Okay, consider yourself warned. The number one reason I have this blog is to document the events of a life that seems to be speeding by too fast. I had planned to be on the boat this week exploring the archipelago but my Santa Monica neighbor and his teenage boys who were scheduled to join me\u00a0on the boat were forced to cancel at the last minute, leaving me with a week alone. Preferring not to single-hand at this stage on Arcturus, I used the chance to visit my dear sister and her husband who live in Arcachon in France\u2019s Aquitaine region, just south of Bordeaux. They are retired and live to my mind a fairly idyllic life of late breakfasts, late lunches and leisurely dinners lubricated by plenty of good local wine.<\/p>\n I spent a week with them and the highlights (apart from their lovely company) was visiting the gorgeous French\u00a0 hillside town of St Emilion (yes, where the wine comes from), and enjoying several \u2018degustations\u2019 at rock bottom prices, and stopping by the nearby town of Port Laross, where the oyster farmers from the bay of Arcachon sell their wares, freshly brought in from the oyster beds. A \u2018Grand Large\u2019 portion of a dozen #3 oysters, with a glass of white wine, aioli and bread and butter cost 16 euro, and I added a dozen bulots (whelks) for an additional 9 euro. Sitting by the small working port eating this wonderful simple bounty of the sea\u2026well, as so many folks say, it\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. On the way out I spotted a local, obviously a working man from his clothes and slightly gruff demeaenor, dining alone…apart from \u00a0dozen oysters, the\u00a0bottle of local dry white wine and the pack of smokes keeping him company. He was far too fearsome-looking for me to take a \u00a0picture, but it was really a classic tableaux of French country life.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Vive la difference\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you are only\u00a0 here for the sailing stop reading right now. Okay, consider yourself warned. The number one reason I have this blog is to document the events of a life that seems to be speeding by too fast. I had planned to be on the boat this week exploring the archipelago but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-travels"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7wHME-3m","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1545,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=1545","url_meta":{"origin":208,"position":0},"title":"First half bad, second half good.","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"September 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"June 21st, 2022. It was about 9pm as I approached Grepen Marin in Oregrund in\u00a0 my rented Volvo SUV. And I was feeling good. The ambience was classic Swedish summer: empty roads, a long, sunny twilight, the faintest breath of wind in the air. Winding, leafy lanes and clean, crisp\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/on-the-hard-2.gif?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/on-the-hard-2.gif?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/on-the-hard-2.gif?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":146,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=146","url_meta":{"origin":208,"position":1},"title":"Onto Stockholm","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"June 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Thursday, June 9:\u00a0Andy and Mia rejoined the boat mid-morning for the last leg to Stockholm, where they would leave me alone with the boat and the new adventures that awaited me. After a quick motor down the canal back into Lake Malaren we soon determined that the light airs would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Stockholm-evening.jpg?fit=500%2C375&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":565,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=565","url_meta":{"origin":208,"position":2},"title":"Back to the B\u00e5tvarv…","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"June 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"JUNE 18-21, 2018: HAVING A BOAT anywhere \u2013 even just tied up at the bottom of your garden, should you be lucky enough to have a waterside home \u2013 can be nerve-wracking. In the wee small hours you will often find yourself worrying if the mooring lines are chafing through,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Ljustero-arcturus-under-cover-1024x768.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Ljustero-arcturus-under-cover-1024x768.jpeg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Ljustero-arcturus-under-cover-1024x768.jpeg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Ljustero-arcturus-under-cover-1024x768.jpeg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":820,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=820","url_meta":{"origin":208,"position":3},"title":"Creepy to the Max…","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"July 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Gothic horror - almost - on Bj\u00f6rk\u00f6r With the boat sitting serenely at the dock I spent a couple of hours catnapping before cleaning and tidying the boat and grabbing some breakfast (my usual staple of yogurt and granola with honey). James had gone exploring and returned to tell me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/very-strange-shoes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/very-strange-shoes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/very-strange-shoes.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/very-strange-shoes.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/very-strange-shoes.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/very-strange-shoes.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":646,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=646","url_meta":{"origin":208,"position":4},"title":"Ramsmora to Blid\u00f6","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"June 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Passage #1: Ljuster\u00f6 to Blid\u00f6. 19nm. 6hrs, 22mins Friday June 22nd: NEVER start a voyage on Friday. There are few sailing superstitions more entrenched than that particular chestnut and when we devised our launching schedule we had planned to obey it rigorously. But our failure to install either the composting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ljustero-to-blido-2.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ljustero-to-blido-2.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ljustero-to-blido-2.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":984,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=984","url_meta":{"origin":208,"position":5},"title":"Talinn to Helsinki","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"August 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Dep. 9.08am Arr. 5.40pm 46.1nm. 8 hours 32 minutes For a higher-resolution map of this route, click HERE: Goodbye from: Kevin leaves the boat in Talinn Friday July 5th: Kevin packed his belongings quickly and stepped off the boat a little before 9am. He had been an excellent crew mate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Talinn-Neil-and-Kevin.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Talinn-Neil-and-Kevin.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Talinn-Neil-and-Kevin.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/oysters-and-crevettes.jpg?fit=500%2C667&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"whelks\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/whelks.jpg?resize=225%2C300\")
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