The heat continued and we decided to do a quick shop for dinner items as Uschi would be making her shrimp linguine dish.. and then headed back to unload and get into togs for a swim. Le Swim was a short walk away so we got a palapa table and took turns soaking and swimming, and enjoying a few beer’s. It was a gorgeous afternoon and we all felt like it was a lazy sunny summer holiday day. (Meanwhile back on the boat, the nice fellow Dee Dee who was fixing the head was getting a dunking in the toilet water..which we felt very badly about and did the clean up for him..yuk!)
The evening meal in the cockpit with Uschi’s shrimp linguine was superb, and Todd had gotten the AC to run again when we hit the hay soon after dark.
Tuesday July 12th we were up early having coffee’s and breakfast (Todd made Uschi her first poached egg which got a thumbs up), before hopping in the bigger rental car and driving off to Figueres with plans to visit the Salvador Dali museum. It was another scorcher so we were all pretty happy to sit in the car for the hour or so to get down there.
Figueres was a small city so we managed to locate the central underground parking area near a local market and within walking distance to the museum. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea and there was a 2 hour wait in line to get in..after 15 minutes we were all sweltering, and a brief look inside revealed that it was packed in there too, so we found a shady little tapas restaurant and ordered some cold drinks and a couple of tapas. I whipped away and procured 2 fans for Uschi and I, and these were put to immediate use. It was fun to speak Spanish with the store keeper and make a little joke about the heat and necessity for us ladies to stay cool.
We had a little wander around town and took pictures of a very cool sculpture by S.D where a reflection off the polished stainless sculpture transformed into Salvador Dali’s face on the ground, then got back on the road and headed to the coast.
The coastal road started for us at Roses, which had a bunch of 2-5 story apartment buildings facing a longish sandy arc of beach.
It was a reconnaissance mission for us as we wanted to check out possible anchorages so we stopped here for a look and thought the opposite side of the bay might have some protection from the onshore sea breeze. The next stop was just over the old border crossing into France, and was tucked in the bottom of a very hilly section of narrow road. Port Bon was very picturesque with cobbled streets and old stone buildings, and had a small marina and small stony beach. There didn’t seem to be any anchoring options though, but the short boardwalk and beach were pretty busy. From here we continued North to Collioure, stopping at various vistas and checking out where people were dropping the hook along the way.
Collioure was much busier than our previous visit but still a gem on the coast.
The mooring buoys in the bay still looked enticing…. We were all starting to wilt in the heat, so after a wander around and a cold drink we headed back to the boat and another swim to cool off. Uschi stretched out early and Glen, Todd, and I went over and picked up pizza’s at Rimini pizza and returned to the boat to eat them while watching a movie. Glen and Uschi would be heading back to Montpelier the next day to fly back to Germany, grab their car and head to their holiday home in Holland for the remainder of the week.
Uschi was feeling back to normal after the brush with heat stroke, and after a brisk cold shower the next morning..as the hot water was not working for some reason. She was very stoic and didn’t even mention it! It was a nice break to catch up with them and we thanked them again for the visit and said we’d let them know when the boat was mobile. That day the Tramontane gusted to 38 knot’s and we had to run the engines to shorten up the mooring lines so we didn’t hit the dock like our neighbor had done yesterday. (This was an older Catana 43 and the port captain had come and re-moored it while we were away). Otherwise it was a lazy day with me doing clean up and Todd working on the dinghy lifting bridle. Dinner was tasty pan-fried chicken and salad washed down with a cold local Rose’. No workers all day and tomorrow was the Bastille Day Holiday.