Cruising info for Villefranche, Abri de L'Olivette and Ile Ste Marguerite, French Riviera:-
Anchorages -
Villefranche - 43 42.103N 07 19.103E 11.5m weed, got rolly on last night
Abri de L'Olivette @ Cap d'Antibes - 43 33.168N 07 07.011E 8m sand/weed, very undulating
Ile Ste Marguerite - 43 31.590N 07 02.444E 7.5m sand/weed
Communications - Mobile phones both GYMSIM and Vodafone Malta worked on SFR or Orange Signal. Then there is the internet, another country to deal with!!! Firstly connecting by dongle - a French one is an expensive option. Need to buy a new dongle (didn't check price), apparantly not compatible with any other country, then Simcard was 69E then think it was 15E for 3 hours connection, all to hard and too expensive. What we did was top up our NZ Vodafone dongle and used it on roaming just to download the weather and emails, it wasn't cheap either, but NZD60 (about 35E) lasted us our time in France. However the good news is that there are unlocked sites around in France, so with our external aerial we managed to pickup (with rather alot of effort) signals in both Villefranche and Abri de L'Olivette, not great signals but enough to get weather info down.
Ashore -
Villefranche - is a cute little place (cruiseships do come in, we had two one day so it can get busy!), main shops are all up the hill inland a couple of blocks. The train station is easy to see from the anchorage. We tied our dinghy on the concrete wall, plenty of options.
Abri de L'Olivette - Easy walk over to Antibes, probably took around 25 minutes just kept heading in the direction we thought it should be!! Small minimarket and excellent bakery on the road into Antibes. Found much shorter way back headed straight along main road which brought us back to very upmarket village by the big marina just north of the anchorage. Mainly cafes/bars and a casino in village, ATM machine but didn't see a minimarket.
Ile Ste Marguerite - A couple of small restaurants ashore maybe open daytime only. Fort did have charge but we arrived about 5.30pm it was open with no one on door so had a look around, it is quite impressive. Loads of lovely walking on well marked paths. Water tap on dock, some smalls boats were filling up jerry jugs.
Formalities - didn't do any in France
Sightseeing - Many cruisers "do" Monaco from here. Easy train trip, 5.50E return each, half hourly except on Sundays
Cruising info for Theoule sur Mer, St Tropez and Anse de Gau, Cote d'Azur:-
Anchorages -
Theoule sur Mer - 43 30.711N 06 56.412E 14m some weed. Escaped southerly swell, but choppy in afternoon southeast seabreeze
St Tropez: Anse des Canebiers - 43 16.187N 06 39.687E 13.5m sand, roll from passing boats heading into marina
St Tropez: Plage de Grimaud - 43 16.502N 06 35.375E 11.5m sand, again roll from boats going into the other marina!
Anse de Gau - 43 06.433N 06 21.855E 5.9m sand
Communications - GYMSIM and Malta Vodafone had signals everywhere. WIFI: The camping ground at Plage de Grimaud had a pay site but it wouldn't accept my credit card. Anse de Gau managed to pick up an unlocked site, not easy but got weather down. Rest of time chewed up many more dollars using NZ Vodafone dongle on roaming.
Ashore - Theoule sur Mer is a small town with everything you need. Free wifi at pizza cafe on roundabout (road going inland from beach), bakery there too. St Tropez had nothing at the anchorages but everything in town. Good supermarket behind western end of marina, great bakery and market looked very good. Two coffees were 8E, did see one cafe charged 7E each!!. Didnt go ashore in Anse de Gau but didnt look to have anything.
Formalities - None anywhere in France
