Focusing on navigation and boat handling, there will be overnight sails to sharpen seamanship skills, as well as daytime sailing along rugged coastlines. Once in port, each sea voyage becomes a voyage of discovery, our focus shifting to what the town and port have to offer. Discussions will color in the current and historical perspective of the area.
We set sail from the idyllic French port of Nice, learning the ropes as we sail to other famous destinations along the riviera such as St. Tropez and Cannes. Film Festival or not, the Riviera is always alive with activity, yachts and all kinds of people.
Life's a roll of the dice for some, so we'll soon arrive in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Aboard our 112-foot schooner, we'll fit right in, and break the same crunchy French bread the mega yachts serve. The Royal family of Monaco has long supported the Oceanographic Museum started by Prince Albert after his many voyages. Jacques Cousteau, explorer and inventor of the aqua-lung, played a major role here for us to see.
Heading south , we'll visit the island of Elba, taking a hike to Napoleons place of exile, then onward, across the Tyrrhenian Sea to the ancient walled port of Civiitavecchia, the main port of Rome. No fast-talking taxi drivers for us; we prefer to make our way through the back streets to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum next door. Gladiators and senators haunt what's left of these buildings. Caesar’s blood has long since washed away from the marble steps we'll climb to see the first senate, where political intrigue was honed to a fine art in the Foro Romano.
We'll visit the Vatican City, but soon the summer winds will whisk us west toward the island of Sardinia and the, indeed very emerald, Costa Smeralda. It was here that the French fleet once tried to capture Lord Nelson. At great risk, he escaped in the night, leading his fleet through the narrow Biscie passage with a single lantern on the stern of each following ship to show the way. Thus began the long sea chase which led to the battle of Trafalgar. We'll sail through and see why this coast is now a playground for royalty and those on beyond the jet set. Here, yachts need to be 150 feet plus just to be noticed!
The wind funnels between the islands and provides for a robust sail as we make passage through through the Straits of Bonifacio to the port of the same name. With its narrow cobweb-like passageways in the walled city above, and below, a maze of shops and quayside cafes that line the port, Bonifacio is a truly quintessential Mediterranean port!
The whole coast is jagged and rugged, the result of countless mistrals blowing down from the Gulf of Lyon over the winter months. We'll anchor down for a few days in the Corsican capital city of Ajaccio, the birth place of an intense child by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte before striking the Moors head (the flag of Corsica) and pointing our bow west.
You'll use all of the sailing and navigation skills that you have learned during our longest offshore passage to Spain, stopping first at the Balearic Islands of Catalunya where we'll split our time between Mahon, capital of Menorca and Palma, the ancient roman city of Mallorca. Completing our journey, we'll make passage to Valencia to see the site of the most recent America's Cup and then finally home to Barcelona, as Ulysses did, to tell the tale. It will seem like a long time ago that you packed your sea bag as you have been packing your memory banks with adventures ever since. Like Ulysses, you'll never forget this voyage...
