Today we left Sardinia behind to cruise French Corsica. We've allowed ourselves roughly a month to explore Corsica before "les grandes vacances" takes hold when the French and Italians take holiday mid-July to mid-September and places get extremely busy. By then, we should be heading off towards the Italian mainland when everyone else should be heading towards Corsica and Sardinia!

The Iles de Levezzi is a small archipelago of uninhabited granite islands and reefs in the Strait of Bonifacio that separates Corsica from Sardinia. There are two main islands, Lavezzi and Cavallo. The whole archipelago comprises of rocky outcrops, the occasional beach, walks and crystal clear water teeming with fish and ideal for snorkelling.


changing courtesy flags mid-passage of the 'Bouches de Bonifacio' (Straits of Bonifacio) to the French National flag and the Corsican Bandana

With very few places to anchor we took a look at Cala Lazarina on the SW side of Lavezzi. A very small sheltered anchorage and popular with tripper boats and yachts. There wasn't much room to manoeuvre with rocks jutting up barely above sea level and it didn't take long for us to conclude that this Cala wasn't for us... far too many rock and yachts too closely anchored. As we were motoring around cautiously, we got the impression that those already at anchor weren't relaxed either so we crept slowly back out, took a deep breath and made our way over to Cala di u Ghiuncu to anchor. This Cala didn't offer as much shelter but it did offer swinging room and deeper water with far less rocks around. There were three buoys for the tripper boats to moor to but still ample room for yachts to anchor.

By late afternoon we had plans to go ashore as it looked far more inviting now that the tripper boats had finished for the day. Mother nature had other plans sending waves into the anchorage and things started to get uncomfortable. If we stayed put the cursed evening swell would be present rolling around all night so we decided to return to Cala Lazarina to see if anyone had left. Second time around and our thoughts hadn't changed but this time we happened to notice that one of the yachts had taken one of the three tripper boat mooring buoys with two remaining. We decided therefore to take one of the buoys for the night and leave in the early hours the following morning before the tripper boat returned. We were slightly apprehensive just in case there was another run of tripper boats so didn't venture ashore but instead swam and snorkeled around. The fish here are really friendly and they actually come to you!

Total distance this season: 223.01 nautical miles