A new adventure begins Mediterranean France, Corsica, and Sardinia May 16, 2019 
 Ready to launch
After a busy year,
it was finally time to launch the new AmzerZo. Behold,
the beauty!
Oh, and check out our new telescoping swim ladder with
custom modification to hang off the dinghy rollers.
Time for new sails.
Unfortunately, the re-commissioning did not go as
smoothly (literally). We hoped to squeeze another
few months out of the headsails, but they've
complete delaminated, the luff swelled, and
there's no way to clean the mildew inside the
delaminated layers.
 May 23, 2019
First stop
was to the famous calanques.
We motored in and out of them all, then
anchored in Anse de l'Arene, near Cassis.
We were lucky with the swell, as we were
told it can be rolly.
  Beautiful Anse de L'Arene Leaving
the Anse, we continued along the beautiful
coastline.
Next stop was the Porquerolles, where
we sat out a Mistral.
Prepping for a Mistral. The locals weren't shy.  After a rainy day in the Porquerolles. May 29, 2019 Douliou
Douliou Saint Tropez!
We
had a glorious sail into the
Gulf of St. Tropez.
 
We anchored just in front of town. Over the days, the locals surrounded us. Free entertainment.  June 3, 2019
After a few days we
tired of the wakes and
moved to Baie de
Canebiers. But the show
did not stop.
   June
8, 2019
We spent a lot of time in La Seyne-sur-Mere (across from Toulon) to go over our new sail needs with the sailmaker and arrange for repairs in the meantime. We also anchored in the bays nearby. We captured this shot of a passing ship. The pollution it left in its wake was disconcerting. 
The
next day we anchored off
Ile de la Tour Fondue
and once again captured
a beautiful sunset.
 We
also got to
watch the French
fire fighting
planes in
action. (Well,
at practice.)
 June 13, 2019 We
enjoyed the
Porquerolles
so much, we
decided to go
back while we
waited for our
staysail to be
repaired. This
time we
anchored in
Anse du bon
Renaud and
were rewarded
with a sublime
sunset.
  We
were also
lucky enough
to have a
front row seat
to a classic
yacht regatta.
 Da Admiral finally got around to whipping our new running rigging. Not bad for a first try.  June
19, 2019
We anchored next to the famed Presidential retreat of Fort Bregancon. We weren't lucky enough to catch the French President on a jet ski.  June 22, 2019 Having
figured things
out with the
sailmaker in
St. Mandier,
we peered up
at the Bruni
retreat on Cap
Negre, stopped
for lunch at
Cap Lardier,
then flew back
to St. Tropez.
The plan was
to visit the
French ports
further east
before heading
to Corsica.
 Unfortunately,
the
speedboaters
weren't very
courteous.
The
flew by,
barely a boat
length away,
as they rushed
back to town
for dinner
after a day at
the beach.
Annoying wakes Another
beautiful
sunset
calmed our
irritation.
 Another St. Tropez sunset June
28, 2019
Next
stop was in
Antibes.
Superyachts
crowded the
anchorage, and
we saw our old
"friend"
Eclipse, which
we had seen in
the Caribbean.
 
Near Cannes, Isle Saint Marguerite was no different. We decided it was time to get back to rugged isolation and head to Corsica. Da Admiral's parents would be arriving in two weeks. 
We decided to
leave from old
town Antibes
to get the
best possible
angle on the
wind.
July 6, 2020
We
set off for
Calvi, Corsica
at 5:10, on a
windless
morning. But
only a few
miles out, the
wind picked up
and we flew
all the way to
Corsica at 7
knots on a
beautiful beam
reach. We
arrived at
19:45 and
anchored just
in time for
sunset. It was
a 94 nm trip,
which would
never have
been a day
sail on our
previous,
38-foot boat.
We're loving
our new range.
Cruising at 6.8 knots in 12.4 knots of wind. Not too shabby. Imagine when we have our new sails?! 
Landfall on Corsica is always spectacular. During
the next few
days, we
explored the
anchorage and
AmzerZo
modeled for
us.
The
Scandola
Nature Reserve
is a
geographic
wonderland.
We motored
slowly along
the dramatic
coast to get a
look into
every nook and
cranny.
  The
anchorage at
Porto was one
of the most
spectacular
we'd visited
in the Med.
The photos
don't do it
justice. The
sun reflected
off the stone
face, which
made it appear
as if it was
dusted with
snow.
July
18,2019
Over
the next few
days, we hung
in the Ajaccio
area waiting
for Da
Admiral's
parents to
arrive. There
were some nice
anchorages
nearby, and
the town
itself grew on
us. Once they
arrived we
headed south
and were glad
to spend some
time in
beautiful
Bonifacio. On
our way to
mainland
France in
2017, winter
was closing
in, so we only
stopped for a
night.
Beautiful, ancient cliffs.  AmzerZo looked amazing from above. After Bonifacio, we toured the Lavezzi islands and the southeast side of Corsica for the first time. July 22, 2019 Then, we crossed the Strait of Bonifacio once again and checked out Sardinia, where we were constantly surrounded by super yachts. First we hit the Maddalena islands, then continued on to Porto Cervo, super yacht central. We watched their comings and goings and watched in dismay as we were the only yacht in the anchorage not invited to that evening's festivities aboard one of the behemoths. After all, AZ was shiny and beautiful after her recent refit! We were really flabbergasted when Da Admiral's parents had to go through private security to exit the public(?) beach. Next, we gawked in the usual anchorages -- Calla di Volpe, Olbia, Baia di San Reparato, and Porto Pollo. July 29, 2019 As soon as Da Admiral's parents left, we sat out some weather in the rolliest mooring field ever. We may have been better off on passage. After two days, with no time to waste (a client called), we beat back to mainland France to put the boat up for what we thought would be a few months. While tending to clients elsewhere in Europe, the whole world fell apart. Except for a couple brief visits, we ended up being "stuck" away from our beloved AZ for 19 months. Luckily, PSL is a very secure place and we didn't lose sleep worrying about AZ. Not that we had the time. We worked nonstop--7 days a week.
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