Mike's notes

This is a collection of emails sent and received by Mike C. during the trip.

Hi.....

Am here on the boat, getting settled in.  Met them according to plan, and 
we are now in Parga on the mainland for a day.  It sure is warm!

Hope all is well with you and the cat and stuff there.

Michael

Here are some travel tips...

Be prepared to be HOT....major record-breaking heat wave here.  84 degrees in
Athens at 7AM!  Temperatures around 110 in Greece, Turkey etc.

  SFO
    - Alitalia checkin counter is in the SOUTH part of the SOUTH terminal
      (a short line; there was a long line at British Air)
    - Once checked in, departure GATE is in CENTRAL terminal
    - Our seats are NOT preassigned
    - Scheduled departure (for me) was 3:50, not 3:35, so be sure to check it.
    - The plane was not full, so grab a better/larger seat as soon as they
      close the door.
    - Those black eye masks worked well for me...I even got some sleep

  ATHENS
    - When you get your baggage, walk through "Nothing to Declare".  Outside,
      turn right...taxi area is a little way down the street on the other side.
      Baggage carts are free.
    - Taxi fare to the hotel is about 8,400 DR
    * At hotel, ask for a QUIET room....mine was facing the main street (Filelinon)
      which was busy and noisy all night
    - Breakfast buffet is OK and is included in the price.

  Touring Athens
    - The Parthenon closes at 6PM, so you may have to wait for your return flight 
      to visit it.
    - Walking through the "PLAKA" older touristy part of town is fun in the
      evening, perhaps after 7PM.  
    - I had a great dinner in a small non-touristy taverna called Xynos, hidden
      behind Mikes Irish Bar at 4 Geronda Street, just off of Kidathenion 
      street (there is a square there filled with touristy open-air restaurants.
      Go the other way on Geronda and go into the little alley to the left of
      Mike's. I had moussaka and lamb fricassee (read about this in the paper.)
      Outstanding and pleasant, with live music (BUT they don't take plastic,
      and dinner might be about 8,000 DR

11 JUL 2000

Got your email here at Sivota (on Lefkada Island).  Thanks!

We sailed here yesterday, about 70 miles in strong 22K winds.

  "Bright-eyed Athena sent them a stiff following wind
   rippling out of the west, ruffling over the wine-dark sea...
   the wind hit full and the canvas bellied out 
   and a dark blue wave, foaming up at the bow,
   sang out loud and strong as the ship made way."

(Sailing comments from The Odyssey regarding this area, near
Odysseus' home island of Ithaca.)

The wind kept things cooler, but we expect it to be hot again
today.  The forecast is: Over 40 degrees (C.)

Hello to you from all of us.  We're having a good time and all
is working well.  We have yet to find a laundromat, however.  

Wednesday 12 JUL

Hi again.....with another short note.

Here we are at the town of Nidri on the Ionian island of Lefkada,
after a morning swim and a pleasant downwind sail with just the
jib.  We liked Sivota so much, we stayed there the last two days.
The weather is warm but the light breeze makes it just about right
(though we have hidden Cindy's thermometer).

The crew was really excited to find a laundromat in this town....
washing and laundry seem to be perhaps a foreign idea.

15 JUL

Much appreciated the Happy Birthday greeting...we'll celebrate appropriately
when we get to Galaxidi (which is supposed to have nice shops and
restaurants there).

We're at Fiskardo, a really pretty town which we are enjoying.  Weather
is cloudy (whatever that means).

18 JUL

This is Tuesday (noon), and we are (mostly) motoring eastward from the
Ionian islands to an area relatively near to Galaxidi.

Perfect weather now.  Got the jennaker sail up for a bit
yesterday, then took it down just in time before the wind
rose to about 28 knots.

(From Marylyn to her sister)

Greetings from Aigina!

We left Corinth yesterday, July 26, and went through the Corinth canal
which is a long narrow high canal that was cut through the isthmus, sort of
like the Panama canal only no locks.  (How was that for a superlong sentence?)

We had a great sail to Aigina and even had another boat to race against.
We anchored out at Aigina Town.  It was super hot, and getting hotter!!!
Mike and I jumped ship and found a cab to take us across the island to
our hotel.  Our cab driver knew about 3 words of English and we showed
her the beautiful web page copy of our luxurious hotel overlooking the
water.  We drove and drove and she stopped to ask directions.
The road got smaller and narrower, and became gravel, then dirt and
rutted dirt, and finally turned into a side path where the sign used to be,
but had been torn off.  The wrought iron gates were closed, and we knew
now why we couldn't get hold of them when Mike tried to call.

What should we do now?  Since the boat was on the other side of the island
we decided to go back where we had come from.  We were tired and hungry so
the taxi lady took us to a hotel with air conditioning and a swimming pool, 
and we were grateful.

The air conditioning felt pretty good, especially if you sat directly
across the room from it, but when we woke up this morning I heard water
dripping and it was dripping all over Mike's clothes.  So, we got up early
and took the ferry into Athens to the American Embassy to get me a new
passport.  It's tough when you don't have any i.d.  Fortunately, Mike
had made good color copies so we filled out more forms, got new photos,
and paid money and voila, new passport (after the computer was repaired,
of course).  In the afternoon we went to the archeological museum and
I was more impressed than I ever expected.

...

Today is Friday and we are back on the boat to run the generator so the
food in the freezer stays froze.  This AM we had a cab take us to the other side of 
the island again to the temple of Aphaea.  There were like three different
temples.  The first was built around 1300BC.  The engineering of these
temples is amazing.

Gaymond, Cindy and Mike McG (the other crew member) stayed in Athens so they
could see the Acropolis this AM, and so Cindy could take a real bath and
luxuriate in air conditioning at the Athens Hilton.  We met them there for
lunch yesterday before we went to the museum.  It was totally an accident.
We though they were staying at the Marriot.  We found them at the bar
waiting for the restaurant to open.  The buffet was wonderful!!!  The menus
all look alike in most of the tavernas we've been to and it was great to
have 1. good food and 2. a variety.  We have Greek salad about once a day
and sometimes 2x/day.

We are having another hot spell and are glad to sleep in air conditioning.  
It brings back memories of Taft nights.

I've had about enough of this keyboard.

Saturday 29 JUL

An update from Greece.....

Today we went in a circle.  Starting at our anchorage in Aigina (an island near
Athens), we decided to take the boat to Athens because the generator (the
source of most of our refrigeration and water) would not run.  Sailed a little
while and then the wind dies, so we started the main motor, and it too would not
run, so we sailed back to our starting point and anchored in 20 knots of wind,
without using the motor  (good practice).  And, after a little attention to the
fuel filter, both the generator and the motor are now running fine - fortunately
nothing was broken.  Then the anchor slipped just a little, so we re-anchored
about five times, finally avoiding the weeds and getting a good hold.  We're
all pretty tired from all this activity, needless to say.

We've seen many very impressive sights.....Clytemnestra's tomb, the Mycenae room
at the Athens museum, going through the Corinth canal, the ruins at Corinth, and
the amphitheater at Epidaurus.  The Hilton hotel in Athens is pretty neat too
(lunch there).

Good sailing days, intermixed with hot, windless days.

Friday, 4 AUG

N  37 23.1
E  24 56.0

Hello from Varis bay, a small bay on the south side of Siros Island.
We sail to Mykonos tomorrow, into the VERY touristy area.  So far, we
have missed the areas for foreign tourists.  We are in the windy area
of Greece, so 20-25 knots (gusting to 30) is typical at this time.
But we have a good boat and crew, so we can easily handle the boat
in these winds.  The weather is no longer really hot, just a nice
moderate temperature.

Marylyn and I will be getting off the boat in Mykonos tomorrow, to
tour Turkey by land for a week or so, so if you need to contact us,
please use the hotel itinerary we sent earlier.  After Turkey,
Marylyn will be coming home and I will rejoin the boat for further
travels.

We're having a fine time, with good sailing and with especially good
food.  After several days of Greek food, we really appreciate having
a regular American breakfast on the boat.

(Email to our friends)

Hi Bucky and Bob...

Marylyn and I were in Turkey last week and were repeatedly approached/
accosted in the bazaars by high-pressure salesmen who wanted to
sell us whatever they had, mostly carpets, but including tours,
jewelry, trinkets, etc. etc.  To get you calibrated, these guys are
like car salesmen...slacks, nice shirts, often ties, well-groomed,
very verbal, etc.

Frankly, we both got VERY tired of their opening line: "Where are you
from?", which is just the beginning of a long "hook" conversation.

We tried to think of a good, quick answer, but the best we came up
with was: "We're from Canada".

Then we thought that you, being among the masters of verbal replies
would be able to help.  The reply must effectively cut the
conversation really short ('cause there are SO MANY of them)

----- 

Other than that, we've had a great time here.  Marylyn is in-transit
home at this time, and I will be on the boat another months or two,
helping to sail it back to France.

25 AUG

(You may not have seen this one due to email problems.)

We got to Keci Buku, the place with the red sand bar in the
middle of the water, which we saw on our drive back from Datca.
We all agreed that it was one of the nicest places we've been.

Email is working less well, so there may be delays, etc.

Josh arrived (a day late due to local ferry problems) and we
are all having a great time, and eating well, of course....
Josh and Gaymond teamed up to serve bananas flambe for 
dessert tonight, for example.

Weather is no longer as hot, but still warm with a high humidity.

Sunday, 27 AUG

Again from Turkey.  We are just leaving Marmaris after a one-night stay.  Perhaps
the crew's least favorite place....pushy vendors and poor and/or expensive food
that leaves your tummy rumbling.  Josh, Kim and Chris departed by ferry this
AM and Jeanne arrived, so now we are back to five people on the boat.  Kim and
Josh are very experienced sailors, and it has been a well-crewed boat and a fun 
group of people.   It turns out that Josh likes to cook, too, so we have 
continued to eat well, including out to a fancy dinner at a small marina two 
nights ago.  Nothing unusual to report, except that we let out ALL of the 
anchor line at one anchorage, and were VERY glad to have the end tied to a 
light rope that held it until we could take care of the problem....pretty 
exciting to see the end of the anchor chain go by!

We are now headed even further east, to one more great (but small) cruising spot
in Turkey and then will start the westward journey.  The weather is cooler and
fortunately not as humid as last week.

MON 28 AUG

Well, we got to a quiet little anchorage last night, but several of the boats
at anchor or arriving were having real problems with the strong gusty winds, so we
spent happy hour, dinner and later (until 9PM) watching boats "anchor" around us...
had to fend off boats a couple of times.  Zanier than Angel island!  Quiet 
in the morning, as all boats have left.....wonder what they know that we do not.

....

Notes from small cruising spot....
   First anchorage -  small, beautiful cove, but filled with amateur sailors
                      attempting to anchor, which kept us bemused, amused and
                      busy fending off other boats until past 9PM.
   Second anchorage - Still as beautiful, but more open and none of the anchoring
                      practice.  Appreciated the vendor boats selling bread, 
                      pancakes, cake & strudel, ice cream, and picking up garbage.
                      One of the vendor boats was selling the London Times!

This is as far east as we will get....will start moving westward tomorrow.

Wednesday 30 AUG 2000

Just before noon today we reached East longitude 28 degrees 55.427 seconds,
our furthest point east (Skopia Limani (bay) in Turkey), and have turned 
and are heading west!

It was such a thrill that the knotmeter stopped working.

We enjoyed the Skopia Limani area....pretty anchorages, hiking trails
in the pine forests, and vendor boats who would bring all sorts of things,
including crepes for our breakfast this morning.

Well, we're back on our way to Marmaris (to meet the Swan rep to discuss the
new boat).  Hopefully we can find a good restaurant that won't upset us.
Last night we went to Ecincik and had dinner again at the really nice
restaurant there, and this time we did not run out of anchor chain in this 
marina.

Got your emails....it's probably easier if you just "reply" to the ones from
Celerity and send any new ones to "mikec@mgb67.com" (I think I've finally
figured out this email stuff.)

We still don't know yet whether we are going to France or back to Mallorca,
but should find out next week.

To: "Mike Chambreau" 
Subject: Holding down the fort
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 09:00:15 -0700 
-------------------------------------
Hi there, 

I received 2 e mails from you.  That is great. 

...

I have received both packages and have had fun looking them over and 
remembering our trip.  I love my necklace. 
Good to hear from you and HI to everyone. 

Marylyn

Just got your email..thought I had replied, however, the Turkish connections
are confusing at best.

We're still in Marmaris, and I'm ready to move along.

FRI 9 SEP  Noon   N 36 52.8   E 24 57.0

We continue our journey westward, having just left Santorini, the
southernmost point on our trip.

We've chosen to go back through the Corinth canal rather than around
the south end of Greece, as it hopefully gives us a better angle on the
winds and seas when we cross from Greece to Italy.  About 1050 miles
to go to our destination, which we think is still in France, though we might
have to take the boat back to Mallorca for sales tax reasons and will
know about that next week.  We plan to get to our destination the
first week of October.

Weather is cooler...time for sweaters, though not quite Levis and socks.

In Thira (known as Santorini), we anchored inside
this volcano.  Pretty dramatic geologically...pretty whitewashed buildings
on the side of the crater rime (some with swimming pools!).  Pretty touristy
in other respects, though the Greek salespeople are not nearly as pushy as
their Turkish equivalents.

SAT 10 SEP  10PM   N 36 52.8   E 24 57.0  Loutrakia (near Corinth)

Made it through the Corinth canal, after having to follow a VERY slow freighter.
On the west side of the canal, the winds were from the north, so we could not
go to Corinth town; Cindy was really disappointed as she really wanted more of
the great gyros at the fast food place there.  So we ended up in Loutrakia,
anchoring in 25 knot winds, but it has now calmed down to 8 knots, so off to bed.

Tomorrow to Galaxidi and then hopefully from there all the way to Italy, as we
gotta do some long multi-day journeys so we can get to Mallorca in the next
few weeks.

Regarding email...

  - Other people have also had difficulty getting Cindy's messages for various
    reasons (for "Celerity V" she forgot to attach the memo), so I'm pretty
    sure there is nothing you need to do differently at your end.  Hopefully
    you should have gotten "V" by now.  It's more fun to get these as she
    writes them, but we've got them on the computer and can get them later
    if needed.  Let me know if you don't get "V".

  - The email for some reason seems to be slow or something, but I don't
    understand why.  Probably best to send stuff to me at BOTH
    mikec@mgb67.com and to Celerity.

No, I didn't see either of the two ancient sites on Santorini....Gaymond &
others we to see them while I "boat-sat" (my choice) for the morning because
we were right next to other yachts and ferry boats (like Angel Island only
trickier).  They reported that the one site they visited was only about a
20-minute tour, much of what is in the books anyway, so I opted to go to
another town there to see the wonderful views....the volcano and its cliffs
are very impressive.  Would be fun to go back there again with you along.

THU 14 SEP - Southern Italy

Whew!  We sailed (and motored) from Galaxidi to
Vibo Valencia in southern Italy, a distance of 400 miles, taking us
three days and two nights.  The first night was rough, with winds
continuing to build to 23 knots at 4 AM, so none of us got much
sleep while we were changing the sail trim.  The second day was
fine, though a little bumpy, and the next night was calm,
and we motored along under the light of the full moon.  Wish you 
had been there.

Arrived in Italy to find very friendly staff at the marina, so we
had their traditional round of drinks when we arrived.  Pizza for
dinner at the local establishment...a welcome change from the
fine stews, soups and sandwiches we had during the last 400 miles.

We're now motoring up the Italian coast, staying about 1/2 mile offshore
so we can see the wonderful scenery.  No wind at all, just warm sunshine.

So I've done 1400 miles on this trip so far, with 700 more to go.
All is going very well...good teamwork and continuing fun.

(We're now back in email contact for the rest of the trip.)
Cindy wants to know if you ever got her writeup "Celerity V".

16 SEP

Hello from Agripoli

Regarding Cindy's notes:  We think it might be the following.....
on your email program (Outlook), there will be a little icon at
the bottom (you may have to scroll down to see it).  It will be
labelled "081700.doc" or something like that.  DOUBLE-click on the
icon.  This will start Microsoft Word 2000 and show the document.
See if that works.

We are getting a great tour of the southwest coast of Italy, as we motor
northward only 1/2 mile offshore.  It is really pretty scenery.
Hopefully we will see Amalfi and Capri on our way north.  And we
plan to stop in Bonifacio (Corsica).

Let's go see the rest of Italy!

I sent home another envelope with receipts and miscellaneous stuff.

We are backtracking through the Italy ports that Celerity went to, so
I'm getting a grand tour of this area, as Gaymond and the crew know 
all about these places (and it gets us further north for our
eventual run to Mallorca).  We may even get to see Bonifacio in
Corsica this time.

18 SEP

Hi, from Capri...

We are having a wonderful time and a Grand Tour up the Italian coast.
We are retracing the trip the boat took earlier this summer, so this
is all new to me but the others of the boat have been to many (but
not all) of the places.

Stopped for a nice lunch at Marina di Scario, and then a late arrival 
to the non-tourist town of Agripoli.  Had a late pizza dinner in the old
town at the top of the hill.

Then on to the Amalfi coast, with its rugged and spectacular scenery,
interspersed on the eastern part with lovely small towns like Amalfi,
where we stopped.  Another very good pizza/etc. dinner in a restaurant
frequented by locals.  Had to try the bay leaf liqueur...ugh!
The church there has a reliquary of St. Andrew, one
of the apostles, I think, and the church is an interesting mixture of
all sorts of architectural styles, including Moorish.

Cindy and Gaymond went to church the next day (Sunday), then we left to
tour the rest of the coast and on to the island of Capri.

Got a great spot in the harbor, as a boat had just left.  Gaymond did a
great job of backing in, though afterward he admitted that it was a 
little scary.  As crew/team, we are getting pretty good at the anchoring/
docking stuff, though there is always more to learn and each situation
is different.

Capri is quite touristy, though we've seen mostly average tourists and
few of the glamour tourists, though there is one four-masted mega-yacht.
Unfortunately they have a flea market right at the dock area, so it
seems more like SFO Fisherman's Wharf than a glitzy resort.

Took the funicular to town, though I've forgotten the words to the song.
Fantastic dinner at "Da Paolino" restaurant in lemon "grove"...fine main
course and buffet style antipasto/hoursd'ouvres AND dessert.

Staying here for the day...our first non-sailing day for quite a while,
so we are recovering.  And shopping, to our various and widely-divergent
budgets.

So, no more mainland left for this trip....only islands (Ischia, Ponzi,
Sardinia, Corsica, Menorca and then finally to Mallorca).

All is well here.... we are starting to count the days left as we get 
closer to the end of sailing.

21 SEP

We've made it to the Ponza Islands in Italy, somewhat northwest
of Naples, and we'll be here for another day or two until the
"mistral" wind stops.  The forecast for the next few days is
force 7 (29-34K) winds from the direction we are going, so best
to stay put.  Feels odd though, as the weather here is sunny 
and warm, though breezy (19 knots as I write this)...

We're learning to read Italian weather forecasts and to listen
to them on the radio.

Though crowded with tourists, we enjoyed Capri, especially the
very good restaurants.  The tourist season is definitely over,
and here at Ponza, there is only a handful of tourists

So, we will have a quiet day in a quiet town.

(Hope you are getting these notes...email continues to be not quite
believeably reliable.)

22 SEP

As usual, as soon as I send an email out, I get a couple back, so
the email seems to be working.

I'm resending Cindy's "Greetings from Celerity V" to you.  See if you
can read her attachment this time (double-click on the icon).

We're doing fine on the boat.  Cindy is definitely ready for American food.
Our anchoring/mooring is doing quite well, though each time is different,
kinda like a hand of bridge....was surprised yesterday when our anchor 
brought up a bunch of old lines and fish traps.

More later....hopefully from Sardinia or Corsica in a few days.

SUN 24 SEP

After staying one day at the island of Ponza due to high winds
(the infamous "mistral"), we decided to go ahead and sail to
Sardinia, an overnight journey.  A nice trip, except that the
autopilot broke down just before my midnight shift started, so
we got to steer by hand from there on into the marina at Sardinia.

The marina at Porto Rotundo was very nice....an upscale development
of a marina, shops and condominiums.  The tourists had all left,
and the place was very quiet.  

After a few hours of troubleshooting, we found that the needed
replacement part was a special-order item from England which
would take 3-4 days to get there.  So, in spite of the excellent
warm and sunny weather, we decided to continue on, even though
it meant hand-steering the remaining 350 miles to Mallorca.

In fact, the good weather is an incentive to head west as quickly
as possible, before we get a part of the storms starting to
move across mid/northern Europe.

So we motor/sailed through the islands of northern Sardinia this 
morning....really a pretty place, with VERY posh resorts.
Decided to not stop at Bonifacio (Corsica) as planned, but
to keep heading west (and moving south again), with one last
stop in northwest Sardinia tonight before the 200-mile crossing
to Menorca and the 80-mile final leg.  A fine wind from the
east (surprise) this afternoon, moving us along at 8-9 knots.

Sep 26

We got to Mahon (Menorca) in fine shape, after hand-steering 200
miles overnight.  We're anchored right where we anchored before, 
next to the hospital island where you walked.  Mahon is now
pretty prosperous, with several new developments.  The quaint
square with the produce shops is now an upscale mall, with a 
few of the produce shops still there, but now pretty classy.
Had dinner  at a local tapas bar....pretty good, especially the
liver in a sauce.

Problem (!?):  Tried to get Spanish money from many ATM's here,
and most of them rejected my card.  When I finally got through,
it would only let me get $25 dollars worth, stating that my account
was overcharged !?!?.

Please confirm the balance in our joint Wells-Fargo checking
account and make sure that it has money in it.  If not, please
transfer money to it in the next day ASAP.

Right now I'm borrowing from the other crew, so I need to get
this fixed right away.  (Need a haircut too.)

From Marylyn

I guess Money is always an interesting subject, and yes, there is plenty of
money in your checking acct.  Sorry I missed your call.  I must have been outside.

So glad to hear you are accross the sea.  Guess it won't be long before your
adventure on Celerity is at an end.  Are you ready or will it be a sad 
occasion?  It definitely will always be a special time for all of us, but 
more so for those of you on the return trip.

I want to thank you again for the beautiful necklace from 
Greece.  I am really enjoying it. It is so special!!!

I am remembering our tour of Corinth looking for atm machines that would take
your card.  As I remember there aren't that many to be found in Menorca.
Good luck, and let me know what your plans are.

Hello to everyone.

SEP 27

Today is a better day....got money at the first ATM I tried, got a
haircut (finally), did washing, and other stuff like that.

Thanks for checking on the money.

We are pretty busy figuring out the detailed schedule for the next
week or two.  Need to get to Mallorca (perhaps via the bay at
Formentera) and to get the boat ready for a trial sail by a 
potential buyer who is flying our to sail the boat on the 3rd.

I'll certainly be sad to say goodbye to Celerity, after having 
sailed a large part of the 8000 miles or so this boat has gone.
It is a fun boat to sail.  We're still learning about anchoring,
wither "forecasting" as stuff like that.  Cindy recently put
up a postit in the galley saying that dishes are not to be left
on the counter or in the sink, so we now have a clean galley at
all times!

SEP 30

Just arrived at Palma / Mallorca!  Our "tour" is at
an end (though we may sail once more briefly in a
day or two to demonstrate it to the potential buyer.)

-----

We had an extra day and Gaymond did not want to return
to Palma early, so we went to Formentor, the resort at
the northeast tip of Mallorca, the beach we went to on
our honeymoon so long ago.

I didn't recognize much of it as we stayed on the boat,
but it sure brought back memories of our trip.  (Like the
hotel in Palma that was being torn down.)

We had a nice dinner in the sunset.  Awakened at 4:30
with thunder and lightning and 31-knot winds and rain
and a neighboring German boat a few feet away grinding
on our anchor chain and lifting our anchor off the
bottom.  So we had to re-anchor in the storm...Gaymond
used the radar to position the boat correctly (!).
And of course as soon as we got done, the storm quit completely.

Anyway, I did get back to Formentor, though not able to
get a picture of me sitting on the beach (as Cindy suggested).

-----

Still not sure of my return plans.  Gaymond has just about closed
a deal to sell the boat, so there will be activity during the first week in
October to help with cleanup and demonstrations;  maybe see the Pavis in
Geneva briefly after that, to Paris for a bit and get back to the USA in
mid-October.

Definitely do not want to be stuck in Europe while their transportation
system grinds to a halt due to lack of oil/gas.  

Email and phone calls will get even more problematic for me starting in a
day or two, as we dismantle/pack boat systems.  I'll try to continue to
communicate that way but will apologize now if no more missives come your
way for a few weeks.  I'll confirm my plans with you once they settle down.

OCT 5

Well, I made it to Nice, France today.  

Tried sending you some stuff from Celerity, but that last few days were
zany and busy, getting the boat ready to sell to a couple from
Sausalito.  So the boat is sold, we had a final dinner and are on
our various ways home.

I'll be staying with the Pavis this weekend in Geneva and then head
to Paris with perhaps a stop in Grenoble to visit HP folk...we'll see.

To get to southern France, I had to fly through Barcelona, which
brought back nice memories of the time we visited there. 

OCT 6

(From Nice, France)

(I'll try this again, as this AM, the network in Nice crashed as I
was about to send the reply.)

Today in Nice is the first day since I got back on the boat in Turkey
that is 'mine', without having to coordinate boat activities and with
boat people.  Went to the Matisse museum here in Nice and will do more
walking around this evening, hopefully including a good dinner with
'salad nicoise', of course.  

Tomorrow I take the train to Geneva to stay with the Pavis for a day or two.

Celerity is sold, and we turned it over to the new owners (from Sausalito) 
at the 'trial sail' two days ago.  After our cleanup, the
surveyor said 'dont waste money on a survey because this boat is
in like-new condition', which made us feel good.  Had a final
dinner with Cindy and Gaymond and Mike McGrath and we are now all
heading home, via various ways.  

Quite a journey!