It was a good visit and very relaxed as we showed Dian our favorite places around Canet.
Le Swim was a big hit and we spent several afternoon’s swimming and lounging there in an attempt to combat the hot temperatures. Of course we had to do the trip down to Collioure, which is a must see for everyone coming to this part of France (and now we knew the best places to find parking!). 
On one afternoon we had Sandrine and her family to the boat for a fun luncheon with fresh local fare served up on the glass platters we had purchased on an earlier trip to Collioure.
After getting Dian packed up and on her way to London, it was back to business as we had to decommission and stow everything. We would have a new manager Pascal, (as Alans position had been changed to work on the new line of boats), who would be working through our contract items in readiness for the next season. This meant that all our gear had to get moved out of areas that would be getting worked on. Sandrine gave us a ride in her “Zumba mobile” to the train station in Perpignan, and we spent a day and night in Montpellier in order to catch an early flight back to Paris and make our international connection.
The cruising community is a small one and we had a contact through Dian who was currently up in Grande Motte near Montpellier. Claudia and her partner Jan were managing the construction and outfitting of a new Outremer 5X (A very performance oriented cruising catamaran). They kindly offered to meet up with us and took us firstly for a tour of the boat they were managing, then on a road trip to . It was another brilliantly hot and clear day. 
The Camargue is a marshy area full of flamingos and wild white horses, and a fun day was spent walking around the old town, lunching, and chatting about the boat building industry in France.
(The boat they were managing was only 2 weeks behind schedule which seemed amazing to us after our last 3 months!)
While it was not the first season we had hoped for, it was great to be immersed in a different culture, and we met some lovely and interesting people. The boat was still not close to being cruise ready, but we felt the refit to an owners version was great and we loved the space aboard. We still felt certain that it would be a wonderful platform for exploring the globe and provide comfortable accommodation for friends and family that would join us in the future.
Tune in next season, and au revoir until then!