Bonjour
It has been a long two days. We left at daylight from Brest Tuesday and arrived about 11 AM this morning in Cherbourg. I had to jump off the boat and tie us up but that’s much less scary than the first time I had to do it back in Malaysia. We are on a visitor dock as far from the marina office as you can get and twice as far from town. But it’s just fine with us. It’s calm and quiet out here. I’ll do photos next email. These photos are from our passage where we were boarded at sea by French Customs Officials and we have the photos to prove it! Along the way we attained speeds we’d never gotten close to before. That was lots of fun. The weather was bright and sunny and the moon was so full that it never really got dark.
It was a good passage.
Ru
Randal picked the absolutely most perfect day to move from Brest to Cherbourg. We had almost no wind. The 2 meter swells were spaced so that you gently went up and then gently went down. Much of the time the strong currents were with us and our speeds were faster than we’d ever gone.
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We thought hitting 10 knots was amazing |
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Then it was eleven knots!!! 12.7 knots was the highest we recorded. We tend to average 6! Of course at one point we were down to about 3 knots when the tide changed but that was just fine as it all works out. |
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One funny thing happened. Spain seemed really unconcerned whether we checked in or not. We tried in La Liῆea but no one would do it. In La Coruῆa the marina just shrugged it off. In Brest we had to remind the marina staff that the US wasn’t part of Schengen and we might need to check in. But it was Sunday morning and the office of marine officials was closed. It made no sense to check in Monday morning and then check out Monday afternoon as we were leaving sunrise Tuesday, so we skipped it there. But here’s the thing, we took down our tattered American flag for me to sew and left Brest with no flag. That, the French officials cared about. As we were merrily cruising away from Brest we noticed a speedy pontoon type boat aiming for us. They aimed right at us and grabbed a hold of our back rail and politely explained they were French customs and were coming aboard. They had guns on their belts but it was broad daylight in the middle of a busy channel, so no problem. (Like maybe they were really the bad guys rather than the good guys. After the Somalia issue, you think of those things.) These guys were very professional and polite and searched the boat over. Certainly made me wish I’d dusted and vacuumed. Randal went round the boat with them per their request. After about 40 minutes they left. They did tell us our ‘no flag” was a red flag to them and they strongly encouraged us to put it back up. In Asia no one cared and because of “real or imagined” threats many Americans didn’t fly their flag. As a guest you always fly the one of the country you are visiting. These guys didn’t care that we weren’t flying a French flag. We have one but customarily you wait to raise it until you are officially checked into the country and since we hadn’t been officially checked into anywhere since we checked out of Tunisia, our foreign flags are still in the drawer. We planned to check in here in Cherbourg, but again the marina said there was no need. So maybe we’ll put up the French flag along with our tattered American flag. The flags just can’t stand up to ocean travel.
Randal and his new pals. They had just enough English; just enough and it took me a bit to realize that they were asking if we had a safe. They kept asking about the bo???. I thought they were asking about some kind of book but finally guessed that they were asking about a box. They meant safe but didn’t have the word in English. So it was kinda funny. They also were interested in our huge fuel tanks which maybe could be used to smuggle. They were discussing it in French but Randal guessed their concern so offered to take out the gage and show them it was fuel. They took a pass on that. At one point early on, the man just next to Randal tried to point out to me a French military boat near the shore but I just couldn’t see what he meant. I finally said yes, I saw so he wouldn’t wonder how someone who couldn’t see the big ship he was pointing at could drive a boat. |
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Departing from DoraMac
There they go. Our friends Ed and Sue had their boat searched near Belle Isle and Ed was even wearing his Federal Atty shirt. Today in the grocery store a British couple told me that we should ask for a certificate of inspection as you can get stopped all along the coast. They were right about that….. |
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Sunrise came earlier as we were heading east our second day out. |
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As for being stopped more than one time by French officials… We were coming up the coast about a hour short of Cherbourg when a French Coast Guard boat started to circle us. They came on the radio and identified themselves and asked us to slow down. They asked about us and the boat and then said they would board for an inspection. Randal said that was fine but we had just been inspected coming out of Brest and had the photos with the men. They “put us on hold” and then came back on, I guess having checked out our story, and said, “thanks, have a good jouney.” And they left. Next time we’ll ask for a certificate after the first inspection. |
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Looking at the map of the marina area and Cherbourg. We’re sort of below the numbers 17. The Carrrefour where we walked this afternoon for groceries felt like a million miles away. The city of Cherbourg seems quite charming so I hope to walk back tomorrow for some photos because if weather cooperates we plan to leave Friday for Pourtsmouth, England |
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Filling out the relatively short registration form. Some countries go on for pages. The staff was very helpful and gave us two passes for the wifi so we didn’t have to share. |
