We powered out of San Remo towards Monaco. I don't know about you but I had always thought Monaco was small but I was surprised to find out how small. Think Coal Harbour to about Main Street. The terrain is nearly vertical so it goes up quite high with an interesting mix of new skyscrapers and old buildings.
We had arranged to stay at YCM (Royal YC de Monaco) but it turns out the entire port is administered by one authority. We had to drop Marina off to find out what was happening because the radio wasn't working (actually the radio worked fine, it was the human element on either end that was having trouble with communication). When we called in to the port guys the second time waiting for our slip, they said they couldn't see us. We gave them our exact coordinates (near the Optis sailing in the harbour) and the guy said .. (no lie) "oh the little sailboat"' and in Monaco, that was true, our 50 footer is a little boat.
We had arranged to stay at YCM (Royal YC de Monaco) but it turns out the entire port is administered by one authority. We had to drop Marina off to find out what was happening because the radio wasn't working (actually the radio worked fine, it was the human element on either end that was having trouble with communication). When we called in to the port guys the second time waiting for our slip, they said they couldn't see us. We gave them our exact coordinates (near the Optis sailing in the harbour) and the guy said .. (no lie) "oh the little sailboat"' and in Monaco, that was true, our 50 footer is a little boat.
We got off the boat and did some exploring as a family. The two things that struck us about Monte Carlo were the size of the boats: 100 footers were small, and the unbelievable cars: Ferraris, Lambos, Aston Martins, Maseratis, Porsches, Beamers, MB's, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, new and old but all in immaculate shape.
Marina and I went to the casino but shied away from the 20 euro cover charge, opting for a coffee and a beer for 20 euros instead. We engaged in people watching for an hour or so, me nursing my $20 beer, Marina her $10 coffee. Monaco is a place to be seen. It reminded us a bit of Vegas, with more old world charm, part Ritz Carlton and part working harbour. A curious mix.
As we have said before, while we like 5 star, we can only take so much, so we got up early and decided to head to an anchorage just west of Nice. Monaco is really set up for the big money .. 50 meter boats, loads of cash to drop while the crew deals with the boat the owner flys in on the helicopter. Then head to the casino to drop some coin into the Royal coffers. It's not exactly the shoestring budget cruising that we are doing.
In reality there was another big draw to get us going to France. We couldn't find internet service in Monaco and the internet sticks they sold would only work for Monaco, not France. What I really wanted was to get a French Internet stick so I could watch game 7 of the Stanley cup finals. I stayed up for every game watching the games through my Slingbox. So off we left at 10am for France to begin our journey towards Spain.
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