The Coast of Provence to the Cote d’ Azur

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, was very narrow and full of moorings. The good news was it was also very deep. We tied the bow to the mooring and a small boat came out and looped our stern line through a ring in the side of the cliff. Our stern was about 30 feet from the cliff, just enough room for the guys jumping off the cliff 100 feet above us to clear the boat!

Comfortable that Berkeley East wasn’t going anywhere, we inflated the kayaks and padddled back up the coast to two even smaller calanques, Port Pin and d’En Vau. Calanque d’En Vau was a beautiful deep cove, with a nice beach at its end. The cliffs were over 300 feet high and the calanque was only 100 feet across (not enough room to anchor BE).

We had planned to spend two night in Port Miou, but the swell was rebounding off the cliff walls and causing us to roll at night, and then during the day tourist boats would come by every 15 minutes, so we left to find somewhere quieter and smoother.

The iles d’ Hyeres fit the bill. This is a group of four small islands on the Cote d’ Azur, commonly referred by the name of the largest island Porquerolles or “pork roles” to our American English ears.

We spent a couple of days at anchor at Ile de Porquerolles, first on the west side of Baire du Langostier, then on the east side. The water was crystal clear with shades of green and blue, reminiscent of the Caribbean.

From Ile de Porquerolles we motor sailed up to Port Man on Ile de Port-Cros, another beautiful anchorage.

Thoroughly relaxed, we headed off to St Tropez.