Days 128 and 129: 18th and 19th October 2017 Pisa

Wednesday

An early start as Patrick and I were awake anyway. Patrick pulled up the anchor to discover it covered in black sticky mud. Probably perfect for keeping us safe but terrible to clean up, in fact he was cleaning it for a good 15 minutes after I motored us out of the bay.

As we continued we saw several Italian warships as well as a ferry on its way to the mainland from Corsica. Patrick joked that the Italians even do ferries with style!

School again went pretty well, short bursts are really the way forward and the kids continued building Italian landmarks in Minecraft when they weren't working with me. For one of his sessions AJ wanted to look at inventions and we spent some time looking at books showing various inventions over time. He was particularly interested in the octants and sextants so we got my sextant out and I started to show both kids how to use it.

When we got in to Marina Di Pisa we had lunch after which I read a section out of "The Barefoot Navigator" to them which details how navigation has changed over time. It was a little old for them but as lunchtime reading is my choice of book they both persevered with listening.

We then went to the office to pay and dragged the granny trolley into town to stock up on groceries. There was also a tiny chandlers where Patrick managed to replace our broken mainsheet block at a remarkably cheap price.

On our return we chilled out for a while. I think all home schooling parents at some time or other worry if they are doing enough. I certainly do, particularly as the plan is for the kids to return to school in two years time. However one huge win as far as boat school is concerned is that the kids read so much more than they ever did at home. The read in the mornings, sometimes in their breaks from school work, to calm down, to kill time, and also late at night when if they were going to school the next day I would be insisting on lights out. Here they are intently reading their chosen books. Esmé is right on the cusp of wanting to read Harry Potter. Like AJ did she is reading an annual with lots of pictures in (and unlike AJ dressing herself as Hermione Granger to do so). I'm sure it won't be long before she is tackling the real thing!

At Patrick's suggestion we took a pre dinner walk to look at the posh motor yachts across the marina and took the opportunity to talk to AJ about the kinds of jobs on board one. I think he quite fancies the life of working on a superyacht!

 We then watched the sunset before heading back to the boat for dinner!

Thursday

We had a bit of a lazy morning as we weren't sailing today. We were planning on a visit to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and as much research on Worldschoolers Facebook page had brought up nothing else significant to see in Pisa we weren't in any rush. We made a packed lunch and got on a bus at about 11am, surprised to find that kids were free and adults only 2 Euros each. We judged the correct place to get off without worrying too much about how to get the correct bus and started the 20 minute walk to the tower. We enjoyed an hour mulling around the tower, eating our sandwiches and allowing the kids to spend some of their money on tourist "tat" much to Patrick's disgust.

Walking back a different way we stopped for Gelato and sat outside the lovely shop to eat and people watch.

 

We were back in Marina di Pisa by about 3pm so stopped by the Chandlery again to get spare lifejacket lights and a new light for our horseshoe buoy as we anticipate a little night sailing soon. The place was like a tiny "Dauntless" for those that know the famous Canvey Chandlery, with prices to match. One LED horseshoe buoy and 2 automatic lifejacket lights plus a 2m length of pink rope for Esmé to use for skipping came to 50 Euros. Bargain!

Back to the boat for a steak dinner after much deliberation on our next move. There is bad weather due late Sunday, continuing for a few days. We want to make good progress south but don't want to be stuck storm bound somewhere uncomfortable. Anyway we called the cruising association HLR who said that Giglio Port would be ok, the only problem is the 50 Euro per night charge, although apparently the town quay is free! Still some deciding to do but that can wait another day.