Friday, 22nd April 2022
We arrived back at Port Napoleon last Tuesday in beautiful sunshine just after 6 o’clock. It was great to see our Illika, although rather dirty but anyhow as inviting as we know her!
With quite a few things to get settled and finished before putting the boat in the water, we were confronted with the kind of weather you DO NOT expect in southern France! We had the priviledge to do the boatwork – antifouling, changing the anchor chain, sticking the name, and many other things – in the short weather windows between rain, wind, storm and hail!
We also realized that the boys still need to learn that wet clothes and shoes are not ideal, if you don’t have a full cupboard of dry shoe and clothes to choose from…
Saturday, 23rd April 2022
She’s in the water! A big step and lots of excitement today!
We’re on the “waiting dock” as the winds were too strong to move her elsewhere after putting her back in the water. Jean-Luc was clearly nervous but as ever very posed and concentrated. And our boat is afloat – all through hull fittings seem to be water proof 😉 Well done!
Isn’t it just wonderful to finally have water on the boat – has anybody made the experience of working a kitchen without running water for 5 days? Quite a challenge!
Monday, 25th April 2022
We had to move the boat yesterday evening, again with quite a bit of wind, to another pier. Still not the best conditions to put our sails back, and without the sails we can’t set sail! Anyway still lots to do before leaving. Oliver and Alexander are seriously enjoying the bikes and the harbour. No signs of boredom.
We drove to Marseille to meet Jean-Luc’s sister and brother in law (and dog) for supper. Was great to see them and catch up. This was probably our last drive in our car for a long time!
Tuesday, 26th April 2022
Today is the day!!! She’s ready to sail. We planned to leave Port Napoleon round 11 o’clock… well, we managed a little later. After professional phone calls and a quick bite for lunch, we started our adventure at 13:30. After a perfect first sail, we attached Illika in the harbour of the Iles de Frioul, just infront of Marseille round 18:00.
In the meantime, by the way, there has been a change of plan – if you were aware of any plan. So we will not start by sitting in La Grande Motte for a week, no, our dinghy-lifting-system-person cannot come up with the material before the end of May and staff is missing! So we went to look for a different solution, which we found in Toulon. They should be able to do the work within the next two weeks. So we’re not in a great hurry to rush past the beautiful South of France. Might feel a little long to really get going, but better than waiting till end of May and heading the wrong way!
Wednesday, 27th April 2022
We had a beautiful hike on the island of Pomègues, one of the two islands which are joined by the harbour in between. Not much distance to make to our next stop and the wind in the nose, we engined past the cape Croisette to the the small islands of Jarron and Jarre, where we anchored. The nights are still cool and the water is freezing (well, that’s what if feels like, but in fact 15-16°). Nevertheless we had our first extremely short swim, a quiet evening and a slightly rolly night.
Saturday, 30th April 2022
Today we arrived in La Ciotat and got a place in the harbour as JL will be heading back to Switzerland for a few days. He went to pick up the car in Port Napoleon and will be taking it back home at the same time. The boys and I had an unexpected cultural and sporty afternoon: guided visit of the oldest cinema in the world and long bike tour on the former railway tracks that were converted into a bike trail through La Ciotat. Nice end to the Easter Holiday!
The Calanques, the coastline with their cliffs and rock formations, the beautiful weather, the clear waters, hardly any wind – a nice souvenirs of this area. Also, the walk (run for JL and Oliver) and the pitoresque village of Cassis where we spend one night anchored in a bay.
