We are very pleased to report today that, after half a day of chasing our tails and conversing in 'Franglais' with various people and French officials, we have confirmed how to get our passports stamped on exiting France. [To stamp in French is tamponner.]
We eventually found the name of the chap in the Douane (customs and immigration) at Port-Vendres who could help us. His name is M. Albrich (Jean-Christophe) and he speaks about the same level of English as our level of French. He was very charming and helpful on the phone, and he confirmed that if we sent him an email he would confirm a rendezvous at his office in Port-Vendres on the Monday morning (19th). That has now been done!
He asked us how long we had been in France (Schengen zone) and started to tell us how much longer we had in the zone until we must leave. We told him of our 6-month French visa and that our days in France did not count towards our 90 /180 Schengen days. He seemed unaware of this and said we were the first UK people to have such a visa since Brexit. It's a learning process for all of us, but it feels like we are at the cutting edge of new bureaucracy at the moment. I'm sure it will all become much easier for later British sailors as time progresses. He also needs proof of our double vaccination for some reason; probably because he knows we are headed to Spain next and that is a requirement there.
I have now made contact via WhatsApp with our Spanish skipper, Miki, who will help us sail to Port Ginesta. He was coincidentally in Canet near Missy Bear and sent us the photo of her from across the quay. We agreed that we would meet him on board on Sunday 18th and head to Port-Vendres.
It seems that the jigsaw is nearly finished. As Chris said, all we need now is a finished yacht! [As an aside, Chris also mentioned that our safety gear had been shipped from Scotland, but was stuck in a bonded warehouse in France awaiting payment of duties. He has asked SAS to sort that out. I have now lost count of the number of times that Alix has muttered to me "B***** Brexit".]