20^th June 2014

We caught a bus back to Ajaccio to drop a guest off and collect another.  We were delayed in Ajaccio as we had arrived on the Saturday bus and there was no Sunday bus to return with. We arrived at the bus stop on the Monday with bags in tow, only to find that it was yet another holy holiday and there was no bus till the Tuesday! Ajaccio was the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte and a group of locals got into the spirit and were meeting near Napoleon’s home.  They took delight in parading up and down the street, posing for tourists to take  photos.

Near the home that Napoleon Bonaparte was born in

We finally managed to get a bus back to Bonifacio.   The bus winds through hilltop villages which all seem to have been built with defence in mind.  Many of the old parts of the villages were walled and some had brooding castles overlooking the valley below.  Life would have been very hard in this part of the world a few centuries ago and even at the beginning of the 19^th century there were many bandits in Corsica. The coastline is also dotted with Genoese watch towers which were built to warn of approaching corsairs raiding from Africa! The flag of Corsica (& Sardinia) actually have the black heads of the corsair captains who were caught, beheaded and their heads taken back in the flag. Gruesome, but it makes a great flag and since there are no longer any Corsairs, the warning has worked!

Bonifacio at night

Artemis V in Bonifacio Harbour

Bonifacio town on overhanging cliffs

From Bonifacio, we went to Iles Lavezzi.  These rocky outcrops have been declared a heritage listed national park.  We anchored in a bay with crystal clear water.  It is so clear that you can select exactly which patch of sand to put the anchor on. There were lots of fish there, a delight to see in the Mediterranean.  On the island are approximately 600 graves and a little chapel. On the way to the Crimean War, a ship floundered there and all lives were lost. Only one person witnessed the tragedy, a leper living on his own on the island. The bodies were so mangled when they were pulled from the sea that only one person could be identified. All the other graves are unmarked. 

Cemetry on Ile Lavezzi

Anchorage at Iles Lavezzi

From Iles Lavezzi we crossed the Bonifacio Strait to the La Maddalena Islands which are also national park. This crossing marks the border between France and Italy, just 5nm. apart.  These islands, like Iles Lavezzi, are all fringed with rocks and shoals.  Disappointingly we have not seen many fish amongst these islands. 

Crossing the Bonifacio Strait from France to Italy.

   The little town of La Maddalena was a delight however and we spent several days there, wondering the streets, eating, drinking and catching up with news from family and friends.

Port of the town of La Maddalena

For the last two days we have been anchored in Porto Luscia Bay, on the Sardinian mainland.  There is a kitesurfing school and a windsurfing school in the bay and it has been fun watching them fly across the water in the brisk breeze that always seems to blow in the Bonifacio Strait.  The bay is very quiet, with long empty beaches and a national park behind.  Each day there have been only two or three other boats anchored nearby and it is very peaceful. This morning we woke to the timeless sounds of a sheepdog and sheep bells on the hill close by.

Porto Luscia Bay

8^th June 2014

We have slowly been making our way down the west coast of Corsica, stopping for a few days here and there in little anchorages or in marinas.  We left Calvi on a sunny morning, making for the picturesque village of Girolata.  This village is on a headland, overlooking the ocean. The headland has a wonderful old fort guarding the entrance to the little cove in which  the Genoese, in old times, used to shelter their little ships and in which we took a mooring buoy. The village has only ten permanent residents and the only access is via hiking paths or by boat. Many boat trippers arrive on a daily basis in the summer so there are five beachside restaurants there.

The whole area around the village is national park and heritage listed and is very pretty.



From there we moved on to the little town of Sagone.  We anchored off the beach and, unusually for the Mediterranean, we had the place all to ourselves for two days.  There we saw the ruin of an early Christian cathedral. It is unusual as it has two menhirs as the foundation cornerstones. It is thought that this was to symbolize the triumph of the new Christian religion over the old pagan one. We had a lovely picnic lunch under the trees  with little swallows  above for company.

 There are many Genoese watch towers on headlands all along the coast.  These were built in middle ages to protect Corsica from the corsairs who constantly raided the coastal villages.

 Ajaccio is the capital of Corsica and we were expecting a bustling European city.  To our surprise we found it to be relatively small and sleepy. Since it was Saturday, we decided to see what entertainment the town offered. We left the boat at 9pm. only to find that everything was already closed. The only thing on in town was an open-air band playing traditional Corsican folk music.

We were told that the scenery of the hinterland is pretty spectacular so we decided to take a ride on the train which runs between Ajaccio and Calvi.  It winds through many mountain villages and goes through several mountain ranges.  The mountains are very high and still snowcapped. Most of Corsica seems to be uncultivated and the scenery was indeed beautiful.

We  anchored off the little village of Porto Pollo.  We did a 14km. round trip walk to the village of Filitosa, the 8,000 year old ancient capital of Corsica.  This prehistoric place has stone menhirs which were probably intended to frighten their enemies. There were numerous prehistoric rock shelters and above them, medieval stone houses. We had yet another picnic lunch, this time amongst the menhirs and ancient olive trees.

From Porto Pollo we moved to a beautiful little cove called Anse de Roccapina.  The headland there looks like a huge lion, the beach is lovely white sand and the water is crystal clear.  We fed some very hungry fish which were sheltering in the shadow of our boat. In fact, on the way there our depth sounder kept reading very shallow water, around 4m when we knew we were in about 100m.  We eventually realized that it must have been a school of fish following us, probably for protection from something larger below them. The area around this cove is unspoilt and we ventured into the water for a swim as it was so tempting.  It was still rather cold at 16 degrees C!

Bonifacio at the southern tip of Corsica is spectacular.  The village hangs over the edge of overhanging cliffs which have been eroded with time. There are some very large caves at sea level.  The town is on a large spit of land and the entrance to the harbour is a very narrow channel  about 1nm long, hemmed in on both sides by high cliffs. There is an impenetrable looking fortress at the top of the cliff, which protected Bonifacio from the Corsairs in the old days.  This is a natural harbour described in Homer’s Odyssey.  Legend has it that Odysseus went there and sent two of his men into the harbour.  One was torn apart and eaten on the spot and the other was killed while trying to get his ship back out!