We'll be in Cassis in Sept, for about 1 1/2 days, and would like to take a boat tour to see the Calanques. What time of the day has better photography light of the cliffs? I see boat tours for 3, 5, 8 or 9 calanques. Which one would you pick and why? Does it become boring after a while? Thanks.

Each is different, altho with 9 the differences would be less than with 3.
They run NNE/SSW, so I'd guess noon solar time (irrespective of daylight savings) would be best unless you want the effect of shadows.
Boredom? My brother-in-law would be bored on the first one (so it's a gorge....with water....big deal) Some folks would be happy to make the tour 4X, just so they'd see more detail each time.

Thanks, tomboy. We love water and views, so I don't think we'll be bored. Noon-ish time sounds good for the reason you mentioned. Let's just hope for good weather the day we're there

I am an amateur watercolor painter, and today I finished an attempt to paint a calanque. The reason I state this is that the rocks of the calanques are probably limestone, altho with a tint of color. Maybe high noon wouldn't be the best for a photo, since some shadowing can lend character to what might otherwise look quite stark. We went in September '15. As I (vaguely) recall, the first one out of Cassis was somewhat short, but as the boat went westward the calanques got longer and higher. Try to get boaters in your picture, so as to lend a sense of the size of the calanques.

Good/interesting point. I think I need to look at more photos and judge based on shadows. But overall, I think we'll like it no matter what time of the day we go. I thought the rocks were white limestone, glad to hear there is a hint of color. I'll see if I can catch that. Good tip about adding boats for scale, thanks.

High noon is never a good time for photography, the light is too harsh, and the shadows, such as they are too dark.

hetismij2,
So true, but I don't want everything covered in dark shadows either. I think we'll do the 10 am morning one (it takes 1.5 hrs), so we can have the afternoon open for more exploring in the area. Does that sound good?
Thanks

Bear in mind the sidereal (solar) time when scheduling when you want shadows, when you want high noon.
Local (Marseilles) time of 1:25 PM is 12:00:00 high noon sidereal time.
Local Sidereal Time Clock

Ohhh, tomboy, I never thought of that....of course, that makes sense. I did not know the term, thanks.
But in the end, I guess the plan will be to explore Cassis the first 1/2 day, and on the 2nd (full) day take the boar tour in the morning and drive Cap Canaille to La Ciotat in the afternoon. We'll take the shadows as they come, don't worry about them and just enjoy the day.

I'm glad to hear that the "easy" astronomy course I took in my senior year at last paid some benefit.

I wish I knew more about stars and constellations, how to find and identify them, but leaving in a city with extreme light pollution makes this hard. Maybe that's why when we travel we prefer smaller villages and towns (and their black, starry skies).