The French Riviera

The French Riviera

Sunday 25th August….  It’s lovely here at Iles du Frioul but we can’t waste time, as there’s a lot of coast to get around ahead of us and I’m sure more delightful places to see. By 11am we had left and were sailing very pleasantly round the coast to La Ciotat where we planned to anchor for the night. It’s our first anchorage (and free night!) since the Mar Menor in fact almost seven weeks ago.  

Such a calm morning

 Can't stop taking photos

We are in France......honest!

It was a beautiful day and we sailed gently at 5 knots around some spectacular coastline. I really didn’t expect such wonderful views in this area. It took about five hours to cover 25 miles and it was pretty slow going towards the end. 

 This is Ile Riou, fantastically Jurassic looking

 This one's like the Grand Canyon

Steering safely past La Cassidaigne beacon

The headland known as Cap de l'Aigle

 entering the bay at La Ciotat

Finally we entered the bay and dropped anchor in a nice blue sandy patch, although a bit deep at 10 metres. We immediately got the dinghy out and Dean performed a minor repair alteration and then blew it up with our super special 12 volt inflater pump. 

Here comes the dinghy

 Using the 12 volt inflater pump

We were just settling in, checking out landing places with the binoculars, and about to have dinner when Dean frantically called me to come on deck.  Well what an incredible surprise. There were three seaplanes flying overhead really low. Well they gave us a real treat, something you would pay good money to see. Would you believe they did about a half an hour practise picking up water without stopping then jettisoning it straight after.  They must have circled above the bay right over us about 15 times at least, really low.  It was a fabulous thing to watch, just totally amazing. Here's a few photos (well, a lot in fact). 

Here they come

Almost touchdown.... get out of the way everyone

Nearly

That's it

Jettisoning.... whoopie

.... and the next one

Meanwhile a huge sailboat out on the horizon

Here they come again and again

A bit close to our neighbour's mast

Round and round

This time towards Thesee.... Yikes

A bit too close for comfort

Drop that water quick.... we washed the boat this morning

Phew, they made it

Third plane coming in the distance

After all the excitement settled down and the seaplanes departed we took Saffy for a walk. On the way back Dean used his newly made glass bottom bucket to check the anchor. It worked really well but being 10 metres deep and in the fading light it was difficult to get a positive viewing. Still, it’s going to be calm tonight so we should be fine, along with all the other 30 or so boats doing the same thing. 

Glass bottom bucket trial

Head in the bucket

Monday 26th August … Firstly, I forgot to tell you something yesterday. Just after we left Ile du Frouil and had started sailing, Dean had his fishing line out trailing behind the boat as we were only sailing at about 3.5 knots. Just about 10 minutes later, a rib came across Thesee’s stern so fast and close that he completely cut off the line with his outboard motor! The whole tackle end gone in an instant. To be honest if they had been any closer they would have probably decapitated themselves. Idiots. 

So onto today, it was an early getaway from La Ciotat at about 9am. No wind, so we motored the 20 miles to Ile de Porquerolles (we call it Pork Rolls). It's part of the beautiful Iles d'Hyeres group, where the French take their holidays apparantly. The coast again was stunning and we passed a lovely anchorage where we spotted the fancy catamaran belonging to our Norwegian neighbours from L’Estartit last week.  After that came Toulon, but it was out of view really behind the headland at St Mandrier sur Mer. 

Early morning views at very calm La Ciotat

 Now just before departure

Lots of greenery as we travel near to the shoreline

 

Don't know what this place is

James Bond hideaway perhaps??

Whatever it is, there's a helicopter working here

Looking towards Toulon in the background

Now at Ile du Grande Ribaud lighthouse

We arrived at our chosen anchorage (there’s so many to choose from) called Baie de Langoustier on the western end of ‘Pork Rolls’ and found a decent place to drop the hook in about 6 metres. It wasn’t as protected as we thought with lots and lots of motor boats passing through the nearby channel causing a great deal of lumpy bumpy all day long. Still it wasn’t too bad apart from Thesee’s bum bashing the waves every 10 seconds!  We knew it would all calm down once the evening came. 

Dean jumped in and scraped a load of stuff of the hull waterline. Then he blew up his SUP and went off for a play with it around the anchorage. Saffy was a bit restless today, we don’t really know why. For dinner Dean got the Cobb BBQ out and cooked a wonderful joint of pork with roast potatoes, it was just perfect. Then just before dark we got ashore for walkies and Saffy nearly run off with someone else.  It’s been quite a day really. 

In the anchorage now

Saffy trying to find a spot she's happy with

SUP(er) man

  

Din Dins

Another day draws to a close

Tuesday 27th August … The waters calmed down overnight when all the boaters stopped passing by, and it was a peaceful night.  Today we moved on and took a fairly leisurely trip along the north coast of the island checking out all the anchorages, just to satisfy our curiosity really. But first we stopped off at the marina to get fuel as we were down to a third of a tank. The cost?? A whopping 1.79 per litre… ouch, hence we just took 100 litres instead of filling up to the brim. 

The island is extremely green

A bit shallow for Thesee here

Busy but still space

At the East of Ile de Porquerolles, some funky rock formations

Dean happy with his croissant warmed up in the microwave 'on the go'

From there we made the short hop across to the mainland and anchored to the west of Cap de Bregancon. Not as sheltered as we had hoped but it’s pleasant enough. Now and again a big rolly polly comes through which is very annoying.  The weather’s calm but there’s a lot of boats in the area going backwards and forwards along the coastline.  

On the mainland, a UK registered superyacht sits at anchor

He's even got his own water slide 

Hey .... the ice cream man!!

Up on the Cap is a huge fort, but it seems it’s all closed up with no access. It’s a wonderful view though. This evening we went ashore as usual, and right behind the beach is a rural car/motor home park under the trees and it’s very grassy and doggy friendly. Saffy thought it was brilliant. 

Here's Thesee's view

.... and a close up of the fort

Wednesday 28th August … A new day, a new anchorage. This time in the large bay at Gigaro. The weather forecast had been a six hour rain and thunder session, but lucky for us none of it came to fruition. And although it was somewhat windy this afternoon we were having a great time. Not until tonight the rolly polly started again, but should be over by midnight.  

Early morning

So peaceful to watch the fishermen

 

Look how calm it is now

No it's not us

 At the new anchorage, Dean checks the anchor

It's stormy over there but no rain here

So this afternoon, the water was so inviting and I just could not resist getting my swimsuit out and having a go on the SUP.  It’s all about getting my confidence in the water really.  I started off kneeling on it and paddling but the wind was a little gusty and I was scared of being blown too far from the boat, so I asked Dean to tie a line from the board to the boat. This was great at first and I was able to get used to the motion.  

Tied on so i don't get lost

After a while, I asked for a longer line! It reminded me of when my Dad used to tie me to a tree when we were out fishing so I wouldn’t fall in!  I was having a great time albeit not more than about 10 metres from the boat. Not too long afterwards I felt confident enough and decided to go it alone without the line attached. I also managed to stand up and paddle round the boat twice without falling off.  After all this excitement I went for a swim…. well not quite a swim, I just had a play around with the float for about 15 minutes.  

 Look at me now! Still tied on before i was set free!

Evening walkies ashore we visited a Spar shop….. Ouch it was so expensive. Well we are in the south of France and only a few miles from St Tropez. 

Thursday 29th August …  Tonight we are anchored in Théoule-sur-Mer in the Gulf de la Napoule. It was a five hour journey to get here and on the way we passed St Tropez although it was around a corner slightly and we didn’t see much, but it looked a bit like Benidorm from afar. 

Our anchorage in Théoule is very nice scenic wise but again, a day long rolly polly caused by passing vessels and jet skis.  We’ve had to anchor close it because of the depth of water, as the seabed shelves quickly. We are only about 50 metres from shore along with a couple of sail boats and motor yachts tonight. The superyachts have all gone…  maybe to Cannes just across the bay??

Mini ramble this morning at 7.30am

Super calm in the bay

En-route to Théoule-sur-Mer

This is an anchorage, nice location

Red Rocks

Here comes another superyacht

One of the mansions we can see from the anchorage

Mansion number 2

Friday 30th August…  A lovely day today, started with an early morning stroll along a pretty coast walkway in Théoule-sur-Mer right next to Thesee. The morning was so lovely Dean went for a snorkel before we set of towards Ile Sainte Marguerite just outside Cannes. 

 The Table d'orientation

 Pretty pathway for walkies at 7.30am

 Dean snorkels with his inflatable airbag so he's easily spotted

There's a lot of mad jet-skiers around here 

There are two islands with an anchorage inbetween and it’s very popular. When we arrived we surprisingly got a spot straight away. It’s not very deep so you have to be careful where you’re going.  It was only about 11am by the time we had settled in and the surroundings looked lovely. Dean suggested we go for a walk on the Island whilst we were here, so we quickly put a packed lunch together. Well, well, well, the island was just so lovely, with loads of well signed woodland pathways and we found ourselves heading for the north of the island to the Fort Royal. Saffy thought it was marvellous as she could go off lead as we made our way along the wonderful rural surroundings. At the fort we had a little look about and learned that the ‘Man in the Iron Mask’ was imprisoned here in the 17th century. 

Cruisers just arriving at Cannes

Now we are arriving at Sainte Marguerite

   

Let's walk up the Allée des Eucalyptus

Here it is

A welcome water pump for Saffy

Arriving at Fort Royal

Now overlooking the bay towards Cannes

I found a little hiding place

We didn't go in the fort but it looks quite big on this plan

Dean has a catch up with Mark at work

during our lunch stop

 

Such a wonderful little island this is

On the way back via a different route a French lady with a dog just happened to pass by us. As we neared each other she immediately recognised Saffy as a Parsons Jack Russell and stopped to talk. Her own dog was a Parsons Jack Russell too, but only a mere 11 months compared to Saffy’s 16 years. Saffy suddenly turned into a puppy and the two dogs started to jump about with each other. Dean said no-one has ever recognised Saffy as a Parsons before, and we couldn’t stop talking about it. The lady seemed just as delighted as we were too.  What a great time we were having, but was mad with ourselves for not getting a double doggie photo. 

Not long after we were back on the boat and raised the anchor to set off to Antibes. It was a shame to leave such a lovely place but we had managed to reserve a berth in Port Vauban, Antibes for the night, where our friends Ant & Cid, David & Caroline were. We haven’t seen them since San Antonio, Ibiza in June and we were really looking forward to meeting up again. 

There are some fantastic super yachts here, even one called ‘Al Raya’ belonging to the Royal Family of Bahrain. It’s the 32nd biggest yacht in the World. Also we spotted (hard not to really) ‘Katara’. That’s the yacht we saw back in Palma Bay, Majorca. You know… the one with the helicopter and belonging to the Emir of Qatar. The marina’s really big… 1700 berths, and we were quite a long way away from everything and everyone. Nevertheless, we got to meet up for beer and wine with the others on Ant & Cid’s boat… ‘Impavidus’ along with the doggie reunion too…. Saffy, Oscar, & Lady.

Saw this anchored outside Antibes

Entering Port Vauban, a quick view of the castle

Tonight's neighbours

Here comes another

On the promenade

With Ant & Cid...... about time too

Saturday 31st August…  Got all our jobs done early… laundry, deck cleaning, shopping, chandlery, so that we could depart at noon. There's a bit of an arty thing going on here in Antibes, seems to be statues with bucket heads by 'David David'. Well an artist couldn't have a normal name could he? In the chandlery Dean found proper campingaz and dynema line, which made him very happy. We need the dynema to replace the vang tension line that broke the other week on some rolly polly journey.

Bucket Head Hercules

Cake shop in town

We managed to leave the marina just after twelve, not far behind Impavidus and Etérnité. Our destination was an anchorage at Baie des Fourmis, Beaulieu-sur-Mer. 

Leaving Port Vauban, Antibes

The superyachts berth

Here's 'Al Raya' superyacht

En route to Beaulieu we passed Nice airport and saw lots of planes landing including the Emirates A380 Airbus again. At Beaulieu sur Mer you are allowed to anchor inside the yellow buoys, but only if you are less than 20 metres length….. so we all did!! There’s a lot of weed on the seabed but we all found sandy spots albeit pretty close together. Beaulieu is a bit posh to say the least. Well we are only about 5 miles from Monaco after all. There’s lots of mansions to look at, and the largest one on the seafront near to us used to be owned by David Niven, and prior to that, Charlie Chaplin. Wow!

A380 you're clear to land

Impavidus with Nice in the background

Big yacht

Home to movie star legends, Charlie Chaplin, & David Niven

Big house 

Big Hotel

Big Castle

Dean spent some time this afternoon splicing his dyneema line and fitting it to the vang. Not quite happy with it yet, but close. 

Nice splicing Dean

Threading it through the vang pulley

On our evening walk we landed the dingy on the beach and walked the main road through Beaulieu past the very brightly lit up imposing Casino with its magnificent chandeliers. It’s a lovely place, and just walking along the main road we saw so many fancy cars pass by including a number of Bentleys, Rolls Royce, 2 Ferraris, and a classic E-Type Jag in a matter of minutes. The road was a tourist attraction in itself.  We actually passed a Bentley with the number plate ‘VOGUE’!!

Pretty seafront

 No bucket head here, just a bird head

High Street

More nice-ness

How much is this number plate worth?

...let alone the Bentley

Peek into the Church

Sacre-Coeur de Jesus

The park next to the Casino

Doggie Friendly, but not on the grass

French Riviera Wedding Car

The Casino.... of course

The Royal Riviera Hotel..... v posh

Sunday 1st September… Lovely morning and peaceful water so it was another early walkabout to see what we could find and view some big houses. Decided to stay here another day as it was so pleasant and it also meant we could see how well the batteries re-charged after two days at anchor.

I just love mornings like this

Impavidus

Etérnité

Super smashing gates on this mansion

Now me and Saffy with a gnarly tree trunk

Wish you were here

Tonight we took a walk through nearby St Jean Cap Ferret. At first it reminded us of the streets at Hamble back in the UK. There’s a cinema there with a photo of Charlie Chaplin outside so I had to have a photo with him. 

This superyacht has both a motor yacht and a sailboat on deck...Yikes

This unusual motorcycle caught Dean's attention

What would we have done without Charlie?

Here's the genius himself

The marina at St Jean Cap Ferret

I forgot to say that I’ve got a bit of a stiff neck today after falling on the paddleboard yesterday (blame the big wave that crept up behind me). So no paddle boarding today for me. Another bit of info I found out…. A few days ago we were anchored at Cap Bregancon, you’ll remember it was a big fort. I did some research on it and turns out it’s a bit of a French Prime Ministers getaway place, and funnily it was where Emmanuel Macron hosted Teresa May for BREXIT talks, lol !!

Monday 2nd September…  HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!!

Almost at the end of the French Riviera now having left the anchorage and moved onto Menton. On the way we passed Monte Carlo (Monaco). We’ve both been here before but obviously not seen it from waterside. It was a bit of a let down really, just a complete mass of buildings with one or two ornate structures and a cruise ship. Still we spent some time talking about Princess Grace (Kelly)…. oh another movie star! In fact I got a bit carried away googling Grace Kelly’s love story that I didn’t have time to update the blog, lol. 

The Musee Oceanographique de Monaco

Now nearing the main harbour Port Hercule

Today's cruise ship in port

Here's the very famous Casino de Monte Carlo

A superyacht makes its way into the anchorage

Are you famous or just rich??

Gorgeous mansions in the anchorage

...and more

...and even more

Now approaching Menton

The viaduct across the ravine is at the border with Italy

These mountains are the Alps Maritime

View of Menton as we get nearer

In the anchorage collecting up the yellow swimming area buoys

Seems the summer season is over

Well we checked out an anchorage at Monaco but it was too deep for us, perhaps only suitable for those mega yachts with loadsa money? So we carried on to Menton, the last port in France and right on the border with Italy. The vieux port said they couldn’t get us in so we went to Marina Garavan. It ended up being a good choice as we were near to a lot of amenities. It was so hot today, we had to hose Saffy down again, I think she’s getting to like it. I don’t blame her. 

After dinner when it was ‘slightly’ cooler we took a very long walk round the old town. It was so unique and after passing a vast number of busy cafés and restaurants we ended up at the Church. From there, in our inquisitiveness we walked up what could only be described as an alleyway. It was like stepping back in time 100 years in an instant. It felt like London would have been in the old days,  when Jack the Ripper could have pounced at any moment. There was no need to worry though as there were plenty of ‘normal’ looking people around. 

This place has such an Italian feel

Dean and Saffy standing under the water sprays

The beach

Funny shaped tree

That doesn't bother Saffy Perro

Ooh, now a bit of a fort

The fish market we think

Which way to Italy?

Ornate buildings of old

Very nice back streets

We rambled up to the Church

Not much happening but great to see

More culture

'Jack the Ripper' alleyway??

What's Queen Vic doing here?

So we were dying for a drink by now and found a place called La Dolce Vita which looked very inviting, and they like DOGS. So in we went. Dean had a beer and I stretched to a Coke. Bill 9.50 euros. Oh well, I suppose it could have been worse. Anyway, it was a lovely place and the restaurant part was actually on the sand, it looked so inviting. Whilst we were there Dean texted Mark from work and asked him if he’d ever been here. So funny, he was here just one month ago! So Mark, sorry we were late arriving but so glad we came and had a look, it was well worth it.

This will be the last blog post entitled 'The French Riviera'

The next post will be called 'Ciao Italia'