Cassis, Calanques and Kayak

Thursday was a day of adventure, Megan, Becky and I embarked on a road trip!! We headed down to Cassis by the sea with the intention of hunting out some sea kayaking action around the Calanques. These are the tall white cliffs and coves that run along the coast between Marseilles and Cassis (I did a boat trip a few weeks ago). We arrived in Cassis after some pretty groovy navigation and driving and headed straight for the beach. Not the bigger, busier one in town, but one a little further west which is in the direction of the kayaking place (we hoped). Like any good road trip we had stopped for treats on the way down and enjoyed some eclair chocolat, chocolate brioche, apple tart and vanilla slice!! Gotta love a quality boulangerie!! (bakery).

The water was beautiful and as soon as we three managed to walk/hobble/stumble down the stony beach to the waters edge it was delightful!! We envied the little booties worn by some better prepared swimmers. Once again we were slightly surprised by the amount of topless bathing and general wandering about, but overall our swim at the ‘beach’ was fantastic. There was even some jumping off rocks into the crystal clear, very deep water. We stayed for lunch in a cafe by the beach and then headed off on our expedition in search of kayaks.

Without too much trouble we found Port Miou - which is the place we had seen on the internet as having some kayak expeditions. We parked the car, paid our 5 Euros and headed off. We walked right along the cliff top, then left - we could see some kayaks down below - but how to get down there?? We walked right again... asked directions of the parking attendant, walked further left - asked some other tourists, they were also looking for the kayaks (unsuccessfully). Turned around a couple of times and split up heading left - some took the high road and some took the low... A happy cheer - “I see some steps!!” We headed for them, saw a tunnel in the cliff, and then a gate with two large red signs basically saying ‘no entry’.... then we noticed some smaller writing in black nikko pen - ‘kayaks’ and an arrow! We braced ourselves and headed through the gate towards a guy wearing raybans and carrying a walkie talkie. ‘Go straight through’ he said - no problem! We found the kayaks, run by a bunch of older exsurfie guys who would have been at home in Aus, one of them had been there ten years before, and we were off. 3 in a kayak, 30 Euros, 2 hours - perfect!

IT WAS WORTH IT!!! It was a beautiful sunny day without too much wind, and we paddled for about half an hour to the first of the calanques where there is a lovely secluded beach - only accessible for us kayakers. We passed a few tourist boats on the way in, and bounced around a bit on the waves - what fun! We swam for a half hour or so, took photos and headed back. It is so beautiful in the calanques - white cliffs, green shrubs, blue sky and crystal clear blue water - magic!

What a BEAUTIFUL day!!!