Shortly after stowing our luggage we attended a mandatory lifeboat drill. In the event of an emergency that might require abandoning the ship we would be alerted with a loud alarm of 7 short and one long blast. We were to bring our life jackets, warm apparel, a warm hat, and a boat identification card to a specific area where ship personnel would supervise the boarding of lifeboats. We pulled away from shore at around 6:00pm. Shortly out of the harbor we passed by the iconic Statue of Liberty.
It was a foggy, cool, evening, but many gathered on deck for the departure. George and I enjoyed our first beer on board.
It was a foggy, cool, evening, but many gathered on deck for the departure. George and I enjoyed our first beer on board.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of lamb shank and retired to our cabin for restful night’s sleep.
The Royal Wedding
Shortly into our voyage the occasion of the royal wedding between Prince Harry and now Princess Meghan dominated events on the Queen Mary. The ship’s Royal Theater opened at 6:00am and broadcast live coverage of wedding preparations, the event itself, and commentary afterward. British pride and nationalism was in evidence everywhere. The ship and many passengers were decorated in British red, white and blue. The British Royal Regalia (a group sing along) was held in the Grand Lobby that concluded with the British national anthem.
To start off, this is the FIRST posting to the FIRST blog we have ever written. During our 2017 sail in France and Spain we created and e-mailed periodic updates to friends and family. E-mail came along with considerable limitations (data-wise and otherwise). Our daughter, Allison, gave us a Christmas present of taking the FIRST steps of transitioning our means of communication to a BLOG. George is an early adopter and took it from there – And here we are – BLOGGERS. We hope to add, at some later time, summaries of our 2017 and 2015/16 trips.
George and I began our 2018 sailing adventure with a trans-Atlantic cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2. We had never taken a cruise before and we came by this FIRST experience for reasons having nothing to do with an interest in checking this off.
We began to research passage on the Queen Mary as a means to bring our beloved dog, Chaze, with us. As it turned out, Chaze was nearly twice as long as the maximum size dog allowed and we had to abandon the dream of bringing him to France aboard the Queen Mary. How he would have loved being able to accompany us to restaurants and stores and beaches. He would relish the great deal of attention and admiration he would undoubtedly receive. As my brother Michael summed up, Chaze ranked up there with a short list of the most special dogs that have ever lived – along with Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, and two of his own beloved dogs – Kip and Diesel. Sadly, Chaze passed away in February, just shy of his 14th birthday, and will never get to visit France. We miss him.
As we were looking into the Queen Mary passage, we came upon a mention that there were no limitations concerning the amount of luggage you could bring on board (other than that it must fit in one’s stateroom). We had sailed ICE FLOE deux in 2017 through France’s rivers and canals from Cherbourg to the Mediterranean and along the French Riviera to Spain’s Balearic Islands without some much-needed, voluminous, and heavy sailing paraphernalia. We had stumbled upon the most economical means of getting both ourselves and this equipment to our boat.
Our boat-related luggage included eight large duffle bags, a small chest freezer, and a bag of long poles (fishing net, boat hook, et al) totaling ~ 500lbs. Our personal items were packed into two small duffle bags, three shoulder bags, and one garment bag. We arrived at the terminal and loaded our luggage onto a large cart while we were waiting in a long line of cars that were either dropping off passengers for the cruise or picking up passengers from a previous trip. A steward met me with the cart and promptly took the luggage off our hands. The next time we saw it was when we arrived at our stateroom. There was a remarkable amount of storage space in the cabin and it was very easy to stow our baggage and restore order to the cabin. We could have brought twice as much!!
We boarded the Queen Mary on May 17th for a seven day passage from Brooklyn, NY to South Hampton England.
Enjoying a complimentary bottle of champaign in our stateroom on the day of our arrival
Our state room after “stowing” our stuff
The video that was posted in our original post on Blogger was not supported by WordPress so alas, we have no photos to share with you at this time of our lovely stateroom (that accommodated everything we brought in its ample closets, save the freezer and grill that we kept on the balcony.
We finished the waterways through France and entered the Mediterranean Sea on June 13th, one month ago, today. We motored straight to La Grande Motte where the mother company for ALLURES has a facility. We came to have the mast stepped (re-installed). La Grande Motte is a beachside town on the southwestern coast of France which was developed in the 1960s and 70s. The buildings you see in the first photo are condominiums, and there are many, many more than those in this photo.
The beach is shallow and warms up so even the feint of heart can take a dip. It is a genuine resort town replete with tourist shops, dozens of seaside restaurants, and many sun-worshippers – speaking of which, in La Grande Motte the only types of one piece women’s bathing suits we observed were worn by those who prefer to sun topless. Otherwise, it is bikinis for all – young and old, big and small. On the men’s side, the younger ones had generally adopted surfer shorts, but some of the older men still sported speedos and one 60ish man in the marina wore a thong.
This observation made me sufficiently curious to explore the possibility that cultural influences in France that nourish a healthy “sense of self” contribute to a greater acceptance of one’s body. Alas, I was unable to find evidence of such in my deep research on the internet. On the contrary, I read that “fat shaming” is quite extreme in France as the populace has long been known for being enviously thin. French culture offers much to be admired and many mysteries.
Our “schedule” for the first month on the Mediterranean was hectic from the start. Our mast was damaged during transport from Cherbourg and we were waiting for a replacement mast. The new mast was delayed and the earliest we could get the damaged mast installed in La Grande Motte was June 19th. It would take at least two days (which we did not have) to sail from La Grande Motte to Marseille, where we would meet Marilla and Mitch the following day (June 20th). Instead we rented a car to pick up Marilla and Mitch and then returned to La Grande Motte. The sail from La Grande Motte to Nice to pick up Allison, Mike, Riley, and Tristan required 5 full days on the water whereas we had planned for a leisurely trip had we started from Marseille. Marilla and Mitch were good sports and excellent ship mates, but it was certainly not the best beginning for their first experience of the lovely south of France.
Marilla and Mitch had planned for some beautiful climbs, but Mitch had recently injured his arm. That did not deter them from ogling the rock faces and climbs that might have been from paddle boards and dinghy.
Allison, Mike, Riley and Tristan joined us on June 25th in Nice.
Sleeping quarters
Marilla and Mitch were already in the aft cabin, Mike and Allison were assigned the salon couch and Riley and Tristan were in the workroom – Riley atop the work cabinet and Tristan in a hammock. The hammock was quite a hit with Tristan – he only fell out once and, having been cushioned by the substantial amount of clothing strewn all over the floor, was not hurt. He climbed right back in that night and every subsequent night and we made it a point not to ask the kids to pick up their clothes.
Short visit in Nice
We walked the town, played at the beach (water was quite chilly) and, following Marilla’s and Mitch’s lead from the previous day, we climbed a hill to explore Park de la Collins du Château. The park was full of family gatherings and group yoga-like activities, lovely landscaping, walking trails, musicians practicing their drum routine, and great overlooks of the harbor and city.
Port Lympia viewed from Park de la Collins du Château.
One of the landmarks of the harbor neighbourhood, this statue represents king Carlo Felice that reigned on the Savoy region in the 19th century.
The following day, we had a lazy breakfast of crepes and omelettes and then headed west – destination Cassis – visiting along the way, Ile St Honorat.
St. Honorat
The current-day St. Honorat monastery (pictured below) is on the island of St. Honorat, just off the coast of the city of Canne. These buildings were constructed in the second half of the 19th century. The kids visited this monastery on our way from Nice to Cassis and subsequently, George and I spent a day there, as well.
Current day Monestary
This monastic order, founded by St Honoratus, dates back to the 5th century. The original monastery and its inhabitants fell victim to piracy and other sources of violence. This prompted the construction of a fortified building in 1073 (picture below and on following page).
Ruins of Original Monastery
Miramar
We spent the evening in Miramar. The kids explored the town while George and I made a few last minute adjustments in the boat to better accommodate 8 people.
Approaching MiramarPort Figueirette (marina in Miramar harbor where we spent the night)
We left early the next morning, arriving at Iles de Porquerolles that evening. This island, off the coast near Toulon, has approximately 200 inhabitants, most of whom live around the harbor and marina. This community is surrounded by farmland (largely grape vineyards) and the remaining 80 percent of the island is a nature preserve.
We regret having such limited time for our family to explore areas we passed briefly by or through on our way from La Grande Motte to Nice, Nice to Cassis and back to Nice. The amount of time boating was excessive, and some days had sailing conditions that were not ideal.
One could easily spend several days to a week at any destination to begin to truly experience the atmosphere, cuisine, industries… Next time (and there will be a next time) we will spend more time in each place we visit.
We had memorable moments on the boat and can there ever be too much snuggle time?
Mike discovered that there were hungry fish that attacked strawberry tops and pieces of bread. This led to the only fish I have caught in the Mediterranean so far – with bread as bait!!!!
See George gutting below.
Îles de Porquerolles
Designated nature preserve on the Iles de Porquerolles
Go With The Floe 