La Grande Motte - Sète

Today we wanted to go for it, all signs were green. Only the rain radar on the weather online stubbornly refused to stop the rain. So we postponed our departure, no matter how much we turned and twisted, the rain radar was right.

We drove along the coast with 2-6 knots of wind, the swell also settled down for a calm crossing.

So we reached Sète around noon. The spot at the harbor captain's office was unfortunately occupied. So we took the first available spot for our Gustav and secured it provisionally.

Then to the harbor master, with some hurdles, but it worked on the second attempt. We could combine that with a visit to the Quai de la Consigne.

The sun and heat made us a bit tired, Heike lay down for a while, I studied the surroundings, let's see what the next days have in store for us.

As I dozed off, voices started to come up. At first I suspected our neighbors, but it quickly became clear that all my suspicions were wrong. Three customs officers were admiring our Gustav. Since they were communicating in their native language, I looked out for my first officer. But he wasn't available, so I dealt with the customs officers in English.

The main question was about the documents and if we had any weapons or drugs on board. And where do you come from. Who is Kunya.

I invited them onto the ship, but they didn't want to follow. So I got the documents and joined the three of them on the pier.

I couldn't answer the question about the documents, I had to refer them to the harbor captain's office. The question about weapons and drugs was a bit easier to answer. No, although my wife is a hunter, she leaves the guns at home when we're traveling by ship. And do I look like I have drugs? And the ship is not called Kunya, it's called Gustav, Kunya is the shipyard where Gustav was built.

They apologized many times for having to inconvenience us, but that's their job. I naturally understood everything and believed that it was all over now. But something must have convinced them to come on board and see everything. I didn't have to defend our last beer in the fridge. After a little less than half an hour, the fuss was over and my first officer and radio operator and I sat on the flybridge, looking at each other.

Tomorrow morning we're going to the fish market. Let's see if the fish sandwiches there are as delicious as the ones in Hamburg.