3/14/2024 Marina di Scarlino
The cabin was 51 degrees when I got up. Turning the heater
on and brewing coffee had the temperature rising quickly. No useful overnight
emails, so we wait for a generator repair. Suzette continued waxing while I
assembled the dinghy. While working we noticed that the marina was installing
what turned out to be new WIFI antennas. Low and behold we have a much better
WIFI signal.
After lunch we walked to the two marine stores for some
miscellaneous parts. After rummaging through disorganized drawers at both
stores, we found most of what we needed. We also stopped at the gourmet store
for some fruits and bread. By the time
we got back to the boat it was 1530, quitting time. With the sun shining we
relaxed in the cockpit before heading off to the showers. It is much more
enjoyable to take a hot shower while there is still enough warm sunshine to dry
our hair. It was another beautiful sunshiny calm day. I just wish we could get
some resolution on the generator so we could go island hoping. The Admiral says
“no boat trips until the generator works and we can heat the cabin”.
The WIFI worked great making my blog post a 30-minute exercise
rather than the usual hours of time that it normally takes, and all from the
comfort of my boat. Left over soup and humus for dinner. A bottle of wine and
fresh bread brought it to life. Tonight was my night for a change, I managed to
beat Suzette at Pinocle and Backgammon for the first time since we returned to
the boat.
3/15/2024 Marina di Scarlino
Still no emails so we continued tinkering on the boat with
little projects. The power was shut off again today, but this time we had heard
about it in advance. The weather was hazy sunshine and light wind. We tinkered
around the boat, but I was getting antsy and started to plan a sail. The day
seem to be gone in an instant. Bean and rice burritos for dinner.
3/16/2024 Marina di Scarlino
I was up and securing the boat for a sail. The day started
with a heavy overcast and the Admiral had a different plan. “Let’s go to
Florence, I want to get to know the city better.” And so, the planning began.
Our Italian boat neighbors own a palace and rent apartments out by the night.
It looked pretty fabulous in the pictures so we reached out to our neighbors to
see if they could accommodate us, travel Sunday and stay 2 nights. Suzette
immediately set about trying on outfits to decide what to take.
I continued with odds and ends; flush the water heater
relief valve, change the filter on the water maker, remove the chain snubber
lines and finish my maintenance check list. I needed to get rid of my diesel
filters and diesel fuel from my filter changes. I tried several times to call
and get someone to open the eco recycle shed, but either no English or no
answer. I flagged down a passing marineros and he called someone to open the
shed. Within 5 minutes we were dumping diesel; glad to get that off my boat.
A Belgian couple arrived and boarded their Swan a few boats
down from us. I heard them speaking English so I engaged them in some
conversation. Turns out he owns a shipping company in Belgium and a winery in
Montapulciano. Their boat lives here, closest to the winery and warmer weather.
We talked boats and wine for a bit.
We needed to arrange for a taxi to pick us up on Sunday so
we walked to the office, but they were busy. We walked over to the Marine
store, but she was busy. I noticed that there was a gentleman setting up flags
and brand new Jeanneaus like there was going to be a boat show so we engaged
him. It turns out he is the local Jeanneau dealer with an office right here in
the marina. I shared with him our generator issue. He said to stop by on Monday
and he would help us get a better response from Jeanneau and the generator
people! That was a stroke of luck. Back the marine store the owner was more
than happy to help us and arranged for a taxi. Everyone here is very helpful,
well, except the fuel station guy.
Things were looking up; we may get sailing soon! For dinner
it was pasta primavera and a salad, both creatively pulled together from our
dwindling fresh food supplies.
3/17/2024 Marina di Scarlino
A crystal clear morning as we packed to leave for Florence,
not that we need much for a couple night’s stay. Our taxi was right on time for
the short drive to the train station. The train was reasonably on time and I
was relieved that I did not mess up the tickets this time. This was a direct
train to Florence. Since our accommodations had a washing machine, we packed
our dirty laundry. Without a generator our washing machine is useless. Florence
felt very familiar and we were making our way from the train station without
even looking at a map.
Our boat neighbors, Diletta and Philipo, have their family’s 13th century palace in Florence. It has been in their family for 4 or 5 generations and Philipos mother resides there. They have apartments on the first floor that they rent out for vacation stays, Royalstayinflorence.com. They had invited us to stay in one of the apartments and we could not resist such an invitation. Arriving at the palace at 1500 the care taker let us in and showed us to our apartment. The room was incredible with 30’ high vaulted ceilings, beautiful furnishings and a window that must have been 20’ high. Our hosts were expected to arrive at 1600.
There was no pretense of being tourists on this visit to Florence, we were here to shop! Suzette had us making a beeline for a Doc Marten store, she wanted a new pair of Doc Marten boots. She tried on several pairs and was ready to pull the trigger as she rushed through the process. Having watched this scenario before, I knew that a rushed purchase often resulted in dissatisfaction. I suggested that she wait and return in the morning if she still wanted the shoes. Risky business on my part, but she agreed.
We returned to the palace where Diletta and Philipo ushered
us in. They gave us the grand tour. You enter through double doors about 20’
tall into an interior courtyard. You could envision arriving in the courtyard
by horse drawn carriage and having a footman open the door and help you down
from your carriage while others unloaded your luggage. The first floor had
several apartments that were accessed from the court yard. A grand stone
staircase took you to the second level that was occupied entirely by Philipos
Mother. His father had passed several years ago and left the property to him.
Philipo grew up here in this palace. Taking a small staircase off of the courtyard
we ascended to the third level, bypassing the second floor. I would guess that
this was the way for the help to access the floors in a discreet manor. The
third floor was in the midst of a renovation with the kitchen and bathrooms
being modernized to today’s standards. Philipo, Diletta and the kids would be
moving into this floor in a month or two when it was complete. The original
stone and mosaic floors were well preserved and the coved ceilings were
beautiful. This will put him close to his mother so that they could care for
her in her old age.
The tour complete, they went on their way and we set off for a walk. We had not spent much time on the southside of the river so we crossed the Arno and began our exploration. In spite of being Sunday evening there were plenty of stores open…let the shopping begin! Suzette, as always, was checking out the shoe stores and found a place called Divas that sold handmade Italian shoes. Let’s just say she was happy that she did not buy the Doc Martens. She found a very unique pair of shoes that fit like a glove, I guess that would be a foot glove? She wore them out of the store with a big smile on her face.
We
walked long after sunset stopping at Conads for some food to stock the
apartment. We made some dinner at our royal home and luxuriated on the
beautiful sofa and enjoying a bottle of Frescobaldi from Montalcino. The bed was truly a “king” sized bed,
uncommon in Europe.
3/18/2022 Florance, Italy
It was a lazy morning as we waited for the rain to slow down
and the temperature to warm up. I received good news by email; the generator
people would be arriving on 3/22 to work on my generator! We enjoyed our coffee
and fresh fruit bowl while we read and…oh yea…did laundry! We set out about
noon and headed across the river. The rain had stopped, but it was a cold gray
day. I mapped out a route that would take us along several different streets
notable for their shopping. It did start to drizzle and continued most all day,
but we were undeterred and shopped until we dropped. I found a couple beautiful
scarfs, one silk and one cashmere to go for that European look and keep warm.
Suzette found some things that she liked as well. We stopped at Paszkowski’s
Café on the Piazza della Repepublica. This café has been here since 1903. We enjoyed
a respite as we watched the people pass by in the square, the rain had the
square fairly empty compared to the crowds we have seen in the past.
We dropped off our bounty of bags at the apartment and regrouped for a night out with our hosts. We met Delitta and Philipo at LungArno 23, just across the river. The specialty here was beef as the restaurant owners raise their own cows for the meat. The type of cow is a Chianina so we had the Sirloin thin sliced and rare with potatoes and the chef’s special mayo. For pasta, a ravioli with pecorino cheese and pear flavored with butter and sage, topped with black truffles. A delicious meal with a bottle of Frescobaldi. Ironically the house specialty is hamburgers prepared in about 15 different ways, even a vegi burger. As typical here, dinner started after 2000 and we finished around 2300. It was interesting conversation including some politics. It would seem that the Italians are more worried about Putin then an impending Trump second term.
3/19/2024 Florence, Italy
Another lazy morning as we packed for our departure. I cannot
resist fixing things when they are not working right. The dishwasher was not
properly fitted in the cabinet in the kitchen. We assessed the problem and
fairly easily fixed it by adjusting the feet on the dishwasher. We like to
leave a place better than we found it. We left at 1100, as planned, to walk to
the train station and none too soon. We stepped onto the train and we were
underway before we found our seats. Arriving back in Follonica we walked to the
Conad and did a major shopping for provisions. We called the taxi and enjoyed a
ride back to the boat, luggage and groceries in tow. It was a beautiful warm
and sunny day with time to lounge in the cockpit with a glass of wine and
finish my book.
I was reading a book about Napoleon and his family, very
relevant both because we are here in Napoleon’s country and the painful
similarities to Trump. Suzette is reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,
more parallels to Trump and his means and methods for success.
As the sun set, we enjoyed a beautiful salad, bread, cheese
and wine, it never gets old.
3/20/2024 Marina di Scarlino, Italy
A gorgeous morning, clear and calm. It must be warming up as
we did not even turn the heat on last night. Though we did indulge with some
heat in the morning. First day of spring!
We readied the boat to cast off the lines. Fired up the
engine, checked the bow thruster function and dropped the lines. Suzette
motored us out of the marina. The wind was light, 6 knots, from the north.
Suzette was anxious to set the sails and called it a practice for our race to
Elba. She has challenged the neighbor to a race and they have accepted. The
plan is for Easter weekend, weather permitting.
The wind began to clock around to the south and picked up to
a perfect 12 knots with a flat sea. We were a bit sluggish with a few months of
growth on the bottom. We were sailing along between 6 and 7 knots VMG with a
nice heel to the boat. We had the main and the self-tacking jib out and trimmed
tight. Both sails looked good, though I did see that we still have a roll to
port in the leach on the main, but today I think I see what the issue is; we
may need to bring the main down and change the shackle connection at the head.
We made the west side of Elba by about 1400 and tacked around to reverse our
course. The island looks lush and green from the wet winter. The Guardia Civil
(Coast Guard) boat passed us and we waived, happily he did not stop.
For the return we furled the jib and fired up the motor. I wanted to get the boat to 8 knots to hopefully shed the growth on the bottom. We have ablative bottom paint that requires that you run the boat above 7 knots periodically to shed the growth rather than have a diver clean the bottom. The visibility was good, but I set a waypoint just to test the autopilot, and it worked perfectly.
As we were coming into the slip, I turned on the bow
thruster and discovered no bow thruster! Fortunately, the wind was light and
favorable; we easily docked the boat and secured the lines. I also noticed that
the anchor chain counter at the helm was not working, interesting coincidence.
I guess I know what I am doing this afternoon. I started chasing the bow
thruster issue first, but everything in the power section seemed ok. All of the
thruster equipment and batteries are located in the bow under our bunk. By 1800
I decided that the issue was not in the bow compartment and reassembled our
bed. It was time for a drink and a review of the systems on line. I keep all of
the manuals on my laptop top, drink in hand I set about studying the manuals.
Suzette enticed me away with a beautiful salad for dinner. I will need to sleep
on this and hopefully resolve the issue tomorrow.
Since we are enjoying WIFI we decided to watch some of the
Oscar winning movies. We watched The Anatomy of a Fall, interesting movie. It
made for spirited conversation about the movie.
3/21/2024 Marina di Scarlino
With a fresh start and a good night’s sleep I resumed my
search for the bow thruster problem. The fact that the chain counter control
head and the thruster control head at the helm both went south at the same time
led me to believe the issue was not the main power, but power to the controls.
Sifting through the fuses for the various components I discovered a burned out
3-amp fuse and replaced it. Voile! Fixed! It appears to me that the fuse should
be a 10 amp based on the manuals, but we will monitor and see what happens.
With that issue fixed what will I do with the rest of my day?
Yesterday while sailing I noticed that a couple lines were chaffing and that a
couple others would be better run in a different way. By the end of the day, we
had rerun more than half the lines, but I believe that the configuration is
better and no chaffing. Now I will need to relabel the clutches to match the
new configuration.
It was a beautiful day, shorts and a T-shirt. Fresh pasta
primavera and bread for dinner. Another movie for the night, Poor Things.
Let’s just say it was different, I am sure there was a message there, but I am
not sure what it was. The production was amazing, sort of retro futuristic, if
that is possible.
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