Sailing to Ile Ste-Marguerite

We took off from Port Vauban before 11:00am into “le grand large” (the big open sea).   Although, I suppose that technically, it’s not really “le large” because we were sailing mostly in La Baie des Anges, which is a large bay that extends from Nice to the Cap d’Antibes.  We also ventured out a little bit into Golfe Juan and into Golfe de la Napoule, with Ile Ste-Marguerite and Ile St-Honorat sitting exactly in between the two Golfes.  Even though Bert and Pat thought that the sea was not ideal today with its very irregular wave pattern, it was very smooth and peaceful and pleasant to Dave and me, compared to what it’s always like in the Bay of San Francisco.  Apparently, the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy has been much milder with a very regular wave pattern the last several months that Pat and Bert have been sailing on it.  The sea surrounding the islands is beautiful and warm and so clear and so inviting that it’s hard to resist. We waited until after our picnic lunch on the boat, before we jumped in and swam around.  Our water activities included snorkeling, swimming, and zipping around in the tender.  Although we have visited Ile Ste-Marguerite in the past, we never stepped foot on it this time.  It seemed to be very crowded with a kazillion other sailboats anchored around it, so we just anchored a little bit away from the island while we ate and swam.

Dave spent some time piloting the boat, which he really enjoyed, and he only grounded us once.  Some areas around the islands were pretty shallow, but fortunately, it was only a sandy shoal that we got stuck in, and not a rocky one.  And now Pat and Bert know that their new boat requires a depth of at least 1.6 meters. 

Comments

[John Doyle]

Hey, I was writing a post about my run today around the Cap. I wanted to put up something about Ile Ste. Marguerite, so I googled. Your blog was like the 3rd listing! Dudes, I'm linkin'.

[Kate]

I love seeing Dave and Mom jockeying for the key driving position!! ha ha!