Location: Cannes, France
To give you an idea of what our daily schedule looks like, I’ll just hand you the one I was given the night before. Then I’ll tell you how it actually went. 0700: Wake up the crew 0710: Make preps to pull up anchor and push off 0725: Motor away from St. Tropez 0730: Breakfast on deck (Topside with the St. Tropez sunrise) 0830: Basic Seamanship 0935: Scuba Diver Certification (Basic Open water, Advanced, or Rescue) 1200: Arrive and anchor down in Cannes. 1230: Lunch: Dinghy (outboard motorboat) down into Cannes for a meal or pack it with you. 1900: Dinner: Dinner on deck (with the Cannes sunset). Dinghy rides: 1700 for chefs of the day and 1800 for the rest of the crew.
So, after steering away from St. Tropez, we got basic seamanship underway in the saloon. Halfway through our in-class session, the captain comes down to propose to take class topside. While down below, the winds picked up, and the order came down to raise all sails. After making a slightly better show than our first day out, we were making headway on the wind. Then the decision came to postpone dive class until after dinner for a photo op of Argo fully furled out. A unanimous decision was made to drop a dinghy and capture Argo at sail. This inevitably led to the class photo. Normally held on benches or stairs and well structured to get everybody in, we opted for ours to be on the bowsprit. The excursion to Cannes was an event in itself. Not only was the international film festival venue within walking distance, but the most luxurious wooden boat regatta was also in town. Luxurious ships from around the world sailed here to race their way around the Cannes harbor and let onlookers like us wish they were ours. Cannes is also a beach resort town in France. The weather and water were perfect to lounge in. This could only be done after taking on some new dishes. Plates like calamari, fresh crepes, and steak tartar. All of them were amazing, even though there were a few disgusted faces. Tonight, we watched scuba videos and Surviving Anchor. Tomorrow, we wash, rinse, and repeat the schedule to Morocco.