Sea Rose had her first overnight sail.  The trip from La Rochelle to Santander took 32 hours.  The winds were 10-12 knots and the seas were moderate.  When morning came it was a beautiful day.

Not a single stinking bite.  Looks like we’ll be having lunch meats again.

Doing night watches will eventually catch up with you.  Resting up for the big night in Santander.

Land Ho!  After about 29 hours, the Spanish coast was in sight. The winds had increased to 22-25 knots and the seas were now 5-6 feet.  We had to put our 1st reef in. We lost Teresa for the remainder of the trip (down, but not out).

After a 32 hour overnight sail it’s time to clean the salt off the Sea Rose.  Capt. Glen and Teresa are breaking out the water, brushes and mops.

Sea Rose is all cleaned up now and securely tied to the dock.  We planned to stay here 3 days, but due to high winds on our departure day we stayed an extra 2 days.

We rigged the Code 0 up in the marina.  We wanted to make sure we had all the parts and also knew how to deploy it when underway. It’s a big sail.

Now it was time for the famous pinchos (fast food) in Santander.  Our marina was on the other side of the bay, so it required a taxi ride into town.  Fortunately, we had our Spanish translator with us.  Thank you Teresa!

A typical street in the old part of town.

The Spanish love their jamón serrano.

Here’s an interesting shop that caught someone’s attention.  No, we’re not in Colorado.

A bad case of munchies after the shopping.  Enjoying pinchos.

We’re not sharing, it’s just me and the mouse.

Bob making friends with the staff, to be expected.

We didn’t only eat and drink.  We did get some historical sightseeing.  We visited the  Santander Cathedral.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santander_Cathedral

Santander at night.

We got the needed repairs in Les Sables and then headed back down south to Ile de Re’.  Motoring out of Port Olona and heading out to the Bay of Biscay.  Lisa and Teresa on look out.

Did someone call my name?

Giles & Bob

Teresa & Lisa counting jellyfish as we passed over them.

The seas were calm and the winds were light. Giles, Bob, Teresa & Lisa sunning on the foredeck.

We arrived at the small town of St. Marten on the Ile de Re’

St. Marten harbor entrance.

Tied up outside the city walls.  A lot of boat traffic and a bit rough.  Capt. Glen did a good job squeezing us in what was initially a very tight space.

Let’s see if there is anything to buy here.

Oh look, a market!  There must be something here I would like.

Having lunch at a marina restaurant.

Whaaaat???  Someone burgled my pub while I’m on holiday in St. Marten.(Giles just received news that one of his pubs was burglarized back in England).

Teresa & Lisa heading back to Sea Rose after a lovely day of eating, drinking & shopping in St, Marten, minus the bad news about Giles’ pub.

After picking up our wonderful friends in La Rochelle we sailed back to Les Sables d’Olonne.  We were having a problem with one of the main sail cars jamming and wanted to have someone look at it.

Giles, Lisa & Teresa

Low tide

Giles: “Let me know when you guys get that sail fixed”.

Entrance to the old port of La Rochelle, France.

We had to wait for this bridge to open before we could enter the Bassin des Chalutiers.  You can only enter the basin during high tide.

Now we can enter.

Safely inside the Bassin.  Sea Rose now is tied up to the floating pontoon along the sea wall. Surrounded by bars and restaurants.  We’ll spend the next few days purchasing more supplies and enjoy touring the old town.

Chain Tower, La Rochelle

Shopping in the market

Sailing isn’t all fun and sun.  Someone has to do the laundry. Believe it or not, that is Teresa in a public laundry mat.

After a night on the hook off Ile de Re’ we motored over to Ile de Aix for a short day trip.  On the way, we passed Fort Boyard which was built to protect the French arsenals from Royal Navy incursions.  It only took 56 years to build.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Boyard_(fortification)

We dropped the dingy for the first time and Capt. Glen was kind enough to run us ashore.

Ile de Aix is famous for being the last French soil Napoleon stood on before the English exiled him to St Helena where he eventually died.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele-d%27Aix

Fort De La Rade fortification

Napoleon did not sleep here.

Fort De La Rade main street. It was very hot this day and we all know Teresa does not like the heat.

A pleasant surprise was a very nice Napoleon museum.

After our Ile de Aix tour and lunch at anchor, we motored back to Ile de Re’ for the evening sunset.  We needed to position ourselves there for the early morning Bassin des Chalutliers’ lock opening.

Exactly two weeks to the date of our arrival and Sea Rose is ready for sailing, but not before a final cup of coffee.

Motoring out of the Port Olona entrance to the Bay of Biscay.

Looks who’s at the helm…

Looking back at the town of Les Sables d’Olonne

The main sail is up and we’re sailing…finally!

Our BVI Port of Registry flag is flying too.

After a 5 hour sail we arrived off the Ile de Re’, just in time to anchor for the night and enjoy our first sunset.

We arrived in Les Sables d’Olonne, France on July 18, 2015.  We had a great apartment right on the quay and close walking distance to the marina. We could watch the boats entering and exiting the harbor all hours of the day.

Quickly adjusting to life in France with a morning baguette run on a borrowed bicycle.

Upon our arrival at the marina Sea Rose was still in the boat yard being commissioned.

Finally, after a few days she was launched, but which one is Sea Rose?  Lagoon launches about 200 catamarans from here every year.

Good thing we put our name on our boat so we could find her.

We now had to get Sea Rose ready for setting sail.  We spent nearly a week acquiring all of the supplies necessary.  Not to mention, the wrong main sail was installed and had to be replaced.  After a few days of emails Lagoon finally corrected the mistake and installed the correct square top main sail.  This required some final adjusting of the rigging, at which time the rigger dropped his massive wrench on the deck and chipped the gel coat.  That sucked!  You never want to see that on a new boat.

Fortunately, Lagoon summoned their master gel coat repairers and fixed it the next day.  Like magicians and made the chip disappear.

We were finally ready to throw off the lines, leave the dock and say goodbye to the new friends we made the past week, but not until the Admiral christened Sea Rose. I didn’t realize she was so superstitious, but I was not going to tempt fate and bring bad luck upon Sea Rose.  Teresa graciously sacrificed one of her fine bottles of champagne for the ceremony.