Back

We walked out the door to the apartment at a quarter to six, went into the car and drove to the airport.

The rental office was not yet open. As agreed, we threw the car key in the hatch on the wall. Then we went to the terminal with the bus, which at this time of the day only runs every quarter.

An hour later we flew with an almost completely full airplane from an autumn like Kastrup and when we walked out into the sun and heat in Bastia, it was only a quarter past ten.

There were lots of people in the small airport. Most were tourists on their way home. We easily found a taxi and after a 25 minutes drive, we entered the port office in Port Taverna.

The friendly lady who had driven us to the bus two months earlier smiled recognizable to us and happily said “ah you are back. Can I get you a cup of coffee? »

While she was in the kitchen and making the coffee, the younger man, who was in the office, asked if he could launch Heron now instead of one o’clock as we had requested.

We had hardly said yes before he walked out of the door , grabbed a large remote control, started the crane where Heron hung in two strong ropes and steered the big crane to launch point. We hurried after with the coffee in our hand. A few minutes later, Heron was back in the water.

We boarded.

Poured water on the cooling system, vented the shaftseal, turned on power, turned the ignition key and pressed the engine start button. The motor started after a few seconds and when we heard the cooling water splash against the water surface, we sailed over to the guest bridge a few hundred yards away.

When we had moored, we looked at the clock. It was twenty minutes to twelve.

Wov

Less than 6 hours after leaving the apartment, we were ready to continue our Mediterranean voyage

And as if the hassle-free journey, launching and preparation was not enough, we later managed to find a supermarket where we could provision.

The next morning, we woke up after almost 12 hours of deep sleep.

There was no wind, but the temperature difference between the land and the sea would create winds that would blow to land during the morning. Late in the afternoon it would take off completely and during the night blow from land.

We got ready for departure and when we got out of the harbor we headed for Solenzara, located just under 30 nautical mile south of Taverna.

It was the third time we sailed this stretch this year, but we were still just as impressed by the scenery with white sandy beaches and the mountain range with the high peaks in the background.

At first we thought they were big goldsmiths. Then we agreed that they were birds, and it was only when we realised that the birds were abnormally long time under the water that we found out that the black animals foiling on the water surface were flying fish. The shoal was about us for half an hour and then left us just as suddenly as it had arrived.

After five hours, we docked in Solenzara, was assigned a fine berth overlooking the mountains, moored and walked up to the harbor office.

Outside the office we met the Danish lady who said smiling

"Ah they you are. I had almost given up believing you would come back"