My crew had flown home and Su Yin and Tomás and my parents had arrived, but, DISASTER! The boat toilet had blocked and the marina toilets were 500m away. The pipe was original from 2005 so it needed to be replaced. Luckily I found an English boat repair guy called Andy, who could do the job, .but unfortunately he was away in Tenerife. His son Jake who didn’t speak a word of EnglIsh couldn’t do it as he didn’t have enough experience, but he could help me do it. So while the family were off enjoying the sights and sounds of La Rochelle, I was buried in the bowels of the boat putting in a new sh*t pipe. After a lot of hardship that job was done and everything worked, more or less.
La Rochelle is just beautiful, with street entertainment everywhere. We went up the Ferris wheel for a view of the harbour and city. My parents, Su Yin and Tomás then went off for a walking tour of La Rochelle. The Vieux Port (old Port} is super central, surrounded by lovely bars and cafes and with beautiful architecture everywhere. After a lovely meal under the towers we were ready for departure the next morning.
Exiting the Vieux Port between the towers, we soon had our sails up and had a great sail in 7-10kn W from La Rochelle to Fort Boyard (commenced under Napoleon in 1801, completed in 1857). Our crew was Gareth, Su Yin, Tomás, Tom, Anne and Peter and Michelle. Rounding FB we headed to an anchorage NW of Ile d’Oleron for lunch and a swim. After this we had a lovely sail from our anchorage to Ile de Ré, passing underneath the bridge again, en route to Saint Martin de Ré.
Saint Martin de Ré is a gorgeous little harbour, with a drying harbour to the left and a wet harbour with a lock gate to the right (a set up which would be ideal for Dungarvan). The whole place is buzzing with little pubs and restaurants. We radioed ahead and were told to come on in and they would sort us out. Once inside the harbour we were asked to raft alongside a motor cruiser which was facing out, so we did some nifty tight-space turning and came alongside the motor cruiser in reverse. Now we had a new experience, where the owner of the motor cruiser didn’t want anyone rafting outside him (even though it was 4 deep everywhere else in the harbour) and refused to take our ropes. We brazened it out, and told him “C’est la vie”, offering him some Irish Whiskey. Peter did the comedy Irishman, shaking his hand while securing our ropes. The next morning 2 more boats rafted outside us, and it turned out that our grumpy friend had chased them away also just before we arrived!
With safety in numbers, the atmosphere dramatically improved and it turned out the couple outside us were travelling the world for the past 6 years, and had just returned from the Caribbean in their ketch. They had 2 children the same age as Tomás, so, bliss, he was entertained and we could chill and read some books. We are setting in for a few days and perhaps will rent some bikes.
