Cruise Reports South of France/Italy Aug/Sep 2018

[J12345T]

Re: Ok. Enough fannying about. Time to light this s*#t up.

Hi All,

Saturday 18th. Another beautiful day and we decided to explore the other side of the the Gulf of St Tropez so headed up towards St Raphael. About two thirds of the way there we came upon the calanque de bon eau which was a small, rocky bay with a few boats anchored. We headed on in and dropped the pick in about 8m of water. The water was warm and clear and a little less cut up by the endless boat wakes. A lovely little cove but the real purpose of the outing was to get into some clean water in order to make more water; fresh water... After changing the filters and reading the (french) instructions at least a dozen times I fired up the water maker for the first time! Lo and behold I now have the power to turn diesel into fresh water!! After that divine feat we lolled about for a few more hours before heading back to PG. A successful day.

We had planned to head to Le Lavandou and the Porquerolles but looking at the forecast for later in the week there appears to be a Mistrale on the way. Very strong winds forecast for Fri, Sat, Sun so we decided to make hay while the sun was shining and we made the trip today. We met up with another forum-ite before departure, Adrian who was kind enough to impart some wisdom and gave us a bunch of good info. Cheers Adrian.

Once we left the absolute madness of the Gulf of St Tropez we enjoyed a beautiful couple of hours of smooth cruising at a tourist speed of 9kts. A truly lovely cruise ending with an amazing swim just outside Lavandou at the Plage St Claire. 28 degree, crystal clear water 5m deep with a sandy bottom I could have stayed for hours but we had to be in our berth by 4pm or they weren't going to hold it for us... Just as well as it turned out as there was a significant thunderstorm with associated NW gale that rolled through around 5:30pm. We enjoyed the best show in town watching all the boats come in during the 'tempest'. As I sit here typing we're enjoying the 'second' best show in town. Second behind everything else in that there is a god awful band playing obscenely loud pizookie music for a function by the Captainaire. God, they really should have warned us... I just hope it doesn't go too late...

Apart from this it has been a lovely day.

P.S. Pretty crappy meal at the Pecheur restaurant on the port waterfront. In hindsight there look to be much nicer places in the town a few streets back. I'm sure this will turn out to be a rule..

Cheers

James.

 

[J12345T]

Calanque de bon eau



Plage de St Claire

 

[derekbland]

Great read.

What boat have you got and how long are you spending out there or are you doing separate stages?

 

[mcanderson]

James,

Good to hear you are on the way. Please let me know when you start heading east. We leave London tomorrow and will be in Beaulieu sur Mer Wednesday night.

 

[J12345T]

Great read.

What boat have you got and how long are you spending out there or are you doing separate stages?

Princess 50 mark 3 and we're doing it all in one hit. We began on the 7th of Aug in Port Grimaud and will finish in Varazze awaiting shipping ex Genoa around the 20th of Sep..

Cheers.

James.

 

[J12345T]

James,

Good to hear you are on the way. Please let me know when you start heading east. We leave London tomorrow and will be in Beaulieu sur Mer Wednesday night.

Sounds great. We've had to change our plans slightly due to the strong winds forecast for this weekend. We're down in Lavandou at the moment. Visited the Porquerolles today which was nice and will head back to PG tomorrow. We have the berth in PG until the end of Aug so we'll start the journey east on the 1st of Sep. We'll definitely be in Ville Franche sur Mer on or around the 10th (to miss the Cannes boat show crowds..)..

The skipper I'm using for the actual loading is based in VF so hopefully I'l be able to catch up with him in person at that time as well..

If you're around then it'd be great to catch up.

Cheers

James.

 

[MrB]

Great trip report, keep them coming :encouragement:

 

[J12345T]

Hi All,

Today saw us return to PG from Le Lavandou via the Le Lavandou fuel berth and a lovely little cove on the western side of Point D'andati which is just north west of Cape Lardier.

But first the fuel berth. We decided to avoid the crowds and rise early to be at the fuel berth when it opened at 0730. Good decision in hindsight as it was a piece of cake and pleasantly cool (relatively) to boot. We took on an eye watering 1100 litres of the most expensive diesel I have ever purchased. Le Lav was charging 1.58/l whilst I'm pretty sure PG is charging 1.70/l. Either way it is about twice the price that I pay for diesel in New Zealand. I don't think I'll ever complain about NZ's prices again. Everything is very very expensive here by comparison.

Anyway, Point Dándati is a steep rocky point with a number of lovely little coves. The one we chose had a sandy and rocky bottom of about 5-10m depth. We squeezed in between a small runabout and a larger cruising launch and were soon joined by an assortment of other boats. Once again beautifully clear and warm water and a number of interesting schools of fish as well. We spent most of the afternoon there before continuing the trek back to PG.

The madness began pretty much as soon as we rounded the point to Pampellone beach. A washing machine of boat wakes and the baking evening sun made the next leg somewhat unpleasant and with a reasonable northerly wind blowing in PG it made for an interesting arrival. This was complicated by the fact that another boat had decided to avail itself of our berth. Bugger. A good Samaritan on the dock assisted the Captainaire in moving the RIB a couple of berths over but poor form on whomever was responsible imho...

After the clean up a takeaway pizza and a glass of red saw out another generally great day on the CDA.

Pictures to follow..

Cheers

James.

 

[J12345T]

Hi All,

Completely forgot to mention that yesterday we cruised out to the Proquerolles. Actually we started out to the Ile Port Crois looking for the beaches I thought I'd seen online only to find that those beaches were actually on the Ile de Proquerolles. We cruised passed Biae de port Man which was nice but not too impressive and on to Port Crois which again looked nice but extremely crowded so we moved on to the Ile de Proquerolles instead. Rounding Cap Des Medes we saw the beaches I was looking for but it turns out another hundred or so boats had the same idea. Feeling somewhat defeated we plonked the anchor down on the eastern side on Cap Des Medes in ~15m of water surrounded by only a couple of other boats and enjoyed a really nice afternoon swimming, snorkling etc. We then headed back to the plage St Claire for a final swim before returning to port. A really nice day.

 

[J12345T]

Sunrise in Le Lavandou


Ile de Proquerolles (I promise they were up the right way when we were there...) Grr.


Icecream delivery near point Dándati... Need I say more..

 

[Adrian]

It was lovely to meet you both, glad to hear all went well, keep the pictures coming, we're back in the UK now so need a SOF lift!

 

[BartW]

thank you so much for this interesting, and sparkling report,
brings back good memory's on all these placed that we have been on, some years ago
(we have spend 3 seasons in the region)
the lady on the icecreamboat is still the same but 5 years older
pls continue reporting on your travels / discovery's :encouragement:

fyi,
besides the well known famous and popular places
my favourite ports in SOF were Sanary sur mer and Cassis,
the latter is a bit further away from PG, but ideal for a two day trip, and a visit along the callangues..
(when the forecast allows to go that far west,
weather/wind can be totally different east and west of Toulon...)

 

[J12345T]

Hi All,

Thanks for the kinds words and advice. It is very much appreciated.

I would have LOVED to get to Cassis but sadly our itinerary and the weather forecast didn't allow it. Maybe in another lifetime..

We now have our first set of guests on board; friends from Australia which is great and adds another dynamic to the trip. We did a short day trip to Anse de Canebiers for another swim before heading back to port for the forecast strong winds.... which have yet to materialise. I hope I don't end up looking like a nervous Nellie but as they say it is better to be in port wishing you were out than out of port wishing you were in...

So a day trip to St Tropez tomorrow for a look around then we have been booked into a beach club on Pampellone next week. God help me...

Cheers

James.

 

[J12345T]

Request for Advice

Hi All,

Sorting out the final details of the next leg of the journey. We leave Port Grimaud on the 1st of Sep and I'm keen to head to the Gulf of La Napoule for a few days exploring around Cannes and the Iles de Lerins. I thought I'd call into La Napoule to visit the Princess dealer who originally delivered the boat. Is La Napoule worth a visit?

Then I thought the main port of Cannes (the week before the boat show) for 3 nights as somewhere interesting to take day trips to the Lerins...

Then on to Villefranche sur Mer for three nights before heading to Monarco for a night or two...

Anyway; I'd really appreciate hints, tips or comments on this plan and anything I may have missed. I know the Cannes boat show is 11-16 Sep so we're planning to be east by that time to avoid the crowds..

Cheers

James.

 

[BartW]

Re: Request for Advice

as an outsider,

don't miss Antibes, the yachts and megayachts centrum of that part of the med,
and a very nice old town,
and homebase of quite a few forum mates
(they can give much more and better advice for that part of CDA)

while you are there you must do Monaco,
even just sailing in and out is a nice
we also liked marina Fontvielle a lot, very nice and special with a zoo next door, and walking distance to Monaco

Menton, very nice town, and last port before Italian border

enjoy !

 

[markc]

Re: Request for Advice

On your way to Cannes, Agay is worth a lunch & swim stop - as you head into the bay, anchor on your left. You can anchor quite close to shore. An alternative is calanque d'antheor a couple of miles further east. Very small bay with sandy bottom and a train viaduct.

La Napoule is a nice marina, quiet and relaxing. A nice small beach to the west of the marina, but the beach may be manic this time of year. I tried to get into Cannes this week and they had no space. As Bart has said, Port V in Antibes is worth a visit. Lost of amazing hardwear - so much so that you'll feel you have just arrived in a dinghy! Old town is beautiful, lots to see, Picasso Museum worth an hour or so - great views on the walk up. For fuel I paid 1.69 in PV yesterday (was too late to get a tanker to the boat @1.52) St Raphael 1.63.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Re: Request for Advice

Hi All,

Sorting out the final details of the next leg of the journey. We leave Port Grimaud on the 1st of Sep and I'm keen to head to the Gulf of La Napoule for a few days exploring around Cannes and the Iles de Lerins. I thought I'd call into La Napoule to visit the Princess dealer who originally delivered the boat. Is La Napoule worth a visit?

Then I thought the main port of Cannes (the week before the boat show) for 3 nights as somewhere interesting to take day trips to the Lerins...

Then on to Villefranche sur Mer for three nights before heading to Monarco for a night or two...

Anyway; I'd really appreciate hints, tips or comments on this plan and anything I may have missed. I know the Cannes boat show is 11-16 Sep so we're planning to be east by that time to avoid the crowds..

Cheers

James.

I doubt you'll get into Cannes immediately before the boat show. Day tripping to the Lerins is easy from anywhere from Port de la Rague in the west to Baie des Anges in the east. Personally I'd skip Cannes and head for Port Vauban instead. Watch out for the new speed limit around the Cap d'Antibes (the existing speed limits between and north of the islands are long-standing and will be on your chart, but the new one round the cap was only implemented a couple of months ago).

 

[Portofino]

Re: Request for Advice

La Rague do diesel @1-58 at the pump .
It’s where we fill up .
Just outside that marina is a nice anchorage, with a beach + restaurants.
As JTB says they tip out and set up Cannes for the show the week B4 .
La Napoule is best place for a base for a week or so .
There’s a train station 5 mins away btw .
Buses to Cannes .

+1 to MarkC suggestions.
Don,t rush here
Do Agay and the train viaduct place Antheor favourite spot tbo .
Sandy bottoms

We will be off next week returning for the 20 th Sept to receive two more sets of guests .
Another set arrives this sun .
In all this season 8 sets when it’s finally over .Busy .

You can explore the cap Antibes from La Nap too .
Be aware of the speed limits 8 knots between the islands and Cannes Cali and of course the recent thread around Cap Antibes .
Additionally slight back tracking there’s plenty of little coves W in the Esterel Mountains.
You will see boats anchored as you pass .

Finally word of warning !
Approaching the Théoule peninsular keep well out .
I mean well out .
There’s a pretty none distinct rock marker approx 1/2 Mile out stay out / away from that .
At sunset it disappears in the haze .

Yup DLB are Frances Priny importers - Family run nice people .
Le spot on the marina is good place for family grub and WiFi and great beers .

A few mins walk opposite the chateau ( nice day time lunch btw ) is a street packed with food places .
Turn L at the gate .
The whole marina is 24/7 cctv and locks down with security dog patrols after midnight .
Re enter through the main gate .

Petite Casino is a 10 mins walk away in la Nap another 5 mind past the Chateau .
There’s a Michelin 2 star opposite the marina gate .
Read the menu 1 st .starters €80, mains €150 - stuff like bats wings in a mouse liver source served on a bed of chaffinch breasts .Only in France .
A nice place for a coffee in the morning is the Corderie in the corner of the marina .
There’s a few engineers in the marina ( as well as DLB ) for any urgent fixes .

If winded off take the 1/2 walk under the Chateau to La Rague .
They have a wonderful beach cafe / restaurants to get yourselves in the now proper Cote d Azur scene .

Port Grimaud / St Tropez is an annex really - the proper stuff starts here .

 

[MapisM]

Re: Request for Advice

There’s a Michelin 2 star opposite the marina gate.
Read the menu 1 st .starters €80, mains €150.

Do tell, is that for real?
By and large, two stars restaurants in F are comparable to ordinary one star restaurants anywhere else, and these folks dare charging much more than the most expensive course prepared by Bottura of Francescana's fame, ranked #1 among the World's 50 Best Restaurants?!?
Even assuming to have more money than sense, I'd rather drive all the way to Modena than have dinner there, just as a matter of principle!

 

[mcanderson]

Just a point on Villefranche, there is only a small shop for provisions and it is up a hill on the main road. In Beaulieu you have a very good Super U for stocking up.