About this site

Piers and Lin du Pré bought their new Fleming 55 / 129, Play d'eau, in 2003.

She was berthed in Beaucette Marina, Guernsey in the Channel Islands at N49° 30’.197 W002° 30’.350 until she was sold in October 2021.

This site charts the thrilling adventures they had in her.

You can contact us here.

Where’s Play d’eau?

If the new owners have the AIS on, you can find where Play d'eau is right now.

Click here.

Zoom in and our position will be shown on a map.

Recent Posts

Homeward bound

Well, we’re homeward bound. After a magnificent and glorious three weeks in South Africa, we have travelled from Cape Town to Durban to Amsterdam and will shortly leave for Guernsey.

Cape Town

After taking afternoon tea at Cape Town’s Mount Nelson Hotel (as a chap and chapess do), we flew to Durban and stayed at the Granny Mouse Country Lodge, some 90 minutes west of the city, for one night before catching an Emirates flight to Amsterdam.

Today, we take a Blue Islands flight back to Guernsey (via the ‘other island’) to be reunited with Play d’eau. In a strange way we know it’s time to go home, yet our hearts have been certainly captured by South Africa.

As Amy’s brother, Kevin, had said to us, ‘South Africa gets in your blood’.

How right he was.

Some last pics

Here are some last pics from the many we took.

Our room at the Tala Private Game Reserve
KwaZulu-Natal
click to enlarge

Our 12m long room at the African Pride,
Melrose Arch, J’burg, with its green and red lighting
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The Queen Victoria Hotel was close to the waterfront which buzzed with life
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These guys were great
with their improvisation and rhythms
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“The wheel on the front goes round and round’
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Traditional skills are still being used
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The port and marina were so busy
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Table Mountain was wearing its table cloth
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The cloud disappeared…
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…and window cleaners were suspended by ropes
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Sandwiches, cakes, savouries, scones, creams, jams, breads and 'nibbles'
click to enlarge

We indulged in afternoon tea at The Mount Nelson
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Piers’ favourite
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We stayed at the Granny Mouse Country Lodge
for our last night in SA
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Our room had a wood burning stove – great because it dropped to -3C overnight
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Granny Mouse overlooks the valley and its river
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The fog stayed hovering above the river
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As the sun rose, it was -3C, frosty,
and fog steamed off the river
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A great sign by Reception
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Water taps and corrugated iron
made a novel water features
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Nearby were the stunning 95m (310′) Howick Falls
click to enlarge

Piers and Lin
Granny Mouse Country Lodge
…on temporary leave of absence from
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

3 comments to Homeward bound

  • Pip Flynn

    Thank you so much for sharing your South African experiences with us via your blog and for the lovely photos.
    We almost feel as though we were there with you. Much cheaper!!!
    What a fantastic time you have both had, with so many experiences and different vistas, with the added bonus of your youngest son’s wedding.
    Back to reality now!
    P&Pxx

  • Diccon

    I echo what Pip said (hope you don’t mind Pip!). It has been brilliant to follow your adventures. Wishing you the very best journey back and loads of hugs and kisses from Charlotte, myself and the weasels 🙂

  • Hil

    What an incredible time you have had-and so have we- as we have followed you and been with you on your adventures. Thank you so much for taking us. It has been truly wonderful.

    Lots of love from Hil x x

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