St Suliac - Ile des Hebihen

A very calm peaceful night in St Suliac - we took the dinghy across to get supplies in the morning and then had our breakfast croissants on the way to the barrage.  This time we got through!  There were quite a number of boats in the lock with us, the little launches and day boats went through under the road bridge while the yachts sorted themselves out behind.  We were entertained by a gregarious french skipper who said that he had a 'Blithe Spirit'  and proceeded to share his local knowledge.  We told him of our plan to head to Paimpol before heading home and he nodded vigorously saying 'yes, from Paimpol - Guernsey:1 day - England: 1day.'   It felt like ages before the bridge lifted and we were released!

We sailed along past the luxurious beaches of  Dinard (saving those for another trip) and made our passage quite close to the shore, amongst the outlying rocks.  The Ile des Hebihen. in the bay of St Cast was clearly a playground for leisure boats from St Malo and the surrounding area,  we anchored on the west side - it was sheltered from the NE winds and there were several yachts and other boats in there but by the evening there was a westerly swell and only one other yacht left so we decided to go round the corner in the hope of more shelter. A walk on the Island showed us a very crowded anchorage with a perfect beach on the east side, but the forcast was for wind to veer to the east, so we considered ourselves better off where we were. It was initially a bit rocky from the swell and Harry got up in the night to extend the anchor chain, but when we woke (late) in the morning, it was calm - sheltered by the extending reefs at low water.