La Grazie, Italy We found that Le Grazie was a great anchorage to leave Berkeley East and do some day trips. It was large, calm, and scenic, and there were four other American boats anchored there who had scoop on the area. It is rare that we see one other American boat, let alone four, […]
Genova, Italy As cruisers, we walk a lot. Whenever we land in a port, we don’t have a car at our disposal, so we walk until we find what we are looking for, be it a marine store, a restaurant, a bus, or a train. We are used to walking, but when we landed in […]
Italian Riviera Boun giorno! Boun giorno! That is what we heard as we sailed Berkeley East into San Remo, Italy. A portly man came running out on the dock, arms wide open, welcoming us to his marina. He said several sentences in Italian – “Welcome to Italy! Your yacht is so beautiful! We are so happy […]
Monte Carlo Monaco We were sitting quietly at the dock in Port Fontvieille, Monaco, when Berkeley East suddenly lurched back, thumping her stern on the dock. By the time we got on deck, the wind was gusting to more than 50 knots pushing our 31-ton boat onto the dock. The rain was coming down in […]
Villefrance, French Rivera Everyone is always asking what our favorite town, village or city is. It is an impossible question to answer because most of the places that we have been visiting are all special in some way, be it beauty, character, peacefulness, people, or one unique experience. But if we had to choose a […]
Cannes, France We were so excited to be going to the Cannes Film Festival. Sadly, we were delayed by weather and arrived two days after the festival ended. But, maybe it was better. The crowds were gone. We didn’t see any celebrities, but we did see why they all flock here year after year. Cannes […]
The French Rivera With the weather forecast looking bad we left our beautiful but unprotected anchorage in the Iles de Lerins, for the French Rivera. As it would happen just as we crossed from the Cote d’ Azur, into the Rivera we completed another milestone. Berkley East had sailed over 20,000 nautical miles. In less […]
Monaco We have never been real Formula One Race fans, but when we realized that we were close enough to attend one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world, the Monaco Grand Prix, we decided that we just had to go. We called the Monaco port and were told that it […]
Saint Tropez, France Everything we had heard about St Tropez had to do with huge yachts, glamorous people, hip beach clubs, money, money, and more money. So we were surprised when we pulled into the marina and were directed to a tiny dock full of charter boats, each with ten or more passengers. We had […]
iles d’ Hyeres, France Leaving Marseille we headed north east along the coast to spend some time at anchor, just relaxing (recovering from our land vacation in Provence). We cruised along the Les Calanques, a stretch of the coast between Marseille and Cassis with a number of steep fjord-like inlets. Our first stop, Port Miou, […]
