Heading South – Getting warmer – Ile De Noirmoutier
L’Herbaudiere, on the tip of the Ile De Noirmoutier, is just 15 nm south of Pornichet. We sailed pretty much the entire way on a beautiful day and caught another Bonito on the way. Knowing by now that this was far too good for fish bait we were pleased to land it.
Back Home Then Return to Pornichet
We had arranged to go home for a couple of weeks and traveled with Alice and James by ferry.
30 odd of our family and friends who were not on holiday joined us for a BBQ at home when surprisingly it didn’t rain! We packed in a lot over the 2 weeks and were looking forward to getting back to Calypso by the end of it.
However when we arrived back……..
Coming Soon (when we have wifi!)
This is just a quick update -until we get wifi – to let you know that we haven’t sunk!!
Pornichet and Pornic – and visitors!
We had to be back to the mainland and in Pornichet marina by the last Saturday in July where we had arranged to meet Alice and James who were coming for a week’s holiday. Paul’s back was sufficiently mended to leave the madness and noise of Le Palais by Wednesday – which would give us time to reorganise storage in the aft cabins to have one cabin clear for our visitors!
Bawdy Belle Ile
We had originally intended to visit both Sauzon (small harbour with mooring balls) and Le Palais (main town with pontoons in the inner harbour behind a lock gate). However Paul’s back was still very slowly recovering and not up to launching dinghies!
Le Crouesty – Le sardine tin!
We entered Le Crouesty very easily – it is less than a mile outside the Port Navalo entrance to the Morbihan, and whilst there are shallows, the entrance is well buoyed and there is an easily followed leading line (red panel with white stripe in line with the lighthouse – not to be confused with the nearby white port entrance marker with a red stripe!!)
Vannes for Bastille Day
The marina in Vannes is a long narrow (for a marina) canal that runs right up to one of the gates of the Intra-Muros (walled medieval city with many of the ramparts still in good nick). This has many advantages – shops, bars, markets and summer sales; although one big disadvantage is the noise of drunken young folk leaving the nearby bars at 2 and 3am! Arriving on a Friday we assumed this would end after Saturday – but no such luck, this is obviously a party city!
Entering the Morbihan
Our Irish friends from L’Aber Wrac’h had said we should go to Vannes, especially for Bastille Day (14th July).
We were tempted but the Morbihan (“small sea” in Breton) covers 50 square miles of relatively shallow water which empties and fills through a gap that is less than half a mile wide – and as it enters the tide sluices and boils in narrow channels between the many pretty island in there. The tide runs at up to 9 knots through some of these channels……….
One night in Port Haliguen
We set off early (for us – 9.00am) from Port Tudy into a bit of a fog. We left the sails stowed initially but after a while raised the main to motor sail, adding a whole extra half a knot. The fog was patchy – at times quite dense and at times the view opened and the sun tried to break through.
We fired up the new radar in anger for the first time – and soon discovered that we need to RTFM………
Sore bottoms on Ile De Groix
We delayed our departure from Concarneau by a few days due to high winds, giving us less time to explore the Islands of Groix and Belle Ile than we would have liked, before entering the Morbihan and visiting Vannes for Bastille Day celebrations. We intended to stay 2 nights on each island, but enjoyed Groix so much that we stayed 4 nights and missed Belle Ile out altogether – hoping to return after Vannes.