Killer French Canal Fish

Usually - BIRDS eat FISH. 

Not the other way around. 

Here, the catfish swallow pigeons - and doves - whole.

The building on the right - used to be the communal laundry. 

I mentioned this in the previous blog post. 

Here's the rest of the story:

It usually happens at the "lavoir", the medieval laundry area on the banks of the canal. 

In the evenings.

Lavoir - scene of impending doom - on the left.

One moment, the birds are peacefully taking a drink at the side of the canal.

Maybe even dipping their bird-feet into the water.

The next moment - a streak of silver, one large SPLASH - !

And - no more pigeon.

Not a feather, not a crooked birdie foot.

Nothing but a ripple of water.

No wonder the ducks are up on the towpath these days.

This fish is BIG.
He's really good at catching birds.

Even the ducks are worried.

The pigeons don't stand a chance.

"Muddy Waters" is the boat beside us. What are the chances? And they're great people!

So we began to look into it. 

Iris - visiting from Berlin with Mikey and Noah - found a video - and an explanation.

Mikey and Iris, waving their baguette from the bridge. Stan on the towpath, rolling up the "utilities". 

Turns out - these are large catfish, and - this is new behavior for them.

At times, the catfish comes entirely out of the water. 

Some catfish are successful 80% of the time! 

- One study at the University of Toulouse counted 52 attacks in 72 hours.

These fish are BUSY.

Across from us on the boat, it happens most every evening.

It's a bit disconcerting.

Sometimes we have to rescue the injured bird.

(Sometimes it's simply - R.I.P. pigeon.)

The barge Hatuey comes through. Oblivious to pigeon peril.

Meanwhile, happy Bastille Day!

See? We're still learning something new - every day.

Living on the Canal du Midi. Of Boat Cranes and Bowthrusters.

Someone asked: So what do you DO all day on a boat? 

My answer - open the wine - and I'll tell you some of the stories so far. 

What I figure is - everyone on a boat is just winging it. 

It's all improvised.
Nothing is really standardized.

That's really cool.

A lot of the liveaboard boats were built a hundred years ago as Dutch transport barges. 

Others were trawlers, or tugs.
Some were custom built last year, to the owner's exact specs.

Each boat is different.
Each problem has to be solved creatively. 

Things go wrong. 

Mistakes have to be fixed, repairs made, ducks rescued. 

Ron and Fiona's beautiful boat "The SWAN". Built in 1910. Moored down the canal from us.

Did I mention they're newlyweds?

Advice is asked - is this painter reliable? Is this port good in winter? 

How did you attach your solar panels? 

Can you use your mooring contract as your address? 

And all answers in France take a lot of time - and documentation.

Totally different style, this boat used to be a rental. Now it's home for Patrick and Evelyne.

Here is a recent episode:

AVALON is a lovely cruiser that takes paying guests. 

Her bow thruster breaks as it comes through the Poilhes bridge. 

To replace it, the boat has to be pulled completely OUT of the water. 

A HUGE crane is needed.

AVALON weighs close to 30 tons.

Permission forms - in triplicate - are required from the local mayor's office in order to block the street during the crane operation. 

The "Mairie" in Poilhes.

The crane driver and the mechanic speak French.
The boat owners speak German. 

There is a lot of arm waving and I can see that it isn't going well. 

Much to Stan's dismay, I offer to translate.  

The heavy cables are placed. 

The woman in the striped shirt, Petra, is one of the owners.
The guy in the navy shirt is the mechanic.

She and her husband Roland run a B&B on their boat. 

They need to pick up new passengers the next day.  

Cables adjusted.
The boat is hoisted. 

- and - unbelievably - one of the lift cables SNAPS!
 The boat is DROPPED - back into the water!

No one is hurt, but everyone is pretty shook up.

And: That created some HUGE waves in the normally quiet canal.
(Our boat is moored just beyond that bridge.)

Naturally, the local working guys gather to discuss the whole procedure. 

Second day - new cables, LOTS more weights - it works. 

Yay! Up goes the boat. 

The bow is carefully placed on a makeshift bit of wood and pipe. 

The offending part is replaced and repaired. It only takes about an hour or two.

It was windy - I was worried the boat would swing, but - that's really not my department. 

The propeller for the bow thruster.

Our bow thruster isn't working either, so Stan comes down to have a look.

Early the next morning, I see AVALON cruise by, with Petra waving a good-bye and thank you. 

Who would have thought we'd be spending the weekend like that?

Did I mention - ducks?

Well, the ducks' territory is the canal towpath.
They quack up and down it all day long.

Lots of ducklings in spring, but - most don't make it to summer. 

Our friends Ron and Fiona, on "The Swan", rescued an orphan duckling. Poi-Poi. 

He likes flies. (I now have 2 old yogurt jars labelled "Fresh Flies" and "Not-so-Fresh Flies", thanks to Fiona.)

If you pull out a flyswatter, he'll chase it vigorously back and forth. 

If you put the fly swatter away, he jumps onto your feet. 

(This is more fun than it sounds-!)

Poi-Poi - hoping for flies.

And: would you expect a "Waterloo" party?
-Complete with bagpipes, BBQ, hanging panties and a pink bowtie?

So - episodes on the canal. 

Every day is a little different.

Boat Life - Things I Hadn't Really Thought Much About Before Living on a Boat

We're living on the boat now, at the side of the Canal du Midi in France. 

We haven't gone anywhere yet, just enjoying being here in this village. 

Getting used to boat life. 

It's different.

(This post was written before we had solar panels.

The solar panels are total magic - and work amazingly well!

That story is here.)

The boat is "off the grid". We're not plugged in.

So - there are two things the boat needs on a regular basis: 

Power and water.

Even if we aren't cruising anywhere. 

Power to run the water pump, lights, toilets, shower pump, and the fridge. 

Maggie May in her canal mooring.

All are on a 12volt system.

The fridge takes the most power.

We found that running the generator for an hour in the morning will recharge the batteries enough to run the fridge - and everything else - for the rest of the day.

If we're cruising, the engine does the job.

You CAN plug in a boat.
Kind of like a camping van or an RV. 

There are a lot of boats that are plugged in.
-IF you can find a mooring with power - which is rare.

There's also a little 12v socket, like the one in a car, for recharging small things.  

There's a power and water box on the right, just below the stone steps.

Eventually, we'll get a few solar panels. 

That should help keep the house batteries charged.  

Most of the live aboard boats have solar panels.

An English couple live permanently on this boat - with solar panels - just down the canal from us.

It's made me very aware of all the energy - electricity - we use in our houses without ever thinking about it. -An endless supply of unlimited power all day long!

From the point of view of living on a boat, that's pretty special.
When we're cruising, the engine recharges the batteries, too.

For water, we have a LONG hose. 

There's a metered box not too far away.
For 2 euro, we can get about 300 liters of water.

Our tanks hold about 1100 liters, (about 300 gallons).

This lasts us about a month.
That's with 2 of us aboard.

Of course, the metered water box stopped working a few days before our first visitor, Stan's sister, Charlene - and we wound up taking showers at the public port facilities.

The Port Office. Showers thru the door on the far right.

Poilhes, the village we're in is VERY small.
It doesn't even have its own bakery. 

And in France, that's saying something.

But there's a bread van that comes by each morning. 

There's a shop where she'll keep a baguette for you if you ask her the day before. 

This shop - is actually ON a boat. In a nearby town, Le Somail. "Pain" is bread.

During the days, there are ducks and doves.
Kids walking to the school across the canal from us.
Fishermen.

Tractors heading to the vineyards.

At night, it's so unbelievably quiet!

No cars, no one out.

Sometimes at night, I hear fish splashing beneath the boat.

Last night I heard an owl - loud and clear. 

A commercial barge - about to pass us.

Boats come and go on the canal, passing us.
Some of them are HUGE, commercial barges.

Or luxury hotel barges, with a full crew and lots of flowers.
It's impressive to see them squeeze through the narrow stone bridges.

Most bridges originate from the 1600's.

That's Maggie May on the left - dwarfed by the large hotel barge.

Some boats don't quite make the narrow bridges!

The galley - kitchen - on our boat is very comfortable. 

But there are so many fine local restaurants.

And of course, a glass of local wine...

There are 3 restaurants just steps from our boat.

London - Between Grenada and France. And Maggie May is Getting Painted!

London.
En route from the Caribbean to France.
Our flight stopped in London.

So we spent an extra day or two.

 - I wanted to see the David Hockney exhibition, and we booked tickets to "Motown". 

It feels so - busy and urban - after Grenada!

LOVE his colors! Of course I would.

Both are excellent - and I love being in London. 

But - even with a strong dollar and a weak pound, it's pricey.

Back in France, it feels so good to see Maggie May again! 

I'm surprised how - familiar - it feels, and how comfortable.

And: Spring is happening! 

Flowers fill the spaces between the vineyard rows.

Birds chirp and the air smells of fruit blossoms. 

The leaves are just coming out. 

I forgot how invigorating spring could be! 

It feels energetic and fresh. 

As the summer season is approaching, we get a new mooring spot.

Behind the bridge and out of the way of the summer rental boats.

 I like it.

But - we buy some extra fenders or "bumpers".
Just in case.

A lot of the rental boat drivers are beginners - as we well know.

Mikey, Iris and Erik judge the tunnel as Kilian drives our rental boat. 3 years ago.

Now, we're heading off to the US to get our long-stay visas for France. 

And maybe do taxes and get the New Mexico house ready for the summer house sitters. 

While we're gone, José is going to finish painting the upper portions of the boat.

 (He painted the hull while we were in the shipyard, up "on the hard".)

Before...

 It looks pretty good - but close up, the paint needs work. 

(Here's an in-progress pic of the paint job - )

...during the paint job...

Inside, however - looks surprisingly spiffy. 

But the best part of all is just - being able to BE on the boat. 

On the canal.

With a small glass of wine.