GHOST

We had a fantastic sail over from Northern Sardinia to Southern Corsica, making 8-9 knots with 15-18 knots of breeze off the port bow. As usual we were "not racing" another boat but the new headsail definitely helped us take it apart! It was a fairly short sail and despite a lazy start to the day we reached Bonifacio by lunchtime. It is an amazing natural harbour with sheer cliffs lining the entrance and the fort housing the town perched on top. As we approached the entrance it was clear we were in for a busy time but we were unprepared for the utter chaos that awaited us! With no apparent harbour mooring guides, both sailing and motor boats were mooring wherever they could and the two small anchorages to the north of the harbour were absolutely packed. As the fuel pontoon was temporarily empty we took the chance to refuel and then moored alongside a French boat on the "reserved for fishing boats only pier" while Brad went to visit the harbour office to see what was going on. The office promised us a mooring and eventually when the mooring guides had returned from lunch (!) we were allocated an even tighter space than we'd squeezed into in Italy - but Brad pulled off a miracle and after a neat 3 point turn we slid perfectly into the slot - apparently GHOST "responds to his touch"!

So we did the usual getting into a marina stuff - charge everything up on 240V, do some washing (the new washing machine has already paid for itself), Brad washed down the boat and visited the chandlery (his favourite jobs) whilst I did some cooking (yummy banana loaf and fruit crumble) and then we went to explore the fort and admire the sunset. It was really beautiful if rather hot after the climb up, and the twisting little lanes in the town meant there was lots to explore. Unfortunately we then choose poorly when it came to dining and our much anticipated Moules Mariniere was 14 EUR for a tiny portion! So we headed back to the boat and had some meat and cheese and then ate the crumble to fill us up! Then we got talking to Gilbert, a local Corsican who is moored next to us, he has just purchased a 30ft very run down boat which he intends to restore. We offered him a beer and soon he was bringing out his home brew - apparently it is made of small violet coloured berries called Mryt but we were unable to determine a translation, anyway you drink it on ice and it is very strong but quite nice!

This morning we had a great run around the harbour, UP to the fort and out to the viewpoint at the entrance to the harbour - hot and hard work but very satisfying, we have earned our beers tonight! For lunch we found the perfect combination - Sardinian burrata cheese (unfortunately the last of our stock), finely sliced Italian parma ham, Greek Tatziki and fresh French bread! Brad has spied a restaurant on the foreshore offering Moules Mariniere & frites for EUR 8.50 so we may test that out tonight! Yes it does seem to have turned into a foodie tour - we'll have to keep running to burn it all off!

To top off this excellent place, we found "free wifi" as the Italian internet dongle doesn't work here. Well it wasn't really free, but who uses "1234567890" as a password (not a patch on your 10 digit random mix of letters and numbers Jim)! As it's such a great place we have decided to stay another night before heading up the west coast to meet our friends Brendan and Anja in Calvi.