Just your average day in the Med

We are down to our last two days here in Marseille, and since we have to spend tomorrow cleaning and finishing packing, we took the opportunity today to go swimming and snorkeling in the Med!

We got up late this morning, ate leftover crepes from yesterday (which were still good the next day), and hopped the Frioul/d'Iff express boat over to Frioul. Standing in line for the boat, we bypassed the entire line waiting by standing in front of the gate to the far left (closest to the ticket counter). We have taken this boat enough times to know that they only open up that gate, yet everyone stands in front of the other 2 gates to the right. Just a travel note to those of you going to Frioul someday, stick to the gate to the far left...you'll get first pick of seats on the boat.

I love riding in the very front of the boat, so we went up there and enjoyed the little trip over to Frioul. We were the only one's walking to the other island of Pomègues. Most people don't know that there are lovely little inlet beaches there (oops, probably shouldn't post this on the net, or next time we go, the inlets will be packed!). We walked quite a ways on the island before we got to the beach we had picked out on our last hiking trip. We were upset to see 5 boats in the inlet, but decided not to let it bother us.

In the inlet, there is a very small island that you can wade over to. That's where we put our things, figuring, no one will bother them there, and that we could swim without having to worry about constantly watching our stuff. Funny how everyone who was swimming around, just had to walk up on this island (well, more of a big rock really), right next to our things, before getting back in the water to swim. So much for keeping our things away from others.

We had a great time snorkeling and swimming in the cove. The water was peaceful like a lake, so didn't have to worry about waves. There were lots of fishies that would come up to us and Chris even got a few pictures of some! However, we had a waterproof film camera, so you'll have to wait a little while for us to get the film developed.

The water was pretty warm to start, but got colder as the day went on. Chris went a bit further out than me, since he's a stronger swimmer, and saw some large fish, got caught in a school of small sardines, and found a top of a mine, not to mention a couple of little caves.

There were quite a few people snorkeling in the area, mostly men, but a couple of women playing with their dog and topless tanning on the beach. There was a group of 4 guys that came around for a bit that were kind of creepy since they just swam for a few min, than sat on the beach staring at everyone. Luckily, they left after about an hour.

My mask broke, so that pretty much ended my snorkel time, and I just swam around until I got too cold to stay in the water. I layed on the rocks in the sun and wondered how the Marseillais find the rocks to be so comfortable (since we see them lying on the rocks all over the place, sunning themselves). There were some little tide pools on the little island, and I saw 3 tiny crabs eating. First crabs I have seen here in the Med! I also saw lots of little snails and some sea anemones.

Around 6pm, we headed back to the boat and we left Frioul to go back to Marseille. It was sad coming back and looking behind us at Frioul. I almost started crying thinking about leaving here....our Mediterranean home....but Chris kept reassuring me we will be back many times in the future! YEAH!

We were very hungry by the time we got back to the port, so we went to Le Collins for our favorite meal there...moule frite (mussles and fries), rose wine, and flan caramel for desert. It was fitting to go there since that was the first place we ate at when we moved here to Marseille. We also went there before our first boat trip over to Frioul. So it was perfect to eat dinner there tonight, looking out at the Bonne Mer over the Port, and talking about when we will return to Marseille.

After dinner we came home, and I watched the coucher de soleil (sunset) from our window.

Pictures are HERE