Cannes, France We were so excited to be going to the Cannes Film Festival. Sadly, we were delayed by weather and arrived two days after the festival ended. But, maybe it was better. The crowds were gone. We didn’t see any celebrities, but we did see why they all flock here year after year. Cannes […]
The French Rivera With the weather forecast looking bad we left our beautiful but unprotected anchorage in the Iles de Lerins, for the French Rivera. As it would happen just as we crossed from the Cote d’ Azur, into the Rivera we completed another milestone. Berkley East had sailed over 20,000 nautical miles. In less […]
Monaco We have never been real Formula One Race fans, but when we realized that we were close enough to attend one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world, the Monaco Grand Prix, we decided that we just had to go. We called the Monaco port and were told that it […]
Saint Tropez, France Everything we had heard about St Tropez had to do with huge yachts, glamorous people, hip beach clubs, money, money, and more money. So we were surprised when we pulled into the marina and were directed to a tiny dock full of charter boats, each with ten or more passengers. We had […]
iles d’ Hyeres, France Leaving Marseille we headed north east along the coast to spend some time at anchor, just relaxing (recovering from our land vacation in Provence). We cruised along the Les Calanques, a stretch of the coast between Marseille and Cassis with a number of steep fjord-like inlets. Our first stop, Port Miou, […]
Our anchor appears to be working again, setting on the first try! When we were in the Caribbean, I had commented that the French boats tended to anchor very close, too close in most cases. While the captains appeared very competent, they would always try to squeeze into a space like parallel parking a car. […]
Marseille, France We spent eight days in Provence, the southwest region of France, and quickly learned the local daily routine. First, everyone gathers in the morning, with their dogs, at an outdoor café for coffee and pastries (in our case, Pepsi Light and chocolate croissants, no dog). Noon until about 2 pm is spent in […]
Marseille, France As we listened to our Pimsleur’s French lessons, we felt like deer in headlights. This was nothing like Spanish. We were on our way to Marseille, crossing the Gulf de Leon from Spain, frantically trying to learn some French before arriving the next morning. The French language is beautiful, but it is terrifying […]
Cala Culip, Spain It took us six tries to anchor in this cala in far north Spain. We needed to wait out some weather and the cove was protected, but the cruising guide said nothing about the rock seabed. The conditions were calm; we heard a cell phone ring on shore, great we’d have Internet. […]
Cala Culip, Costa Brava Spain Last night, as we sat at anchor, eating Iberian ham and sipping Spanish wine, we decided to change our cruising plan this year and put Berkeley East in Croatia for the winter, rather than Turkey. This will allow us to spend more time in France and see more of Italy, […]
