We woke up late this morning. My spot on the boat was kind of uncomfortable. The mattress is only 3 inches thick and the foam was a little compressed. I’m going to trade with Asa tonight which he is not happy about but his little 60 lb body won’t mind. I contacted our host about the lights and she told me how to fix them so we won’t have that problem again tonight.

After breakfast we went into town. Our plan was to stay out all day since it’s super hot (heat wave in France) and it will be hot on the boat while the sun shines.

The algae eater fish that we see on the dock keeping the boats clean.

The kids found this beautiful cat who happened to be very friendly too. Asa named him Oscar.

We headed in the direction of the beach but first we stopped for lunch. Cal and I got sandwiches and lucky us, they sold Knack sausages so Asa and Nova had those. Esme got fries. They named a pigeon “Petro” who was hanging around waiting for scraps.

We found a cool sculpture on a wall near the beach.

We made it to the beach and played there for a few hours before hitting the snack shop for ice cream and churros.

There were a lot of cool shells on this beach. Oyster, limpet, clam, and snail shells.

The kids wanted to stop at a gift shop and they each bought something with their own money. Asa got a little teddy bear key chain, Nova got a plastic jewelry set, Cal got tarot cards, and Esme got bubbles.

Then we walked to Charruyer Park where they had a playground and a little animal park.

We made an impulse decision to go to the aquarium. Online it was highly recommended but I was reluctant to spent the money when we are only in town for 2 days. After all, there are plenty of free things to see but in the end I knew the kids would really enjoy it.

Cuddlefish

Two kinds of crab found in the waters of Bay Biscay.

They had wave tanks which I had never seen before.

This little dish held an entire world in it.

This is a magnification of the dish showing little clams eating micro-shrimp.

Dogfish eggs. They looked like plastic complete with plastic fishing line stuff that held them to the branches. Also cool, you could see them moving inside.

Spot the fish!

We found a trumpet shell on the beach today!

Asa with a sturgeon.

Sardine school

Tub gurnard. Asa said he felt inspired by it and wants to use it in the video game he’s designing.

Kids in the aquarium.

This little guy is a “sleep crab” who disguises himself by holding algae on its back.

Seeing the sharks.

The “upside-down jellyfish”

Comb jellies which are technically not jellyfish. They use their cilia to move and the movement refracts light and gives them a rainbow effect.

Nemo and Dory!

Spotted bamboo shark egg.

More sharks

Sea turtle!

The mudskipper who climbs from the water and can absorb oxygen through its skin when on land.

After our amazing experience at the aquarium, our day couldn’t get much better. That is until Cal noticed a free virtual reality demonstration.

We decided to go to the Japanese restaurant again since we liked it so much.

The public transport in La Rochelle includes bikes, buses, and ferries. We didn’t use it because we are pretty much right downtown.

Omelette sushi. I loved them! I didn’t like sushi the last time I tried it but this was really good! Granted it had no fish or seaweed…but I liked it that way 🙂

The kids playing while I write the blog post. The store you see there sold clothes and I picked out some things for the girls while we waited for our food.