At the end of November, the Sunseeker Blog Book reported on the sale of the Sunseeker Manhattan 50 “SARAH’S OF MONACO” with Sunseeker Cheshire and Sunseeker Monaco. Her new owner, having taken ownership in Monaco, made the decision to relocate the vessel to a new home berth in Croatia.
With a journey of 1,100 nautical miles ahead and some stunning scenery on the way, the owner and his crew waited for the perfect December weather window before setting off on their incredible Mediterranean trip. Here, the owner kindly offered to share the trip’s diary…
“So here we go, “SARAH’S OF MONACO” 1,100 NM trip from Monaco to Zadar Croatia…
We waited in Monaco for two weeks after purchasing the Manhattan 50 “SARAH’S OF MONACO” through Sunseeker Brokerage (Monaco’s not a bad place to be stuck in I must add). Eventually the day came where we had a window in the weather that might just allow us to get to Croatia in 7 days!
Day 1 – We (myself and my two crew) set off on the Wednesday for the tip of Corsica crossing our first hundred nautical miles. Due to the weather having been bad for the past couple of weeks, we had to dodge many logs floating just beneath the surface, and although rough at first, this all went well. We passed the Cap Corse as it was blowing a hooley, with the waves straight on the bow, the boat pierced straight through them at ease getting up to 25 knots at 1800 revs. With Corsica behind us the weather started to improve in time for our first overnight stop in Porto St Stefano, Italy, finishing the day with a total of 190 nautical miles on the clock.
Day 2 – After taking on fuel we started off at 05:30 am heading for Ischia, a small port 180 nautical miles away in Italy. We ran at 1800 revs all day and it was fantastic. The sea was flat calm and the sun was shining brilliantly. We arrived at about 16:30, filled up with fuel, moored up and went for a true Italian pizza restaurant right at the back of the boat.
Day 3 – Another 05:30 start and off just in time to see the sun come up over the island of Capri. This journey was all the way to Messina and the island of Sicily. On our way we decided to plot in the Volcano Stromboli for some sightseeing. At around 10am we spotted a whale spouting off in the distance and then we were visited by a school of dolphins jumping out of the wake. The sea was like oil and the sun was out again, but it was freezing cold.
There was nothing to be seen for ages, not even a plane vapour trail, until suddenly about 40NM into the distance we spotted Stromboli like a massive mole hill coming out of the sea! The plotter took us straight past the smoking volcano, and I can honestly say it is one of the best things I’ve ever seen. It was like a real Jurassic Park around the volcano with moon fish and a turtle randomly swimming past the boat! After Stromboli we arrived in Sicily where we took on fuel at a very slow rate by 20 litre drums and some sort of siphon pump the garage had invented. It was dark by the time we found our berth for the night!
Day 4 – Messina to Santa Maria di Leuca, 200 NM. Again we set off at the crack of dawn the sea was slightly bouncy due to a small wind but nothing to the Manhattan 50 as she steamed off again into the sun. We arrived at the fantastic port of Santa Maria di Leuca at around 5pm, definitely the longest leg of the journey by far. That night we ate the best pizzas I’ve ever had!
Day 5 – Today we visited three countries, starting in Italy, cruising past Albania and ending in Montenegro. It was a nice flat sunny day again and we were greeted by dolphins again as we got near Montenegro. We arrived in Porto Montenegro and you could have been in Dubai with all the palm trees on the port. The restaurants are fab here and so was the red wine…!
Day 6 – After a not so early start we had to fuel in the Bay of Kotor as the marina fuel berth in Porto was being rebuilt. We arrived in Kotor at 10am to be greeted by the huge Queen Elizabeth Cruise Liner sitting in the bay. After refuelling we headed off to Dubrovnik, around 70NM away. Again the sea was like glass with the occasional dolphin popping up to see us. We arrived in beautiful Dubrovnik at around 4pm where we had to be checked in to customs at the port before refuelling once more and heading off to the town for the evening.
Day 7 – Final day, Dubrovnik to Zadar. What can I say about this our final day apart from, amazing!! The labyrinths of islands in Croatia are simply beautiful and full of marine life. The sea was like oil again as we arrived at our final destination for the winter, Zadar Dalmatia marina – a fantastic brand new marina right in the heart of Croatia. Just after we arrived (literally 30 minutes after) the weather broke and the winter set in, talk about perfect timing!
Wow, what a journey. “SARAH’S OF MONACO” is an awesome yacht! She is a 2005 Sunseeker Manhattan 50 with twin Volvo Pentas 714’s now with 665 hours. We did 65 hours of running at around 22 knots at 1800 revs for 7 days fully loaded with three on board and she never missed a beat. I must admit I was a bit worried at first about the journey but there was no need to be, I had the original Captain and his friend that had looked after her for the last 2 years and it showed just how much he knew the boat as virtually nothing went wrong. Cannot wait for the Summer now!”
Would you like to share your Sunseeker stories with us? Why not email us at blog@sunseekerlondon.com for the opportunity to feature on the Sunseeker Blog Book.
For more information on the Sunseeker Manhattan 50 “SARAH’S OF MONACO”, please contact:-
Sunseeker Cheshire | Booths Hall | Chelford Road | Knutsford | WA16 8QZ | +44 (0) 1565 757864 | jonathan@sunseekercheshire.com | http://www.sunseekercheshire.com
Sunseeker Monaco | 11 Rue Grimaldi | MC 98000 | Monaco | +377 9777 5777 | matthew@sunseeker.mc | http://www.sunseeker.mc
