The Town of Beaulieu- Sur-Mer

On the 16th August we set sail, with the iron spinnaker, back to Cap Ferat, where we dropped our pick for not quite such a peaceful anchorage as the time before, but then we are in August now!

We spent the evening onboard, with some grub and some of our lovely rose wine, a little entertained when a catamaran that was behind us started to move in the offshore winds that got up. We could see someone was on board so weren’t too concerned for them, until about 30 minutes later we heard a warning siren go off from one of the huge superyachts anchored further in the bay, clearly they were heading towards them! That obviously did the trick as a little while later we saw them come back and reset their anchor!

Then, just as we were about to go to bed we noticed that the 45 foot power boat moored in front of was on the move towards us! We sounded our own air horn, not quite as loud as the super yacht’s but loud enough to make our ears ring, but to no joy, no one was on board. As David tried to fend it off our bow and lower some more anchor chain simultaneously, I started the engine to reverse as much as was possible. The owners were onshore and fortunately did hear our airhorn and realised their was a problem so made their way back, not quite as quickly as we would have liked, but no damage was done, except we then had to reset our anchor in the dark!

The rest of the night went without a hitch, the following morning we motored a little closer to Beaulieu, to drop our anchor and go ashore via the dinghy.

Beaulieu-Sur Mer, from the Sea

Beaulieu-sur-Mer, a town where life is good, a warm, cultural and sporting town with a ‘dolce vita’ atmosphere on the Côte d’Azur. It became a renowned winter seaside resort, attracting royalty, the upper middle classes and the aristocracy from all over Europe, evident from some of the emblematic villas that line its shores, including Villa Kérylos , built at the beginning of the 20th century, is a subtle blend of Mediterranean charm and Greek refinement, it was used in the film dirty rotten scoundrels, starring Steve Martin & Michael Caine, although we didn’t actually go inside for a look.

With calm waters, we dinghied into a tiny port to the left of the main one and the king Captainaire there was happy for us to leave our dinghy with them for a couple of hours, so we headed into town, along its tree line boulevards for a wander and a coffee.

A couple of hours later, we were back on board chilling out and admiring the bravery of the crew of an amazing old yacht, full sails out, tacking its way through the many yachts and super yachts on anchor in the bay.

We spent a night on anchor here with a wonderful view of Villa Kérylos all lit up.

Our next stop is the wonderful and chic Nice, where my (Chantal’s) Grandfather used to have his home, curious as to whether it would bring back any memories from summers there spent from year dot to about 10.

17th August 2024