Another early morning for us. We woke up at 4. We left the apartment at 6:30 to go to the market to pick up bread. Yesterday the lady selling bread told us to get there early to make sure she had enough bread, so we stuck to the plan. Here are pictures of the lady and her bread.
On the way back to the apartment we stopped at a boulangerie for coffee and a escargot de choco (yum!). After some serious fortification we packed up our suitcases and walked 1/2 mile from the apartment to the boat. We dropped off our suitcases and went to the grocery store for provisions. $400 later, we hoped we have enough food for at least half the trip. With all that stuff, including over 100 liters of water we had to get a taxi for the short distance from the grocery store back to the boat. We stopped along the way to get ice for the icebox.
We stored the groceries and then hung around the boat for awhile getting unpacked and familiarizing ourselves with the boat. The boat, a 2014 41ft Beneteau with 3 cabins and 2 heads, is pretty nice. Its name is Artois, which I don’t think means anything in French. Here are some pictures.
Just before lunch we walked back to the apartment one last time to get the rest of our stuff, including food for lunch. We returned to the boat and enjoyed the harbor view while eating.
After lunch the base manager, Stephan, gave us a technical briefing, reviewing the features and mechanics of the boat. Next we got a chart briefing. During the chart briefing the base manager talked about places to go, places to avoid, and various navigational issues. By this time it was already 6:00.
We talked to Stephan about where to go to dinner. Turned out two of dinner recommendations were closed. Not sure why they are closed on a Saturday night so we went to the restaurant at the marina. It took a very long time to get menus, nothing looked particularly good, and it was very expensive so we just came back to the boat and ate our own food.
I was very tired, but I was able to stay up until 9 (since I got up at 4). Rick lasted until about 9:30. The sun rises early here, around 5am and sets early, around 6pm. It is best to sail early because the winds are more moderate and it’s easier to see reefs when you pull into a harbor. I think our ideal schedule will be to go to bed around 9pm and get up around 5am. At least that’s what we are working towards for now.