October 15

Dear Friends and Family,

Since our last update, we’ve traveled many miles, literally and otherwise. Whether it’s a product of our nature or the nature of this journey, our days are surprisingly full, and now more so than ever. We put off starting school as long as we thought possible on the theory that daily life on board is an education.. That at least helped us justify our Oct. 1 start date, which was of course also driven by the reality that September is probably the premier cruising month in the med – warm air, warm water, and most holiday makers gone home. This makes it possible to play football (soccer) on beaches, to secure (and afford) berths in those famous and wonderful sounding Mediterranean towns (e.g., Portofino, Portoferraio, Porto-Vechhio, Saint-Tropez, etc.), and to enjoy spectacular anchorages practically to ourselves. Though we enjoyed our “shakedown” first month, none of this was possible in August – finding sand between bodies on beaches is nearly impossible, berths go to the serious “yachts” or to those that just happen to show up the moment another leaves, and popular anchorages are, well, popular. So we wanted to enjoy cruising in September at a semi-relaxed pace and get to some of these glorious ports, and we did just that. Now that we’ve started school, our pace is slow, but our days full. We write this now as we wait out a north-easterly gale (40 knots) at a comfortable berth in St. Tropez – not a bad place to hang out!

After leaving Sardinia, our plan for September was to head north up the eastern coast of Corsica (we sailed down the west side the first week of August) then cross the Tyrannean Sea to Elba before heading to mainland Italy. We loved Corsica, especially the south-eastern quadrant of the island, and we particularly loved the fabulous little island of Lavezzi, which is just off the island’s tip. Lavezzi is basically a pile of boulders thrown on top of each other in wild formations reminiscent of a Henry Moore sculpture. From the over-packed little bays you can snorkel between these formations. (see picture archive)

****Danny nailed a fish with a spear-gun there. We still argue about whether the fish was 4 m or 4 ft – we have a little problem in estimation. Lavezzi was also the site of our greatest adventure thus far – a 2 a.m. wake up by a screaming crew of Italians whose anchor had slipped and who were holding onto our boat so as not to drift into other boats or, more likely, into one of those spectacular rock formations encircling our anchorage. On the other side of us was a French boat whose anchor had held, but whose anchor chain had caught onto our keel during the 180-degree wind shift that accompanied the onset of the squall. All this was made more exciting by the most amazing thunder storm we had ever experienced that every 20 seconds lit up the entire sky and our own little multi-cultural spectacle. The light show combined with 3 different languages being shouted over the thunder and the looming danger of the rock formations on three sides of us made for an adrenalin filled 90 minutes, so much so that once danger had passed, Steve kept watch all night. But we loved Lavezzi and hated to leave it. Only weather pushed us to leave this spectacular little bay.

From Lavezzi we headed up to a lovely little bay called Rondinera and then to Porto Vecchio, where we last posted. This part of the trip felt like our vacation. As we had hoped, we moved slowly, played on beaches, indulged in watersports, and stayed put in places we liked. We picked up a used windsurfer in PortoVechhio and played on it in the next bay around the corner. Here, in the turquoise bay of San Ciprianu, Sarah became a water-skiier and Adam and Danny both got hooked on wakeboarding. Good times had by all. We had planned to spend one or two days in this bay, but instead stayed four and then only left because of looming weather. All grand plans are only as good as the weather permits.

While traveling plans are always subject to the moods of mother nature, safe cruising requires one to defer to her absolutely. And this as[ect of cruising appealed to us. We liked the idea of being driven by the rhythms of the seasons and the whims of nature, rather than by the minute by minute demands of our own schedules and the kids’ activities. Whether its to speed up to move to a protected harbor or to stay put in a good shelter, we feel completely subject to larger forces and humbled by how little control we really have.

We sailed to Elba from Solinzara, Corsica on September 8th, landing at a little resort town called Marina de Campo. This 66 mile crossing was our longest without help so far; all went well and even the wind cooperated with a nice 15 knot northwesterly for much of the passage.

That night was the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, a perfect time to look back on the past six weeks and forward to what we would like to improve on as a family. Living on board in tight quarters is itself an adventure in ways that are wonderful and sometimes, well, trying. As many have remarked in their responses to us, 24/7 togetherness is a lot of togetherness. Yes, there have been dozens of times we wanted to throw a kid or two overboard and nearly did. And needless to say the kids get pretty sick of each other and, as much as we hate to admit it, of us. Not to mention the fact that the two of us have never spent so much time together… Added chores and responsibilities can heat things up even more. So this idyllic year does not always, in the minute, feel idyllic. There have been many a tense moments on board and the occasion of the new year gave us a chance to learn from the past and make some new commitments which continue to anchor us, especially as we periodically, and predictably, stray.

Over the next week we hung out and traveled around Elba, including a day touring the interior in a jeep-like contraption we rented. The kids loved the beach at Marina de Campo because the huge beach was mostly empty except for a small gang of Italian kids with whom they could communicate in the universal language of soccer. Elba had recently been hit by a huge storm, so the water was full of debris from the mountains, so we couldn’t do much swimming here. We particularly enjoyed Portoferraio, the major port in Elba and home of Napolean during his exile from France. This gave us a chance to talk (and learn) some more recent European history while people watching from the cockpit of NOWORNOT. (see picture archive)

We headed northeast to Viarreggio on mainland Italy on Sept. 14 to meet Deb’s mother, Marcia, who was flying into Florence, a short drive away. She showed up with two huge boxes for us, much of which we packed up for her to bring to us – we now have ski clothes on board – and a long list of “stuff” we needed/wanted. She did have a tough time explaining to her friends the Kraft macaroni and cheese the kids asked her to bring to Italy…

Viarreggio is sort of the Italian version of Santa Monica with a few famous boatyards that make and repair many of the Meds mega mega yachts. We still can’t get our heads around how there can be so many of these yachts, or more precisely, how there can be enough people (outside of Silicon Valley) who can afford these 150 + foot monsters. It continues to boggle our collective mind to see mega yacht after mega yacht.

Pisa is an easy fieldtrip from Viarreggio, and all but Steve made a quick trip to see the leaning tower and the quaint streets of the town that houses it. Kids got to eat Pizza in Pisa, which they had joked about for weeks.

That evening we celebrated Yom Kippur with a small private service. This gave us the opportunity to apologize for past wrongs and perhaps most important, to remember those who have passed. Had it not been for Deb’s father, his love of adventure generally and the sea in particular, and the spirit he passed on, we wouldn’t have embarked on this trip. We think about him all the time, and this holiday gave us the chance to talk about him with the kids.

From Viarreggio we travelled north with Marcia to some of the most lovely cruising yet – Lirici and Portovenere, both in La Spezia bay, which is just south of the Cinque Terra. The pictures below are of us moving from one port to another (Steve and Marcia) and then and leaving the bay between Portovenere and a small island. Portovenere is a charming little town, complete with mussel farms, a citadel, and a sea cavern that we could explore by dinghy. (see picture archive)

The 5 seaside towns of the Cinque Terra are linked together by footpath. It used to be that the towns were only accessible by foot and boat, but now trains and ferries make it a mainstream tourist spot. Still, the towns were lovely.  ****Since none of the towns’ harbours were safe for anchoring, we ferried in from Portovenere and walked from town 2 to town 4, with lunch in town 3, as Sarah has described it. (see picture archive)

Over the next few weeks we traveled northwest to squeeze in our last bit of cruising for the season on the Italian and French rivieras. First stop – Santa Margurite Ligure, where we parked the boat for several days. Marcia saw that we desperately needed a break from the kids – and them from us – so she schlepped them away for an overnight excursion to Genoa. Kids loved the soccer game they saw, the aquarium they visited, and most of all a night off the boat and in a nice hotel room. We loved the break, including a much longer hike over a mountain than we anticipated, complete with lunch at a seaside monastery. Next stop was Portofino, the picturesque little harbor for the rich and famous. Key words – little, picturesque, and rich. Had we stopped here two weeks earlier, we never would have been able to secure a berth, but by Sept. 22, we could find room between the many mega yachts. There’s only so much window-shopping one can do, even Marcia, so we continued our journey after two days in this magnificent port.

After sailing with us across the Bay of Genoa, Marcia and Danny jumped on a train for an excursion to Firenze. Despite what he reports on his own page, Danny’s has shown a keen interest in history, retaining everything he reads, reading everything he picks up, and making connections between people, places, and periods that allude the rest of us. We loved the idea of fanning this flame and allowing him to be guided through the art by Marcia who has a more schooled eye than either of us. When Deb and Adam joined them in Florence two days later – leaving Sarah and Steve in the town of Imperia – Danny was truly turned on and was anxious to play tour guide. Seeing him thrilled by something other than baseball, and watching his enthusiasm rub off on Adam, reminded us why we chose Europe as our destination. (see picture archive)

Deb of course loved Florence, the time with the boys and her mom, and even the six hour train ride back to Imperia. It was during this ride that the boys decided that we should spend a month during the winter “Eurailling.”

Our time in Imperia marked our last days before beginning school on October 1. And what better place to start school, than Monte Carlo? The picture shows the kids still awed by the biggies that decorate this port. (see picture archive)

The start of school marked the beginning of a very different trip. No longer do we have whole days to fill with whatever fancies us. School occupies much of the day, typically we go until 2 plus some prep time, with a heavy dose of field trips when appropriate. We stopped school at 11:30 to visit the Monaco Oceanographic Museum and extended it on a particularly grey day. We are still trying to figure out how to combine the standard curriculum materials with topics that build on our experiences and the places we are visiting. It seems silly to spend much time on American history, the focus of Danny and Adam’s social science this year, but we feel we need to cover some basics in addition to our focus on European history, Ancient Rome, etc. Our divide and conquer approach to teaching is working… sort of. So far, Sarah has Steve to herself and Danny and Adam share Deb.. This requires Danny to work fairly independently with some guidance, Steve to test the limits of his patience, and Deb to trade in her novels for the 5th and 8th literature picks. Despite the challenges, we are finding the process of schooling the kids incredibly rewarding. Working side by side with the kids is a wonderful privilege for us and, we hope, for them. We doubt they’d say that yet, but hopefully someday they will. In fact, a recent writing assignment for Sarah was a short essay on “starting home schooling”. Steve encouraged her to write a list of pro’s and con’s, and atop the Con’s list was “teacher”. Not the most encouraging way to start the day.

So we write this from the shores of Saint Tropez where we have spent the past week. After picking up Deb’s brother in Cannes, where he just happened to be for a big TV business conference and came two days early for a short visit with us, we sailed to Saint Tropez to witness the last day of a 3 week long racing series for classic sailing yachts. (see picture archive)

Most were built in the early 1900’s, a few in the late 1800’s. They are truly works of art, works of pride for their owners, and simply magnificent. (see picture archive)

We didn’t expect to stay here this long, but once again the weather rules. One storm blew through with 40+ knot winds from the southeast, and after a day of calmer weather, they are predicting a Mistral bringing similarly heavy winds (but hopefully sunny skies vs. the pouring rain) from the northwest. Not atypical for the Med this time of year, but we voted to stick around and wait it out for a longer weather window before moving on.

We’ve seen many sides of this wonderful port – from the more than glitzy to the down to earth and friendly. Frankly, we’ve liked it a lot more than we expected to. The town is small enough to feel like you know it, but big enough to wander around enjoyably for more than a few days. Art is very prevalent, in the local museum, many galleries, and most interesting to us, local artists lining the port with their works. There are some good beaches for soccer nearby, and a large bay well worth exploring. And like many of the ports we’ve visited, there is an old town and a citadel on the hill. As our kids have pointed out, they share two things in common with all the others we’ve seen — they’re old and they’re up. Oh well, we enjoyed our jog around them ourselves.

With the weather keeping us here longer than expected, we rented a car on Saturday morning and headed off for a weekend jaunt to Provence. Thought a few days off the boat would do us all some good. We headed in the general direction of Aix en Provence, with a few stops along the way. Stayed in a very quaint “Chambre Maison” (room in a house, much like our Bed and Breakfasts in the States) about 15 kilometers out of town. On Sunday we visited the street markets in Aix, and then chased down a Horse Festival in a small town not far away. Interesting to see, but by the time we got there, there wasn’t much going on. Probably the highlight for the kids was the big soccer field we found and played on for a while. Lessons learned? When we escape from the boat for more space, we need to spend less time in the car and have more specific destinations planned. The unplanned, wandering travel that Deb and I did on our past trips to Europe doesn’t work quite as well with three kids. Our three kids at least.

We’re finishing this up in San Rafael, where we sailed yesterday from Saint Tropez. We are awaiting the imminent arrival of Steve’s mother, father and sister Marcia, who landed in Nice an hour ago and are on their way here. No, we don’t plan to live with all 8 of us on the boat. We’ll be looking for a weather window to make the “delivery” of the boat to our winter port of Gaeta, just south of Rome. Actually, we may stop at a port outside Rome for a few days before settling in there. Marcia will join the passage, while Sarah will get some special time with Grandma and Grandpa, taking four or five days to meander along the French and Italian coasts by train on the way to Rome, where they will rejoin us. As you can probably tell, we find that occasional changes in pairings can be beneficial for all, and we hope this lineup will work to everyone’s liking.

Well, that’s it for now, albeit a bit longer than we had anticipated. Don’t know if many of our friends will read it all, but at least we’ll have a nice history for ourselves when we are through!

We hope that all of you who visit our site are enjoying a healthy and happy autumn. Our trip continues to be an adventure, full of all the ups and downs that adventures invariably bring. But we still are thrilled and feel blessed that we were able to make it happen, and are looking forward to the changes that our “winter plans” will bring.

With all our good wishes,

Deb and Steve

P.S. In preparation for crossing the Med to the Tuscan Coast, it’s important to check out the integrity of the rigging. Here’s Danny straddling the spreaders…(see picture archive)