This morning we were up early to ensure we had enough depth to exit the marina – it does get shallow in one part of the entrance/exit and the ferries can create a sizeable wash, thereby potentially reducing the depth. We slipped our lines and were just heading for the exit when the lights changed to red, and we had to mill around until the ferry came into the harbour.
Once clear we sailed along the coastline that we had walked yesterday, however the weather wasn’t as good today. It was overcast but we did have a F4 NW which suited us just fine. It would have been handy to have goose winged by poling out the genny, but Sun Dog isn’t set up for this method……………one important thing is missing – a pole!!
The trip over was fine and the swell was reasonable until we hit the shallower water in the approaches to Sables D’Olonne when it started to increase in size, nothing to worry about really but a noticeable difference non the less.
I’ve said before (in a positive sense) that the French seem to mark almost everything with some kind of buoy, leading lines/lights, but I have never seen better than the leading lights on the approach to Sables. It was daylight when we were approaching but these were still very bright lights and could not be missed – these would be a godsend in foul weather and coming in at night.
We tied up at the Capitainerie pontoon and were allocated a pontoon berth in a nice central spot – pretty tight with the wide beamed boat we are next to but close to all we need. The other good thing is this is the cheapest berthing fees we have had to pay (11 euros per night) since we started out on our trip. This was a big surprise because we both thought it might be one of the most expensive!
It was kind of neat sailing in here, as this is the venue for the Vendee Globe single handed round the world race that starts and finishes here in Sables D’Olonne. To be precise they base themselves in Port Olona Marina (where we are) and when we came in we saw a couple of them tied up on the race pontoon which is to the right of centre in the photo, and we will get a better look around tomorrow.
The other marina Quai Garnier, is located to the right hand side when coming into the harbour, and looks lovely.
This final photo is looking back to the entrance into the harbour.
