St. Raphael should have been a delightful stop over and apart from being in a goldfish bowl with every mouthful of our dinner inspected by the passing throng, it was looking good - until... When approaching midnight, the disco struck up seemingly 2 metres from our mooring! We simply closed the hatches, pulled the curtains... Continue Reading →

Reluctantly leaving Port Grimaud, we made our way through the manic St. Tropez bay under engine alone in less than 1 knot of wind. We had managed to secure a berth with the very polite and efficient staff in the Vieux Port at St. Raphael which had been recommended. On our approach, the port didn’t... Continue Reading →

Ever since I spent a summer month in Grimaud with a French ‘pen pal’, I have been fascinated by Port Grimaud. In 1969, (when I was 15 and fell in love with Chantal...)  it was still under construction and, it wasn’t finished until 1980. Since then, I have visited several times in various yachts and... Continue Reading →

Weighing anchor and heading east, the wind picked up as did the sea but as it was at our backs, the motion was not unpleasant – or so I thought… The Marina at Cavalaire-sur-Mer was not as dismissive as most and suggested we call on VHF as we approached to check availability. Not surprisingly, they... Continue Reading →

What a contrast ! Being woken by flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder doesn’t tend to auger well for the day. When it is followed by torrential rain and semi darkness it suggests that, rather than being obsessed with wind strengths, I should have been examining precipitation as well ! It is in these... Continue Reading →