PART SIX (Les Sables D’Olonne to La Rochelle - 35NM 15:45-22:30)

Arrived La Rochelle 8 August - stayed at Les Minimes marina for three nights.
Very pleasant crossing till my evening arrival - busy, dark and no VHF response from the marina to my three calls...I became slightly disorientated putting out plenty of fenders and warps, and managed to hit head-on some submerged building works (4 year project to increase marina from 3,000 to 4,000 boats!)
It was a big shock and the boat violently lunged forward, but after later inspection in my baby Scubapro kit, all seems ok much to my surprise! Fortunately it was almost high tide springs - needless to say, everything seemed rather obvious and a bit different in the light of the next day, and at low tide!!