Sailing across Golfe de Lion from Marseille
Mor Toad / Moy Toad
David and Jocelyn Fawcett
Tue 4 Jun 2019 18:17
Hvcaing had another night at anchor and I managed two swims last night and early this morning we set off at 8.50 to head further west. We set off motoring but as forecast predicted the wind got up and we managed to sail but quite lumpy sea and as we passed the bit of coast where the Rhône enters the sea colour changed for a pleasant dark blue to a mucky green!! As we left the Marseille area there were still limestone cliffs and according to the pilot book still a few anchorages in various calanques but no where near as stunning as those we’d been to before Marseille. Gradually the coast got flatter and more industrial and once past the Rhône extremely flat very difficult to see any land and this was the Camargue . Few other yachts out plenty of lobster pots which we had a to keep a beady eye open for and just over 6 hours later we arrived at Port Guardian which is at a place called Stes-Maries de Mer apparently the capital of the Camargue and famous for its church and the remains within of two Marys who the story goes arrived by boat without sails or oars in 40AD.
We arrived on the visitors mooring and we are still there as blowing us pretty hard straight on and would have been some manoeuvre to get off which I am assured by Mr F is totally possible. Tomorrow morning will tell but hopefully the wind will have died down overnight. As the photograph below shows just behind the sea wall the Kite Surfers are having a wonderful time.
Charts showing course from Marseille and position of boat in marina.
The town is famous not only for its annual Gypsy festival which is a religious one but also the Camargue has bulls which are not raised for beef but for the Provençal ‘courses a la concarde’ a local type of bullfighting which has more in common with Minoan bull-leaping than bloody bullfights of Spain. The whole area is known for its flatness and water as shown on the chart above and its wildlife flamingoes and white horses Amon other things.
The Church constructed in 12 century apparently had a dual role and was a place of refuge for Saracen corsairs who raided this coastline
Tomorrow the boat plus David and two crew Peter and David are heading down the coast to a marina at Cap d’Agde. I have decided I need a break so I am going to catch the bus to Arle hopefully have time to look around before catching the train to Agde. Hopefully we shall meet on board tomorrow evening.
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