Highlights – the overview
After we return from our road trip to Portugal, we spend a couple of days in Saint Malo, because the weather forecast isn’t looking good for heading out. We’re in a protected bay and marina, and enjoy our time… especially the delicious delights from the fantastic bakery opposite the marina. Their croissants, baguettes, flan and kouighn aman (pronounced “kwing aman”, swirled croissant dough with caramelized sugar) are truly fabulous!!…
When the weather clears, it’s time to continue on.
In the lock, we know the procedure! Starboard side, hand over the lines to the men assisting ashore.
But, because it’s high tide, there is hardly any change in water level.
Once out of the lock, there are big boats all around and some swell.
We have a beautiful day and are delighted to see several porpoises! These guys are related to dolphin, but smaller, dark in color, and not interested in coming to play with us as dolphin normally do. Still, one has to have a porpoise in life, and these little guys made us very happy!
We arrive with some current against us… quite a bit, in fact. But we eventually make our way up the river and pick up a visitor mooring ball. It is a lovely tranquil spot and very protected from the upcoming strong winds.
We’re glad to have a few days to relax, as Sher has a cold and Wim has bursitis in his knee. There’s plenty to keep us busy…
Because Sher is still recovering from her cold and Wim still has the bursitis in his knee, we get creative and think of an easier way to inflate the dinghy, so we can go ashore to provision. Wim thinks about the options and decides to try the wet vacuum in reverse mode… blowing air rather than sucking it. This turns out to be the perfect solution! This is so brilliant and fast, it is going to be our standard method!
We go ashore in the morning and then set out with favorable winds and current, let’s see how far we get!
Read more in the Captain’s Log below and something from the Badger’s Bunk!
The Captain’s Log (T+49,50…59 ) – the complete story
August 17-20 – a few days in Saint Malo
After we return from our road trip to Portugal, we spend a couple of days in St. Malo. The weather forecasts aren’t looking very good: some rain and wind from the west (that’s where we’re going). But actually, here in the very sheltered city marina, it turns out not so bad at all. We hardly feel the wind, there’s not so much rain as they expected and the afternoons are sunny! We take our electric scooters out and drive to a sailmaker to try to have our cockpit sunshade modified (no success) , we visit a marine chandlery and a hardware store for some parts, Sher does some provisioning at a large Carrefour supermarket and she also buys some stuff for the sewing machine at a fabric shop nearby. We especially enjoy some delicious things at the French bakery opposite of the marina.
Their croissants, baguettes, Flan and Kouighn Aman are truly fabulous!!
August 21 – sailing to river Trieux
Time to move on. We have had such a nice time here, it was the perfect spot for Dione IV while we were driving to Portugal. And when we pay the marina fees, the guy gives us a 20% discount because we stayed 6 days and he calculates a length of 11,99 meters for Dione IV (that’s a lower rate). With a big smile. Because certainly he knows Dione IV is somewhat longer than 12m 🙂
At 9 o’clock, we depart from this nice spot. It had a nice view on the harbor, we enjoyed looking at the boats and big cargo ships coming in.
In the lock, we know the procedure! Starboard side, hand over the lines to the men ashore.
Because it’s high tide, there is hardly any step.
Once outside the lock, we enter the real world! Immediately, there is big swell and big vessels all around us.
Once outside St. Malo, there’s a 10 knots breeze from the west… right on our bow. Our intention is to go to the river Le Trieux. That’s about 45 miles. We’ll have to maintain 6 knots of speed to reach the river in one tide. We don’t want 3 knots of current (even 4 knots near the island of Ile de Bréhat) against us. So, Mighty Mitsu has to do the job today. We hoist the mainsail and we motor-sail west.
In the morning, the last rain shower just passes our bow and the rest of the day is sunny, 20 degrees C. Three times we see porpoises. They jump. Are they playing? Porpoises are not interested in us, like dolphins. So, they stay at a distance. We manage to capture some of their jumps though, by zooming in.
A little too late we arrive at Ile de Brehat: the current has turned against us just before we arrive.
We get what the pilot book promised: 4 knots against us. So, we pass the channel under the island very slowly, sometimes at only 1.5 knots.
Around 1900h, we arrive at the visitors moorings on the river and we pick up the free visitors’ mooring buoy. It’s a lovely tranquil place!
August 22-26 – relaxing on the mooring
The weather forecasts aren’t looking good for the next few days, so we’ll stay here for a while. Actually this peaceful place and going nowhere suits us… Sher has picked up a cold and Wim has bursitis in his knee, so we both need some rest. We sleep very well and long, eat delicious meals, and do little things. There’s a lot of SW wind sometimes (30+ knots) but we’re very sheltered here.
We found a great Brittany-striped shirt for Wim in Cherbourg, but they didn’t have anything with the right colors for Sher in Women’s sizes. Too sad not to have matching Dione IV stripy shirts… Another sewing project! Make the stripy shirt fit. Matching Brittany stripes in Dione IV colors. Lovely!
August 23 – enjoying some relaxed time
Along with the Brittany-striped shirts, we saw pants that were the perfect teal color! But Wim said it was a pity that they weren’t shorts… he didn’t need pants. Another sewing project! Make shorts from a long pants 🙂
Most of the days starts cloudy and rainy but the afternoons are sunny. The view is great!
We are so happy with our solar panels. Even after a clouded morning, in the afternoon our battery bank is full again. Here, the panels yield over 800W!
And we use power all day.
Every evening, a group of White Wagtails visits us. They sit on the railing and on the sheets for half an hour, wagging their tails, and then they move on.
We continue to take it easy and do some small things. Some sewing, some cleaning, some computer work, some administration, some reading, etc.
Like making the 3rd cockpit cushion.
Looks beautiful!
And, like cleaning the floor under the engine. It was a bit dirty and had some mold from the winter. Looks bright white again!
Because Sher is still recovering from her cold and Wim still has the bursitis in his knee, we think of an easier way to inflate the dinghy, because we need to go ashore to provision. Using the manual foot pump for an hour doesn’t seem to be a good idea now… Perhaps use the air compressor? Hmmm. That has only a tiny amount of pressurized air and that would probably have to run for a long time. What about the wet vacuum cleaner? That can be connected reverse, blowing air instead of sucking air… We connect the hoses and try it. It works like a charm! A chamber in the dinghy is inflated in 20 seconds! And at the right pressure. Instead of stepping on the foot pump for 15 minutes. We do this for the other 2 chambers and the dinghy is ready for use! Brilliant! 🙂
August 28 – onward westbound!
A beautiful day. In the morning, Sher visits the local hairdresser and we do some provisioning. Around noon, we release the mooring ball and sail out. Once we round the shallows of Ile De Brehat we turn west.
We have the current and a light breeze on our stern until early evening so let’s see how far we can get.
From the Badger’s Bunk
Ha, on our own… while the folks are away in Portugal, one bad-to-the-bones badger and his three best bear buddies, get to play. We tear up the place pretty good, but we somehow manage to pick up all the chocolate wrappers and corks before they get back… no one is the wiser and not one of us will tell what we’ve been up to. hee hee.
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