Book of the Week- Sea Dreams Sailing the Western Mediterranean

by Keith Earngey on 10 Dec 2010 This is a beautifully photographed book, with a fascinating story that captures the essence of the Mediterranean lifestyle and its remarkable history.

Most people who have travelled in Europe will, at some stage, have fallen in love with the Mediterranean – I have very fond memories of, as a footloose young man, back-packing in the south of France and Italy. However, the voyage of Sea Dreams opens up a world that most of us can only dream of.

There are so many places a yacht can explore, and so many startling vistas, that are denied the dusty pedestrian. Rather than a crowded hotel room at the edge of town a yacht can give you the best room on the harbour or in some deserted bay. Sea Dreams Sailing the Western Mediterranean describes, and captures the voyage of Rob and Rosemary Peterswald on their Beneteau 50, Sea Dreams, from the south coast of France, to the Spanish islands of Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca, to Sardinia, Corsica, Elba, the coast of Italy and Sicily.

It brings to life the rich beauty and diverse cultural identities of the Mediterranean (there are traditional recipes of the coasts) and weaves the historical threads that go back to the Phoenicians, the first recorded seafarers on the ‘middle sea’. At Ibiza, where the Phoenicians had been active since 654 BC, they anchored in water so clear that they could see ‘every detail of the bottom and the fish hovering off our stern … but the only life ashore was a group of naked kayakers making music’.

At Menorca they walked in the steps of Lord Nelson and his mistress Lady Hamilton and in Corsica visited Napoleon’s palace in exile. They sailed through the Maddalena Islands, reputed refuge of Mary Magdalene, and dined on local seafood, washed down with Sardinian wine renowned for its ‘cardiovascular benefits’. In the Bay of Naples, Sea Dreams anchored below the small island where Cassius plotted Caesar’s murder and visited glorious Capri – remarkably once the haunt of the students Stalin and Lenin.

Almost every page in this stunning book has a photograph that tells a story, and it is a book that you can visit many times and still find something new and interesting to dream about.

Previously the authors have published From the Sea, Sailing Seafood and Wine, Tasmania and Beyond the Shore, Sailing Seafood and Wine East Coast Australia.

Sea Dreams Sailing in the Western Mediterranean is available in leading bookshops throughout Australia, including Boat Books or you can buy it online at www.ballynastraghbooks.com.au