A Taste of What´s to come in 2024, The French Riviera to Provence

by Chantal & David · Published September 18, 2023 · Updated January 3, 2024

Having arrived in the Baie de Cavalier very early on the 6th September, we were all set to spend the day in this lovely bay, catch up on some sleep and chill out. However this is when we learnt the french are very particular about their “posidonia”, sea weed. Having dropped our pick so early it was hard to work out if we had dropped in sand, but we soon learnt that we hadn’t when the Posidonia “police” turned up in a dingy to politely explain that we had to be careful to make sure we dropped on sand!, We had to move, but fortunately only about 100 yards.

So for those of us who clearly don’t, or didn’t know anything about this stuff.. Posidonia oceanica, commonly known as Neptune grass or Mediterranean tapeweed, is a seagrass species that is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. It forms large underwater meadows that are an important part of the ecosystem. Why you might ask is it so important, well, according to good old Google, Posidonia meadows are the lungs of the sea. They absorb enormous amounts of CO2, indeed, about half of the oxygen we breathe is produced underwater. These meadows are responsible for the transparency of the Mediterranean waters and the beauty and biodiversity of their landscape… so now we know, we will be more careful in future!

Baie de Cavalier

Once settled again, we spent a fabulous afternoon chilling out, then watched the sun down down with some vino and supper!

After a relaxed morning the next day, we set sail under our Genoa only, running in a east force 3 for 11 NM’s to Le Lavandou where we had booked a spot in the marina to do some exploring ashore, provision and give Seaclusion a really good clean to get rid of all the salt on her decks, sails and well just about everywhere from our fiesty crossing.

The Approaches weren’t particularly interesting and we were hoping that this was going to be one of those places that were better on land than from the sea, not in vain, thankfully

Le Lavandou is a place that I, (Chantal), according to my mum, spent a lot of time in, during the summers with my grandfather and french family,. not that I remember it at all..when I told my mum that, she did say she wasn’t surprised as I was only 2! 🤣. She also explained that she loved the place as it was very low key in comparison to the likes of Saint Tropez, Nice & Monaco, She wasn’t wrong… we spent the afternoon wandering around, stopping for a glass of vino, or 2, and watching the locals play boules and eat wonderfully decorated ice-creams such as banana splits covered in chantilly cream, so very … French!!

Le Lavandou

We also found the most wonderful patisserie, boy was it going to be hard to go home skinny, if not this year, certainly next 🤪… where we bought a Tropezienne, a cake that comes from, yep you guess it, Saint Tropez!

The beach was spectacular, fine sand, not too overcrowded, with the traditional volleyball nets that I do remember were always a must on a French beach!

On the 8th, with a spotlessly clean Seaclusion, we left Le Lavandou to start making our way westward to her final destination, and stopped on a small gorgeous bay off from the French Presidents summer home….😉 the Fort of Bregançon which stands on a rocky promontory thirty metres above the sea.

Had a giggle to the name of our neighbouring yacht and watched the most stunning sunset ever!

2 days later, we set off again, planning on dropping our pick just off the tiny island called Ile de Embiez, the water was quite deep and we couldn’t get our anchor to bite….. fairly obvious when you see what was on it when we lifted it… either the posidonia police don’t operate in this area or this was just plain sea weed!

Rather than try again we headed to the bay of Sanary Sur Mer, where we had planned to go the following morning, to drop our pick in sand! After a peaceful night with only 1 other yacht for company, we jumped in the dinghy to go and explore this picturesque fishing port.

Sanary Sur Mer

The port of Sanary is recognized as one of the most typical and authentic of the French Mediterranean coast. Within its ancient natural harbor, located in the heart of the city, it celebrates a hundred boats heritage, the oldest dating from 1895, including the famous “sharp” Provencal. It has always housed a fleet of fishermen, with the fishermen bringing their daily fish to sell in the port.

We loved it and will certainly come back here next year… if nothing else to stock up at their wonderful market with all kinds of fresh produce!

Back on board, we then sailed across the bay to our final proper stop of the season, La Ciotat, aside from being the home to a superyacht boatyard, it is said to be another beautiful town with lots to see and do, but sadly the forecast got it wrong and with the wind and swell direction we couldn’t get off the boat, so it will definitely be on our hit list for 2024.

La Ciotat from the Sea!

The winds did finally drop early evening but we still decided to keep La Ciotat for next year, staying on board for supper.

The following morning we set off again, knowing some rather big winds were coming at the back end of the day and we needed to be in the marina we had chosen to start the “putting Seaclusion to bed for the winter” process, still we had enough time to take in the other sites of La Ciotat Bay …..