Kehrmiterranean Day 9: Cannes St Honorat Island

Friday was Grandma Kate's birthday and our 21st wedding anniversary. We were ported in Cannes, but due to the size of our ship and the sae of the harbor we had to anchor farther out and we heard tender boats being lowered into the water bright and early. Bill had decided to take a rest day and stay on the ship, but we expected to see Grandma Kate and PawPaw at breakfast. They weren't there and we soon discovered that PawPaw had gotten sick overnight and he was now quarentined.

That left the 7 of us to explore Cannes together. We took the tender boats to shore and we all agreed the French Riviera was a beautiful sight. The water was the cleanest we had seen. It was blue and clear and sparkled. It was a very hot day, so we only walked a short time in the port. We stopped at an outside fountain and the girls and I took the high road behind the main strip while Jim took the main road and we met at a central intersection before heading back toward port together.

 We had tickets for a ferry to Saint Honorat Island and boarded the ferry a little overheated. As the ferry got going we moved out to the bow of the ship and the cool breezes refreshed us as we took in the gorgeous views. We pulled up to the island and were delighted by the clear rock formation visible through the crystal water. there were many moments that we weren't sure if there was water or not and had to wait to see the water move. It was pristine, peaceful and welcoming.

  We were ready for lunch so we stopped at the little cafe and ordered sandwiches, chips and drinks. We were funny trying to order because we did not switch from English to Italian, to French with any grace. We were a mess and threw in a few Spanish words. Basically we resorted to pointing and hand gestures. Saint Honorat also had a lovely restaurant as well but we took our lunch and found a shaded spot by the water to eat our picnic. The rocks and plants and trees were all to be marveled over. I shared a tuna sandwich with Bridget. It was fresh flaked tuna, (nothing like starkist) and was delicious. All of the sandwiches were on great breads.

We began our leisurely walk around the island after lunch, stopping at chapels from the 15th century long in ruins, we saw the cannonball furnaces from Napoleon's time and we climbed the rocky outcrops along the shaded path. The island itself was ringed by a flat level walking path and dotted with chapels. The center of the island contained vineyards and fields used by the monks that farmed the island. I had to split off with Megan (and Hanna) who needed a bathroom and we took a central path across the island as Jim worked his way toward a fortified abbey. The bathroom we found was literally a tiled space with a hole in the floor. I have a feeling Megan won't forget that experience.
Hanna regularly stopped on the paths and picked up rocks. She would talk about her rock collection and then other times she referred to them as memories, and she pretended she was from the movie Inside Out and needed to get the memories back to headquarters. It was much cooler on the island, but still warm and sunny. It was great to be in a natural environment.

We regrouped at the fortress and had a blast exploring the 5 story stone building. We were thrilled that it was still safe enough to explore despite having large sections in ruins. There was an intact spiral stone stairwell, we explored each floor but I had to stop on the 3rd floor while everyone else continued to the top.

After the fortified Abbey we found an approach through the rocks and walked atop the mounds of dried out seaweed. We took off our shoes and put our feet in the Mediterranean Sea. It was cold and felt wonderful. We circled past the monks active abbey, vineyards and distillery as we walked back to the dock to catch our ferry.

We went right from the island ferry to the cruise tender boat. The water was getting choppy and our tender boat ride back to the ship was very rough. The girls were turning green as we took our third try to dock with our large ship. But we all made off by jumping across with the help of the crew. We returned to the ship to hear that Grandma was now on her second birthday cake but still Grandma Kate and PawPaw were stuck in their room.

We napped, swam, and had dinner. Bill then took the 4 biggest girls down to the game room and played some card games. Hanna went to Splash Academy for Princess Fairy night and Jim and I got to walk the ship and sit down for an Anniversary drink together. We are very blessed.