L's Diary

Saturday 16th - 27th August
Today was our Corsica crossing ! Very uncomfortable ride although it did ease up somewhat on the Corsican side. Arrived at 7 am and after trying to rouse Calvi harbourmaster decided to attached ourselves to a buoy ourselves. Big mistake !!! Took us several tries and a lot of bad language before we worked out that we had to get the dingy involved. Managed to attach Rosa to the buoy after an hour. Went ashore to suss out Calvi. Small town made over to the tourist industry together with an actual Foreign Legion post up the hill.

My birthday! We had planned to hire a car for the day to explore the island but could not find one available until midday. The mountain roads are hair raising very windy, narrow but with fantastic views

Moved on down the island and after christening the new spinnaker found a lovely cove at Girolate. Decided to go to a local outdoor film show up the hill in the evening. Found out it was a live televised nocturnal dive. OK for the first 1/2 hour but after 2 hours of not much on screen and rapid french commentary I dozed off and Dave slept complete with snoring. After it finally finished at midnight the audience with I suspect relief, departed.

Nice sail stopped for lunch in Ance de Cacali then ended up in Porta Pollo for the night after cadging a mooring in 17 knot winds ! Lovely little harbour stopped for 2 nights Treated ourselves to a Pizza for dinner. Lots of small restaurants, stalls selling fruit and veg and an internet cafe so we could catch up on all those important e-mails. Included in the village was an excellent bakery. Spent the Friday cycling up to Filitosa. An area where menhirs in abundance dating from the stone age times plus small museum. all tastefully done. Managed to cycling 20 km there and back surprisingly well. Dave had to stop on the way back due to “ numb bum syndrome!

Saturday 23rd August
Very rolly sail as big swell due to bad weather up north reaching down to us. Ended up anchoring in Tizzano Not a lot of room as shallow bay mostly taken up with local small boat moorings.
Small yacht tried to moor nearby so Dave shot out to warn them we were moored in only 0.8 metres depth! Never follow a Southerly!
Arrived in Bonifaccio, a busy harbour with a distinct Italian feel to it. Had a fort on the hill with a long climb up to it but the views at the top was worth it!
The following day sailed round to Ile Lavezzi an large bay surrounded by rock, water totally clear with abundant marine life ( for the Med !) put on snorkels and went for a look. The location was so idyllic we stayed for a couple of days just enjoying swimming in warm water and sunbathing before the sail over to Sardinia.