I just rolled into my apartment after spending the day climbing on sea cliffs near Marseille. For the past few weeks, a climbing friend named Mathiaus has been talking about an impressive cave with large hands holds just above the water. Todd and I were super keen to check it out but for the last two weeks Mathiaus refused to show us saying that the waves were too big and it would be unsafe. I was skeptical of any waves existing in the tiny ocean of the Mediterranean and I insisted that he show us. Finally he gave in when the ocean forecast dropped calling for just “slight agitation”. I assumed that this meant we would be swimming in a lake and I was confident. However, as soon as we climbed down a rickety old ladder bolted to the rock that dropped us at sea level and Mathiaus pointed out our objective my confidence turned to terror! To get to the cave we would have to traverse a kilometer of loose decaying sandstone with embedded cobblestones all vertical to steep anywhere from 1 to 30 feet above the ocean. Furthermore, the “slight agitation” of the ocean was concentrated! The energy of the waves funneled into the tight inlets producing swell and backlash against the bottom of the cliffs. In many instances we had to jump into the water to swim around unclimbable sections, always wearing a backpack, and timing our jumps with the incoming waves. All very frightening but all very worth it once we arrived at the cave. The quality of rock reasonable and the setting not to be matched! Attached are some images.
CLIMBING
- Sea cave with Deep Water Bouldering. Long pumpy routes and the adventure of getting there makes it a must do. Highly recommended to visit only when the ocean is completely calm! For directions look in the guide book to the Calanques.
TRAVEL
- Marseille is the nearest major city with 800,000 people. The city is quite a challenge to negotiate even if traveling with a local. Very impressive church called “Notre Dame” that is the symbol of the city. Smaller towns in either direction along that coast.
PHOTOGRAPHY
- To get to the place that these images were taken I needed to swim with my camera in a dry sac that was inside a backpack.
