Europe (from France to Croatia)

For this part of the journey, I rallied Croatia from La Rochelle (France). Herefor I passed the following countries: (Atlantic) Spain, Portugal, (Mediterranean) Spain, Baleares, (Mediterranean) France, Corsica, Italy and finally Croatia. I sailed over 3200nm (about 5900km). Most of the time I just passed through the regions without staying long.

Before leaving La Rochelle, I made a quick visit to Rochefort. There I wanted to see how the work on the Hermione evolved, as this was my third visit. The Hermione is a project of reconstruction a ship like it was done in the 18th century. The construction started in 1997 and takes place in a dry dock near the Corderie Royale in Rochefort. The Corderie is the place where, in older times, ropes for ships were made. The building is around 300m long !

Corderie Royale

The dry dock and the protecting tent of the Hermione	Inside the tent: the Hermione

A look inside the ship	One of the workshops (blacksmith)	Some information about the Hermione (in french)

Crossing of the Gulf of Biscay

The last time I crossed this Gulf, I had winds of up to 48kn (nearly 90km/h, 9-10Bft). Now I had to cross it 100% on engine as there was no wind... I made a few encounters, see by yourself:

		Ocean sunfish

Ocean sunfish

(Atlantic) Spain

I made 2 stops here. One was in a bay close to A Coruña and the second one was at the Ria de Muros, in front of the charming village of Muros.

Around A Coruña		Torre de Hercules, the eldest active lighthouse of the world

Muros

Portugal

Sines	Cabo Sao Vincente (not far from where my previous mast rests...)	Pineau enjoying the view of the Algarve

Gibraltar

I passed the Strait of Gibraltar early in the morning (about 5h in the morning), so I was lucky to see the sunrise on the rock... I was also pleasantly surprised to have a bit further a mother dolphin and her baby swimming in front of the boat !

Costa del Sol

Well, there is not much to say about this coast: in my opinion it is ruined by hotels and other tourists resorts...

Mallorca

I went to Mallorca to visit friends over there. The coast is rough and full of nice cliffs. There are some nice places (along the coast and inside the island). I also liked the old city of Palma de Mallorca. Some pictures...

Palma de Mallorca

France (& Corsica)

After Mallorca, I went in the neighbourhood of Toulon, where I took my boat out of the water and worked on it. There I met the owner of the Catana 50 "Timaios". Later I went to Corsica with them and we had a memorable passage of the Cap Corse (wind and waves from ahead - waves of 3m and +).

To Croatia

From Corsica I sailed to Croatia, passing the Street of Messina at the "tip of the boot" of Italy. I passed the island of Montcristo, known from the book of Alexandre Dumas, and the active Stromboli volcano (at night, as I passed it, you can see regular lava geysers). It was a relative dull journey...

Montecristo		A very "anxious" Pineau...