Date: 26-07-06     Time: 17:00  UTC      Position: 47:22.94N  002:57.60W   Name: Ile de Houat 

Dette var en fin plass fant vi ut, og ble her en dag til. Dagen har gått til husarbeid, eller båtarbeid. En god vask av båten innvendig og utvendig, lufting av dyner, banking av tepper, vask av bad osv. Vi gikk også en fin tur på denne lille øya som viser seg å ha en fin liten havn for mindre båter, noen få butikker og restauranter osv. Atskillig mindre enn både Belle Isle og Isle de Groix, har øya beholdt mer av sin opprinnelig sjarm. Vi så ikke tegn til nybygging her, og biler finnes ikke - selv om det er noen få kilometer med farbar vei. En campingplass av den naturlige sorten gjør at gjestene utgjør et blandet spekter av velbeslåtte og yngre. Vi hadde glemt å ta med penger på turen vår, så både iskrem og øl måtte vi gå pent forbi.

 

Vi var tre båter som overnattet her, det har vært en del båter innom i løpet av dagen og flere folk på stranda siden været har vært atskillig varmere og tørrere enn igår. Vi badet før frokost, og Nigel har prøvd våtdrakta si og dykket ned til ankeret for å se at det sitter godt. Inspeksjon av offeranodene på propellen og akslingen viser at disse må nok skiftes i løpet av sommeren pga mye tæring. En grei nok jobb, men det krever at båten sitter veldig rolig - det er litt for mye småbølger idag. Dagens bilder - båtene i bukta vår, Nano omtrent i midten.

 

This place is pretty nice, so we decided to stay another day. While we haven't exactly stressed ourselves with activity, we have at least done some housekeeping (boatkeeping?), airing the duvets, washing the boat both inside and outside, cleaning the heads etc. We took the dinghy ashore and had a nice walk round some of the island which has a prett y little harbour, some shops and a few restaurants. A lot smaller than both Belle Isle and Isle de Groix, the place seems to have kept more of the original charm. We saw no new building, there are a couple of miles of road, but we saw no cars either parked or in motion. The town had a small church at the centre, with narrow streets radiating from it. A large camping site - basically a flattish field with a stand pipe and some clean looking toilets and showers gives the tourist selection from the young and poor to the elder richer who presumably own many of the cosy houses on the island.

 

We were just three boats who spent the night at anchor here. The wind quietened down in the evening, then the northerly "vent solaire" blew for a few hours at night, but this bay is well protected from the vent solaire. Boats have come and gone during the day, perhaps eight boats at most, only five now. There have been more people on the beach too as the sun has been out today and the showers have not come our way. Even though I say "more people", we are talking about 50 people on a beach 500m long, so this is not the image of costa del sol where everyone has about 4x3m of beach to themselves.

 

We had a swim before breakfast - very refreshing, and then the hot coffee and croissants taste even better. Nigel tried his wet suit for the first time, swimming and snorkelling around, diving to check that the anchor was well dug into the sandy bottom. A check of the propeller showed that the sacrificial anodes will have to be replaced this summer, there is more erosion of them than normal - perhaps the warmer saltier water than at home, or too much use of shore power with faulty earthing. This I will do when we are somewhere with no waves at all - much easier when the boat is completely stationary. Today's picture shows our anchorage - Nano about in the middle of the group of boats.