Ile de Port Cros, St Tropez and boarded on the way

We motored across from Porquerolles to Ile de Port Cros, heading ever westward.  Ile de Port  Cros is a National Park, with a tiny village.  The island is sanctuary for marine life including sea weed, sea gulls and fish. The seagulls are enormous.   The fish are curious and large.  They swim safely up to you safely in the knowledge, that there are no hooks or spears allowed.

The island is small with five forts, several cafes on the beach front and water so clear that you can see every fish and the bottom with its seaweed cover. My head knew I was in Provence, but my heart was telling me I was near an old fishing village in Mexico, even in June the trails are dusty but the native foliage is dotted with plants you would see in Mazatlan.   While we were there we christened our new BBQ with a lamb roast and it was most enjoyable.

The bay filled with boats in the evening and before sunset every mooring was taken and a few yachts had to anchor outside the protected area.

In the morning we were up early and motoring over to St Tropez, the wind was too light to put up even a gib.  In the distance, Blue could see a Customs Boat and when they saw us, a boarding party jumped into their dinghy and came over. The Douane checked all of our papers, asked many questions, luckily we have an email from the Australian Shipping Registration Office, showing that we are registering the boat in Australia, but we don’t have the paperwork yet.  They checked all of our passports and finally sent us on our way.  They wanted our email in print, we hope the paperwork arrives for us soon.

St Tropez was warm, full of tourists and it is only June.  We had a large salad lunch in a back lane cafe and then strolled through the town streets, eventually Rene and Gaila broke off to do a little shopping, James found his way to a ship chandler and Blue went scouting for the evening’s repast. St Tropez was filled with about 20 super yachts, so we feel quite humble here.

We had dinner at La Ramade and we were charmed by the tree covered patio and the traditional Provence food.

This morning, we are on our way to Cannes, getting closer to Nice Airport and Blue and Rene’s flight to England.