A day at the Harbour

Today’s blog comes to you from the beautiful harbour at Garavan bay, and is for Don Fisher – enjoy Don!

I’ve been searching the web like crazy, trying to find a pleasure-cruise company that offers a 4 hr or half day cruise along the Cote D’Azur, perhaps taking us from Menton as far as St. Tropez or even Cannes, offering a light lunch and cocktails, and then returning us home. I’m not looking for an on/off sort of thing, just a round-trip cruise. Apparently no such thing exists (at this time of year or ever). There are some boats that make mini excursions from Nice later in the year, but nothing that offers what I’m thinking of. I think I’ve come up with a good idea to keep me here…

Anyway, just last week you saw a video of the waves crashing on the shore in an awesome display of the power of the sea. Today, from the very same place, comes a more placid and tranquil report.

There are 2 ports in town, one deeper water for the bigger boats, and the smaller, shallower one, for pleasure craft. In the video of the shallow port, I mistakenly say "Ascension Sunday." It was, of course, Ascension Thursday.

I have to admit that I don’t know a great deal about boats, but watching them at sea, I can’t help but compare them in my mind to ballerinas. The serene beauty of their motion does not give a hint to the complexity that lay underneath. They silently and regally move across the surface of the ocean in a seamless, fluid motion. The sight of the sun shimmering on the sea, punctuated here and there by the passing of a well-maintained boat is pleasing to the eye, and beckons you out on the water, even if you don’t have a clue what to do in order to operate one.

Maybe it was the fact that we had a drop-dead gorgeous day, but the marina is just the neatest place to hang out. Our favourite restaurant sits among these yachts (we resisted the temptation to stop in for lunch, though), and the place has a bit of a quiet bustle about it. Here and there a boat automatically discharges its ballast (and I suppose takes on new) and you can hear the crackling sound of the ropes under stress as the boats bob to and fro. A woman is listening to the radio as she sits on the deck and sips a cup of coffee and reads her morning paper, and a fellow is whistling as he scrubs the deck.

There are yachts and boats of various sizes and registrations here (including Lichtenstein!), including the very small and the exceptionally large. It’s great to see them all moored up and glistening in the sun. I love the verticality of the masts as they reach into the cloudless sky, silently and patiently waiting for their owner and come and unfurl them to catch the next zephyr and take them to uncharted territory or a new adventure.

No “Aye Maytees” here and “A yo ho ho and a bottle of rum” there.

This is a very civilized place to be indeed.