Position:  46:02.16N 01:22.18W

St Denis D’Oleron, France

We left Les Sables after getting bored of waiting for a weather window to cross Biscay.  We had a rolly passage South past Ile de Re, with the Westerly swell still strong from the recent strong winds so although the sun was shining it wasn’t the most pleasant of passages, even though the wind was nicely on the beam and we had some nice 3-sail reaching.  However as we got into the shelter of Ile d’Oleron, the swell eased and we dropped the sails and motored into this sandy little marina.  You can only get in on the top half of the tide and we found that when the tide went out, we were actually sat gently on the bottom at our pontoon!  Luckily it is only soft mud and we can only just have been touching. 

St Denis is a chilled out, sandy holiday town with campsites, sand dunes, pine trees, beach huts and lots of boats.  There is a children’s playground at the top of the pontoon, a beach (with a lovely beach bar) just 50 metres to the left, and another beach 200 metres to the right.  What more could you ask for?

We spent a couple of days in St Denis, chilling out on the beach and following the daily routine of school, shopping, washing, boat jobs, etc.  We were also keeping an eye on the forecast for a suitable window for crossing Biscay.  Finally, the forecasts started to sound positive and at 0815 on Sat 21^st August, we cast off from France, bound for Spain.

Another day, another beach