Morning
I slept in today, waking up at 06:00. It is nice not to have to use an alarm clock, letting the natural sleep cycle decide when to wake up. It’s a beautiful day in the Saintes today. The sun is shining, a strong breeze is cooling down the cabin as I work and the weekend is looming ahead.
Apart from work, the only thing that happened this morning was a fellow cruiser coming in with 2 people aboard who tried, and failed, to pick up a mooring ball. The extremely short scope and high freeboard make it particularly difficult. So I zipped across in my dinghy and assisted them. It took one run on the mooring and less than 2 minutes between my starting my dinghy engine and returning to Zanshin.
Noon
Supplies are running low. I’ll need to wait until about 15:00 before heading into town since stores will remain shut until then. Bienvenue en France.
Afternoon
I went back into the water to clean the hull after my workday ended. This time, I didn’t want to scrape at the underwater growth but wanted to clean the waterline. I am tired of the unsightly and unkempt look of Zanshin.
I used two different kitchen cleaning pads, both recently retired from duty. After an hour in the water I realized that the only tried and proven cleaning method relies on elbow grease. Both perform equally well in removing stains and growth. I’m amazed at how tenacious the growths are. I have trouble removing them and I might have to resort to chemicals if mechanical effort isn’t enough. And I’ve now got small crabs on the hull again. I can’t believe that they could cling on while I was sailing at 9 knots, so they must have come from local waters.
Evening
Sunset is nearly here and I’m not sure if I want to head ashore. But I need to get some supplies and find out where the garbage can be placed.
So I got dressed, made sure I had my wallet and a shopping bag and departed. The upwind dinghy ride wasn’t too bad and I walked up and down the main street. I think I found the location for my garbage and will drop it off tomorrow. It has been a beautiful day in the Saintes, and the evening was still ahead.
I got the groceries put into the fridge on my return to Zanshin and decided to head ashore to the Hotel Bois Joli bar for a cold beer. Once there, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had the local Gwada Amber on tap. I had 2 beers plus a portion of Tapas and enjoyed the spectacle of the setting sun. The main course for dinner was 35 Euros for appetizer, main and desert. That was a good price, but the mains were all fish. I chose to forego dinner and asked for the bill. That came as a bit of a shock, I wasn’t too pleased to set a 50 Euro sum. That was 14 Euros per 500ml beer and 20 for the tapas! Those prices aren’t acceptable and I won’t be going back there again despite the nice service and great location.