I should qualify that "back to France". It's only 5 miles from the northern Maddalenas of my last post to Lavezzi which is in France. Our friends on Fabuloso roundevoux 'd with us around 9 am and we buddy boated over to Lavezzi. The southern anchorage that we decided to enter was kind of tight so we tied onto their big cat and they tied to a big rock in the middle of the anchorage. We also set an anchor because Plankton is too heavy to tie onto most other boats. And we put out a stern anchor. Doug was very nervous about the rocks etc etc. but fell asleep that night before he had too much time to worry about it. We had a great afternoon, swimming and playing Mexican Train and visiting with Phillip and Cara. They were a bit behind schedule (they are crossing the Atlantic this fall) and needed to stay on the move so we were planning to part company next morning. Wellllll it was only 5.8 miles to Bonifacio, their next stop. So we decided to tag along for another day. Besides Phillip knew the harbor and where we could tie up. Everybody always said we should visit Bonifacio and this was our last chance!

Wow Bonifacio! Before you arrive, you sail along for a mile or more with a sheer white cliff beside you and you can see 5 story buildings hanging on the edge of the cliff and the walls of the old fortress and a very strange photo painted on the outer wall. Impregnable this fortress. To enter you passed into an extremely narrow passage to the harbor which is long and narrow and very steep on both sides. Watchtowers and small windows for cannons, guns, etc are everywhere along with houses in the rocks, huge bollards from WWII for ships and, I did mention?, a very narrow channel with lots of traffic. A couple of superyacht s almost got scuttled by the big Moby ferry with a five whistle! Horns blew, a sailboat was stuck in the channel when they failed to get their anchor up, lots of boats milling around, some waiting for the fuel dock, mega yachts in places where boats half the size of Plankton belonged! Whew! Good thing we were following Fabuloso in.

As soon as you enter the harbor, a cove opens to the left, our anchorage. It's narrow too. Luckily a boat was leaving and Fabuloso maneuvered in, followed by Plankton. Doug had to jump in the dinghy and tie Fabuloso to the metal eye bored in the rocks, while I kept Plankton from drifting into any other boats. Finally I slipped Plankton alongside Fabuloso and Doug passed our shoreline to me from the dinghy and we were tied up! We had a great view of all the action in the channel and of the fortress walls across the channel. Prime location, as Phillip put it! Afternoon entertainment.

After all that we headed into town where we climbed up to old Bonifacio on the cliff, entering the city thru a gate with a moat. Great views and lunch followed by a little grocery shopping. I found Cote de Rhone wine and Milka chocolates with caramel. I had been looking for that chocolate for 3 years, ever since Portugal! Back at the boat Doug made salsa while the rest of us had a cool refreshing swim! This was followed by a nap, then a late afternoon round of RummiCube. Next day we visited the tourist office for free wifi, sat in the bar to cool off followed by lunch, a big pot of mussels and a cheeseburger! Doug and I took a hike and did a little more grocery shopping, followed by the same as the day before..swim, nap, RummiCube, and pinacolatas! We all turned in early since we all really were leaving VERY early the next morning. Our friends had a 75 mile run to make..that's 15 hours, maybe 11 with a good wind.

About midnight the fireworks started. Doug and I crawled back up on deck and watched a very nice show. An hour later some bad weather moved in. It started with gusty wind, then it sprinkled, then it rained hard and blew some more. Then we thought Plankton had broke her rope line but it was our next door neighbors boat swinging wildly about because it was not tied tight enough. There was lightning so Doug thought to get wet and retreive our GPS from the cockpit. As we settled back to bed we heard a little hail. Then a lot of hail, all pebble size. And, before we knew it, it was 6 am and we were all back on deck to break loose and sail away.

We said our goodbyes and followed Fabuloso out into the channel. With one last wave they turned west and north and we turned east and south back to the La Maddalenas. As we left there were still storm clouds all around but the sky was clear above us. It was a beautiful morning. The wind was light and we had 15 miles to go back to Porto Palma bay to wait out one more day of strong wind. The wind usually picks up around noon to 2 pm. By the time we got there it was blowing 20 out of the west, behind us and it wasn't even 10 am! We hoped Phillip and Cara had made their turn to the north before the wind picked up. We anchored and spent the rest of the day catching up on our rest!

Hope you enjoyed the tale.
Barb

The picture is Bonifacio from outside the harbor. Anybody know what the two actors picture painted on the fortress is about. He has bees on his face! Maybe this is from a movie?