One Life ...

We landed safely in Bangkok at the Suvarnabhumi Airport. We passed through customs and took out Thai Baht from the ATM. There is now a £5 charge everytime you use an ATM in Thailand! Ouch ... We caught the airport link, the BTS and the Sky Train across Bangkok avoiding the rush hour traffic of this huge city. We were on time to meet our friends but first needed a short stop at the 7/11 convenience store to pick up some Double Black, our favourite Thai drink. It is so nice! Next we were taken on a magical mystery tour of Bangkok and ended up at a huge night market near the southern bus station. We spent the evening sampling a number of Thai dishes and exploring the fascinating stalls with our friends.  

London - Berlin - Singapore - Thailand We had hoped to make our way to Asia via Russia and the Transiberian Express train. However, now that route is no longer an option! London was a blur, Berlin was a long wait. We are now sitting at Singapore airport waiting for a connecting flight to Bangkok. What shall we do? Singapore airport stands head and shoulders above the rest. It has everything! You fancy a quick swim - yes, there's a pool. Cinema anyone? Yes ... there is one too ... Oh, and an orchid garden, butterfly garden plus the largest indoor waterfall!  Chasing butterflies was fun and Spiderman at the movies filled the rest of our time here. Now we are off to Bangkok!!!

During the night the wind eased and the trip along the canal to our home port went smoothly. It was however difficult to pull up the anchor as it had fixed us well in the gloppy mud! A few days if packing away and a few days of exploring followed. Unfortunately a big event was cancelled due to the high winds so we missed out on a concert and fireworks. We did however climb a small tower with views over the Camargue plus visit a couple of art exhibitions. The next day we managed to miss a Camargue horse event. We thought is was on until 4pm but when we arrived there was only one horse and cart left! So, we took a short walk along the river Rhone instead. 

An early night and a lot of wind. In the morning a huge thunderstorm passed over us. Huge claps of thunder and lightning all around. The wind gusted for a while but wasn't too bad. After the storm had passed the wind settled to a steady easterly. We decided to leave. The forecast was predicted strengthening  throughout the day. The forecast had been for a force 7 but then changed to a force 6. However, the forecast then increased again to a force 7 and on passage we could here strong wind warnings on the radio for force 7. We were going with the wind so it should feel a little less. The wind grew stronger and stronger and by 13.00 was very strong. Force 7 and some! We were sailing under foresail only. We reefed and reefed until we hardly had any sail at all. The boat was zipping along above 7 knots. The waves were getting bigger and we surfed down into the troughs. Conditions were awful. We hoped as we entered the large harbour things might improve however they only got worse. A hu...

We were sad to say goodbye to La Madrague, a cute little spot but we had to make use of the easterly winds to head back in the direction of our home port. A gentle breeze helped us on our way before it disappeared. The swell and lack of wind then made a very slow and uncomfortable ride. Eventually the wind kicked in just before we arrived in Marseille. We anchored reasonably close to the football stadium. We saw the roof open and discovered it Marseille are playing in a UEFA Champions League game. There were parachute flares, fireworks and a plane circling the stadium!

A beautiful morning without a breeze. The wind was forecast to pick up a little blowing onshore so we decided to motor to La Madrague. An easy journey across a glassy sea. We dropped anchor and headed straight to a small beach. From here we could access the coastal footpath. Some of the path is closed but the part we could walk was beautiful. We saw an old gypsum mine and a dark and dingy cave! We took a different route back and ended up in the small village of La Madrague. We then managed to get ourselves back to the coastal path to collect our tender. In the evening we decided to go for a long row to Saint Cyr Sur Mer. It was very dark as the moon wasn't up yet. We followed the lights on shore to our destination. After tying up on the beach we took a stroll along the harbour. There was a large number of restaurants and it seemed a very quaint place. We will have to visit again in the day time. We managed to find our way back to our little home across the other side of the bay. On...

Cooler is an understatement for the water temperature. The brisk winds from the north have chilled it rather a lot. After completing the morning swim, shivering was present for quite a while before the sun did its job of reheating! Even the locals at the beach were hesitant taking a dip. Whilst resting on the beach a lady asked a question. Difficult to understand, she repeated in English. We then discussed where she was from, why she was in La Ciotat and where was a good spot for a swim! A very friendly lady. We explored La Ciotat after lunch, walking to the far side of town where there are a number of pretty calanques for swimming. The first one was really busy so we walked through the park to the next, where you could only swim by jumping off the rocks. The last one was less busy so we put on our snorkels and explored the underwater world ... for a short time as the water was still pretty cold! We then had a leisurely walk back through town and after rowing back to the boat had a ...

This morning we looked to the horizon. There appeared to be a huge convoy of boats heading to nearby Bandol. We discussed the hundreds of boats and were amazed the sailing event this weekend attracted so many. Not convinced, we reached for our binoculars for confirmation. Interestingly, the boats we were staring at were not boats at all! It was an optical illusion and there was nothing there! This was possibly associated with a Fata Morgana, Italian phrase, worth looking up! With a pumped up dinghy we went ashore and explored the old town of La Ciotat. A local photographer was showing off his amazing prints in an exhibition and people were setting up for the evening concert. It was pretty windy this afternoon and the bay was crowded with foils zipping between anchored yachts. One kayaker managed to row straight into our tender . Very strange!!!! The evening concert was good. The floating stage was set amongst the boats in the marina. Ticket holders were seated on the wide steps to the ...

There are a series of 3 concerts in La Ciotat. They are all free but you have to win tickets on the local radio station. We can hear the music from the boat so no need to try and win tickets. The bay of La Ciotat is quite large. We watched 2 fire fighting planes scooping water in the bay and dropping it, practising for forest fires. They came pretty close to the top of the boat masts! We met with our French friends just outside of the centre because the area around the old port would be packed with people going to see -M (famous french musician in tonight's concert). We all ate the French 'go to' meal of moules frites in a quaint restaurant on the beach whilst watching the full moon rise in the bay. There was also a teenage girl on a table with her parents and friends. She started singing to them and had a beautiful voice. The whole restaurant stopped! We used our little engine on our tender because the wind was quite gusty but the tender is slowly getting flatter due to th...

A thunderstorm passed over us during the night. There were strong winds with strong and a lot of rain The Australian catamaran left before we woke. They were off to the Balaerics and because they sail so fast would get there in a day. After picking up a few items for dinner we decided to raise the sails and head to our next destination. The wind started to pick up as soon as we left, so we put in a reef and headed out of the bay. We were going to have to beat to windward to get to La Ciotat. We did well in the strong wind with our lifejackets and harnesses on. We got a little wet and we tacked a few times before arriving in La Ciotat just after lunch. A short snorkelling excursion and bottom search revealed a pair of pink children's sunglasses. However when back on the boat a little tiny crab was found who had been hiding on them!

In Sanary we bought a picnic and sat at the park near the sea front. In the shop we spotted something new to try... It was called Corne de Gazelle - Gazelle Horn and was a crescent moon shape like a horn. It turned out to be a north African pastry which tasted pretty good! Our walk back from Sanary to the boat didn't seem to take long but we struggled to get through the crowds at school pick up time. Distracted by the crowd we took a wrong turn and were momentarily a little puzzled as to where we were. The sun had appeared from the morning clouds and now was scorching hot. First thing we did when we arrived at the boat was jump in to cool off! BANG!!! A sudden loud noise caught our attention. It sounded like it was from the road which goes round the bay. The next thing we saw were 2 sets of blue flashing lights and traffic starting to back up. We couldn't see what had happened but fingers crossed everyone is ok. Snorkelling spots - Moray eel and a large Australian catamaran. Th...

No wild party last night but a very intense game of Trivial Pursuit. A calm night at anchor followed by a pretty morning sunrise. Snorkelling commenced as soon as the sun was up. There was literally thousands of fish and a couple of octopus too. The wind was increasing from the north east so we pulled up the anchor and sailed the few miles to Bandol. To get the best protection from the wind and waves - we headed to the east side of the bay. Here a nice sandy bottom ensured we were anchored securely. After breakfast we watched some people on the next boat have a sailing lesson before hitting the relax button for the rest of the morning. Next we walked to Sanary Sur Mer. Thankfully it was cloudy as it is a fair distance to walk

We are stalled for a while waiting for the easterly wind to change. We have made Isle des Embiez our home. Last night we took a trip in the tender to La Brusc - a small village full of fancy restaurants. Most places have become quieter as the holiday makers depart. Not La Brusc it was still busy with diners. We were greeted by 2 small children as we arrived in the marina. A little voice asked how we were and said to his sister, "A petite canoe" - referring to our little tender. We chuckled. In the morning we swam, stocked up on cheap bananas and avoided jelly fish. We only saw one all day but that 'one' appeared to sting a lady at the beach. She seemed in pain and had red welts on her shoulder. She was with a group who were helping her. We took a walk around the island and visited a small tower on the top. It offered stunning views all around of the ocean, vineyards and protected marine areas. There were a few little bridges on our walk and we joked about the troll wh...

We were on our way at 7am with a light easterly breeze to speed us to our next destination. We saw the sunrise as we left and the wind gradually strengthened throughout the day. We made an easy passage in great time. On the way we saw a sunfish, propelling himself at the surface. Very exciting! Our usual anchorage at Isle des Embiez wasn't crowded with boats as most people have finished there holidays but it looked pretty uncomfortable. We choose a new spot for the night The forecast is for an evening of thunderstorms so we chose our anchorage carefully. We wanted good protection from the gusts that arrive with any storm. We had thunder, lightning, double rainbows, rain, wierd clouds. You name it we had it. No thunderstorms during the night. We are anchored in quite an interesting spot. On most sides there are new places to explore. An early morning swim around one small island. On the return the island ferry had dropped of a boat load of swimmers and safety kayaks. They appeared ...

The 31st August is the last night market in Hyeres Plage. We thought it might be worth exploring so we moved the boat. It was an easy sail under jib alone to just outside the port. We dropped anchor, grabbed some food and hit the town. Actually, the night market was a little disappointing. It seemed as though only half of the usual number of stalls had decided to show. We had a quick look, a small walk around the port and headed back to the boat. There are a number of salt lakes in the area that appear to help mosquitos to dramatically increase their numbers. We discovered more than our fair share during the night as they bit any piece of skin not covered up! We have one more night before heading past Toulon. The wind is due to shift to the east making the 20 mile gap past Toulon a little easier. We are anchored in Porquerolles in a quaint little bay. Beautiful scenery and plenty of boats. A lazy day enjoying the warm shallow water before a short trip to civilisation. There is a small ...

A leisurely morning spent stocking up on water and swimming in the lovely warm water. We waited patiently for the sea breeze to arrive and it did! At 1 o'clock we were off. We had to sail upwind against a strengthening breeze to Porquerolles. It was a great sail but as we passed the anchorage decided to divert. It seemed that everyone else had the same idea and it was packed. We continued a little longer to La Badine. There were still a lot of boats there but we dropped anchor and relaxed. The morning swim to the beach was rewarded by a dance show. Most people were still fast asleep but not the local dance school. Their teacher had them up, and straight down the beach to practise. They all wore the same colours and appeared to be taking it in turns to perform for the camera - no-hand cartwheels being amongst their repertoire. We walked to Hyeres Plage along the beach. It is a long way... but enjoyable, people watching as we walked. Mostly Hyeres Plage consists of restaurants and b...