims.

Some dramatic skies and weather one of the days while we were in Antibes...

A large, relevant and interesting work of art at the inner-most part of the harbor at Nice. These shapes, executed in steel, represent fishing boats.

Nice is a lovely place for walking around. There is so much more to it than the beaches and the "front line" of hotels.

ScottC said:

A large, relevant and interesting work of art at the inner-most part of the harbor at Nice. These shapes, executed in steel, represent fishing boats.

Nice is a lovely place for walking around. There is so much more to it than the beaches and the "front line" of hotels.

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Wifey B: Nice is very nice. We love it and Antibes although for very different reasons. We're really thinking about not shipping the boat home this year so more time in the Caribbean later or next year. The marinas in Croatia are being very persuasive.

BandB said:

Wifey B: Nice is very nice. We love it and Antibes although for very different reasons. We're really thinking about not shipping the boat home this year so more time in the Caribbean later or next year. The marinas in Croatia are being very persuasive.

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Seems like a very reasonable thought...since I assume it would be unlikely for you to ship your boat back to the Med for another year of cruising!

ScottC said:

Seems like a very reasonable thought...since I assume it would be unlikely for you to ship your boat back to the Med for another year of cruising!

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Wifey B: We might do that sometime. We'll definitely return sometime, although if we don't leave the boat here, won't likely be next year.

ScottC said:

A large, relevant and interesting work of art at the inner-most part of the harbor at Nice. These shapes, executed in steel, represent fishing boats.

Nice is a lovely place for walking around. There is so much more to it than the beaches and the "front line" of hotels.

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Spend a night at the anchor in the Bay of Villefranche-Sur-Mer, it’s gorgeous; Also have a stop in the pretty marina of the small town of Saint Jean Cap Ferrat; Several large houses in Cap Ferrat have the highest price of square meter in the world;


Don’t miss to stay at least two days at the marina of Fontvieille in Monaco right at the foot of Prince’s Palace, a lot quieter than Port Hercules Monaco; if interested I could PM you the Fontvieille Harbor Master’s direct phone # ; great and friendly people;

ScottC said:

A large, relevant and interesting work of art at the inner-most part of the harbor at Nice. These shapes, executed in steel, represent fishing boats.

Nice is a lovely place for walking around. There is so much more to it than the beaches and the "front line" of hotels.

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Looks an ideal nesting opportunity for storks!

ScottC said:

Stunning sculpture near the entrance to Port Vauban in Antibes. Note the people in the lower right corner of the picture and you will appreciate the size of this work.

Click on pictures with text to more easily read the description.

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That's strange, being so big I think we would have seen it when Olivier was taking us all round Antibes, and we had lunch on Lutin, but I don't recall that statue. Oh well, there's a heck of a lot to see for sure. The boats are amazing.

Was Olivier able to help you out regarding a berth there Scott..?

La Mer said:

Spend a night at the anchor in the Bay of Villefranche-Sur-Mer, it’s gorgeous; Also have a stop in the pretty marina of the small town of Saint Jean Cap Ferrat; Several large houses in Cap Ferrat have the highest price of square meter in the world;

Don’t miss to stay at least two days at the marina of Fontvieille in Monaco right at the foot of Prince’s Palace, a lot quieter than Port Hercules Monaco; if interested I could PM you the Fontvieille Harbor Master’s direct phone # ; great and friendly people;

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Thank you, La Mer. We are now in Villefranche-sur-Mer and are enjoying it very much! We are in the Marina, however. Looked at the anchorage port, Santé, and, while very quaint, decided we preferred the simplicity of the Marina, in this case.


St. Jean Cap Ferrat will be our next stop for two nights. After that, we are booked in Monaco, Port Hercule for three nights. We spent a lot of time considering Fontvielle vs. Hercule, but in the end, we decided we're going to go to Monaco to be in the middle of it all...not to get away from it all. Anyway, we will be passing by Monaco again next year and if Hercule turns out to be disappointing, we will definitely go for Fontvielle!

Peter B said:

That's strange, being so big I think we would have seen it when Olivier was taking us all round Antibes, and we had lunch on Lutin, but I don't recall that statue. Oh well, there's a heck of a lot to see for sure. The boats are amazing.

Was Olivier able to help you out regarding a berth there Scott..?

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We were in Anitbes 1 1/2 days before I noticed this statue. Basically it does not stand out during the day. It's easy to miss. But lit up at night...WOW!
We walked around the base of it the night I took the photo and there was a temporary bar set up that was also playing some type of "trance" music that just made the entire evening stunning. With the absolutely still weather, clear sky, stars, moon, sculpture, music and the lights, it was like being in another world.


And yes --- Olivier has been lots of help!

Villefranche-sur-Mer was lovely.

Instead of posting the usual tourist photos, I will post:
1) A Riva, sporting a Monaco flag, leaving our harbor
2) An amusing sign on the front door of the town hall -- directed at English-speaking visitors

ScottC said:

We spent a lot of time considering Fontvielle vs. Hercule, but in the end, we decided we're going to go to Monaco to be in the middle of it all...not to get away from it all. Anyway, we will be passing by Monaco again next year and if Hercule turns out to be disappointing, we will definitely go for Fontvielle!

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Wifey B: Yes, one doesn't go to Monaco to get away from it all. Still, it sure is fun and Hercule is very nice and convenient.

Monaco

Tomorrow, we leave Port Hercule, Monaco, after spending three nights here.

We certainly got what we wished for -- to be in the middle of "it all". Unforunately, "it all" included a couple of very large near-by construction projects that involved jack-hammering and drilling in granite and concrete day in and day out. Port Hercule was also significantly affected by surge from some not-so-nice weather that passed by while we were here.

While I can see many benefits for Port Hercule, these benefits are mostly geared toward super yachts. So, La Mer was right. Fontvieille is much more tranquil and probably a much better choice for a boat of our size.

We will head for San Remo, Italy next.

Some pictures... (click on them to enlarge and scroll)
1) Port Hercule - we are a white spec where the red arrow is pointing on Quai Antoine 1st.
2) Port Fontvieille
3) A -- um-- yellow submarine outside the Oceanographic museum. 2-man. 2 knots. 1966. 400 pounds. Built for exploring red coral in the Mediterranean
4) I couldn't believe it!
5) More harbor art.
6) Explanation about the art

Wifey B: #4 Ewwwwwww gross...

BandB said:

Wifey B: #4 Ewwwwwww gross...

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Ok - something to soothe your offended eyes...
About a dozen Rivas on the other side of our dock

ScottC said:

Ok - something to soothe your offended eyes...
About a dozen Rivas on the other side of our dock

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Wifey B: I have been amazed how popular they are in the Med. I figured we'd see some, but everywhere lots.

Much better than Steak n Shake. They said, "Try it, you'll like it.
I tried it. I didn't like it. I can't believe I ate the whole thing. Pop pop fizz fizz. :lol:

We're out making a night run back in your direction in storms and even thunderstorms, but moderate winds and very low waves. Wind and seas going to pick up as we get near the boot of Italy.

When we dock in Italy we will be on day #80 of our 90 Schengen days and want to keep at least one for plane issues or something, but a wonderful summer almost over. Of course then home and maybe a day trip in a Riva.

Kind of like In and Out Burger in California. Wildly popular but I never quite understood why. Okay I guess, but not worth waiting in huge lines IMO.

kthoennes said:

Kind of like In and Out Burger in California. Wildly popular but I never quite understood why. Okay I guess, but not worth waiting in huge lines IMO.

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Went there once. Burger was just average. Fries unimpressive. Now, Hodad's in San Diego, that is worth going.

BandB said:

Wifey B: #4 Ewwwwwww gross...

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Generally, I don't do fast food -- with the exception of Steak 'n' Shake when I visit the States. Mostly, I go for the 'n' Shake part of it. Great vanilla shakes with hand-dipped ice cream.


I thought if they appeared in Monaco, it should be even better. WRONG! The burgers were disappointing and the vanilla shake could very well have been a McD's recipe. Don't think there was a bit of real ice cream in it. Only positive thing I can say is that the burger was medium rare...which is something I find one can generally not get in the States these days without first signing a document stating that you will not sue if you get sick. Oh... our burgers, fries and one shake for two came to €30.

Based upon my personal experience, if you go to Bermuda, dont eat at KFC unless you want to break your teeth on over cooked dry chicken.