FRANCE - CÔTE D'AZUR

New crew member – Michael Camilleri, also known as Mr. Popcorn and later as Laurel (of Laurel and Hardy) arrives today ! 

Today Vicki’s son arrived so now we are 3 crew members on board Sunray for a month or so.  As usual we arrived at the airport in good time, it’s important for Vicki, but this time we beat all the previous records.  We were standing outside the Arrivals Gate three hours before the time Mike should arrive, that means we were there ready and waiting before he had even LEFT Malta !!

There were big smiles and hugs when Mike’s little brown face showed through the doors and we were once again together!

 
Our new crew member hard at work!

Here is a summary of the situation:  Boat and crew in perfect order, hot sunshine during the day, 25 degreees at night, sea as flat as glass and 24 degrees in the water.  With this in mind, read the following!

Unfortunately we had engine problems on the way to the island so after spending a couple of days at Frioul we had to set our course to Marseille to solve these problems.  Luckily, one of Vicki’s talents is her ability to speak french, so by something not short of a miracle she managed to get hold of a mechanic who could fix our engine and in just 2 days  we were ready to set off again.

We sailed onwards to Cassis where I have been sailing before with Round Table on one of the Euro Sails.  This is a beautiful little fishing village but like the many towns along the Cote D’Azur which have become too touristic with hundreds of stalls lining the harbour selling cheap souvenirs in the evening and a circus of street entertainers.   However noisy we thought it was, Cassis turned out to be the ”quietest” and most untouched town we would visit along the coast.   On the way to Cassis we ran into a bank of really thick fog, we sailed ca. 100 meters from a cliff wall about 300 metres high, and we could NOT see it !  We must thank our GPS for taking us safely into harbour, and 30 minutes after we had moored in the harbour we could not even see the entrance to port.

Onwards to Sanary sur Mer, on the way we saw the famous red cliffs just outside Cassis, really impressive sight.

Next day we wanted to go to a little island called Porquerolles, but as we left the harbour we were a bit surprised to see how rough the weather actually was (it was blowing ca. 8 metres/second in the harbour) and at the same time Vicki heard on the Italian Coastguard Radio over the VHF about a gale warning, we immediately changed course and ran into the nearest harbour, Bandol.  At this time the wind was blowing up to 15 metres/second and the waves and swells were about 2 metres high.

When we arrived in Bandol we received a phone call from Kristian, one of our good friends from Aalborg, who told us he had just landed in Nice and would like to join us for the rest of the week.  He arrived later on that evening, as pale as a sheet!  In the following week he became nearly as tanned as us, we had a wonderful time altogether, and he and Mike became such good buddies that Vicki and I were calling them Laurel and Hardy !  

So next day we set off for Porquerolles were we anchored in a little bay with CRYSTAL CLEAR waters.  As soon as the anchor hit the bottom, we were all in the water, diving and swimming.  Later we took a dinghy ride into the beach and walked into the little town for ice creams.  All evening and night (until 2.30 am) we sat up talking and enjoy the wonderful starry skies.  In our logbook we have written that it was a day in paradise!   

 A brand new harbour, all the tourist traps and circus of jugglers and entertainers, but Kristian invited us out to eat – Moules Frites (mussels and french fries) and cold white wine for us, and a pizza for Mike.  We make it a point of eating these mussels every time we find them, they are delicious and cheap.  

Next day we took a very short trip of 30 minutes to Port Grimaud which is a kind of modern Venice.  I have also been here before.  We took the dinghy through all the little narrow canals out to a big supermarket.  We did a huge ”shop” – the dinghy was loaded to maximum capacity on the way back.

In the evening we sailed back to St. Tropez and our anchor spot again and once again swam, swam, swam.   Then we loaded the dinghy again, this time with our barbeque equipment and food and set off for the beach.  Here we sat on the warm sand, under the starry sky and grilled swordfish and steaks until we could eat no more.   The feast was washed down with loads of red wine, and in good spirit we all took part in a game of ”Spin the Bottle” and had a really good laugh.  The night ended with a beautiful fireworks display to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Assumption, 15th August – L-Imnarja! 

Sunray at anchor

From here to Theule sur Mer – in our logbook there is only one entry here – SUN SUN AND MORE SUN!   Mike spent most of the trip over sitting in the dinghy which is always pulled behind Sunray – this time with his book, cap and a cold can of Coke for company.    On arriving in Theule we discovered we were there just in time for some special games they put up for the 15th August – jousting off boats !   So we sat on the front deck with our drinks and chips and watched the show from the front row.

Next day we sailed across the bay to Cannes.  We saw all the handprints of famous actors/actresses outside the Cannes Festival Hall. 

Vicki, Mike and I sailed on to Nice where we moored for a couple of hours in the harbour to walk around town playing tourist.   In the evening (before the Harbour Master could come and ask for his money) we sailed out and over to a beautiful little bay just east of Nice, Rade de Villefranche, where we swam and dived.  Even though it was 7 metres deep, we could see the seabed and the water was really warm.  Next morning we had a morning swim before breakfast too – it’s just to beautiful to be true !