Finally Moving Again! Edition 2022

I am creating this thread to cover the continuation of our travels, which I wrote about during 2021 in the thread below:
https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s36/finally-moving-again-59850.html

As before, I have created this thread in order to occasionally post marinas, locations and curiosities that moved me to take a picture along the way. It is not really my intent to create a travel-log or full-blown picture log.

This thread is dedicated to our beloved Ocicat, Donatello, who passed away unexpectedly the day before we were scheduled to leave our over-winter port, Saint Mandrier-sur-Mer, France. Donatello has been our traveling and boating companion since 2010. He actually liked being on the boat, as every day was a new source of stimulation (ducks, geese, birds, smells and sounds, etc.)

I’m so sorry to hear of Donatello’s passing. He looks like a great cat and crew member. You have our deepest sympathy. We lost two valued companions while living aboard and it’s been crushing sadness but, we have such fond memories as we move forward. Good luck with your travels.

I lost my Oci - named Cody in 1996 when she was only a year old. We believe a coyote got her - when we lived in Wyoming. She loved sleeping on the dashboard of my truck and chasing the windshield wipers.

I have been subsequently informed two days ago by our mutual friend Pilou of the unexpected passing of Donatello; I am very sad for you ; also I feel very confused; it is not my intention to comment on the possible reasons however from a distance Pilou’s views about it made sense to me

I should have written you earlier but I am experiencing real communication challenges; for more than a month I’m currently serving as surgeon in a humanitarian mission carried on in Moldavia somewhere near Moldavian-Ukrainian border to face humanitarian consequences of Russia-Ukraine conflict by providing medical assistance for thousands of refugees in need; Tens of thousands lost people here trying to communicate simultaneously via cell phones and local internet connections clog up the GSM system thereby take down the remote area’s communications for most of the time ;

With deepest sympathy

ScottC said:

I am creating this thread to cover the continuation of our travels, which I wrote about during 2021 in the thread below:
https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s36/finally-moving-again-59850.html

As before, I have created this thread in order to occasionally post marinas, locations and curiosities that moved me to take a picture along the way. It is not really my intent to create a travel-log or full-blown picture log.

This thread is dedicated to our beloved Ocicat, Donatello, who passed away unexpectedly the day before we were scheduled to leave our over-winter port, Saint Mandrier-sur-Mer, France. Donatello has been our traveling and boating companion since 2010. He actually liked being on the boat, as every day was a new source of stimulation (ducks, geese, birds, smells and sounds, etc.)

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Yes, sincere condolences Scott, and thank you for posting those photos. He was indeed a nice cat - and truly potty-trained too. Wow.

A fine looking companion.

FWIW, below is the tribute Mathew Flinders wrote of his cat Trim, another seafaring moggy, in 1809.


"The best and most illustrious of his race
The most affectionate of friends,
faithful of servants,
and best of creatures
He made the tour of the globe, and a voyage to Australia,
which he circumnavigated, and was ever the
delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers"

Thank you Porgy, Ghostrider, La Mer, Peter B and Andy for the kind words and condolences. We are doing our best to look forward and move on. We find we have to change our behaviour too. For example, we can put the toilet seat down, because there is no more cat to use it. Doors that used to have to remain open a cat-width can now be closed, etc., etc.

La Mer said:

I should have written you earlier but I am experiencing real communication challenges; for more than a month I’m currently serving as surgeon in a humanitarian mission carried on in Moldavia somewhere near Moldavian-Ukrainian border to face humanitarian consequences of Russia-Ukraine conflict by providing medical assistance for thousands of refugees in need; Tens of thousands lost people here trying to communicate simultaneously via cell phones and local internet connections clog up the GSM system thereby take down the remote area’s communications for most of the time ;

With deepest sympathy

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Quite fantastic that you are able to serve in this way, La Mer! A truly miserable and depressing situation. Quite unthinkable to be without communication services in this day and age...

After only three ports with our new passerelle, I can already say that our Mediterranean trip is being greatly enhanced by this device. No more risking of life, limb and iPhone when getting on and off the boat!
For any GL33 owners interested in more about this passerelle solution, you can see more detail about it in this thread:
https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s76/greenline-40-general-discussion-52956-5.html
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An overview of our general trip plan from France to Malta, where we will leave the boat for the winter. At this point we plan to take in Sardinia with a 10-day driving tour on our return (e.g. with a rental car)

Wifey B: Anxiously following your journey. Sure you'll have a great time. Can't wait to read as you travel, see you in places we did visit and in places we didn't. Even for those we visited it's always exciting to see them through the eyes of others.

Ok, I'll ask if no one else will. How on God's Blue earth did you get a cat to use the toilet?!?!?!?

I mean Head

AquaDestiny said:

Ok, I'll ask if no one else will. How on God's Blue earth did you get a cat to use the toilet?!?!?!?

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Wifey B: I thought it was cool they left the seat up for Donetello and wondered had it been a female cat would it have been down. I'm sure Donetello was such a good companion and still get sad over his death, but sure they have so many great memories.

AquaDestiny said:

Ok, I'll ask if no one else will. How on God's Blue earth did you get a cat to use the toilet?!?!?!?

Click to expand...

We've never had a litter box on board. Though we keep some cat litter stowed that could be used with a temporary cardboard box in case we found ourselves in rough seas for too long. In ten years of cruising with Donatello, however, we never had to use the litter. He knew the routine. He would be fed upon arising. He would use the toilet within an hour or so after that...and then he was good for a day at sea.


You can read more about it here:
https://www.passagemaker.com/lifest...different-plus-train-your-cat-to-use-the-head


Budget 3 months for this...and it should be done at home. It helps a LOT if you have more than one bathroom at home. I would not try to train the cat to use the toilet for the first time on the boat - I think the motion would be too distracting. Once trained at home, however, the skills are portable. Boat, hotels, cat-sitter homes, etc


This is the book we used to learn all about it when we started:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Toilet-Train-Your-Cat/dp/0761189521/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29O6I5U8TKBWG&keywords=How+to+toilet+train+your+cat&qid=1650480871&s=books&sprefix=how+to+toilet+train+your+ca%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C152&sr=1-1

I am impressed, surely you are a wizard. I'm still a dog person, but nonetheless impressed. And sorry for your loss.

AquaDestiny said:

I am impressed, surely you are a wizard. I'm still a dog person, but nonetheless impressed. And sorry for your loss.

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Thank you for the condolences. Most boaters with pets seem to be dog people. I have to say, however, that cats seem much more practical. No need to ferry them ashore several times a day!

ScottC said:

Quite fantastic that you are able to serve in this way, La Mer! A truly miserable and depressing situation. Quite unthinkable to be without communication services in this day and age...

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Thanks ScottC, I’m just doing what I believe in ; some here suggest that Moldavia’s sovereign borders would be next step of Russian expansion, quite sure of that at the moment but tomorrow is another day; apologies for the transgression


May you have fair winds and following seas

Port Fréjus

A beautiful, top-notch, modern port adjoining a fascinating medieval village with extensive Roman archaeological ruins.

(Second picture below is not mine. I borrowed it from the port's website.)

Imperia, Italy is a city that was created in 1923 by combining two neighboring cities -- Oneglia and Porto Maurizio. As such, Porto d'Imperia is composed of two harbours. The less-commercial and more yacht-friendly harbor is Porto Maurizio.
The pictures below are of Porto Maurizio. The second picture shows us in the lower left corner, across from super-yacht row.
The Bougainvillea are actually part of a WWII memorial.


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Also seen at Porto d'Imperia / Porto Maurizio

This one caught my eye. It looks like a cross between a serious North Sea commercial fishing vessel and a serious yacht. Quite remarkable. Then there's the rather unique color... The lighting does not do it justice. It gleams as if new, without a spec of dirt on it.
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Wifey B: Did you do a straight run from Port Frejus to Imperia? Not Nice. :lol:

Love following your cruise and your appreciation of the beauty you see.

Ok - WifeyB called me out on this. We did stop at two ports between Frejus and Imperia. Antibes (for a second time), which I wrote about in my 2021 thread and Menton, the very last port in France. I will share a few pix of Menton, but most of our memory of Menton was, shall we say, "dampened" by thunderstorms with torrential rains.
About the pictures:
1) Menton harbor as viewed from the town above
2) Menton looking north, into the mountains from the hilltop cemetery
3) Menton - Cocteau museum. This was one of TWO Cocteau museums in Menton. The other, more modern and more inland was nearly completely destroyed during storm Adrian in 2018. The foundation's focus now is on restoring the rescued works of art. Eventually, they may get around to restoring the destroyed museum building.
4) The discovery of free(!) -- and available washer and dryer at the port. Yippee! But we were reminded that you get what you pay for. Wash went fine. Dryer supplied hot air, but did not tumble. That explained the broken rubber belt sitting on top of the drier. Drying laundry is normally not a problem in the sun-drenched Med -- but it IS a problem if you need to do it during a three-day stretch of thunderstorms. There was no sign mentioning a problem with the dryer, but there was helpful sign reminding you to empty your pockets before doing the wash. Take away: buy a larger boat with room for own washer & drier...

Thanks Scott for interesting update and photos.


End of last October we stopped in Imperia during the maiden voyage of my new to me Fleming when we sailed from Cannes to Corsica then Monaco with a couple of American historic members of TrawlerForum who flew specially from the US East coast.


We saw Akula - of which you posted photos above - in Imperia, she is a beautiful 75 feet - 25m long trawler yacht built in Italy powered by 1 x diesel Baudouin 2,550hp engine, she cruises at 10 knots with an impressive range of up to 6,000 nautical miles from her 33,300 litre fuel tanks.





Baudouin could be compared to British builder of diesel engines Gardner - born in 1895. Later on Gardner was bought by Rolls Royce Motors then in 1986 by Perkins Engines. Gardner ceased production of new engines in the early 1990s. By the way Tony Fleming's own Grand Banks 42' Motor Yacht was a custom boat powered by 1 x Gardner engine.





The Baudouin Motors was founded in 1918 by Charles Baudouin in Marseille, France, has been over the years a major success in the shipping and fishing markets around the world renowned for its range of robust, durable and efficient engines.


Since then Baudouin got bigger and is now carrying out research into a dual-fuel engine still for reliable performance of wide range of engines particularly but not only over the marine and power generation applications.


Thank you for the fascinating history on Akula and Baudouin Motors, La Mer!
Why the change in Avatar photo? I like your previous photo better!!!

The highlight of our stop in Imperia was a visit to Fratelli Carli – a major Ligurian olive oil producer and host to a magnificent museum covering the history of all things olive. They also have a fine shop with their products, where we managed to leave about $100 behind. Think of a wine-tasting bar, but the cups are paper and smaller…and the beverage is olive oil. It was fantastic to be able to sample the varieties before making a purchase.

The pictures below are from the museum and show how steep, hilly land is reengineered in order to facilitate olive production. We could see many of these rows of olive trees in the hills as we cruised along the Ligurian coast. You can see in a couple of the pictures large, granite wheels that are used for crushing the olives and pits, so that the oil will run out separately. We could see a portion of their modern factory, which is a model of high-tech stainless steel and computerization. But, when it comes to the crushing of the olives, even the modern factory still uses granite wheels and foundations housed within the stainless steel equipment.
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The picture below was taken on our drive from Sweden to France in order to meet up with our boat. Specifically the location was Germany. From a timeline perspective, it should have been the start of this thread. I could not bring myself to start this thread with this topic, however. But it does deserve comment -- so here it is. My, oh my. What has our world come to when a urinal requires a reboot!?!???
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Portofino, Italy. Delightful harbor setting and town.
Weather today, not so fino, however...


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Wifey B: Scott, your photos are a reminder that we've only seen dozens of the thousands of places of beauty to experience in Italy and throughout Europe.

Better weather today in Portofino!
1) A better picture of the port & town. We are in the bottom of the picture -- the boat with the solar panels on top. The mega-super yacht, ATLANTE, in gun-metal grey, is Italian-owned. Really.
2) Local pan-seared, toasted sesame encrusted tuna. What a treat!


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