LE LAVANDOU

Sail boats near Ile de Porquerolles

Out of Toulon the wind was nearly on our nose as we motorsailed across the bay. We were consistently  getting 7 knots and the sea was lumpy but fair. The swell was running about  a metre on our starboard bow. When we got to Iles de Porquerolles, we turned off the motor and sailed across the bay still at 7 knots.  It was a public holiday (Ascension)  and there was a race going on in the bay with over 50 sailboats milling around. David played  ‘bowman’ for a while, keeping an eye on crossing traffic and relaying information to the helm as the genoa is large and blocks out a very large area of the forward view.
Our last tack was towards Iles de Hyeres, a renowned nudist colony.  David suggested we should tack when we could see the light shining off bare bottoms, but we ignored that.  Finally we motored into Le Lavandou.

This is a very beautiful tourist town.  It appears that the local council is very proud of it's appearance with very little rubbish visible and virtually no dog poo on the streets. The esplanade is decorated with colourful gardens with many Australian native plants in flower.









The beach, which seemed to stretch for miles and miles, was golden and covered in sunbathers.

The other side of the esplanade was wall to wall shopping, dining and people watching.  Dozens of people, young and old played petanque in the beautiful manicured  strip between the main shopping strip and the marina.



























The side streets were filled with even more restaurants and shops.  The housing in the hillside behind was a pleasant variety of modernish houses and bushland.  We went out for tea and ate well. We had a three course meal for $20 which included things like soup from a tureen, fish, rice provencale and a creme caramel for dessert!

 

Side street cafes

Yachts lined up, ready to sail.

The approach to the city.

We had to leave the next day as there was some rough weather brewing.  Even so, we were forced to motor all the way into some fairly solid seas.  For a good part of the journey we had crags and cliffs on our lee and so were not feeling very comfortable.  This was not helped by constant drizzle that made us quite uncomfortable.

Finally we turned the corner towards St Tropez. The seas were still solid but more to the aft .

One of the vagueries of the sea it seems is that the wind is too strong at some times and too weak at others.