After our lunchtime arrival on Monday, we managed to fit in a visit to Cherbourg's newest visitor attraction, La Cite de la Mer. Opened in 2002 on the site of Cherbourg's Gare Maritime Transatlantique, this complex is devoted to undersea exploration and features a three storey aquarium as well as a tour of the nuclear submarine, Le Redoubtable. France are obviously expecting trouble as the fire power from this class of subs could wipe out most of the northern hemisphere. Fortunately the nuclear power plant was a non-functioning replica and the 16 strategic missiles had been removed for display purposes.

We felt we had seen the best of what Cherbourg had to offer and despite forecasts of "storm precipitation" we decided to make a coast hugging trip round Pointe de Barfleur to St Vaast the following day. We had made the passage across this drying entry during last year's cruise and felt confident to repeat the trip, even in the pouring rain. Our course along the north coast of the Cotentin peninsula took us north of the three cardinal marks at La Pierre Noire, Basse du Renier and Les Equets before turning south round the Pointe de Barfleur.

After that it was a case of picking our way through the fishing marks and the oyster beds before rounding the Ile de Tatihou and making our way into the entrance to St Vaast. Ignoring the >14m sign we picked a nice alongside spot on B pontoon and made a quick job of tying up the boat before retreating inside to wait out the end of the rain.

No trip to St Vaast would be complete without a trip to Monsieur Gosselin's and after a lunch of moules-frites at one of the popular quayside bar-brasseries, we stocked up on Chinon Rose and epicerie fines as a momento of our visit.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 29 nm

Total to date: 1326 nm

Avg Speed: 10 knots

Duration: 2:50 hours

Diesel: 115 litres (est)

Wind: SSW 2-4

Mooring: €30/night

Electricity: Free

Waypoints
(European Datum)

Cherbourg East
49 41.00N 01 35.70W

Cap Levi
49 44.00N 01 29.00W

Basse de Renier
49 45.34N 01 22.11W

Pointe Barfleur
49 42.45N 01 13.61W

Pointe de Saire
49 36.93N 01 11.09W

Le Gavendest 1
49 34.30N 01 13.50W

Le Gavendest 2
49 34.40N 01 14.00W

St Vaast
49 35.27N 01 15.30W

Charts

AC 2613

AC2135

AC1349