We arrived off Marseille early Wednesday, a day earlier than scheduled, and passed within sight of Chateau d’If, a former fortress and prison about a mile offshore, immortalised in Alexandre Dumas’ novel, the Count of Monte Cristo.  

Once in the harbour we fuelled up for the last time for six months and managed to get to our berth without incident. The harbour here is enormous; the ownership and organisation are split between several clubs and associations around the place. The staff are very friendly here and managed to help with our most pressing issue, where to find a replacement battery for the engine start one that we ‘fried’ earlier in the week.  

We found just what we needed in the first of two chandleries. The online search had suggested the cost would be about €400, but we bought one for about half that, after Nigel had negotiated a further discount – you don’t ask, you don’t get! Heaving the 40kg battery outside the shop to carry it back down the hill to the marina, we were kindly offered a lift by a lady who also had her boat there and insisted on helping us transport our new purchase.  

Fitting the new battery was straightforward after we’d removed all the extra wires we’d put in and put everything back to normal. We were able to start and run the engine to check the whole system was working properly with all the right outputs from the alternator and across the new battery. Something of a relief even when you know you’ve done it correctly.  

We took the opportunity of Robin and Mark being onboard to take the main sail and head sail off and stored them down below. We also completed the engine service ahead of our final move 20 miles down to the coast in Port Navy Service, Port Louis du Rhone where we are being lifted out for the winter on Wednesday. All the main canvas sections – biminis and sprayhoods have been removed for the winter to reduce windage and possible damage in high winds that are experienced here sometimes. The sail bag which is looking a bit sorry for itself and in desperate need of repair, is coming home in my hand baggage (all I have) for some serious sewing. Thankfully I don’t need to bring much else home!

Marseille is lovely, with a large old section surrounding the port, bars and restaurants covering nearly every available space and the beautiful Notre Dame of la Garde up on the hill overlooking the whole city. We trekked up the hill to visit the church on our second day here. Wonderful views (see below) from the top of the hill and inside the church itself. As you might expect there was a strong maritime theme inside, including many models of boats and ships suspended on strings from the high ceilings.  

Yesterday, on the advice of the chandlery manager, we visited the Cosquer Mediterranee, an exhibition of the prehistoric caves discovered by Henri Cosquer in 1985, by all accounts something of a character and former professional diver. He discovered the caves and the artwork inside, 37m underwater a short distance from Marseille. The story of his discovery is told through a life-size replica which is probably the best and most realistic representation you could possibly imagine and very helpfully narrated throughout with an English audio guide.  

The caves were occupied by our ancestors some thirty thousand years ago during the last ice age; the artists used charcoal to draw all manner of animals, from horses and bison to, would you believe, penguins (well it was the ice age!) throughout all the cave system. As the ice melted thousands of years ago, the sea levels rose and the coast, some 35 miles distant at the time of the cave occupation, eventually flooded them and locked up their secrets until Henri rediscovered them many thousands of years later.  

We had a taste of the gales yesterday that the region experiences sometimes in the winter months as cold air shoots down from the Pyrenees in what is known as the Mistral wind. It blew at up to 40knots at times, but secure in our berth, the only effect on us was some squeaking fenders taking the load as we squeezed against the jetty!   

Robin left us after the exhibition visit yesterday and Mark today, so just Nigel and I to complete the final preparations for lift out of Cassini this week for the next six months. Port Navy Service at the mouth of the Rhone is the largest dry berth marina in Europe (where all the boats are lifted into a huge area like a boat carpark). It’s got great reviews on Navily (Trip Advisor for yachties) so hopefully it will keep Cassini safe until the Spring cruise along the French and Italian Rivieras and cruising areas East of that as time and the Schengen rules allow.