A snorkelling trail on Port Cros

We took a boat trip to Port Cros from the Port of Hyères today, having caught a bus from the campsite to the port. At this time of year, there’s only one boat in and out a day so I’m glad we didn’t miss it!

Port Cros is the wildest of the islands off Hyères, a national park and conservation area. There’s just one small village around the port, mainly catering to tourists, and there are no cars or bicycles on the island, just lots of hiking trails and a snorkelling trail.

The boat trip took about an hour. As we arrived, we could see several forts poking above the green forest that covers the island, and high rocky cliffs towering over the the turquoise and azure coloured sea.

We hiked past the forts (none of which were open unfortunately) to the south of the island. After visiting a couple of viewpoints, we headed back to the port/village on a different trail. From this, we had views over the village, and the three forts… one by the port and two more on the headland.

Back at the village we stopped for a drink because we needed to top up on fluids, having only brought 2.5 litres of water from the mainland. This turned into a wonderful lunch at a tapas bar overlooking the harbour. It was exactly what I’d have chosen, if I’d been asked what my perfect lunch would be… a bar with character, soft music playing, a beautiful view, delicious tapas and chilled rosé… and my husband of course ;-P

After lunch we climbed the hill past the fort again but, this time, dropped down to the beach at La Palud where there’s a snorkelling trail that we’d both been looking forward to. There are 6 anchored buoys with underwater information panels (although these were worn and difficult to read) and a bar round them to rest on. They can just about be seen in one of the photos below. The trail takes about 45 minutes to complete

The water was calm and crystal clear and we were astonished how many fish we saw and amazed that they didn’t seem bothered by our presence. We swam with shoals of fish large and small… I have never seen so many fish… and so many different types. It was absolutely wonderful to feel part of their world 😀

As we followed the buoys along and around a rocky shelf, which can also be seen in the photo, the water got deeper and deeper, as well as colder. I’d read that its 10 metres deep by some of the buoys and I’d expected this to worry me. However, I was so enchanted by the fish that my concerns vanished, so long as I could see John close by.

I did get quite cold, even though I was wearing a rash vest. Also, I could feel cramp staring in my calf from time to time, maybe because of the cold or maybe because I’m not used to fins (apparently it’s not cool to call them flippers!). This meant we probably turned back to shore before we’d have liked to. That’s a good thing though, because we just about had time to dry out in the sunshine on the beach before we had to return to the port to catch the ferry back to the mainland.

I wish I’d been able to photograph the fish that we saw. We did try. However, my iPhone was too difficult to use in the waterproof case. An excuse for a new, waterproof camera maybe?