Sailing and Relaxing

This Summer is a little more relaxing than it was last year. Then, we went to concerts and music festivals. This year, we're more involved with our community; more of our outings are with clubs.

Last week was the Fête de la Saint-Pierre, the patron saint of fishermen, and so an important event in Sète - the fishing port is turned into a giant amusement park, with carnival rides, music, and food booths. The statue of Saint Pierre is paraded around the streets, accompanied by music and torches. Then on Sunday, it is taken out onto the sea for a ceremony - boats gather, there is a mass and blessing, and flowers tossed into the sea. It's a time to remember fishermen lost to the sea.

Our sailing club joined the festivities; we took the two boats, Draug and Vagabond, out ahead, and waited for the fishermen to come.

Vagabond, from Draug

Draug, from Vagabond; not my photo :-(
I'm standing by the mast

Photo by Jean Marc Anselme

Waiting for the fishermen

Sète, from the Mediterranean

Some decided to swim a while

Here they come! Les Pêcheurs arrivent !

The ceremony

Relaxing and sailing around afterwards

A few weeks ago, this was the opposite view - the Mediterranean from a beach on Sète! Another association had a year's end party at a "paillote," a temporary restaurant on the beach; it was a lot of fun, with plenty of visiting with new friends.

Sprinkled in, we joined a party to celebrate Neighbor's day - it's an excuse to get to know your neighbors, so we did! :-)

Sète takes some time to get to know beneath the tourism and Festivals - a lot of things worth knowing are by word of mouth. We're getting there :-)