Sardinia and Corsica are only 6 1/2 nautical miles apart, separated by the Straits of Bonifacio, where the Corsican Sea is squeezed through the gap into the Tyrrhenian Sea on the other side. Throw in the Mistral wind that blows all the way from the French Pyrennes and you will understand why this narrow piece of water has a fearsome reputation and why you need to double check the weather before attempting to cross, which we did. The forecast said upto 20kts from the west, which was perfect for our journey north from Olbia to Porto Vecchio (49nm). Only the forecast was wrong, we had 30kts and by the time we arrived at Port Vecchio, both the boat and us were encrusted in salt!

The Gulf of Porto Vecchio is very large, shallow in parts and surrounded by mountains. We followed the channel in and anchored in thick mud right at the end of the Gulf, close to the commercial port and town, and stayed for a week, it was lovely!

The citadel of Porto Vecchio, built in 1539, is perched above the port and is a 10 minute walk away or you can take the little tourist train there and back. In its lifetime, it has been invaded, destroyed 4 times, passed back and forth between the Genoese and French and decimated by malaria. Today, the fortified town, whilst very touristy, is also a beautiful place to explore easily on foot.

We were lucky enough to be there for the 14th July Bastile Day celebrations and were treated to a spectacular firework display over the port, for which we had the best seats in the house aboard Deep Blue.

Before leaving the Gulf, we decided to try out one of the other anchorages there - Stagione Bay. We only spent one night there because of the bay's popularity with jet-skis and other motorised sports. Anyway, while the water temperature was 34.7 degrees C, it wasn't clear and we wanted to swim in clear water again, so we headed down the coast to Sainte Lucie, which looked stunning in our guide. Seems that others thought so too and the anchorage had been taken over by mooring buoys and at 46 euros a night for us, we politely declined, even though the attendant told us we could stay until 11am the next day for that great price, and went around the corner to Porto Nuovo where we anchored in turquoise water, that we shared with just one other boat that night.

Rondinaria Bay was recommended to us and looked good in our guide but there was 'no room at the inn' when we got there. It did look nice but not when full of boats and tourists and so we headed a little further down the coast to the large Golfo di Sant Amanza for the night.

The next day we crossed the Straits of Bonifacio once again and returned to Sardinia. This time though the forecast was correct and we had a great sail across with neither the boat nor us arriving encrused in salt!

CRUISERS NOTES - Porto Vecchio
'Casino' supermarket open every day 8am - 8.30pm, walking distance from marina (left along seafront, right where the road bends).
No ATM near port, only in old town up the hill.
Bus station 'Gare Routiere' next to port. Timetables displayed there for all major destinations.
Tourist Office in old town.
Self-service laundry in marina. 6 euros per load.