Walls in France: Lacanau Ocean

For the past few years, the Defaix's have spent two weeks every summer in Lacanau Ocean, a charming seaside town and surfing spot, near Bordeaux. We decided to join them this summer for a few days at the Atlantic. We rented a car for the trip since the drive is a good six and a half hours and we knew that air conditioning (which our old Fiesta does not have!) would be vital. (The trip was made much easier with a 'fast pass' for the toll roads that I had ordered the week before. The fast pass is worthy of its own blog entry so stay tuned...)

We enjoyed the long drive, seeing new areas of France, but we were glad to get to Lacanau Ocean. The town is full of quaint bungalows, numerous bike paths and lots of people! The white sand beach is wide and beautiful and goes on and on for miles. The afternoon we arrived, we hung out with the Defaix family on the beach where the girls and men braved the chilly waters - Emmanuelle and I stayed dry! The currents are really rough there so it is important to swim where the waters are watched by lifeguards. They set up big blue flags to identify the safe areas and they move the flags back and forth as the tide changes - a great system. That evening, we had a wonderful dinner of fresh fish grilled by Gilles. Bucky and I loved it and the girls gave it a try-Kathleen really enjoyed it and even had seconds! Lucie ate mostly rice!

The next day, we rented bikes and rode with the Defaix family along a path that goes through a pine forest and parallel to the beach. We decided to stop at a beach spot that was only reached by hiking over a giant sand dune. After huffing and puffing our way up the dune, we were greeted by beautiful blue water below - and a beach full of bathers sans clothes (and yes, sans bathing suits). We all had a good giggle over the nudity, agreed that it was very french, and decided to stay clothed! It was a beautiful beach, but definitely off the beaten path so there were no lifeguards. Bucky and I joined the girls in the water as they swam and we remained hyper sensitive to the currents. After cooling off in the ocean, the girls decided to play in the sand and the grown-ups relaxed. All of the sudden, we saw a truck plowing down the beach and it stopped in front of us. The driver asked us to move off of the beach because a helicopter was coming! Apparently, there was a small group of teenagers who had been swept out by the current and they needed to be lifted out of the water. It was all very exciting and scary, and we watched with bated breath while Bucky clicked away on his camera. The stranded swimmers made it safely back to shore after an extremely efficient rescue by the helicopter crew and divers. We were all totally impressed!

Surfing is a huge thing in Lacanau Ocean and while we were there, there was a big surfing competition going on. We headed over to the site to see if we recognized anyone from Hawaii, but no luck. Josepha and Pablo have been taking surfing lessons in Lacanau for the past few summers, and we were lucky enough to witness a lesson in action one day. We went to the busiest beach I have ever been to in my life and we frolicked with about a million other people in the water before their lesson. Eventually, they suited up in their surfing gear and headed out. It was fun to watch them ride the waves and I encouraged Pablo to get to Hawaii as soon as he can to fine tune his technique!

After a few days of fun in the sun with the Defaixs, it was time to go home. They were heading back to Lyon, but we were lucky enough to have Josepha come home with us to Eygalieres for a week! The drive back home was a long one...there were bouchons (traffic jams) galore and it took us more than 9 hours to make it to Place Marcel Bonein It was exhausting, but definitely worth the trip!