David's Diary: Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2001

Brittany Field Trip

Today formal schooling was put on hold so that we would tour the area of Brittany we are staying in. While we have focused goals for schoolwork, we try not to lose sight of the fact that our year away is a time to show the children a variety of different and interesting places. This is just as important as the formal portion of their schoolwork and since we are home schooling them we can be flexible.

We drove along the coast near Lannion enjoying the ocean views. We are still getting used to how flat the seashore is. We arrived at Locquirec near high tide when all of the boats were floating. After stopping for coffee and a walk along the ocean, the tide had started to recede. Where once there were floating boats there were now nothing but sand and boats lying on their sides. The beach is so shallow that it was more than two kilometers from the shore to the tide line. And the tide wasn't even out all the way yet.

Granite Coast

For lunch we passed back through Lannion and arrived at Perros-Guirec. We stopped at the port before we got to the center of Perros-Guirec and were amazed to see that the boats were only floating in the harbor because a retaining wall and lock had been built to retain the water when the tide went out. Cruising in this area must be a real challenge, since you can only enter and leave port twice a day. While off the West Coast of Canada you have to be tide-aware in order to avoid tidal currents in passages, you rarely have to worry about the tide when entering and leaving port.

After lunch we visited the town of Ploumanac'h just along the coast. This is known as the Granite Coast named for the large granite rocks that are scattered along the coast. The tide was still out so Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen went beachcombing. They were not alone as lots of people were out collecting live shells to eat later. After being in the car for much of the day, the children enjoyed the chance to do one of their favorite pastimes. All three of them are fabulous beachcombers back in Vancouver and it will be interesting to see the various things that they collect during our travel on the water.

Aquarium Marin

Our next stop was the next village along the coast. At Trégastel-Plage there is an aquarium built right out of the granite rock. Since we are keen visitors to the Vancouver Aquarium and visited an aquarium in Loire, we decided to visit this one featuring sea life around Brittany. There were three large chambers demonstrating fish, eels, plants, and the numerous creatures that live along the tide line.

Kevin's Shell Collection

After we got home, Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen all boiled their shell collection. Kevin alone had more than one hundred shells from his afternoon at the beach. He delighted all of us with his shell display that he set up in his bedroom. What an interesting school day.