Summer Holidays: The Calanques

The next morning we work up early and had breakfast on the terrasse with the other boarders. Then we packed up the car and set off along the coast. We decided to pass straight through Marseille in order to reach the Massif des Calanques sooner. I had been interested to see Marseille, but we were learning that we enjoyed the natural sites of the South better than the cities. So we continued on to the smaller city of Cassis.

Between Marseille and Cassis the coast juts in and out of the sea, forming a series of inlets called calanques. David and I started at the southern point and worked our way back north along the edge of the coast. We passed up a few crowded beaches before parking the car on a side road and following signs on foot to La Plage Bleu (the Blue Beach).

La Plage Bleu was less of a beach than a rocky outcropping with relatively easy access to the sea. We found a nook to park our towels and tried to make ourselves comfortable on the rocks. The sea was active that day, and waves sloshed all around us. It was a far cry from the lazy beach in Sète.

My butt couldn't handle the rocks long, so we decided to try out our snorkeling gear. We picked our way down to the water's edge, put on our flippers, and hopped in.

David was smart and put his mask around his neck before jumping in. I was stupid and decided to carry mine into the water. The jump into the sea knocked the mask directly out of my hand, and of course these things don't float (seriously though; why not?). And there you go: I bought snorkel gear, carried it all the way to the south of France, and promptly dumped it on the bottom of the Mediterrean.

I was ready to kick myself in the butt with a flipper and chalk up the loss to sheer stupidity, but David wasn't ready to give up so easily. He immediately began diving again and again until he finally surfaced with my mask in hand. My hero!

So we snorkeled! After being reunited with my mask I decided to fully appreciate it. Dave wore out after a short while (the diving challenge certainly didn't help), but I continued to paddle around the shore poking around the rocks and chasing schools of fish. Eventually I came upon a little jellyfish making his merry way along and decided to call it a day. I carefully climbed out of the water onto the rocks and back to David and our towels.

We spent most of the afternoon stretched out on the rocks, then returned to the house for showers before going out for dinner in Saint Chamas. On another recommendation we dined in a small restaurant on the lake owned by a former rugby player.