Lazy Days at Anchor

Port Herlin

After enjoying Le Palais for a couple of days we slipped away mid-afternoon of Saturday 1 September. With settled weather we went in search of a deserted anchorage on the south coast of Belle Isle. We had a great sail around the island with a smaller French Sunfast yacht racing us en-route, making sure we stayed on top of our sail trimming, and then decided to anchor in Port Herlin for the night. We had the spot to ourselves until half way through our morning swim when word had clearly got out about how much we were enjoying this peaceful location and a motorboat turned up and anchored next to us. It’s funny how often, with a whole bay in which to anchor, arriving boats choose to anchor close. Not really a major problem, just intriguing; as though we had magically selected the only possible area where an anchor would hold.

It didn’t affect our routine though. Under a warm sun we swam, read, drank coffee (hot chocolate after the swim) and nibbled on pieces of Breton Far. Idyllic lazing around – and that was just the morning! After tackling a well-stocked cheeseboard, some pâté

Moles-hunting territory

and nice wine for lunch, it was time for another swim. But this time with purpose as we’d spotted some big fat moules on the rocks. So it was on with a facemask and snorkel and half an hour later the next task was cleaning up a kilo of freshly harvested Atlantic moules. Lazing about on a yacht at anchor is fantastic. So much so that we decided that we’d stay another night.