I did a Canal du Midi barge trip in May 2014. Truly one of our best vacations ever, weather notwithstanding. Here are my blog posts about it, which should give you a lot of information (I've also included the posts that include our pre-barge days in Barcelona and Carcassonne, and post-barge days in Paris):
Blog Part 1 Blog Part 2 Blog Part 3 Blog Part 4 Blog Part 5 Blog Part 6 To put things in persepective, we too are sailors, with many BVI and other charters under our belts, and took the barge trip 2 weeks after returning from 6 months on our own boat in the Bahamas and up and down the ICW. You are MORE THAN QUALIFIED to do a self-drive barge trip; in fact, you'll find yourself looking for things to fix, because the trip is so easy.