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Doteyboaty
  • Margaret Meade
  • Ronan O'Driscoll
  • Ruby O'Driscoll
  • Margaret Meade
  • Ronan O'Driscoll
  • Ruby O'Driscoll

Doteyboaty

Family sailing around Europe Read more
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  • Doteyboaty
    Waiting for the trainCap d'AntibesView from the Cape

    Day trips

    September 28, 2022 in France ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Our first week in Antibes flies by between boat jobs, home schooling and skip-diving. Now Colm and Ruby know all the best places in town to scavage for cardboard boxes which we need for shipping things home. Our glamourous yachting lifestyle is ending soon.

    Once DHL have collected the boxes we take the twenty minute train ride to Nice. We hop on a tram and head straight to the old town. We wander down through the lovely streets until we reach to the water front. There is a fine breeze blowing and we have a great time watching the azure water break into white waves and crash onto the stony beach. Ruby observes how funny it is that even when we are not on the boat we always find our way to the sea, its our favourite place to be.

    On another afternoon the skipper stays on board while we three hire bikes and cycle to Cap d’Antibes and Juan Les Pins. Over the phone Mum sings me ‘Where do you go to my lovely’ and I realise why ‘Juan Les Pins’ is so familiar. We stop for an ice cream and a swim at a pretty beach on Cap d’Antibes and decide to bring Donal and Margaret here when they come to visit in a few days time.    Read more

  • Doteyboaty
    The birthday cake!
    Breakfast; french styleThe afternoon tea spreadA sunset adventure

    Turning Fourteen

    September 30, 2022 in France ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We spend my fourteenth birthday in a very different place to my thirteenth, in Antibes instead of Fuengirola. Our planned festivities also differ greatly from last year.

    The days highlight is afternoon tea à la français with scones, caramel squares and boulangerie goodies. There is plenty of unwrapping to do and I receive a new jumper, a book, souvenirs, sweets and a lovely white Swiss knife as well as some beautiful cards.

    Colm and I go for a rollerblade at dusk, whilst Mom and Dad walk together. Bangers n’ mash with a game of chess is the evenings menu and we set up to play cards, but sleepiness overtakes us and we go to bed instead. Birthdays are tiring work!    Read more

  • Doteyboaty
    On the ferris wheelOn the Ferris wheelA sit down on the walkAt the beachCap d'AntibesWatching another superyacht dock

    Nana and Grandads visit

    October 2, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    This blog is written by Colm.

    During their stay we celebrate Nana’s birthday with a Tunisian orange cake that I made and a dinner out in a lovely restaurant.
    While they are with us we also enjoy a ride on the feris wheel and a walk around the headland of Cap d’Antibes , during which we stop for a swim at a beach with pristine water. We go swimming every day at the local beach. I really enjoy their final visit out to us on Régal.Read more

  • Doteyboaty
    Towing the fishing line but no fishIle RiouA beautiful night for our last at anchorFarewell to our sea bream friendsJellyfish centralIrish weather conditions in France

    Last days of anchoring

    October 6, 2022 in France ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We stop at three different islands as we make our way to our final destination, Port Napoleon, at the mouth of the river Rhône.
    A short passage from Antibes brings us to our first night’s anchorage. It’s a gorgeous spot between two islands just off Cannes. We swim and sleep and the next morning we start into a full day’s passage. We arrive in Porquerolles island, near Toulon in the late afternoon. We set up a Tarzan swing with the dinghy halyard and have a great time jumping from the boat and holding on for as long as we can. We have (another) delicious bean-based dinner as we try to run down the store cupboards.

    We start the next day with a big swim and then sail on to ile Riou, which is part of the Calanques national park near Marseille. The landscape is beautiful and the water is crystal clear. While Ruby is snorkelling to check the anchor she makes an unpleasant discovery. The water is infested with jellyfish which luckily she manages to avoid.
    When night falls a beautiful moon rises. We are surrounded by the national park so the only lights we see are boats moving between here and the mainland. A brave late-comer in an electric catamaran arrives at 11pm and drops anchor right in by the rocky shore.
    In the morning the water is still full of Mauve Stingers so we reluctantly skip a final swim in the Mediterranean.
    The beautiful shores we have sailed past in the last few days deserve much more time than we have given them. We hope to come back and explore them properly some day.    Read more

  • Doteyboaty
    The last haul out
    Flat and wet land as far as the eye can seeEntering Port NapoleonLunch break for the workersBack at Hotel les RizieresFlamingos in the CamargueA final sleep onboard for Ronan and ColmBye bye Regal

    The End

    October 19, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We have had 15 months of ‘livin the dream’ and now we are at the end.
    We have finished our trip in Port Napoleon because we hear that it is a good place to sell a boat.
    Régal is now on the market with an agent here and we have a busy ten days getting her ship shape and ready for sale.
    Port Napoleon is the perfect place to get stuck into jobs as there is nothing else to do here. It is a giant boatyard with lots of warehouses, boat services and a small restaurant with a few hotel rooms. There is a town two kilometres away but it is only worth the walk when we need some shopping. The whole area is infested with mosquitos and they are vicious, biting at any hour of the day and sometimes even through our clothing.
    We are happy to spend most of our time onboard Régal getting through the list of jobs. We winterise the boat and take care of little repairs here and there but the biggest task by far is packing up to move out. We pack 6 big boxes and ship them home and yet we still have piles of stuff. Luckily we are able to give some of it to several nice people around the boatyard who are renovating boats on shoestring budgets.
    When we haul out we move into the on-site accommodation but spend most of our time on Régal. We clean her hull and paint on anti-foul so she is pretty as a picture.
    When we hire a car Colm and I escape the packing and cleaning for a while and go on an overnight trip down memory lane. We travel to Saint Marie de la Mer, a town I worked in for a summer when I was seventeen. We stay in the hotel where I worked which is nicer than I expected. It is so lovely to go back there even though the people I had known are long gone. We have a walk through the Camargue and see the famous flamingos, horses, bulls and also some river rodents called coypu.
    Once we are back to the boatyard we are flat out getting all our stuff off the boat and into our 12 check-in bags! When the car is full to the brim we take a deep breath and have one last walk through Régal.
    She is a beauty and we have loved her.
    We are so grateful to her for keeping us safe and bringing us to so many wonderful places. Thank you Régal for all the happy memories.
    And thank you everyone for following our journey.

    This is Régal crew over and out.    Read more

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