15th - 17th June - Adventure along the French Coast

With the crew down to three we operated a two hours on four hours off watch system because the passage proved to be quite calm. We were meant to dock at Port Camargue, close to Montpellier, but there was conflicting information in the pilots and almanacs for the depths recorded in that marina, and we decided to check out Sete, which I knew to be a deep water commercial port. Fenix draws close to 4 meters, and many of the ports and marinas along the South coast would not be suitable unless you are prepared to anchor.

We arrived off Sete just before 9 a.m. After entering the port we were advised that the inner dock would not be accessible till 1700 hours, which effectively ruled out us staying there because we needed to dock, and more importantly access to shore power. Having decided to try our luck elsewhere we moved on to the next port at Palavas-les-Flots, where there was just enough water to get enter but the marina was quite full and had no berthing for us.

Our last resort on the Languedoc Rousillon coast was Port Camargue, which was our original proposed destination. We entered the marina and were received by a guide boat which was to lead us to our berth, but unfortunately as we suspected we grounded on a number of occasions. Finally, we were offered a dock which the customs vessel was berthed on, but again we grounded within a meter and a half of the dock. The marina staff were very apologetic, but this left us with a bit of a dilemma as the next port with water deep enough to enter was Marseille, a passage in excess of 45 miles.

It was 1700 hours by the time we managed to extract ourselves from Port Camargue, and we set off in the direction of Marseille leaving the shallows of the Camargue and Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer along our port side. The light and bascilica of Notre Dame de la Garde, situated high on a high rocky outcrop above the vieux port in Marseilles, was our guide as we motored through the night over the last 25 miles to that ancient port. With some relief and a little tired, we docked in the vieux port in the early hours of the morning.

The morning of the 16th June was bright and sunny and the light glistened in the long marine avenue of the vieux port in Marseille. Small fishing boats were already beginning to gather at Place les Belges to sell their catches of fish. There were less fish available here than in Barcelona and this is probably due to the scale of the vessels and fishing carried out in the area. Some vendors were offering for sale monkfish, sole, bream, and small fish for soup, while others displayed shellfish such as sea urchins and even seahorses.

After checking in with the port authorities, it became clear that we could not stay for as long as we wished, and consequently we would have to move on. After a little lunch, we decided to get a bit of exercise and walk up to Notre Dame de la Garde to take in the views and gaze down over the city. Views out to sea were dominated by the Frioul archipelago, a goup of four islands in the Bay, one of which is the location of the notorious Chateau D'If. Turning towards the west provided great prospects inlands over France's second largest city.

For a variety of reasons we needed to be able to remain at dock for a minimum ten days and the port authorities in Marseille could not accommodate us. So we made our preparations once again and slipped our lines early in the morning of the17th June. The next port along the coast that had deep enough water for us was Toulon. Our journey brought us out past the Frioul archipelago, along with the odd small local fishing boat, as the unrisen sun began to make its presence felt against the mountains to the north of Marseille. Later we would make our way outside Les Calanques, pass the beautiful bays of Cassis and Bandol before tuning to port once again and entering the well protected bay and port of Toulon, where we were promised docking for the next ten days.