We have had fabulous weather since being in Portovenere and the Bay of Spezia. We stayed at Portovenere (at the entrance to the bay) for 2 nights while Ray Richards and Simon Vickers Willis were still with us and then anchored in another cove for a couple of nights before rerurning to Portovenere. The nights are so calm we could really anchor all of the time. At last the weather is very warm and sunny so we have been doing lots of swimming off the boat in crystal clear water at a perfect temperature.
Last night we had the most amazing experience. We had dinner on a 150 ft motor yacht (a ship) that was docked beside us in Portovenere. An Australian guy plus his partner chartered this boat for a week to take 8 of their friends for a holiday in the Med! They live in Ross St Toorak. He came to say hello to us because of our Australian flag and invited us to join them for dinner. He just called out to their head steward to set another two places for dinner on the top deck. Of course I put the lamb back in the fridge and turned off the potatoes. We had a lovely night being waited on, with the fine linen and china, crystal glasses and Christophle silverware. We do have a hangover though because they served a US red wine! They left the dock at 11.00pm to be taken to Calvi in Corsica and they are going to email us to tell us what it's like. They also printed out a full copy of the Sunday Age for us. They charter a boat like this each year and take along some friends. Oh how the other half live. Of course we are lucky to be doing what we are doing too.
We are going to go south to Elba next and then Corsica. We will stop at a marina on the way down the coast and may catch a train to Rome for a couple of days. That will certainly be a better place for a haircut.