We had a good journey to the entrance of Arcachon.

We left Les Sables de Olonne early in the morning(0700 hs).

Weather was kind, 10 knts wind. A bit of sell though.

We prepared ourselves for a long day sailing. We knew we were late which eventually might compromise our entrance to Arcachon.

Lovely weather,sunny ,good fishing(2 tunas this time)but we  were running late.

We arrived to the entrance of the bay at 2200 and still had to go another our and half with no lit leading buoys.

This is probably the trickiest port/bay entrance in France.If you read books they will advise to avoid it despite its great beauty and glamour(CapFerret is very very posh!!!)

each winter the big storms change the channel location hence no updated maps are available except local knowledge. For you to have an idea, you can go from10 m depth to a shallow bank within 50 mts!!!!!!Our draft is2.25 mts…..

Our choice was either to continue another 12 hrs to Bayonne/Biarritz or to had a go. Tired as we were guess what our choice was.

Miriam and John went to bow to try to spot in the middle of the night a red/green buoy and just pray we would not hit a bank.

Luckily they found the way(actually opposite by 500 mts where the channel was a year ago!) and struggling we reached the marina by 2345 hs. As usual in all french marinas after 7 pm no one around so find a spot if you can.

Once we found a berth, the morning after we saw the beauty of the place and the great french welcome. 

Lovely weather,good shops, restaurants and many beaches close by.

This time we decided to put up the dinghy which we use as a main of transport for few days. Go to supermarket/beach/Casino/you name it. The boat driver changed by the occasion being John very active. After few days even Alexander learnt how to handle it!!!

We spent 4 days here and we decided to go the morning after towards Bayonne.