Navigation #48 Porto Novo-Porto Vecchio, lots of events but all ended well

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We were to rush to Porto Vecchio for the National Day's firework...

We planned to leave our mooring spot at 1 p.m., just as the wind was expected to pick up. But, as fate would have it, things didn’t go as planned. At lunchtime, our mooring neighbor’s boat drifted behind us. Nico dove into the water to secure it to our boat, with help from nearby neighbors. Another dinghy even joined in, searching for the boat’s owners. After tracking down their phone number, I tried calling, but got no response. 


Frustrated, we decided to anchor their boat ourselves so we could leave. Just as we started, the owners finally returned. 


When we finally set sail, more problems arose: the mainsail wouldn’t unfurl, the autopilot failed, and Porto Vecchio Port informed us they had no berth available. It felt like the day couldn’t get any worse. 


But it did. Arriving at 6 p.m., we rowed our dinghy to the port, only to be denied docking because we lacked an engine—too risky for their narrow marina. We rowed for 30 minutes to reach the quay.


Exhausted but back on the boat, we started cooking dinner when the marina called: a spot had opened up. In the end, we docked, met up with friends of friends at the port, and enjoyed watching the National Day fireworks together aboard *Vogue*.




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