The other Cannes

This article is not about the Cannes you know. The glitzy film festival. The opulent hotels and restaurants. The bountiful markets. The stunning old city. The endless beaches and timeless sunsets.

Yes, this is the Cannes I love and where I guide countless visitors.

BUT today I will reveal to you another Cannes. Just a stone’s throw away, private and magical. No glamour. Just natural beauty.

No film festival

Wouldn’t you know it, after a defunct Film Festival in 2020, in July of 2021, the Cannes film festival came back home with a vengeance in all its glory. Despite the reduced number of participants, it held it’s own with all red carpet traditions, and happy inebriated fans and industry folks roaming the streets. Cannes was business as usual again.

And so, I crashed into town. But not to take photos of Timothee Chalamet (as adorable as he is), but to get on a private 11 meter boat I rented and sail away to the other Cannes.

The swimming pool

I set sail from the small port at Palm Beach at the end of La Crossiette toward the famous off shore island of St. Marguerite. But I save this for another day. We sail around the island to what is affectionately called “the swimming pool”. These clear turquoise shallow waters between St. Marguerite and its smaller brother, the island of Saint Honorat, houses an incredible underwater museum. That’s right. I jump into the waters with my swimming goggles and head over to discover the 6 underwater statues recently submerged.

Back on the boat, while drying off, I bite on my baguette sandwich laden with cheese and jambon. I enjoy the coming and goings of different yatchs. Boat life in general. Not a trace of the worldly festival taking place less than 2 km away.

But since this is Cannes, we do things differently here. And even in these relatively secluded waters behind the island we are treated as royalty. Just in case you are bored with your lunch or your rose wine, a multitude of boats visit us each offering their fanfare. Coffee shop, ice cream, cocktails, sushi, pizza (a 3 boat operation quite popular), sandwiches, salads. I can hardly believe it and no longer feel so secluded. Well, it is the French Riviera after all…

Saint Honorat Island

We jump into our little dingy and scuttle away to Île Saint-Honorat with hardly any people. A windless day, the heat is stifling and shade is scarce on the dirt roads. But the famous abbey is found here, still standing since the 5^th century. The island itself is home to 20 monks who cultivate grape vines, producing delicious wine, lavender and honey. As for history, everyone was here: Ligurians, Romans, Sarrasins, Spaniards, lords, counts, legends, Napoleon… Countless and relentless raids and lootings. Even a cataclysmic earthquake shook the islands and submerged them around 400 A.D.

As for Saint Honorat himself, many stories are credited to him. Having fought off reptiles and snakes on the island, made a water spring appear out of nowhere, and even one pesky dragon he beat.

Alas, the abbey and church are pretty. The fields well manicured. But the island is scorching. We head back to the boat and cool off with another round in the underwater museum between both islands.

Lords of Saint Marguerite

The sun is releasing her hold on the Riviera and a nice breeze provides welcomed relief. Our skipper suggests we hunker down for the night on the St. Marguerite pier. And the price? Zero. Registration? None. In times of total control, just across the bay of Cannes, we are virtually alone on the island. Lords of St. Marguerite. 

We stroll on the abandoned island, devoid of tourists and police (until tomorrow morning). We enjoy the setting sun as Saint Honorat has probably done eons before us. All this until another boat docks on the pier with its loud music. A neighboring off-grid skipper, a hippie throw back, is as disturbed as we are. He spares no time to voice his complaint to the party boat. A small dispute erupts. In typical French fashion it is much-ado-about-nothing. We observe with half interest as we concentrate on fishing, without much success either. 

The following morning I am awakened to musical cacophony erupting from the off-grider’s boat. He has claimed his revenge against his hung over neighbors. I smile. Just as well, I prepare breakfast for the children and have my coffee is relative peace and quiet before the first tourist laden ferry from Cannes arrives to the island.

Vauban, my main man

Bellies full, we hop off the boat to explore St. Marguerite. And wouldn’t you know it, the famous military engineer Vauban also had his finger on the impressive fort. I am beginning to think that him and Louis the 14^th truly deserved each other for their fates are intrinsically linked. Vauban executed and fortified Louis the 14^th‘s wildest dreams. And still they stand the test of time. Both of them.

The royal fort now houses the Musée de la Mer presenting collections of underwater archeology. But we are more interested in visiting the enormous cell where the Man in the Iron Mask lived for 11 years. Also visible are water cisterns used by the Romans to collect rain water as there is no natural water source on the island.

Napoleon and a dragon

As we stroll around the island on a particularly windy day, we find cypresses , cedars, palm trees, many fruit trees, and thousands of flowers. But I am eager to get to Pointe Dragon, the place where St. Honorat supposedly beat a dragon, or maybe just a large lizard or reptile. Here one can also find Napoleon’s famous cannonball oven intended to heat balls to more than 1000 ° C in ten minutes. This defense system, managed by the fort, was such that the mere sight of their smoke would dissuade invading ships from approaching the island.

Summer school

We’ve almost completed our tour coming back full circle to our boat. But not before pausing on the last beach, housing the famous sailing school for children. It’s holiday time in Cannes, high summer. Parents ship off their children to the islands to learn how to navigate these waters. I mean what else is there to do in Cannes these days?

Oh yeah, there’s this film festival also.