Sea Urchins are protected. Only a controlled quantity is allowed to be harvested.
Today was the day for sea urchins aficionados. I tried them, not today but some years ago, and found them tasty, but the wine served with them more interesting. Here are some pictures for today’s event in La Grande Motte.
So being in this beautiful anchorage is paradise. Well, not so much sometimes. On an anchorage you need water, right? No problem! We have a water maker, when it works. So we started the water maker and received a “blocked system” message. Ok, get out the manual and see what it means. So after the first start up of the season it needs to be primed? Fine, did that. Start again, but the same thing is happening after a few minutes, and again. So we found the water maker was leaking salt water and not having enough pressure. Tried the 2nd pump and this one seems to work. Not making the advertised 60 liters/hour but better than nothing. Took us 6 hours to resolve.
Next day we find that our bilge pump is not working, tried the hand pump to empty the bilge and it breaks alter a few pumps. Ok, fix it. Again 3 hours later working again on the electrical pump. Martin is able to fix the electric pump with pieces from a coke can, long story, but it works. Another 6 hours gone.
This morning we had to cut our breakfast short. A big thunderstorm was heading our way. We got lots of wind and rain and all our salon hatches began to leak. Have to place bowls everywhere.
We decide to leave the anchorage. The sand from the beach is washing from the beach and the anchorage water is silting such that we were concerned about the engine water cooling pumps. Heading to Port Sant Antoni. This was a good decision. One hour later all the boats from our old anchorage were following and the good spots were gone fast. It is still raining but not that heavy. This gives me a break and I have time to do a little update on the blog.
So that is paradise! There is always something to fix on a boat. I could go on and on about this, but it will get boring after time.
16 September 2020
Since long Tunisia was on our desired destination list. However, traveling 2020 under the Covid-19 threat is different. Elaborate planning and preparations come before you can leave Europe. We always harbour some fear that they might not allow us to return home. The last 24 hours before leaving the safety of a friendly port always comes with trepidations for us.
Motoring out between the islands after leaving Carloforte (Sardinia, Italy) calmness gently overcomes us. Throw in a light breeze, blue sky and sunshine and hours later we are truly relaxed.
Our major worry are the entry procedures in Tunisia. Complicated further because we want to continue to Sicily within hours. Upon arrival we reevaluate the quick turnaround scenario and risk to stay for some days. This could be troublesome if Corona cases balloon and related closures occur. Our primary worry is that Europe might close their border to Tunisia. Illegal migrants coming from Africa and Tunisia are a considerable risk and we are thinking about that too.
Our destination is Bizerte on the Northwest corner of Tunisia. Phoenician traders settled the town 1100BC. Bizerte is promising even so 2020 we reduced our cultural program to stay safe.
The distance from Sardinia is 140nm, a distance we often sail in 24 hours, ideal for coming to Tunisia. We don’t want to arrive at night or sail during the night through the coastal waters of Africa.
Preparations:
We have a pre departure checklist we always go through before leaving port. Checking and adjusting the tension of the rudder cables, we found another “hmmmm, not good”.
These pictures are about our Raymarine backup autopilot. They press the top bolt into the quadrant from above. The bolt transmits the action of the autopilot arm to the rudder. The thread of the nut is just 30% engaged. Only removing the quadrant will tell me how easy or difficult it is to repair.
Last minute preparations
No Kinder Chocolate for us. Fueled 160 liters this way 🙂
17. September 2020
Early morning the Admiral works the galley. While I supposedly clear up the deck but make photos 🙂
Underway we take sailing more and more easy these days. We frequently hoist the Genaker alone for downwind sailing. With the right wind strength and direction, it’s efficient and good enough for us. We don’t have to worry about accidental gybes damaging the rig. We can sail deeper (180°) and directly to our destination. Underway we experimented with going 5 to 10° to the wrong side of the wind direction for the genaker. The Genaker took it gently without folding. That makes straight downwind sailing relaxed and fun. Net we loose maybe 0.5knots but who cares.
Sailing offshore feels like sailing away from the corona stress. And it’s not a deception. Within 100 miles there is no case when we are underway.
Pitch black night sailing. No moon. Looking up, seeing some stars and the mast top lights. Red is the preferred night light color onboard. It does not disturb your night vision.
18. September 2020
During sunrise the next morning we add the mainsail. The wind changed favorably the direction and increased to 15kts. The added sail speeds us up and we arrive at noontime in Bizerte.
5nm north of the port of Bizerte we get hailed via VHF radio by the Tunisian coast guard inquiring about crew size and destination. That was all formality up to that point. We use the northern entrance to the port, which is a shorter distance to the marina. Well, I forgot to change our chart-plotter to show high definition depth lines 🙁
In the port entrance, deep water mysteriously disappears. 5m, 3m, 1.1m under the keel within seconds. At 3m I idled the engines and at 1.1m REVERSE!!! We didn’t touch the sandy bottom. To the left is the picture of the standard nautical chart. To the right, you see the high definition depth lines.
This is the official nautical chart. We came in from the left going to the right, closer to the green light. We were somewhere between the 14 and 15m depth line 🙁
And while it says 4m, it’s not. Completely silted and shallow. The silting extends much further to the northeast towards the red marker. Looking down from the bow, we both think 10 or 20 meters further and we would have touched Tunisia with our keels first.
Immediately after arrival on the customs dock, they quarantine us. A Border control officer is unhappy about our courtesy (guest) flag. We took the bag which said ‘Tunisia’, but it had a ‘Turkish’ flag inside – not good. The border control gentleman didn’t like that. A marina employee brought us quickly a Tunisian flag. Thanks, Marina Bizerte!
The whole marina is super well organized. This includes customs and immigration. Within an hour we were Covid-19 tested. The lab reported the results 17:00h same day. Wow! The marina manager, Monsieur Mohamed Ali, picked up the Covid-19 test from the laboratory in downtown Bizerte for us the next morning- thank you.
We have seen nothing of Tunisia yet. But going by our positive experience with the arrival formalities, we are happy.
The lab technician lady is born Russian, living in Tunisia. Migration, the constant normal in this world.
PCR testing with a swab. The expectation is worse than the actual sampling.
For a marina next to an industrial port, the water is clean. These jellyfish are 30cm (1 foot) large in diameter. These are non poisonous, we are told. Didn’t try my luck and touch 🙂
During quarantine you sit in the cockpit of your boat and just watch the world go by. If you look, you can see. You know what I mean.
We close our day by sitting in the cockpit enjoying the view as in the pictures above and have a traditional LUNARA style dinner.
Cheers!
