30th August 2022
We set off around 10am Tuesday morning not really knowing the destination as Chris was taking us to places he knew over the next 4 days. Apparently we were heading to a little anchorage Calanque de Monasterio for lunch and Six Fours Les Plages which is an anchorage in front of a beach for the evening.
Wind was not due till the afternoon but we had to motor 10 nm out of the Bassin de Tellines to find the sea anyway. We moved down a narrow channel keeping inside of the red and green buoys due to the shallows on port side and a wall of rocks on the other, after we passed the two north cardinals on our starboard side we were in the deep sea. We kept outside of the shipping lane on our left, that’s when a fun game of avoiding about 15 tankers begin I was trying to work out which were moving and the ones at anchor.
Once out a few miles from land we pulled sails out then waited for the wind to pick up pointing the boat in the general direction of the Island. A few hours of motoring later we can see the isolated danger mark with the anchorage in front , we pulled the sails down and prepared to drop anchor into 3 meters of calm clear waters, turned out to be easy i could see the sand and anchor sink in.
I jumped into the clear blue water had a swim around it was just a beach, nothing else then realisation hit me, I was the one making lunch. I made 4 cheese and tomato toasties for me and crew I then pulled anchor up and we moved on to the evening destination.
The wind turned up evenually, motor was switched off, we were sailing and moving faster than with the engine on. I sat there thinking so this is what it all about, this is the sailing thing Garry wants to do for the rest of his life.
We arrived at the anchorage around 5 pm dropping anchor this time it was a little trickier due to wind but again only in 3 meter depth of water dropped about 15 meters of chain as wind pushed us back anchor took hold.
Dinner was super quick for me to make, vegetable stir fry with noodles everyone fed and happy we sat on deck watched sunset with a beer.
A few beers later I decide the toilet is needed but not sure how our toilets worked needed a lesson on how to use, my toilet on my narrow boat was manual easy to use just took a little effort.
As it turns out all you need to do is push a switch, so after a quick lesson i used my toilet at the front rightside of boat, pushed switch it made a lot of noise but nothing happen.
We soon learnt that all 3 toilets on board do not work seized solid with 4 soles on board and no working toilets the shit really hit the fan, this is going to be fun living the dream.