Today we decided that we would leave Port des Minimes (La Rochelle) as it is too big and busy a marina for our liking, and head over to St Denis on the Ile D’ Oleron.
The marina on this island has very narrow approaches and you need to ensure you have enough tidal height to get over the rocks and the natural sill into the marina. There are three waiting buoys a bit off the entrance where you can wait to ensure the tide is right for your draught. It’s only about 12-13 miles from La Rochelle but we were looking forward to visiting a nice quite little island, and using modern parlance chillaxing.
On the approach it looked like a few boats were also heading into the marina from the south. When we got in the place was so busy we had to raft alongside another boat. We had just got ourselves sorted out and made a cuppa, when suddenly it seemed like the whole sailing world was descending onto St Denis. Within a short time we had a further two boats raft onto us making it four deep the full length of the visitors pontoons!

Turns out it was a holiday weekend – you have to laugh…………..it was a whole lot busier than Port des Minimes!

The inside boat was leaving early next morning to get out, and so were the ones rafted outside of us. That suits us fine because we have to get out early next morning to head for Royan, as the weather looks good for that leg. We need to arrive off the river entrance at a particular stage of the tide, and the extra time will enable us to ensure this is the case.

Our friends in the pilot book have our attention once again regarding the entry into the Gironde!

This morning we realised that the berth we had taken, must be in an area reserved by Dufour as all the boats in this part of the marina were either brand new, or second hand Dufours for sale – think we will just hide in here as there are another couple of berths free. I can just act the dumb tourist if anyone get’s upset 😉

We decided to take the water taxi/bus from the marina up to La Rochelle, which would give us the chance to go through between the tow old towers built to protect the town from the British, and this was a really neat thing to do.

It was pretty much bang on low tide, and because of this we could see quite clearly how narrow the channel was from the marina complex to the town……………Looks wide at high tide but in reality it is really really narrow all the way up to the towers.

La Rochelle has mix of lovely old buildings and also some concrete carbuncles.

This tower is the last remaining medieval lighthouse left on the Atlantic Coast and must rate as one of the prettiest. The actual light is within the small tower on the right hand side of the spire.

On our wonderings we also came across the area where the Velux five oceans race was either being prepared or had finished. Looking at these boats in the marina, one realises just how much it takes to handle one of these single handed across oceans. It was also neat to see the Union Flag flying from one of the boats. If the race has not started we wish whoever is sailing it, the best of luck & if it’s finished we hope he/she had a good race.

Today we left Sables D’Olonne to head for La Rochelle, which meant going against the tide for the first few hours so that we would be entering La Rochelle on the flood tide. The only real “challenge” today was to go through the right channel under the bridge which goes over to Ille De Re. Now you may not think that heading for a big bridge might not be worthy of much thought, but the whole area approaching the bridge is pretty shallow with some patches being as low as 1.2m at chart datum (lowest tide), and taking into account the difference swell might make it, is definitely worthy of a bit of thought.

On the approach to the bridge, even with binoculars, we couldn’t make out the marks that were meant to be on the bridge or indeed the green and red lateral buoys, and it wasn’t until we got pretty close that we saw both of these, exactly as per the chart, (funny that eh!!) and under the bridge we went.

We then cut the corner and headed diagonally across to the main approach channel leading into La Rochelle. Approaching the marina entrance, down the main channel, it was like the whole world wanted to come out to play on sail boats, wind surfers, dinghies, hobbie cats, old baths (well not quite). It really was like Piccadilly Circus or Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday when someone is giving away free money!!

We dodged our way down and just in the final approach to the marina entrance the wind shot up from around 10kts to 20 gusting 25+ and all hell broke loose. The yacht ahead of us spun around away from the entrance because a couple of windsurfers had fallen off right in the approach, and the little dinghies were having a tough time too. As soon as the safety boat cleared the entrance we went in, but were unsure of which berth was the Accueil Pontoon where visitors are meant to tie up, (and then report to the Capitainerie to be allocated a berth), because boats were rafted everywhere. I decided therefore to tie up at an alongside pontoon which was obviously for bigger boats and called the Capitainiere on the radio. She said it would be fine to stay there for the night, but asked us to report into the office to fill out the paper work.

At this point our fenders were getting some serious abuse, as were the fenders on other boats tied up on this pontoon. The next wee while was spent pushing boats off the pontoon and stuffing their fenders back down – it was blowing very strongly and pushing us really hard onto the pontoon. Sara had the unenviable task of walking around to the office, which given this marina complex is vast, took her a bit of time, and while she was doing this I was putting out every fender we had onboard.

Just as Sara arrived back a big catamaran came in and were saying we were parked in their spot, and at the same time Sara confirmed the office had said we could not stay there and had to move. They had given her a map with the visitors berths marked, and said we could take any that were free. We managed to spring off the pontoon (not easy in these conditions) and went into a visitors berth. Sara had been told we had to go back to the office and inform them which berth we had taken! Seems a back to front way of doing things, but heigh ho…

Off we went back to the office and were stunned when they said the pontoon we were on was private, and that we would have to move. We pointed out the map they had given us with visitors berths marked -but they appeared to be saying something along the lines of a “mistake at the printers”!! I asked why they didn’t tell us this when Sara was up earlier……after some shrugging of shoulders, he said we could stay tonight but would have to move tomorrow. I asked where to? And he said again anywhere that was free but not one of the long visitors pontoons, as they were hosting some kind of event and these had to be kept free.

After this we walked past the area he said we would have to park the boat, and it was absolutely chocka block with boats rafting three deep, and boats on the inside had no chance of leaving as they were blocked in…………

At this point, a conversation I had an English chap back in Sables D’Olonne came to mind, when he basically said that this marina couldn’t organise a p*** up in a brewery…………………………I was beginning to think he was right.

Over the past couple of days we walked around both Sables D’Olonne and the town of L’Chaume, and had a good time exploring both, (and also trying to find the Supermarche!). The berth we have is quite handy for both the towns, and also the Cafes and Restaurants along the side of the marina.

The following photo shows the harbour entrance, and our approach brought us down the coast from the right of the photo past the cardinal markers and the isolated danger marker situated just outside the entrance.

To the left of the above photo is the beach which was long wide and clean, and we paddled along it’s length feeling pretty relaxed and happy– simple thing, but lovely just the same.

On the promenade we found this delightful old Carousel dating from 1900, which no doubt is a labour of love for someone. It was closed when we passed but we could imaging all the happy children laughing away, as they went around and around over the past 111 years.

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.

Last night it was so peaceful and quite in the marina that we both slept like logs – made a nice change from being squashed onto the pontoon at Pornichet where I had been sleeping (well trying) at an angle of about 15 degrees and listening to fenders squeaking away all night

Duly refreshed we made an early start, and decided that we would go for a good walk rather than get the bikes out as I didn’t really fancy cycling on the roads, and needed to stretch my legs. I needn’t have concerned about the traffic, because there are plenty of cycle tracks criss crossing the island, and in truth the roads have very few cars on them once out of town.

Here is a shot from one of the beaches at low water looking back to the harbour, where a cruise ship had dropped anchor.

There are countless lovely properties nestled back in their own grounds, and lots of really clean quiet beaches. Some of these beaches have trees reaching down almost to the sand line, which would be a blessed relief from the sun during the height of summer. It is simply the best place we have visited thus far. All we heard while out for hours walking was birds chirping away in the trees and the odd cyclist on the paths………….simply lovely and really good for the soul.

By the time we got back this afternoon the sun was getting pretty hot – you can probably tell that from the colour of the sky in this shot.

We were up early to check the weather, and were pleased to see the winds had abated overnight. So off with the lines and we set off for Port Joinville on the Ile d’ Yeu. With the tides being where they are right now this meant fighting against the tidal streams as we headed south. Thankfully it was neaps so it was never more than 1kt of foul tide. The trip down was in glorious sunshine with the wind, such as it was from the north, and not west as forecast. The sea was a whole lot flatter than I expected after the recent winds – so all was good.

Nothing much to report really other than on the approach to the Ile d’ Yeu there are loads of lobster pot markers, but these are quite easily seen, as the fisherman have long bamboo poles and flags attached to them. It’s a lot better than old five or twenty five litre drums as in lots of waters around the UK. So much better for all parties.

It’s an interesting entrance to Port Joinville, (check it out on Google earth and you will see what I mean) and we had a chance to have a good look at the approach, as we had to stand off to allow a ferry to enter. Once tied up in the visitor’s part of the marina (into the marina and first left) we had a quick look around and we are both amazed at the size of the harbour area. The town looks original and not “developed” but tomorrow we will have time to explore a bit more. One shop we did look in was the fishmongers and the range of fresh fish and shellfish is quite amazing, long may they survive and stave off the supermarkets.

We have had to stay sheltered in Pornichet for a couple of days as the winds have been building up to 30-35kts and we are being pressed hard onto the pontoon. We have quite a number of fenders out, and they are taking a fair amount of abuse.

With the weather being what is was we never saw a great deal of the town, but have to say the beach is very long and well used in the sheltered bay by wind surfers, or at least that’s what I think they are called. If this isn’t right I mean the people who have a kite and some kind of board and they “sail” across the water. It’s amazing to see so many in the one place, and equally amazing when they take off from the surface of the water.

I am quite sure this is a popular place in the summer months as the beach is about 5 miles or so long and looks really clean and well kept. The marina was certainly busy and boats were rafted three deep on the hammerheads, the shower facilities could perhaps do with a revamp as they are a bit “rustic”. This is wee bit surprising given the obvious affluence of the area. The other surprising thing is there are no trolleys at the marina and everyone has to lug all their bits and pieces down to their boats like pack mules.

I’m not knocking it too much, because there are a number of restaurants etc in the marina and one in particular that is worthy of mention was the Red Sail. All steaks and fish are grilled over a BBQ within the restaurant, and the kitchen is open for all to see.

It looks like the weather might break tomorrow – fingers crossed we might be able to make a move.

This morning we awoke to another beautiful morning, and felt sorry for those getting battered by the winds back home. We are also glad we didnt leave our departure from Scotland till May as we would have been hammered ourselves by the weather.

When we came in yesterday there was a lovely old boat sailing in at the same time as us under an impressive amount of canvas, but I wasn’t quick enough in getting the camera to get a shot of her looking majestic as it was impressive. However I did a shot of her coming out of the fuel pontoon this morning.

There are no laundry facilities in the marina, so we had to carry everything up to the town and leave with the laundrette who said it would all be ready by this evening – smashing. From there we went to the tourist information centre to find out the times and number of bus into St Nazaire……..if you ever need it the number of the bus it is number six.

As for St Nazaire this town has been on my mind since I was a wee boy, now I don’t know whether it was reading too many Commando comics, whether with my Dad serving in the Royal Navy during WW2, coupled with the reality that U Boats left here trying to sink both Merchant and Royal Navy ships, perhaps even the ones my Dad was serving on…………

Here is a shot of the submarine pens that were bombed repeatedly by the Allies, but were never destroyed.

We went into the visitors centre where the French have placed one of their old submarines “Espadon” in one of the submarine pens, and we took the trip through this submarine with an audio tour – it was an extremely interesting touristy thing. One thing is for sure, me and submarines would not get on well, as both Sara and I were feeling somewhat claustaphobic after being inside the submarine for only around 30 mins.

In adulthood I read quite a bit about the heroic efforts of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines in and around St Nazaire. One of these was the ramming of the lock gates to the U Boat submarine docks by the “Campbeltown” which was loaded in the bow with explosives, and these brave guys sailed her in ramming the lock gates and setting off the explosives…….pretty much, in todays parlance a suicide mission.

Being here and thinking about Dad during WW2 I found the experience very emotional.

I wanted to visit the memorial to those brave men and we found it next to the beach, and quite clearly as can be seen in the following couple of photo’s the French have not forgotten this bravery…

“Mans inhumanity to Man makes Nations weep”

We decided on an early (ish) start this morning as we had changed our plan to visit Belle Ille for a couple of reasons. At the time we would have arrived, it would have meant us picking up a mooring, as there wouldn’t have been enough tide to get through to the inner harbours. This would have meant blowing up the dinghy to get ashore, and you know how if feel about inflating, deflating, and storing the dinghy!! The other was a far more practical reason, in that we also need to get fuel fairly soon and access to the fuel berth in Belle Ille is restricted by the tide as it’s on the harbour wall. So Pornichet it was to be……….Belle Ille will need to wait till another time.

As we reached the end of Ille de Groix we were met by a “Securite” vessel who was explaining and gesticulating wildly that the French Airforce were using the firing range but explaining that they would be finished sometime between 1000 and 1100. It was pointless going back to the marina so we hove to and put the kettle on. Within 10 mins they were back giving the all clear. We were listening to Channels 6 and 16, but we couldn’t understand what exactly was being said, but we didn’t wish for our sabbatical to come to an explosive end! The safety boat is a sound idea and welcomed by us, and I dare say all foreigners not fluid in French.

The next part of the trip was covered in lovely sunshine with Sara sunbathing on top of the coach roof – so much for active and involved crew…….

It stayed that way most of the day until about 10 miles out from Pornichet when both the wind and the waves increased until we were sailing along in a F5 and climbing, with increased swell and waves. (Sara had come back inside by this point – she must have been exhausted). Looking on the charts for the gap into the bay it had looked a bit narrow and with the seas lifting I was being careful to ensure our track was correct. As it transpired the gap wasn’t too narrow to squeeze the sea up even more, and into the bay sailed with the sea flatter but the wind piping up further. We went into the marina and tied up at a free hammerhead berth, and then went and reported to the marina office, who were happy where we had parked. We will enjoy a relaxing evening on board, as we intend spending at least a couple of nights here.

Plan for tomorrow is to spend the day visiting St Nazaire, and instead of taking the boat up the river and staying overnight in the commercial harbour, we will go by either train or bus.