43:31.21N   04:07.58E    Port Camargue

Sunday 16^th May, 2010.

We were up early Saturday morning as our friends, Alison and Steve were joining us for a week’s sailing before flying home from Marseille next Saturday. It was a bright sunny day with quite a strong wind blowing when they arrived.  After coffee we went in search of the community market to buy some oysters for lunch and an assortment of fish for Jim’s bouillabaisse dinner before the market closed at lunch time.

The market was busy with the local housewife buying for the weekend.  Madam weighed, washed and prepared the fish Jim bought. It took ten minutes at least but every customer is treated the same and nothing is too much trouble.

After a wonderful lunch we walked down through the town along the canals as Sete is basically an island surrounded by water. After a stop for refreshments at the American Bar overlooking the water we walked along the fairly new promenade and viewed the beautiful villas with the marvellous views over the sea.

The bouillabaisse was delicious and well worth the effort.

We wake Sunday morning and the wind had dropped a little so after breakfast we left Sete harbour for Port Camargue.  We sailed all the way on the genoa which we had to reduce to half as the wind started to blow around 28 knots.  We made quick time and we were heading into Port Camargue in less than 2 ½ hours having covered over 20 miles.

The fun arrived when with the wind blowing we had to reverse into a stem berth with four posts which needed lines around each one.  After a few minutes we were tied up and thinking of lunch and out came the beautiful bread Steve had purchased early from the bread shop to have with cheese, ham and fish.

The marina provide cycles as the area is so large as there are hundreds of apartments with waterways for the boats to be moored.

On the ride we found half a dozen driving traps and the horses resting under the trees.  It seemed so strange to see them just by the water and the boats a few feet away.

Most of the apartments are closed but we can only imagine in the peak of summer it must be very, very busy here. The bike ride took us to the beach area where we watched around 100 kite surfers enjoying the afternoon wind.  The sand on the beach was being blown high into the air due to the wind but it did not deter the surfers. The bikes are a brilliant idea here as it is flat but the whole area covers a large area.  We were cycling for over two hours just going around the marina area.