Corisca to Nice

I’ll pick off where I left off in Corsica: The next morning we had a diver cut the line from the prop and throughout the day the wind abated. In the early afternoon I took a walk to pay the 300 euro diver’s fee and to get some cash for the boat. However, the ATM machine wasn’t working and the next closest one was 20 miles away. I wonder what they do in Corsica for cash in times like these. Perhaps they still accept seashells at the seashore!?

On the way back I arranged a taxi for Brenda, our chef. She ran out of time and had to fly back to Antibe to pack up her things and fly to Palm Beach for her next gig. We had a window of opportunity so we were stuffing Brenda into her cab while at the same time setting up a line for a local fisherman to assist pulling us off the dock lest we catch another of the underwater lines.

With Brenda away we cast the lines away and with the little tow we were up, up and away or out, out and away. All in all, the ordeal caused some damage, but it could have been worse. There is a small patch of fiberglass which got scraped up and the terry cloth fender covers, all ten of them, were a complete loss, but nothing serious. There was still a fair bit of swell rolling about, but nothing the boat and its stabilizers couldn’t handle so we chugged away towards Nice. Late in the evening/early morning we pulled along shore of Cap Ferret and dropped anchor for the evening.

In the morning we weighed anchor and cruised for a few miles to Port de Nice where I had a chance to get a feel for the boat while driving via the remote controls on the flybridge. As soon as they were awake in the port we entered and backed into our spot. Ah, at last we were home, at least our temporary home.

Neil had arranged for a couple of Russian guys to show up and clean the boat so I got them started on the wash down and went about other business. The next few days were spent cleaning up the boat and doing various boat things. On Saturday night I actually got to go to a party which Brenda had invited me to. Sort of a going away for her at a pizza joint in Antibe. So I hopped into the crew car and made the trip down there. I had a little trouble finding the place because google maps had me trying to drive down streets barely wide enough for a donkey to travel which is what I’m sure they were originally made for. Eventually I ditched the car and made my way on foot. Brenda introduced me to her friends, we ate pizza, drank wine, danced a little, took some photos and it was a nice evening.

At this point I’m aching for some time off, but I still have a few more days to grind out. Paul, the new captain starts on Wednesday so I stick around to get him orientated. The major concern for the week, at least from the owners’s point of view is to remedy the carpet situation. They went with a very expensive natural fiber in off white. Well when I pealed back all the protective covering on the carpet I found a huge stain and a few smaller ones too. So now we have to find a better carpet choice, but unfortunately there aren’t any “Stainmaster” dealers in Europe and of course the owner is stuck on the white color. Funny thing. The owner brought over a lady to take a look at the carpet samples and get her opinion. They opened a bottle of Port Wine. Well needless to say some of it is now dotted on the carpet. Not your traditional way of christening a boat. Maybe that will make him consider a different color carpet, perhaps Port?

So I work through the week and get Paul up to speed and the owners have offered a free stay at their hotel in the French Alps so on Saturday I’m set to hop on the train and go. Only I didn’t get any sleep Friday night because of the headaches caused by the stress in my back. And into the morning I felt horrible so I postponed the trip. But on Sunday I felt better I was making my way to the train.

So its off to Courchevel for some fun in the snow……