Living in the South of France means that a lot of people are the proud owners of a pool. We are lucky enough to be one of those people. However, sometimes you do need to get out and check out other refreshing activities rather than execute the umpteenth cannonball into the backyard. Our little family has already tried kayaking on rivers, check here and here. So enter sea kayaking.
Barberoussette
On a beautiful summer day (are there any other days during July and August in the South of France?!), Chéri, the kids and I drove off to Sète. I found an interesting guided kayak tour on Kayak Med called ‘Barberoussette’ (Barberousse is Redbeard in French). Over the course of two and a half hours, we would discover the beautiful creeks and cliffs of Sète’s coastline.
Marine cave
As part of the tour, we were supposed to go into a marine cave and under a small natural bridge. Unfortunately, we couldn’t as the water was too high. It didn’t matter that much though, as the route was very scenic anyway. We saw plenty of fish (sea bream!) and terns plunge-diving for fish. Luckily oldest was in the front of the kayak, so he didn’t notice too much that I was taking pictures on the wobbly boat rather than paddling…
Paddling
On the way back, it was an entirely different story and I couldn’t take any pictures at all. I had to help the oldest paddle, as we were going full against the wind and we needed all of our strength. As we hadn’t visited the marine cave and natural bridge, we had some time left at the end of the tour, so we headed to Sète. What better way to see the Singular Island than from the water?
10 kilometres
I thought it was very special to paddle through the canals of Sète and calmly observe the town from our kayaks. We even passed the Spanish carrack ‘Nao Victoria’, a replica of the first-ever ship to sail around the world. After covering 10 kilometres in two and a half hours, we were all feeling it in our arms. Even me, who didn’t paddle the whole way…
