There was much 'discussion' between skipper and crew regarding our next destination - skipper wanted to visit Belle Ille and its associated island but the crew was mindful of the deteriorating forecast for midweek and didnt want to find Cabernet at anchor in a Force 6-8 wind! However compromise was reached - isnt it always and we agreed to visit Belle Ille for a few days, hire a car and explore the island at our leisure.
The trip from La Turballe was not without incident - the wind was already blowing strongly and at one point we lurched violently and promptly lost the solar shower overboard. Skipper was all for attempting a recovery until I pointed out that we had nothing with which to recover a bag containing at least 20l of water. We sailed on but as we started to put away our mainsail the boat got caught by another gust and lurched again...in the other direction this time so we lost the other solar shower overboard!!
The entry into Le Palais was a melee of yachts and ferries. Our plan to spend 5 nights on the island quickly changed when the harbour launch informed us that only one night max was possible. We rafted up in the Basin de Flot along with dozens of other boats and a visit to the capitanerie explained that they had to clear the basin by 7.30am as they were expecting a gasoline tanker - but we were welcome to return at 6pm!! We didnt see the town at its best as it poured down all evening. We were awakened at 6am by the departure of the boat next to us and we decided that we were not sufficiently enamoured by Le Palais to stooge around for 12 hours. We headed to La Trinite on the other side of Quiberon Bay and were safely tied up there by 10am. We will make a return visit to the island but not until end August when all the French holidaymakers have returned to work!
Unfortunately La Trinite is not a good place to be at spring (high) tides - we bounced around like tennis balls and by Wednesday the wind was howling as well. On wednesday evening it was virtually impossible to sit below, the boat was rocking so much, so we took ourselves off to a local restaurant to celebrate Bastille Day with the rest of the population.
By Friday however we'd had enough of the rocking and rolling and decided to make a dash to Port du Crouesty just 6 miles along the coast. The wind was gusting 35kts but it was behind us and blew us down the coast - I wasnt filled with confidence however when even the skipper commented that he hoped it didn't get any worse!!
We will leave here tomorrow (sunday) and head into the Morbihan - hopefully the wind will have eased and we'll have a few peaceful nights and barbeques as the weather settles back down again.
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