2 day cruise report, Antibes to Marseille (pics)

adey

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What should have been a leisurely 5 day trip along the South of France turned into a two day dash but hey-ho, we still had a good time. This sort of trip has been posted on here before with similar stops but some may not be familiar. Here’s the approx route we took, mapped onto Google Earth.

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Boat went back in after a month ashore at Baie des Anges. This little thing in the boatyard looked like fun.

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The police have to shut the road to allow the travel lift down the one-way street the wrong way. Must annoy the locals.

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First stop was Saint Tropez. Didn’t go into the town but anchored for lunch in the bay.
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Some expensive looking villas around here.
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Blast to the anchorage at Porquerolles. I think Red Dot Bay was the next bay over but it looked busy and where we anchored for the night was fairly pretty.

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Our first night at anchor on this boat went without me worrying at all. The weather was superb.

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The view in the morning. Great stuff.



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Next stop Cassis. Bit touristy but nice enough. The trip boats make entering the harbour...err... interesting.

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Took on a 100 or so ltrs of fuel and they kindly let us stop for an hour to buy sandwiches and cake.

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Stopped off for lunch at Ile de Riou to eat said sarnies and cakes. Couldn’t get right in front of the beach because of a big trip boat but it is a superb little sandy beach. Took the tender ashore but not the camera.




Left for Port Napoleon (near Marseille). 30 miles at 20+ knots with the swim ladder down. Oops!



As we approached Marseille the chartplotter decided not to zoom so we had to use the paper chart and pilot book to find the entrance to Port Napoleon. That was fun, not.
Port Napoleon is a strange place, like a dry stack for big boats. They lift the boats out onto cradles that can then be picked up and towed around the yard.
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It was then that I noticed some cracks on the top sides. Pretty sure these weren’t there before the lift out.
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Should I worry?

Anyway, she will be out now until Sept when the next hop West should take us to Barcelona (ish!)
Would have preferred more time on this stretch, maybe one day we'll do it again at a more leisurely pace.
 
Hmmmm, those cracks are sufficiently prominent that I doubt you would have missed them earlier. However, great pics thanks. Water looks fantastic. Good luck with the next phase.
 
Nice trip - thanks for the pics. I've done the napoleon-Antibes delivery a few times. We must have just missed you at weekend - several of us were in Antibes at weekend. I like the Baie des Anges yard and use it for most of my haul outs.

Your berth in Cassis is right beside Bart's old berth - he was on the end behind the forestay/furled jib of boat in foreground of your picture. Nice place

Entering Napolean without electronic charting must have been fun. It is weird isn't it, as you go westbound along the sort of river? You're a long way from land and you see fishing guys standing up waist high, seemingly miles from the coast. You want to offer them a lift!

Good luck with next leg across the famous golfe du lyon!

PN itself is an awful place imho. Just a boat store in a desert, with lots of mozzies. you want to get out as fast as you can

Those cracks do look odd. Did either of the lifts sort of crush the hull? They look like they've been there a while. Could someone have bashed you hard in a stern to mooring, as the boats waved from side to side in a strong wind?
 
Mmm, Port Napoleon, not my favourite marina. We spent a few weeks there in 2005. I hope you've got some industrial strength mozzie repellent because when we were there, the mozzies were the size of small birds. Don't bother visiting nearby Port St Louis; its not worth it. I guess you're there to get your boat lifted and trucked away? I hope so
 
Nice trip - thanks for the pics. I've done the napoleon-Antibes delivery a few times. We must have just missed you at weekend - several of us were in Antibes at weekend.
I rarely do weekends as that's my work time (cafe).
Entering Napolean without electronic charting must have been fun. It is weird isn't it, as you go westbound along the sort of river? You're a long way from land and you see fishing guys standing up waist high, seemingly miles from the coast. You want to offer them a lift!
Yup, and from a distance I confused the new mussel farm (not charted!) with the long wall and ended up the wrong side of it in 3m of water for what seemed like forever.
The whole area around PN is awful but it will do as a boat park for the summer while I'm too busy working.

Pretty sure I would have spotted the cracks after a week on board and swimming around it. I think it was when they moved the cradle away from the lift. There was a sort of bang as it moved. I was being whisked off in a golf buggy at the time but thought it didn't sound right from a distance. I guess I'll never prove it but just worried that there's other damage that I can't see.
 
Mmm, Port Napoleon, not my favourite marina. I guess you're there to get your boat lifted and trucked away? I hope so

I won't be there again until early Sept for the next hop west so it's ideal for me. I had to laugh at the cruising guide when the 'on site apartments' turned out to be shipping containers with one door and one window :)
 
I won't be there again until early Sept for the next hop west so it's ideal for me. I had to laugh at the cruising guide when the 'on site apartments' turned out to be shipping containers with one door and one window :)
Yeah its a good place to leave a boat and there are good maintenance people in the marina too, or at least there were in 2005
 
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