Cruising the Rivieras. Iles Frioul 43:16.70N, 05:18.70E.
Saro's Gyda
Derrick Thorrington
Mon 18 Apr 2011 17:07
We waited in Genoa for a few more days as our friends from CSC, John and Val,
were joining us for the first part of our Med cruise. Despite the favourable
turn of the weather up to then, our first excursion into Mediterranean waters
brought wind on the nose and cold, heavy rain! We hoped that this was not the
herald of things to come!
The loose plan was to make good progress westward and to end up as
near to Marseille as we could by the time John and Val left. However we also
wanted to see as many places as possible in the process, which although seemed
like a tall order, worked very well with hops of between 12 and 30 miles at a
time.
We made two
landfalls in Italy, exploring thoroughly the towns of Loano and San Remo with
it's amazing hilltop old town with tiny corridors and passageways climbing up
the steep hill. Ice creams were bought in each town in the pretence of
research and all were proclaimed to be equally delicious!
From the border of Italy there are approximately 5 miles of
France before the coastal waters of Monaco, so no sooner has the Italian
courtesy flag been lowered and the French raised, the French has to be
lowered again as to fly this in Monaco is frowned upon. We could not resist
taking our own Yacht into Monaco so we braced ourselves for the expense and
planned for a one night stay. After a quick lunch we were off on our sightseeing
tour which included the old town, cathedral, palace, superyacht marina and of
course, the casino. John thought to try his hand at gambling on a one-armed
bandit. Unfortunately his bid of one euro wasn't good enough as the machines
demanded 5 Euros minimum. Val made the most of the Casino by visiting the very
posh loos and telling us all about them! We kept a good lookout for smart
cars and were surprised to see that the most popular cars were Rolls Royces and
Bentleys with only a smattering of Porsches, Lamborghinis and Ferraris. The
weather was lovely and the "beautiful people" on the huge superyachts were busy
making the correct impression on the many ordinary folk passing
by.
Port Monaco in the
middle of Monaco
Spot Green Flash
(nearest pontoon, 4th boat along) in the less showy marina beneath the old
city.
We continued westwards in comfortable hops, in beautiful weather,
wall to wall sunshine and not a breath of wind! The coastline gradually changed
from hilly with a backdrop of snow covered mountains to rocky with small bays
and islands. We anchored at Ile St Marguerite, the scene of an English
Naval action in 1793, St Raphael with its red volcanic rocks and islands
were the mate had her first Med swim, much to the astonishment of some
locals (it was a little bit fresh), and the beautiful island of Porquerolles
(pronounced "Pork Rolls") offshore from Toulon. The weather has become
hotter and hotter which, according to the locals is very unusual for this time
of year, and swimming in the beautiful clear water has become a daily event. The
other frequent event in France is (of course) the enjoyment of French food most
notably the cheeses, pates, seafood, croissants and
pastries.
Perfect anchorage
off Porquerolles
Looking towards
Toulon from Porquerolles
Our last port of call with John and Val was the delightful little
town on Bandol with its accompanying small island of Bendor where on our
final evening together, we enjoyed a typically French meal at a friendly little
restaurant.The following morning, after their last croissants, John
and Val were waved off to catch their flight from Toulon. It was lovely to have
had their company for almost two weeks.
The area to the west of Toulon is white limestone, carved into
fantastic shapes and intersected by deep, sheer gorges. Some of these gorges
lead out into the sea and are known as the "Calanques". After 12 miles of
motoring along this beautiful coast we decided to stay for the night at Port
Miou situated deep in a very sheer calanque. The pilot book warned that it would
be difficult to make out from the sea and as we headed straight for the sheer
coast we were relieved to suddenly see a right angled turn disappearing behind
the cliff. We followed the bend and entered the most beautiful gorge with white
cliffs, pine trees and clear blue water. As we ate lunch in the cockpit we were
entertained by local men highdiving from the cliffs 60 feet above the water.
(The spectacle did not help the digestion).
Calanque de Port
Miou
Entrance to the
calanque
We are now tucked into a marina between the two main islands of
Les Iles de Frioul, just off the city of Marseilles, having at last
had a good wind. Unfortunately this was straight on the nose and had whipped up
a bit of a sea in the narrow channels between the islands so motorsailing had to
be the order of the day. The islands are of very rugged, white limestone
and are covered with ruined forts. The small offlying Ile d'Ife
with it's dramatic chateau was the setting for the book, "The Count of
Monte Christo".
Ile d'Ife from Ile
de Frioul with Marseille in the background.
The "meteo" gave out a mistral warning three days ago so we decided to wait
here until it had passed, being unsure of the likihood of getting into one of
the very small local marinas on the next stretch of coast. The local
forecast was for winds of 40knots with stronger gusts from the NW. As predicted,
the wind began to gust at midnight, just after we had gone to bed. The rest of
the night was spent cringing at the incredible gusts and getting up regularly in
a bid to stop the boat rebounding from the gusts and hitting the quay hard
with the bow. (The mooring was the type where the boat is secured with a buoy to
the bow or stern and the other end to the quay, so lying perpendicular to the
quay). After several unsuccessful attemps of preventing this with extra
ropes and a bow fender, we resigned ourselves to launching the dinghy and
employing two more spare mooring buoys and reinforcing the bow lines. As the
next day progressed the wind and gusts continued to strengthen. We began to be
able to recognise the strength of the gusts by how many fenders landed on the
deck and the amount of spray that was being lifted off the flat water of the
harbour!
(two fenders =
50knots)!
It is now the day after. The wind has calmed down to a F5 with the
occasional small gust and is predicted to drop further this afternoon. The
weather is still lovely and sunny but has turned cold after the mistral.
Hopefully we shall move on later on our way to Sete and the beginning of the
Canal du Midi.