The wind was still quite light and variable but the sun still shone so we lifted the anchor to sail round the next headland to Girolata and the National and Marine Reserve of Scandola. It was a day of putting the sails up and taking them down and then putting them up again (often all in the space of 15 mins)as the wind couldn’t make its mind up whether to blow or not or what direction but that didn’t matter as the place absolutely lived up its reputation. Probably the most unspoilt, rugged, mountainous coastline we have ever sailed. All of Corsica has been far better than we expected – really we just wanted to sail here because it just looked a good sail and it was on the way to Italy – we didn’t do much research into the place but we will certainly come back and if you want an unspoilt, natural holiday this is the place. The day had been quite uneventful, just sailing the stunning coast so we decided to make it more interesting by braving the Gargulu passage. Only for the brave the pilot book said - so we had to give it a go. Apparently it was shallow - only 2 metres over rock in places and the cliffs tower over the passage. As we approached it there were a couple of other yachts appearing to be going through but they all went up to the entrance, had a look at the scenery and then turned back.. We reached the entrance and it was everything the book said, the water was crystal clear and turquoise (all the better to see the rocks!) and the red, craggy cliffs loomed up straight out of the water. What the book hadn’t said was how narrow it was – once entered there was not room to turn round so there would be no going back. No wonder those other yachts turned away and if we hadn’t had a lifting keel I am not sure if we would have gone through either. As it was, once again Gemini`s lifting keel came in handy, and Jane wound it up all the way (such good exercise for the arms!) We do lose a little positivity in steering with the keel right up but knowing we only needed just over a metre of water underneath us was a comforting factor. We were able to motor through comfortably and enjoy the spectacular view. Not so brave after all!! As we looked back, in the distance, we could see that another yacht had come through – we hoped he also had a lifting keel or else he was WAS very brave!...
For the rest of the afternoon we sailed gently through this perfect landscape and settled for the night in the bay of Girolata quite close to a deserted, sandy beach. Perfect!! At least it was until a huge, silver, motor super yacht called Nomad arrived. With a scream of bow thrusters and wake they squeezed their considerable bulk in to the anchorage and stopped close to the beach (and us). Almost before the boat had stopped moving the crew had the garage door was up and the rib was out to take the owner and his two dogs ashore. Looked like they had just stopped for a poo break for the dogs - 2 rottweilers. The dogs enjoyed themselves immensely on the beach and in the water and then they were put back in the rib to be taken back on board Nomad. Then they had to be hosed off, dried, fed and eventually we saw them reclining on the white leather seats at the front of the boat under the sunshade. What a life! And what a faff! Once the dogs were sorted Nomad headed off as noisily and with as much disturbance as when she arrived. Calm returned to our beach. Erich was right -don’t miss Girolata and it is “fantastique”.
Next day we were up early and set off for the next bay, the Bay of Porto. A UNESCO world Heritage site no less. Again it lived up to its write up and was stunningly beautiful. It is hard to find new words to describe it so I won't try.
By afternoon we had had enough though – it is lovely but nothing really happens there!
Considering it is a national park and marine reserve ie no fishing, no pollution, no building etc etc we were surprised at the lack of visible wildlife both on shore and in the sea. We hardly saw a sea bird, even a gull, let alone a dolphin or even many fish. Not exactly sure why but it has been this way in most of Corsica, Sardinia and the Tuscan Islands. In the 4 or 5 weeks we have been here we have only seen 2 or 3 pods of dolphins and they were from a good distance with only 3 or 4 dolphins in each. Even the seagulls are small, quiet and in short supply. We think it must be the lack of food for them as there are hardly any fish left in the Med and you don’t even see locals fishing from small boats any more, as the big trawlers have taken them all the fish.. In the Atlantic we saw far more sea wildlife and plenty of dolphins who had time to come over to the boat and play.
The whole coastline of this part of Corsica faces west and as the wind and swell were coming in from the west and predicted to stay that way we sailed further than we intended that day to find a protected harbour. We settled on Sagone as the pilot book said it was sheltered and was a good anchorage. Obviously so and the locals though so too because when we arrived the whole bay was filled with small local boats on moorings. At first we though there was no room but there is always room! We picked our way through dozens and dozens of small boats feeling like Gulliver in Lilliput until we were only 50 metres from the shore and anchored right by the beach. We felt like we had come for a day at the sea side! Sagone looks to be a small but proper sea side resort. We were to get it know it quite well...
When we got up next day and checked the Navtex we picked up a weather warning from Meteo France. South West or Westerly Force 8, severe gusts and rough seas were forecast for most of Corsica and North Sardinia. We get a regular daily forecast from Meteo France but the only other time they have issued a similar warning was that awful night on Giglio so we decided to take heed and stay put.
Navtex is a really good free service with English translation and is often our only available weather forecast and the French one is particularly reliable. Over the last few years it has definite improved although it varies tremendously from country to country. The Spanish one always comes too late – issued at about 10am and only giving the forecast for the day (by which time you have looked out the window and can see what the weather is!) , The Italian one gives details only an Italian would understand (and only discusses Italian seas), the Algerian one was quite good at covering places in Africa we had never heard of but not very good for Algeria and Morocco (which we wanted) but the French forecast comes in at 6am and forecasts the day ahead and the following 24 hours which at least lets you make plans. Also they issue warnings at any time, not waiting for the next scheduled forecast. I don’t know if new or more expensive Navtex receivers allow you to filter message transmitters but on ours we can only filter types of messages not transmitting stations so when the atmospheric or cosmic conditions are favourable we pick up literally dozens and dozens of messages, which we have to scroll through to find the relevant weather forecasts, For example at the moment we have messages from Norway, Russia, Holland, Lithuania, Sweden, Greece, Wales and the UK warning of missing buoys, lighthouses not working, swimmer rallies in the Baltic, a floating dead whale in Greece, a burial at sea off Lithuania as well as endless positions of navigation hazards hundreds of miles away from us. It would be easy to miss the one important weather warning as you scroll back through the endless irrelevant (to us) messages. Naturally this is a boring, time consuming but necessary job that Martyn considers more suited to Janes`s capabilities!!
Anyway thanks to the French we know we are going to be staying at Sargone for few days. I hope they have some shops as ships stores are running low as the last time we saw a food shop was six days ago...