Since his departure from Rochefort on 30 January 2018, the Hermione sailed more than 2,800 miles in the Mediterranean between Tangier , Sète , Toulon , Marseille , Port-Vendres , Bastia before exiting and returning to the Atlantic and the port of Portimao. Passing back through the Strait of Gibraltar, the first Mediterranean journey of Hermione ended, marked by a last stopover at portimao, in Portugal, the country of the great Lusitanian discoverers.
This first part of the journey was not easy, with very unstable weather. Between depression and flat calm, Commander Cariou will have used several propulsion modes to rally the various stops of the course. An imponderable time to reach the ports or the crowd waited patiently for the long-awaited arrival of the Hermione. As in Bastia, the last stop where 5,000 visitors boarded to closely discover the replica of the Marquis de La Fayette's ship. But this Corsican stopover also made it possible to make a crew rotation before returning to sea on 29 April, in the direction of Gilbraltar and Portimao, along the eastern coast of the island of Beauty before taking the Bouches de Bonifacio.
And once again, this nine-day journey was chaotic... Off the Balearic Islands, it was a very fresh warning, up to 35 knots of wind and a strong swell, which forced the gabiers to cling to the rigging. Then, off the coast of Andalusia, the gabiers went up in the mature to re-establish all the sail and it is a frigate adorned with all its canvas, in order to benefit from all the possible winds, which spun at an average speed of 5 knots towards Gibraltar.
Arriving at the commercial port of Portimao on 8 May 2018, the frigate was once again welcomed by numerous accompanying ships and a Portuguese naval vessel. A 3-day stopover placed under the aegis of the French-speaking world, with the help and assistance of the municipality of Portimão and the involvement of the Union des Français de l'Étranger (UFE) of Algarve
Stopovers that we offer you to relive through this short rhythmic video that retraces the Mediterranean journey of Hermione.
