It's great to have the Admiral on board! We had such a good time sailing the boat together for the first time that week after Hyeres. It seems a long time ago now.

After Hyeres, the Cote d'Azur really gets into gear, with all the flashy yachts. What was standard size motorboat in Spain, 25 m, is a small boat here. The record so far stands at 163 m. We must have seen well over 10 yachts over 100 m long! Here is where the AIS system comes in handy. All these boats have AIS and I can see in the info provided on our chart plotter how long each of these monstrosities is. I'm doing a new gallery in Smugmug just for boat pictures - check it out! And the traffic is horrendous. No comparison to Long Island Sound. You really have to watch out for boats all the time, weaving around this and that constantly. The French use their boats!

We both really liked St Tropez, inspite of the swell in the harbor from the mistral blowing outside. Beautiful buildings, some remnants of a real fishing fleet and lots of eye candy! In Cannes, we had a spectacular berth right on the Quai Saint Pierre. We were, however, the smallest boat on that quai. Then they have a separate harbor for the really big ones! We also noticed that the really flashy sailboats need gold plated winches here. Really cuts down on the maintenance ....

On the way to the Italian rivera, we took a detour through Monaco harbor and we were glad we did. You have to see it up close to believe it. We were lucky to get an expert tour from Dario and David, who've lived around the corner for decades. First, there is the floating cruise dock/breakwater/parking garage. "Mein Schiff 5", a humungous cruise ship, was moored on it, obstructing the view of the harbor from the outside. You enter the harbor and it gets more and more ridiculous in terms of the boats. 40 m long is small. And that's all against the background of the old opera house and the casino, modern sky scrapers and the spectacular mountain scenery on your right. This is Monte Carlo. On your left, you see "The Rock," with the castle of Monaco, the acquarium and nothing but graceful old buildings in traditional Provence style. No high rises, no casino. I guess the oligarchs live on the right, not on the left.

Soon after Monaco, the French courtesy flag came down and the Italian one went up. First stop: San Remo. We went there because they had a customs office. Our English cruising guide says you have to check in but the marina office was adamant: no need to check in with customs. So we didn't. The harbor was nothing special but the (long) walk into town was worth it. No high rises, just beautiful old buildings, and great ice cream.