26th May
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| fun without the outboard |
As mentioned before this year in Sardinia and Corsica, the summer (i.e. the better weather with more predictable weather patterns) did not materialise. The May Bank Holiday had a grey and rainy forecast (in Sardinia!) so we tried to plan for the best mini-cruise with places to swim and to zoom around with the tender towards beach restaurants located on white pristine sand. Outboard lessons were given under the expert guidance of Patrick who enabled Lily to ferry the family to the beach and back. While enjoying daytime activities we were always looking for safe overnight anchorages. Life on board has been a bit crammed, but it seems that everybody had fun.
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| Genoese towers along the path |
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| the old port of Bastia |
Patrick and the family had to return on the 30th and we had to continue our ‘work’ along the Corsican coast. Our direction was anticlockwise around Corsica and we continued past Solenzara, and Taverna to Bastia. Bastia its a beautiful busy old harbour overlooked by a citadel. Bastia is however prone to strong gusts from the mountains which can make mooring almost impossible. We experienced such a dramatic wind increase that day, going from 6kn to 28 - 30kn gusts in half an hour! After having observed several unsuccessful manoeuvres in the Vieux Port de Bastia, we decided to move to the new harbour (Bastia Toga) only a mile further north which was well protected and accessible.
Bastia lies at the foot of Cap Corse, the northern ‘finger’ on top of Corsica. We were fortunate to have settled weather (essential!) to go around the Cap Corse from Macinaggio (East Side) to Port Saint Florent on the opposite (west) side.
Sailing along the coast of Corsica is a
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| reaching the top of Cap Corse |
visual feast accentuated by the frequent sprinkling of renovated or ruined Genoese towers, about 5-10 miles apart.
Places of bare rocks covered in macchia, deserted and only reachable from the sea alternating with lush green mountain sides and still snow covered mountains behind.
We passed these varying aspects of landscape from the ancient and well protected harbour of St. Florent to Calvi.
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| Nonza a village on the west of Cap Course |
Calvi is the place where super yachts are a common feature and are almost as big as to obstruct the entrance for the mere ‘mortals’. Nevertheless, the manoeuvres of these 40m - 80m yachts is impressive. Apart from the harbour, Calvi is a town with great history and historical importance. Nelson conquered Calvi and lost his eye from a stone splinter during the siege, Christopher Columbus has allegedly been born here and Napoleon had to flee from Ajaccio to Calvi. The citadel has been restored (over restored?) and a guided way leads through the history. Even though Calvi is very attractive, we are eager to continue our
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| Plage de Saleccia, Desert de Agriates, betore Calvi |
journey south. But a strong S wind is hampering our progress and we have to wait for the strong adverse wind to subside. The mojito ice cream in the shade of the old walls in front of the cathedral was delicious…
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| Port de Saint Florent on the West Side of Corsica, opposite Bastia |
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| a short glimpse of the busy and lovely harbour of Calvi |
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| a well deserved ice cream... |
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| Easy Rider in Calvi 12th of June 2018 |
PS: We have had some enquiries whether we are still continuing the postings…Yes, we are but not at the frequency as last year or before. The reason is that we have to take and compare notes, pictures and consolidate our text for the forthcoming publication.
This is were we are...
