That's it, we did it! We crossed the Mediterranean towards Tunisia.
The starting point was made of Port-Leucate saturday, November 16, 2019. The weather window announced a sporty, windy navigation, but without endangering the size of our sailboat, a Sun Odyssey 39 .
Sea rough in the Gulf of Lions
From the start, the sea was rough, but we made good progress towards Toulon. Maël fell asleep early and Louna experienced her first night sailing, some of it on deck. Fascinated by the lights of other ships and the coast, she discovered the unique atmosphere of the sea in the moonlight. Rached and Jean-Luc followed each other during the night to do the day before, and I Ariane, in position with my little chicks. The boat was moving a lot, I had to stay with them to reassure them and help them to go back to sleep.
Stopover in La Ciotat
We're moving fast, 7 to 8 knots on average, the boat is very efficient downwind. But finally, the next day around noon, we choose to stop at La Ciotat instead of Toulon. This port offers us a good shelter against the north-westerly wind. We stay there for a little over 24 hours, for a stroll, a visit to the fishmonger's house and a very nice visit from the family. On Tuesday morning, when the weather reports that the gale has passed, we head south towards the north of Sardinia.
Heading for Sardinia
It was for us a great navigation with a light wind and a crossed swell from the open sea, which shook us all along. Few other boats in sight that day. What a joy to see the northern coasts of Sardinia appear on the horizon. His approach seems simple and welcoming. Finally, after 38 hours of sailing, we rest for the night in Palau, a very warm little port.
Once we have filled up with fuel, we leave the next morning to drive along the entire east coast of Sardinia. What a splendor! We would have liked to take some time to go down to visit this green and mountainous island, which charmed us with its serrated drop. But time is running out, the south wind is holding us back. We want to take advantage of this weather window to get to safety on the Tunisian coast. We stop just 15 minutes after 24 hours of sailing, at the Villasimus port to refuel again. With this south wind (in the nose), we are forced to start the engine supported by the sails, to arrive as quickly as possible on the Tunisian coast, because the wind is getting stronger every day, and we don't want to get stuck.
The appeal of stopovers
We hesitated to stay on this southern coast of Sardinia until Tuesday, just to let the bad weather pass. This place was really beautiful, and the Italians were very friendly. But our co-skipper Jean-Luc couldn't stay too long. To avoid holding it back, we finally came down so dry to cross the Galite Canal. The swell and south wind made this crossing a long and arduous journey. We are barely making headway at 3 knots, our ears tired from the noises of the wind, waves and engine.
Tunisia in sight
What a relief when we arrived north of Bizerte. We hesitated, once again, to stop there, but the desire to get closer to our friends gave us the courage to continue to Gammarth. The descent is a beautiful discovery, with the passage of Pilau Island, planted in turquoise water despite a rainy sky: a surprising paradox for us who expected a sunny welcome!
We finished crossing Gammarth Bay at night, after 3 days non-stop at sea.
What a joy to finally find yourself sheltered from the wind and waves. What a joy to be in a quiet, dry place! Especially since the weather forecasts indicate that the wind will increase in the following days.
The friends were there to welcome us, a tremendous boost for morale after such an intense and demanding week for all of us. What a pride to tie the moorings in this marina, more than 600 miles from our starting point.
We will not finally go down to Monastir, the port initially planned to refit the boat. We will go to the port of Sidi Bou Said to dry it up for the winter and start the renovations planned before the big departure next spring.
