Superyachts, Shopping & Saint-Tropez! Luxury Meets Reality | Ep. 10

Superyachts, Shopping & Saint-Tropez! Luxury Meets Reality | Ep. 10

We’re sailing a modest catamaran into one 
of the richest ports in the world. Somehow, we got docked in between two superyachts 
that costs more than most cities. This is episode 10 where things start 
to get ridiculous. I’m Michelle,  this is Chris, and that’s Mr. Gidget. We traded 
our 9-to-5 and hometown comforts for a life of adventure and spontaneity. This is not just 
our journey, it’s yours too. Let’s explore together. Be sure to subscribe and turn on your 
notifications, so that you never miss an episode. We came to Saint-Tropez for the charm, the 
cafes, and the maybe a little shopping, but we weren’t expecting this. Dockside 
lunches, superyachts the size of cruise ships, and a fuel bill that had us rethink everything. 
We’ve been looking forward to Saint-Tropez since we left Toulon. There’s just something 
legendary about it. A tiny town with a huge reputation. Sailing into Saint-Tropez felt 
surreal. There’s calm water, pastel buildings, and a peaceful harbor that hinted at the 
town’s glamorous reputation. And did you know, this is where the modern bikini was introduced 
in the 1940s. It’s been a magnet for celebrities and sunseekers ever since. Chris do you have puppy 
paralysis? Yep, I can’t move — the puppies on me. Okay Michelle, debrief. Give it to us, raw and 
real. Raw and real — okay. We stayed another night in our anchorage, it was okay of a sleep, 
but we woke up to really big rolling waves and all three of us were sick. Not feeling great and so we 
pulled the anchor and we got out of there. Yeah. And that’s it. GTFO time. GTFO. And now? We are 
feeling much better. And, we’re going to… ? Oh, Saint-Tropez. Saint-Tropez. Saint-Tropez 
baby! Saint-Tropez! Our first stop, Senequier, the legendary red cafe right on the waterfront. 
It’s been serving pastis and pastries and 1887 and the place to see and be seen. We weren’t 
there for the celebrities though, we just wanted a good lunch with a great view, and maybe 
some people watching. What did you get us into? Apparently the moose comes with a warning here 
— it might be too big for two people to share. You don’t want another moose? Uh, no I think we 
didn’t finish this one, Chris. Would you like another scoop? No. So, Chris, what do you think of 
the moose? I enjoyed it. Yeah? It was delicious. Are you gonna eat the rest? Oh, I thought we were 
going to order another one. I was saving that for you. So, that I can have my own. *Laughing* Then 
it was time to hit some retail therapy. And yes, I had to stop at Louis Vuitton. How could 
I not? Favorite store. He likes it here, so much calmer than outside. Gidget 
and I browsed around while Michelle disappeared into her happy place. Mr. Gidget.  Hey buddy. Don’t worry, I didn’t buy anything crazy …this time. Did you buy everything 
in the store? Everything? No. *Laughing* From Saint-Tropez we continued toward Cannes, 
but first, it was time to fuel up. We’re putting gas in the tank for the first time. Never 
thought I’d be so excited to buy gasoline – or diesel – we’re buying diesel today. We’d only 
used about 40% of our tank but it still cost us 261 euros. Not too shabby, I can live with that. 
Welcome to the Cote d’Azure. It’s our first time filling up since picking up the boat — so, 
fingers crossed this lasts us a while. We’ve already learned that budget cruising in luxury 
destinations is a balancing act. Good morning Michelle. Good morning. So you’ve been on the 
boat for about a month now — how are you feeling? You know what, being on the boat, the most stressful 
thing is — is it raining today? *Laughing* No, to be honest, its wonderful. Life changes when 
you’re on a boat like this. It’s much more calm, there’s very basic things to navigate, and 
we’re having a great time, aren’t we Mr. Gidget? Now I think it’s interesting how 
there’s like high days and low days on the boat. We’re down in Saint-Tropez down here, 
where those are high days. Those just feel so awesome. And then we get like a crappy day of 
rain and some rough seas and we have a crappy sleep and it’s just like — why are we out here? But, I 
think the high days outweigh the low days. Absolutely true. The marina in Cannes looks so pretty. We 
can’t wait to arrive. It’s going to be awesome. How did you like Saint-Tropez 
Booboos? Oh, it was beautiful. And where are we going now? We’re going to Cannes. 
Cannes. We didn’t have a reservation, but luck was on our side. The marina made space for us right 
in the middle of superyacht central. Chris, we’re in Cannes. Yep. And a change of plans, we thought 
we were going to anchor and we decided to marina. And we are marina’d next to all the superyachts 
in the marina. These are our boating neighbors. The boats are way bigger than ours. Look — what is 
this? What is this — what is this behemoth we’re parked next to? It’s crazy. What does mom have for 
you? French duck for Gidgey. *Gasps* Oh yeah. Kay, go take it to your den. Being next to these 
giants made our catamaran feel like a dinghy, some of these boats you could land a helicopter 
on. Actually, one of them does! That’s Anna — it’s owned by Russian billionaire named Dimitry 
Rybolovlev. He made his money in potash fertilizer and owns the AS Monaco Football Club. 
But seriously, this thing has an ocean view bar. And if you like this yacht, just wait, Michelle 
and I come back during the Cannes film festival and that’s a whole different level of wild. While 
we were in Cannes, we made good use of the marina, groceries, laundry, and a bit of walking around. 
Michelle and I are moving at a good pace today, we’ve got an action list to get through. I’m 
going to go to the store I’ve gotta go pick up some — I’ve gotta pick up a printer for some 
business stuff. And, we’re going to try to redo the bridle today. And, we’ve gotta be out of 
here — we’ve gotta be out of Cannes in like, Cannes, in two hours – a couple hours, yeah. 
So, we gotta boogey and divide a conquer. Yep, I didn’t imagine that we still needed printer in 
this day, it feels like such an old-fashioned, archaic, purchase. But, here we are — and, 
apparently this is what we need to be functional on the boat. I didn’t imagine a world where you 
needed a printer on a boat — or a printer at all… but, here we are. Things are happening. 
Got distracted from our errands this morning, and we bought some beautiful decor chairs 
for our lounge in the main floor. *Laughing* So we’re adjusting the bridle, what do you 
think Chris? It’s good, we’re adjusting the bridle. Yeah, tell them your plan. So we’re gonna 
get ready to fix our bridle here on the Gidget, on the Gidget, and so this is a new boat that 
we’re on and the builders attached the bridle for us and we got out — we had a really rough, 
windy, night, pretty early after purchasing the boat and we learned that when they set the 
bridle they set the lines long — like way, much more longer than we need them to be. 
And, so we’re going to shorten the lines. And, little bridle lesson for those who are interested 
out there, when the bridle meets at the anchor chain, the more narrow that angle — so, the 
shorter your bridle, the more weight it puts on the bridle lines. And so, a short bridle will 
stop your boat from swaying in the wind and the swells a little bit more. But, a short bridle will 
have much more weight put onto those bridle lines, which is not good. And so for a catamaran like 
this, we want the angle out there to be a minimum 45 degrees because the wider the angle, the 
less load you’re putting on those lines. But, the longer the bridle, the more the boat is gonna 
sway out there on the water, which is bad. So, it’s about finding the perfect balance and 
so we’re going to try to tie these at, maybe, just over 45 degrees and so you do — you draw 
out your Pythagorean Theorem triangle and put your engineering hat on for a second and, so our 
beam — from cleat to cleat is about 6 meters. So, we want the bridle to be at least 8 meters long. 
We’re currently about double that. You see, this is tied on and it comes up to that anchor 
well and it’s just much longer. So, we’re going to measure it here, we’re going to put a little 
duct tape on it, we got a little duct tape. Yep, so we’re going to measure it here on the deck, 
we’re going to put a little duct tape on the line to determine exactly where we have to tie it off 
and then Michelle’s going to venture there in her dinghy and she’s going to untie and re-tie the 
bridle lines to a much more appropriate length. And then we’re going to anchor tonight and test 
out our newly tied bridle lines. Let’s do it. We decided to finally fix the length of the bridle 
ourselves. Which wasn’t straight forward as we had hoped. Let’s just say it involved a bit of 
patience. But hey, we got it done, and that’s a win. If Michelle makes one rope longer than the 
other, it’s going to put more tension on that line which is bad for the line and could also cause it 
to sway a little bit more. So, the more precise she can be, the better. And, Michelle has a very 
A-type personality, so I know that it’s going to be fine. How’s your length looking Booboos? 
*Inaudible* Are they about the same? They’re exactly the same. And, you know when I say that, 
they’re exactly the same. *Laughing* It’s easy to get swept up in the luxury here. But at the end 
of the day, it’s these quiet moments, a sunset, a happy dog, a calm anchorage, that makes us feel 
like we’re living the dream. Being here reminds us that there thousands of ways to do life on the 
water. Some come with crews and champagne, and others come with projects and pasta. Like ours. 
And yet, when we look around, we wouldn’t trade it. This is the life we dreamed of. *Music* Next time we head to Nice and Monaco where we visit one of the most expensive marinas in the world. And 
we try to blend in while surrounded by even more mega yachts and movie stars. Thanks for sailing 
with us through Saint-Tropez and Cannes. If you’ve been here or dream of coming let us know in the 
comments. And, if you like video, give it a thumbs up, hit subscribe, and join us as we keep chasing 
this salty dream down the coast. Bye guys. Bye.

🛥️Join us as we take our catamaran on a French Riviera sailing adventure, cruising through Saint-Tropez and Cannes — two of the most glamorous ports in the Mediterranean. This episode is all about where real-life catamaran cruising meets the over-the-top world of the superyacht lifestyle.

We start in Saint-Tropez, where we soak up the pastel charm of the old town, enjoy lunch at the iconic Sénéquier café, and stop by Louis Vuitton for a little window shopping. From there, our sailing couple heads toward Cannes, fueling up the boat (261 euros!) before docking next to mega yachts worth hundreds of millions — including “Anna,” a yacht owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.

This episode offers a real look at liveaboard life on the French Riviera — from managing expenses in luxury destinations to DIY boat work (yes, we finally fix our bridle) — while still enjoying the beauty, culture, and energy of these world-famous towns. Whether you’re into Saint-Tropez vlogs, curious about Cannes yacht life, or just love following a sailing couple living their dream, you’ll find it all here.

And stay tuned for the end of the episode — we tease our next stop: Monaco, one of the most exclusive ports in the world.
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✨ Key Highlights in This Episode:
0:00 Introduction – Welcome to our French Riviera sailing adventure
1:03 Looking ahead to Saint-Tropez
1:40 Sailing our catamaran toward Saint-Tropez
2:58 Arriving in Saint-Tropez harbor
3:03 Lunch at the iconic Sénéquier café in Saint-Tropez
4:09 Window shopping at Louis Vuitton with Michelle and Mr. Gidget
5:04 Scenic drone and harbor views of Saint-Tropez
5:33 Catamaran fuel stop – 261 euros to top off the tank!
6:08 Reflections on liveaboard life as a sailing couple on the French Riviera
7:37 Sailing into Cannes, another luxury hotspot
8:13 Docking beside superyachts in Cannes yacht harbor
9:02 Touring “Anna,” a $250M superyacht owned by billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev
9:31 Running errands and exploring Cannes
10:35 Soaking up more views of Cannes
11:18 DIY boat work – fixing our bridle aboard our catamaran
15:25 Reflections on luxury vs. real-life catamaran cruising
15:50 More stunning views of Cannes, set to Viva La Vida by Coldplay
16:57 Sneak peek of our next episode: Monaco & Nice
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💬 Join the Conversation
What’s the first thing you’d do in Saint-Tropez — sip a drink at Sénéquier, hit the designer shops, or just sit back and watch the yachts? Tell us in the comments!
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🛠️ Gear We Use on Gidget (and How You Can Support Us)
Want to see the cameras, galley tools, dog gear, and sailing essentials we use every day on board? We’ve put together a list of our favorite products here: https://tinyurl.com/GidgetGear

These are Amazon Associate links, so if you click through and buy anything — even if it’s not one of our picks — we’ll earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). It’s a simple way to support our adventures and this channel.
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🎥 Let’s Connect
TikTok: @sailing.with.gidget
Instagram: @sailing.with.gidget
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mr.gidget
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🎞️ Video Editing
Special thanks to Meher Fatima for editing this episode.
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🎵 Music Credits
Map and Compass – Jay Brown
Golden Hour – Ariel Shalom
Paving the Way – Danny Shields
Pool Party – Aves
I Dreamed You Up – Bixxby
Threads – Louis Island

🎵 Viva La Vida – Cold Play
Music licensed from Lickd. The biggest mainstream and stock music platform for content creators.
Viva La Vida by Coldplay, https://lickd.lnk.to/N1D8QTID License ID: MkxKNoREbZ0
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