Italy Berkeley East and crew have said “arrivederci” to Italy more times than we can recall. Sometimes out of necessity, often in search of a different country, or new adventure. But throughout the past 11 years, BE continually returned to wonderful Italia. And this year was no exception. While the season was brief due to […]
Italy Back on mainland Italy; back in Gaeta, Berkeley East’s winter marina for two consecutive years. We never imagined a return to our beloved Italia, but COVID thought otherwise, which presented us with an opportunity to revisit some of our favorite places in Italy. And a visit from Chris and Donna gave us the chance […]
Sardinia, Italy We made the 150-mile crossing from Menorca to Sardinia in calm conditions, under the guidance of a full moon. Rather than barreling into darkness (as is often the case with moving at night) Berkeley East bobbed along steadily, the only sounds being the hum of BE’s engine, and the squawk from the VHF […]
Caprera, Italy We have been very disciplined about flying the drone over the last five years and have completed more than 250 flights without incident. While the drone is not overly complicated, there are a lot of moving parts that need to be in sync. To manage this, we have a preflight checklist, just like […]
Balearic Islands, Spain We were in a shop stocking Berkeley East’s wine bilge and asked the clerk for Laurel, a Spanish wine that we were familiar with. He looked perplexed. We repeated, “Law-rehl, from the Priorat, Clos i Terrasses”. At that, his face lit up and he said, ” Low-relle’, si’!”. We knew that many […]
Barcelona, Spain That’s how long it had been since we left Berkeley East in Marina Port Vell, Barcelona Spain, 594 days. By far the longest we had not seen our boat since we launched her almost 15 years ago. Needless to say, we were elated to hear that Spain would be welcoming COVID vaccinated Americans […]
Barcelona, Spain As we stared at the photo of Berkeley East being towed out of the berth she had occupied for the past 10 months, we whispered in unison, “this was a bad year to have the boat in Barcelona.” But when we made the decision, last summer, to return to Port Vell, no one […]
Charlotte, NC We awoke to a calendar item: “Lufthansa Flight 429 to Munich / Barcelona departs 6:30 pm.” Obviously, that flight was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, but the notice on our phones was a stark reminder of how quickly things have changed. Just a few weeks ago, we were managing all our house, […]
Barcelona, Spain As we sat on Berkeley East watching clouds of black smoke rise high over the city, the deafening roar of a police helicopter hovering directly above BE’s mast, we wondered what had happened to our beautiful Barcelona. Berkeley East spent her first Mediterranean winter, nine years ago, in Port Vell Marina, Barcelona. After […]
Mallorca, Spain The drone of the engine was exhausting. We had been motoring for 26 hours, through black lumpy seas, towards Menorca, Spain, the light of the moon frequently slipping behind dense clouds. The air was heavy, the decks were damp, Berkeley East smelled like a wet dog. At least the sun was beginning to […]
