The entrance to the harbour is a tiny slit in the cliff wall of south Corsica, barely visible until close in. The easiest way to spot it is the constant traffic of pleasure craft, tripper boats and ferries. There is big red light to port and a large cemetery on the high headland to starboard.
Entering the calanque is reminiscent of a Sussex twitten, a tiny alley between high walls, with a strip of blue sky above. Remember to drive on the right! We met the ferry coming out, which we found unnerving, but the pilot was obviously used to fretting helmspeople and was slow and careful.
To port there are two smaller inlet calanques. Of these the first looks too small ever to anchor in, though it's not prohibited. Our French chart shows the second as prohibited for anchoring, and there is a pontoon with laid lines there. Allegedly this is charged for, though we know someone who overnighted there last week, for free.
Inside the harbour, which is about half a mile long, the walls are lined with pontoons. We were met by the lads (and these are young!) from the capitainerie swanning about in aluminium boats with big grey fenders on the bows. They led us to a spot, but offered zero assistance. Later we saw them helping various yachts tie up, including large motor-yachts with dual engines, bow thrusters and paid crew. Obviously, despite our significantly lower manoueverability, we didn't qualify. Generally, we are not impressed by these guys, who generate a good 80% of the wash in here and seem d�"n all use to most yachts.
As the pontoon lines are led to rings below the walkway, they're not easy to get to. We were very grateful to the boat next to our berth, who gave us a lot of help to arrive safely. We very quickly lowered Bridgit and removed her bow-cap, making her very short and much safer. We haven't forgotten our problems in Ostia!