Anyone in Antibes next week??

[pan]

Happiness.. we have the handover of our new (to us) SS manhattan 50 in Antibes on Monday next week & will be doing some familiarisation & shake down until Friday. If any of the Sof members are about would be pleased to meet up, hopefully some local knowledge to impart... good restaurants, chandlers, bars or other local hotspots? Of course welcome on board for a drink..

We have the berth in Port Vauban on P1 until the end of April, before we take her to the Balearics, so anticipating some great boating after all the recommendations on the forum

Pan..

 

[volvopaul]

Happiness.. we have the handover of our new (to us) SS manhattan 50 in Antibes on Monday next week & will be doing some familiarisation & shake down until Friday. If any of the Sof members are about would be pleased to meet up, hopefully some local knowledge to impart... good restaurants, chandlers, bars or other local hotspots? Of course welcome on board for a drink..

We have the berth in Port Vauban on P1 until the end of April, before we take her to the Balearics, so anticipating some great boating after all the recommendations on the forum

Pan..

I'm there week after with jtb and nick h

 

[DougH]

Happiness.. we have the handover of our new (to us) SS manhattan 50 in Antibes on Monday next week & will be doing some familiarisation & shake down until Friday. If any of the Sof members are about would be pleased to meet up, hopefully some local knowledge to impart... good restaurants, chandlers, bars or other local hotspots? Of course welcome on board for a drink..

We have the berth in Port Vauban on P1 until the end of April, before we take her to the Balearics, so anticipating some great boating after all the recommendations on the forum

Pan..

Hi Pan,

Where are you berthed in Mallorca?

 

[pan]

Puerto Portals.... I see you are also based Mallorca?

 

[Hurricane]

We will be over in the Balearics (Mallorca) for a month or so around May - June time

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Hi Pan

Yep, I should be in PV from Weds evening next week, although I won't be on my berth (on quai 2) because the boat is being lifted on Thurs. Be great to say hi. I'll pm you my number.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[pan]

We will be over in the Balearics (Mallorca) for a month or so around May - June time

WE are there for 5 weeks from 25th june, be good to meet up, pm me your contact no....

 

[DougH]

Puerto Portals.... I see you are also based Mallorca?

Cala d'Or, berthed just to the left of the Yacht Club.

Like Portals to visit now and again but find it to busy on the pontoons.

With all the crews working on the boats it's like living in a boat yard.

 

[EME]

I'm there next week and week after that and last week of March and .....

'fraid there arent any good restaurants in the SoF though; there are chandlers by the score; hotspots start becoming 'hot' around Easter/April; 'fraid weather for last few weeks has been miserable (but has to change soon!)

 

[pan]

Cala d'Or, berthed just to the left of the Yacht Club.

Like Portals to visit now and again but find it to busy on the pontoons.


With all the crews working on the boats it's like living in a boat yard.

Yes it's a lively port, fortunately our pontoon is non vehicle, so it's not a car park behind us! Because of all the great restaurants & bars there is always some life, even in the depths of winter, I find some marinas can be a bit depressing in winter I prefer some life, even if it's only boat engineers (who can be more interesting anyway!) But I agree it's a busy port & not for those that prefer some solitude! When you do go, get the best value breakfast in Mallorca at Flanagan's, it overlooks the 20-25m quays with some fantastic yachts, English breakfast with everything 10 euro's... and it's where the King of Spain dines when he's in town!!

Pan

 

[pan]

I'm there next week and week after that and last week of March and .....

'fraid there arent any good restaurants in the SoF though; there are chandlers by the score; hotspots start becoming 'hot' around Easter/April; 'fraid weather for last few weeks has been miserable (but has to change soon!)

Tongue in cheek surely?? Seems there are a few forum members down there the week after... hopefully the weather will improve the minute we touch down!

Pan

 

[DougH]

Yes it's a lively port, fortunately our pontoon is non vehicle, so it's not a car park behind us! Because of all the great restaurants & bars there is always some life, even in the depths of winter, I find some marinas can be a bit depressing in winter I prefer some life, even if it's only boat engineers (who can be more interesting anyway!) But I agree it's a busy port & not for those that prefer some solitude! When you do go, get the best value breakfast in Mallorca at Flanagan's, it overlooks the 20-25m quays with some fantastic yachts, English breakfast with everything 10 euro's... and it's where the King of Spain dines when he's in town!!

Pan

Agree that Portals is very good shore side, Flanagans in particular. Unfortunatly I am vegetarian so the breakfasts there do not appeal to me.

My son and his family use the boat during August and Portals is always visited regularly.

Being members of the retired generation we now prefer slow trips to Cabrerra, Soller etc stopping off at Portals/Adriano on the way for a few days.

Of course being on the East side means that Menorca is very easy for us to travel to.

As the boat is operated mainly by just my wife and myself we tend to be fair weather sailors nowadays.

One of the tales my wife likes to relate was when we were backing in to a visitor berth on the outside wall in Soller during a stiff breeze when constant boat control was needed.
She was standing on the aft cockpit, ropes in hand when the marinero looked at her and asked 'where are your sailors?'. She took great pride in pointing to herself and saying "ME' and then heaving the rope with great accuratsy right to the marinero, who took the rope and secured his end and then watch as she made the boat secure with practised ease.

Since then the marina staff always salute her and make her most welcome.

Little wonder her favourite marina is Soller.

 

[pan]

Agree that Portals is very good shore side, Flanagans in particular. Unfortunatly I am vegetarian so the breakfasts there do not appeal to me.

My son and his family use the boat during August and Portals is always visited regularly.

Being members of the retired generation we now prefer slow trips to Cabrerra, Soller etc stopping off at Portals/Adriano on the way for a few days.

Of course being on the East side means that Menorca is very easy for us to travel to.

As the boat is operated mainly by just my wife and myself we tend to be fair weather sailors nowadays.

One of the tales my wife likes to relate was when we were backing in to a visitor berth on the outside wall in Soller during a stiff breeze when constant boat control was needed.
She was standing on the aft cockpit, ropes in hand when the marinero looked at her and asked 'where are your sailors?'. She took great pride in pointing to herself and saying "ME' and then heaving the rope with great accuratsy right to the marinero, who took the rope and secured his end and then watch as she made the boat secure with practised ease.

Since then the marina staff always salute her and make her most welcome.

Little wonder her favourite marina is Soller.

Nice story... especially when it's silly season and marineros are hot & grumpy, as soon as you have squeezed into the berth you thought they indicated, there is a lot of shouting & gesticulating in spanish indicating you are an idiot & that is the wrong berth, to add to the confusion, which of course triggers the usual argument between helm (husband) & deckhand (wife) as to fault it was!!!

So I salute your wife & understand her feeling towards Puerto Soller...

Pan

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Tongue in cheek surely?? Seems there are a few forum members down there the week after... hopefully the weather will improve the minute we touch down!

Pan

EME lives there... And keeps a very nice targa 50 in Port Vauban, just in case he can't bear the 6 mile drive home after supper at the Transat.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Hurricane]

One of the tales my wife likes to relate was when we were backing in to a visitor berth on the outside wall in Soller during a stiff breeze when constant boat control was needed.
She was standing on the aft cockpit, ropes in hand when the marinero looked at her and asked 'where are your sailors?'. She took great pride in pointing to herself and saying "ME' and then heaving the rope with great accuratsy right to the marinero, who took the rope and secured his end and then watch as she made the boat secure with practised ease.

Just as well - our experience of marineros is they are more trouble than they are worth.
I remember shouting at one in Ibiza once to get of my bow - he was fiddling with my anchor winch to attempt to tighten a lazy line (we call them slime lines).
If I hadn't stopped him, our anchor would have gone over the bow which would have caused a huge problem.
Assertiveness is the key IMO.

Like you, my wife and I often operate the boat on our own - I do all the thinking - she does all the work - it's a tough life!!

 

[DougH]

Just as well - our experience of marineros is they are more trouble than they are worth.
I remember shouting at one in Ibiza once to get of my bow - he was fiddling with my anchor winch to attempt to tighten a lazy line (we call them slime lines).
If I hadn't stopped him, our anchor would have gone over the bow which would have caused a huge problem.
Assertiveness is the key IMO.

Like you, my wife and I often operate the boat on our own - I do all the thinking - she does all the work - it's a tough life!!

Crikey Mike, if I had a marinero fiddling with my 'tackle' I would go mad as well.

You are very polite calling the lazy lines 'slime lines' ,we use their true description 'POO LINES'

We now swap roles when mooring, with my wife doing the stern lines and me at the helm, and when the stern lines are attached she takes over the helm and operates the thrusters and throttles whilst I do the lazy/bow line aspect.
All works very well.

On our last visit to Soller we were put alongside a lovely 40metre Sunseeker Manhattan and was told by the skipper that the lazy line was a bit large. He wasn't joking. It started from the marina end at about one inch dia. and then connected to a rope that was at least 3 inches dia.

To make a temporary connection with our cleats (I cannot use the word mooring as I could not fit the hawser in our fairleads yet alone the cleats) we had wrap to the hawser around anything handy whilst waiting for the marinero to come round in his tender and attach a temporary line to the hawser.

Turns out we were on a mooring for a fuel tanker.

 

[EME]

Tongue in cheek surely?? Seems there are a few forum members down there the week after... hopefully the weather will improve the minute we touch down!
Pan

Oops .. sorry! Yes, tongue-in-cheek. Weather genuinely has been worse that the UK for last 3-4 weeks though. Today is a very different matter --- folks eating out on the seafronts -- warm and balmy.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your short sojourn, who wouldnt with a new boat? Weather can be very variable in April & May when the rainfall can be spectacularly heavy to put it mildly. It just seems to be that way !

As Jacques-le-Constructeur intimates there are a number of good restaurants in Antibes ( and even more in the nearby hinterland), we all have our favourites. JTB mentions the Transat -- we all enjoy due to its atmosphere and our ability to get the best tables, food quality there can vary from stunning to so-so, it is after all French!. There is always McDo if you miss home! Indian restaurants are few-and-far-between but JTB has a personal rating on them all.

Look forward to seeing you there and I'm sure everyone will have you 'in-the-swing' on what to get where. Antibes more than anywhere in the SoFrance can be daunting in paying crazy prices for simple things (animal, vegetable & mineral!) ; just a matter of knowing where to avoid.

 

[Nick_H]

As EME says, everyone has their own favourites, but at the higher end the best IMO are Michelangelo, Le Vauban, and Le Jardin in that order. Les Vieux Murs (on the ramparts) also has a good rep, though for no good reason at all we've never actually eaten there. Transat also nice, though not on a par with the other three IMO, but useful at peak times as they nearly always have tables as it's away from the old town (but still near to the port).

At the next level down there are lots to choose from, including quite a few mediocre ones (this is partly a tourist area after all). The best ones seem to be on the cobbled street leading from Place Nationale (by the flick-knife shop) to the market, including Le Chaudron (nice food, nice setting, friendly owners), L'aubergine, Le Jardin (mentioned above), Le Brulot. There is a good value pasta place at the top end of the market (reputedly the only place in town that Abramovich eats), and also good pizza/pasta (but drap surroundings) at La Famiglia, at the bottom of Rue Vauban (SW corner of the port).

We'll miss you by a couple of days, but good luck with the handover.

 

[pan]

Excellent..thanks all, I know it's a bit touristy around there and would prefer not to get sucked into a tourist trap! On our trip in January to view potential boats, we stayed in Cannes very near the marina, lots of restaurants on a narrow steep hill street, tried 3 of them.... expensive, mediocre food & lousy service! Shame as I am sure there must be some excellent ones...just didn't know where!

We shall be down to the boat in Antibes a few times before the end of April, and look forward to meeting some of the SoF mob...the weather March/April sounds pretty much on a par with the Balearics, which doesn't pick up until mid April, usually after Easter.

Pan..

 

[pan]

Crikey Mike, if I had a marinero fiddling with my 'tackle' I would go mad as well.

You are very polite calling the lazy lines 'slime lines' ,we use their true description 'POO LINES'

We now swap roles when mooring, with my wife doing the stern lines and me at the helm, and when the stern lines are attached she takes over the helm and operates the thrusters and throttles whilst I do the lazy/bow line aspect.
All works very well.

On our last visit to Soller we were put alongside a lovely 40metre Sunseeker Manhattan and was told by the skipper that the lazy line was a bit large. He wasn't joking. It started from the marina end at about one inch dia. and then connected to a rope that was at least 3 inches dia.

To make a temporary connection with our cleats (I cannot use the word mooring as I could not fit the hawser in our fairleads yet alone the cleats) we had wrap to the hawser around anything handy whilst waiting for the marinero to come round in his tender and attach a temporary line to the hawser.

Turns out we were on a mooring for a fuel tanker.

Couple of years ago we were overnighting in Soller, walking down the quay stopped to chat to an English family on a SS pred 68 which had it's stern mooring cleat ripped out! It transpires that at 5.30 that morning the fishing fleet were departing in their usual fashion at about 12knts through the port!!!! one of them picked up this unfortunate boats bow line, tore out the the stern cleats & dragged it 100mts out of the marina, finally cutting the line & disappearing into the distance... as you can guess the family were quite shaken. They were able to identify the fishing boat when they returned... last I heard the local police were resolving the matter.

With 2 very large (24in dia) holes in the transom, their summer cruise was curtailed...!

It's a shame but I have found ports with a large fishing fleet can cause havoc when they leave & enter, there is certainly no speed limit for them (probably think it's a bit of fun, watching the rich bouncing around in their wake!)

Pan..