Palamos, Sète, Gulf of Roses, Gulf of Lion

Even before our arrival in Palamós, our Windy App predicted an optimal crossing to Sète—little wind, swell up to 20 cm, sunny skies.

We had planned to sail from Palamós to Port Bou to spend a few days at Costa Brava, but the forecasts for the following week indicated that crossing the Gulf of Lion would be less than ideal according to Windy.

In short, Sète became the new destination, 186 km at a cruising speed of 2000/Min and 14-15 km/h, 13 hours, swell 10-20 cm.

Before sunrise, alongside the fishermen, we set out on this journey; we left the harbor at 6:30 and left the fishermen behind after a short distance.

True to the weather forecast, the day unfolded beautifully, with the weather in the Gulf of Lion showing its best side.

Pasting Cap de Begur, we crossed the Gulf of Roses directly towards Cap de Creus.

After passing Cap de Creus, we took a direct course for Sète. We had now completed a third of the distance, with only 120 KM of open sea ahead of us. 

After 100 km, we could still see Cap de Creus in the background. The Pyrenees rose impressively to the north, shrouded in mist above the coast, reminding us that we were still close to land. However, the area around Agde and Sète remained hidden in fog for a long time; only when we were about 30 km from the coast could we faintly make out Agde and the local mountain of Sète, Mont Saint-Clair, on the horizon.

The sea had calmed down by now, and the last kilometers to the harbor were very relaxed. Upon our arrival there at 7:30 PM, we found that there were hardly any free spots left in the harbor. There was still a free spot on the long pier outside the harbor, which we took, much to the dismay of the sailor behind us.

We had truly earned our welcome beer today. For dinner, we had potato soup from Dieter's sausage shop, and then it was off to bed.