43:32.51N 07:01.97E

5 August 2011

At Antibes we had a nice Motor Yacht crew next to us who gave us some valuable information on ports to visit.  Nice couple, British and Swiss (Geneva, French side) who are crewing the boat and know the area well.  So with their kind help we let our mooring lines go and off we went.  Glad and sad to leave.  Antibes is a very nice town but the marina is just too large and the berth had a very shallow area next to the wall that would result in our rudder hitting if we stayed during any sort of big blow.

We left late morning for the 13 mile trip to Cannes.  First we looked at anchoring off a couple of the islands just south of Cannes.  Wrong.  This is August and all of Europe in on holiday.  The anchorages at the islands were absolutely jammed with more boats heading that way.  The constant flux of boats caused the area to have very large choppy waters making any thought of a nice anchorage a far-fetched dream.  So we headed to the Port of Canto.  However, we had to sit outside waiting for a berth to open.  So we anchored just outside the Cannes harbor.  This looks like a great place but it turns out that it is a designated water skiing area and everything else that can motor place.  They even had a security boat come over to us and ask us to move further offshore since this was a “Nautical Sport Area”.  On the charts it is listed as a training area but obviously the description is too limited for its actual use.  So the wakes were large and anchoring was not pleasant.  Finally we were given permission to enter the marina which we did within 30 seconds.

Once inside we were given a berth that was a little short but much better than being outside.  Working on the lines we got the boat well secured.  Very calm inside and a well maintained marina.  But we had to ask permission each day to stay another day.  What is it with France.  Does this make sense that any day you could be asked to leave because why???  I assume that the next person was willing to pay a little bit extra to the staff or something.  When I asked for 4 days they said no way but come back in the morning and ask again.  I did that each day and was given permission to stay another day each time.  Never had to deal with this before except in France.  But again the price was much cheaper than Italy.

Okay how about Cannes.  Nice town.  Tourist built with some nice shops.  The major hotels seem to intentionally park the most expensive cars out front.  So if you want to see Bentley’s, Ferraris, Rolls, Mercedes, etc just walk along the hotels.

As with many French tourist towns the food can be crap.  We had a good lunch however at a nice restaurant indoors to avoid the smoking crowd outside.  After that we walked along one of the main streets for shops.  Some nice stuff at tourist prices.  We found a nice little market to buy produce and food stuff on the way back to the boat.

The next day we again ventured along the town and had a more typical crap lunch with a staff that was just summertime help.  Still it is a nice place to visit.

One night they had a  huge fireworks display.  This was the best fireworks we had ever seen.  It went on for an hour and have some really interesting variations.  It was a big event and lots of boats went out to the anchorage to get an up close view, maybe too close for some of them when a few fireworks took a different course than expected.

The islands just south of Cannes are very nice places to visit and anchor for the day.  But in August they are not pleasant.  All the chop is power boat wakes from every direction.

Here is the famous Cannes beach.  Not much to look at.  This is the free section.  We were anchored just on the outside by the couple of yachts while we waited for a berth to open.

Here is the hotel owned section of beach.  Beachfront grills and managed beach chairs/umbrellas beyond.  Our marina is at the far edge of the picture.

Hotel Carlton

Carlton International with some high class kids in front.

This is where it all happens.  Place of the film festival and now many performers that I do not have a clue who they are except Paris Hilton apparently was one of the performances.  What she did I have no idea except it is Paris who seems to be able to sell her name very well.  Along the edge of the pavement are hand prints of many of the film stars.  Everyone from Jerry Lewis to Stallone to Mini Me had their paw prints in the cement.

One of the nicer places to eat.  They claim to be the oldest Cannes restaurant, not a really distinguished reason to eat there but it was good.

Typical back street in Cannes.  Just plenty of shops.

Here is a shot in the marina.  I do not know but it seems the yachts are trying to show who has the biggest sphere