Delphinus

After an enjoyable night sail we had a quick motor around Monaco Marina seeing how the other half live, before heading to meet up with Jayne's sister and family who were looking forward to spend a week sailing with us. At this point we had to say farewell to Nico and Kathleen who had spent the previous 5 weeks with us since joining in Sicily, a great couple with whom we thoroughly enjoyed sharing a great holiday.
So with the boat full of people again off we headed to an anchorage near Cap d'Antibes where we had a swim in superyacht central as Roman Abramovich then Rupert Murdoch's boats both anchored as our neighbours. We knew we had "arrived" when these guys were following our movements.
The next stop was the Iles de Lerins, south of Cannes, a very beautiful location, and great snorkelling spot. We saw cormorants fishing and swam underwater watching them gliding effortlessly as they hunted. The island had a lovely walk through woods and visited the monastery shop. Frejus, was our next stop for a couple of days at the marina complex, the town appears to be built around it and the kids loved it! A nice beach and also very kid friendly. During the evening the kids enjoyed the carousel, candy floss, fireworks and jousting competition on water.
We sailed back to the Lerins islands were we dropped anchor for the night, to be woken at 7am by heavy rain coming in through our cabin hatch, Jayne went on deck as the wind speed and rain was increasing very quickly. Soon we had constant lightening and the wind became so strong that the anchor began to slip, heading close to two other yachts! Jayne eventually got the boat under control with some impressive motoring skills. The Winds gusted at over 45 knots! We moved later that morning to Cannes as the forecast was predicting more of the same.
Jayne's sister and family left late that morning, which meant a day to tidy and stock up with provisions. There was a great fireworks display over Cannes bay that night, we saw our visitor's flight pass behind the colourful flashes in the sky, suddenly we realised we were alone for the first time in months, the fireworks continued!
We enjoyed the French islands and Iles Port Cros was a special place among them, anchored in a beautiful clear water bay to the north of the island, a nice calm night and the best snorkelling in weeks, some new species of fish including a shoal of Barracudas swirling below us in the beautiful clear waters, a short walk later and cocktails, a beautiful island with oodles of character.
Cracking fun sailing out to sea then back towards Porquiroles on a good breeze which we really enjoyed, then snorkelled and spent the night at anchor. More islands next, with the beautiful Iles Empereurs via the Clanques de Cassis, stunning scenery and calm seas, enjoyed some of the most beautiful snorkelling, perfect evening in a fabulous setting. A lot of the islands we were visiting had been turned into nature reserves and this has made a massive difference to the diversity of wildlife in both the sea and in the air and land, more nature reserves please. Paul and Lily walked on the island then we headed off to Port Saint Louis.
In Port St Louis we hired a car and enjoyed driving around the Camargue, we saw the pink salt flats, huge flocks of flamingos, a lovely lunch and then an ornithological park. Upon leaving the park picked up a German couple hitching and took them back to Arles, it worked out well as on the way back we spotted a great reserve. We decided to keep the hire car for another day as we wanted to go back to the reserve and visit a creatively managed nature reserve with brilliant activities for kids and walks. We saw flocks of glossy ibis, herons, egrets and thousands of dragonflies and a lovely jersey moth, had a picnic and headed back for fresh made pizza!
Leaving Port St Louis, heading down the channel from the port we got 25kn winds and hit 8kn on half a genoa and no main sail. The sea was relatively flat considering the winds, We arrived in Port Camargue and chatted to a French family next to us with a small girl called Valentine, Lily really enjoyed playing with her. Cap d'Agde for our next anchorage in hope of seeing the Persied meteor shower,that night, a very touristy spot with any hope of tranquillity removed by constant swell and noise from jet skiers until dark.
The following day strong winds with gusts up to 45 knots created a swell, which we enjoyed bouncing over the waves on our way into Gruissan. The mooring up in the side winds made it interesting, but we achieved it, we're getting good at this game.
Our friends Miki and Martin came to visit in hope of a sail but rough seas postponed our trip so went to their house for our first night off the boat in 4 months. Enjoyed a beautiful meal together and great night sleep, we woke to a beautiful sunrise through our bedroom window, ate breakfast outside before heading to Minnervoir Gorge for walking and swimming. We saw beautiful demoiselle dragonflies mating and tonnes of butterflies, water snakes a wonderful day. Later on we headed back to the boat for tea and drinks then slept on the boat before a leisurely sail next day.
The last part of the French Riviera we spent sailing and swimming with Andrew and Arthur (Pauls brother and young son) who joined us for a few days before we changed our journey direction. Arthur was completely at home in the water I'm not sure if father or son had the most fun, but it was a great way to end our journey around the Mediterranean.