Year 5

France

France (ocean): Cherbourg, Isigny-sur-Mer, Ouistreham, Le Havre.
France (Seine River): Rouen, Port de Venables, Lieu de residence pour, Ile de la Borde, Petit bras de Seine, Etang des Mazieres, Chemin de Halage, Petit bras de Seine, Ile de la Borde, Parmain.

Leaving from Cherbourg, we sail around the coast to Le Havre where we have the mast taken down. Then, we head up the Seine river toward Paris. After staying in Paris, we reverse course, but will leave the Seine River to take the Oise Canal north, toward Belgium.

France and Belgium

France: Janville, La Chapelette, Seine/Nord Canal.
Belgium: Le Grand Large, Bruxelles, Antwerp, Veldhoven.

We continue motoring north, taking the Seine/Nord Canal toward Belgium, stopping in a few French towns along the way. We cross into Belgium and stop at places like Bruxelles and Antwerp. Moving on, we reach the border to the Netherlands.

Netherlands and Germany

Netherlands: De Steeg,
Germany: , Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, Frankfort, Wurzburg, Nuremberg.

We motor toward De Steeg, then enter the Rhine river, upstream, motoring slowly. The river runs 4 knots against us until we reach Koblenz, where the river enters the Rhine Valley where the current increases to 8 knots, against our direction of travel! This section will be our slowest part of the Rhine voyage. This fast moving stretch continues for 40 miles. It will take us 3 days running our 110 hp diesel engine and the 20 kw motor in the other hull, likely only making 2 knots, speed over ground. Once through, we reach the Rhine/Main canal, and finally get out of the current. We now head for Nuremburg.

Germany and Austria

Germany: Dietfurt, Westenviertel, deggendorf, Hutt-Siedjung.
Austria: Vienna

Finishing up our Germany stops, we reach the border into Austria and work our way to Vienna for a few days of touring that amazing city.

Hungary and Serbia

Hungary: Budapest.
Serbia: Novi Sad, Belgrade, Golubac Fortress, Iron Gate.

We now pass through the last lock until we reach the famous Iron Gate. We motor on to Budapest for a few days touring and then head into Servia where we make longer stops in Novi Sad and Belgrade before reaching the Iron Gate.

Romania

Vidin, Corabia, Ryahovo, calarasi, Poarta Alba, Tomis.

After an excursion into the Transylvanian Alps by car, we head further down the Danube, now motoring swiftly, down current, for the Black Sea. When we finally the port of Tomis, on the shores of the Black Sea, we put the mast back up and become a sailing vessel again.

Turkey (Northern)

Istanbul, Marmara, Cardak, Canakkale, Guzelyali, Bozcaada.

We sail south in the Black Sea to the Bosphorus Strait, which connects from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. After crossing the Sea of Marmara, we reach the Dardanelles Strait and pass through into the Aegean Sea. Then we stick to the west coast of Turkey as we sail south.

Turkey (Western)

Bademli, Cesme, Ephesus, Yalikoy, Bodrum, Buyuk Limani, Serce Limani, Marmaris.

Now sailing south down the western shore of Turkey, we stop in Ephesus to see the ruins, then head for Marmaris, in case we need some boat work.

Greece (Eastern)

Rhodes, Exo Vatni, Santorini, Naxos, Mikonos.

Clearing out of Marmaris, Turkey, we clear into the Schegen at Rhodes, Greece. We then sail west to the Greek Isles, turning north at Santorini. Then we turn north to do some scuba diving in the marine preserve around Patitiri Island. When we leave, we head west into the North Euboean Gulf. we will reach the narrows at Chalcis, waiting for the swing bridge to let is pass through. We then sail down to Athens for a few days. From there, we head west and go through the ancient Corinth Canal into the Gulf of Corinth, which leads up into the Ionian Sea.

Italy (southern)

Messina, Naples, Rome, Sardina

We sail across the Ionian Sea to Sicily, stopping in Messina, then we sail the southeastern part of the Tyrrhenian Sea to Naples to see Pompei. Next, we sail up to Rome for a few days. Then we continue sailing north toward Piza.

Italy, Monaco, French Rivera

Italy: Piza
Monaco
France: Nice, Cannes, Marseille

We finish up our time in Italy by stopping in Piza, then sail west to Monaco for a few days before heading into the French Riviera.

Spain and Gibraltar

Spain: Barcelona, Ibiza
Gibraltar

By now we will be running low on Schengen time, though we still have a few stops to make stops in Barcelona and Ibiza on our way to Gibraltar. Once there, we finally leave med.

Canary Islands

Las Palmas

Sailing south west, we make our way to the Canary Islands. We make a provisioning stop at Las Palmas, then head out at the first weather window to cross the pond to the Caribbean.

St. Lucia / Martinique / Dominica

St. Lucia: Rodney Bay
Martinique: Ford de France
Dominica: Roseau

We about 16-18 days later, we make landfall in Rodney Bay. Once we arrive, we will spend Xmas in St. Lucia. After opening our boat repair presents, we sail north to Martinique to party for New Years. Once we recuperate from the celebration, we sail to Dominica where we end the fifth year.

Year Five

Year Five Itinerary