30th August 2012

Location: Ameglia

Destination: Portofino

Travel Distance: Approx 42 nm(one way)

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The weather was not so hot or bright today as we made our way out of the river Magra. No swell, and light winds made for a fairly easy trip ahead of us. Our usual fuel pontoon had run out of petrol, so we nosed into Lerici to fill up and to get some provisions from the bread shop. We filled to the top – cost 240euro and then headed out onto the open water via between the isle of Palmeira and Portovenere.

Cloud cover increased as we made our way down the Cinque Terre region and it became noticeably choppier as we progressed past Montesorro al Mare.

I used the Navionics app on the iPad to see how accurate it was and it as perfect for what we needed- the GPS worked perfectly giving us our speed, as well as indicating our course to steer and also the course that we were actually steering.

Eventually, after 1hr 20mins we arrived at Portofino. Heavy cloud and a few drops of rain had started to fall but this did not take away the beauty of this little town hidden away. We moved around the harbour looking for a mooring, and eventually a water taxi driver called us over and helped to moor outside a busy restaurant – we actually moored for free – which was pretty amazing considering that we had arrived in one of the most exclusive resorts in Italy! We walked around for a while and then stopped for a drink and to people watch. Very pretty, and it reminded me of Venice at some points. There were lots of designer shops and lots of people looking as if they had stepped off one of the large yachts that sit in the Golf of Portofino – you could certainly tell the tourists from the wealthy.

It was once we were opposite Mojo that we noticed she was listing to her Starboard side – we checked for water sitting in the engine compartment, checked that there was nothing caught under the rubbing strip…. We had noticed during the trip that she seemed heavy and that it was harder for her to get onto the plane. The more we walked around Portofino, the more concerned we came about her. We decided to head across to Santa Margherita Ligure – she seemed a litte better about getting onot the plane but the listing to starboard was still a worry. We decided to head back. The journey back was quite choppy with a storm chasing behind us. We abandonned our original idea of stopping for a late lunch at one of the Cinque Terre harbours and continued to make our way to Portovenere. On the way back, the skipper complained that his knees were shot, and that crew, snacktician and inboard cleaner would have to take over. Pretty soon we were hitting speeds of 28 knots even though we were heading through choppy seas – and then Portovenere – she has become our Italian equivalent of West Pole, our safety point when we are motoring in the Solent.

We stopped for food and recovery and then headed back to the Bocca Di Magra with the storm clouds still chasing us.

On our return to the Marina, we checked Mojo’s listing problem and as yet have not managed to come up with any answers. One theory is that when the tyre blew on the trailer that we somehow cracked the hull – this theory does not really hold up because the tyre blew on the Port side.

As it was our Wedding Anniversary, we decided to have dinner in Sarzanna which turns out to be quite a large town, with a walled city inside. We ate alfresco and then bought Gelato before heading back to the van. Wind is increasing all the time – unsure of whether we will get out tomorrow.

Our first trip to Portofino – we were very proud to have made it to this iconic town

We moored for free – full of tourists and wealthy boat owners