Bonifacio -> Rondinara -> Baie de Stagnolu

La Madonetta lighthouse at the entrance to Bonifacio harbour

It would have been great to spend more time in Bonifacio, but the forecast is for strong possibly near-gale force winds in the Strait by evening. We decide to leave early and head back towards the Gulf of Porto Vecchio, where we will be sure to find shelter.

Captain and First Mate are looking forward to returning to the marina in Porto Vecchio, but I have other plans. I want to spend at least one night at anchor, and I've already picked out what should be a sheltered spot in the Gulf. But we won't know for sure until we get closer.

Up early (again!) and preparing to leave. Eileen goes to the small grocery store to stock up on a few grocs first. The night was absolutely quiet and there wasn't a ripple in the harbour, but the wind is already starting to rise. There is much activity around us as the Italians prepare to leave. They seem to be in a group of three boats traveling together. But the big ugly cat and another 50 foot yacht facing each other on the outside of pontoons J and K are blocking their exit.

The 50-footer lets some slack in one of their stern lines and gives a blast of bow thruster to pivot the front out. I realize too late that this would have made it much easier for us to leave as well but we are not ready yet. The big yacht pivots back to the pontoon and the gap closes. It's a tight gap but we're a small boat so it should be doable.

When we're finally ready I let off the stern lines while Eileen lets go of the lazy line at the bow. We go foreward a bit and then a blast of reverse stops forward motion and spins the bow to starboard. This boat has a very pronounced kick to port in reverse, and thank goodness it's favorable for this manoeuvre. We move slowly through the tight gap, with the same three onlookers on the cat (do they sleep there?) plus several others on the yacht watching closely. Still no yelling! We slip through then, oops, watch that stupid buoy! Phew, missed it. Sharp turn to port and we're on our way again.

Cap Pertusato, at the southern tip of Corsica

Once again we motor slowly through the long narrow harbour. And once again I am blown away by the incredible scenery. Outside the harbour we turn to port and stay close to the cliffs for a better look. The Thalassa boats are back out in full force plying up and down the cliff face. Eileen is at the helm while I bring in the fenders, coil and stow the shorelines, and tie the dingy to the stern. There is a good breeze from the east now, so after lingering for a while we eventually hoist the sails and head south. An eye piece falls off the binoculars. These are the cheapest crap binoculars I've ever seen. Oh well, at least they still work.

The jib comes down and the engine comes on as we round Cap Pertusato and approach the beginning of the Piantarella passage.  The wind is from the east, and we are heading east so we'll need the engine for this part of the passage.

When we came through La Piantarella in the other direction, we heeded Xavier's words very carefully: "The plotter is the master". Perhaps too carefully. What I mean is that we spent too much time looking at the plotter, and not enough time looking around at the navigation marks. This made me feel uncomfortable afterwords, because if there had been any kind of malfunction with the plotter, we would have had a hard time staying off the rocks. This time we use a combination of low-tech and high-tech. We use old-fashioned pilotage, align navigation marks, and steer by compass course. As we go along and at every change of course we verify our position on the chart plotter. This combination works perfectly, is more rewarding, and is undoubtedly safer.

Back on the east coast of Corsica now, we're heading north with a northeasterly breeze. We unfurl the sails and kill the engine. For me this is always the best moment aboard a sailboat, when the engine stops and the sails take over. The boat heels, and the only sounds are the wind in the sails and the water on the hull. Bliss.

One of Xavier's top "not to be missed" spots is a bay called Rondinara. It's a sea-shell shaped bay with the entrance at the hinge and a white sandy beach lining the rim. It's surrounded by green pine-covered hills and red rocky outcrops, and there is very little construction on the shore. The wind is E-NE which makes most of the anchorages on the east coast a bit risky for over-night stops. A bit disappointing because I was counting on having sheltered anchorages from the dominant westerly winds that normally blow here. Since we arrived in Corsica we've had pretty much nothing but NE, E, or SE winds! Very unusual, apparently. We decide we'll take a look in and see if we can anchor there for lunch.

Looking around further out to sea we spot the three big Italian yachts from Bonifacio. They must have gone outside the islands, and they seem to have more wind out there. Soon they overtake us and head off into the distance. Towards Rondinara! I hope it won't be crowded in there. Actually I'm more worried that they will take our spot, which is in the northern part of the bay behind the hill at the entrance. In theory that should be the most sheltered spot in these conditions.

Rondinara Bay. Hey, that's our spot!

We eventually arrive at Rondinara, and see the three Italian boats already anchored in the southern part of the bay. Great, the northern part is empty. We prepare the anchor and slow right down as we head towards our chosen spot. Eileen is at the bow, ready to drop the anchor on signal. We're advancing slowly now, when we gently come to a halt? Crap, we've gone aground! Good thing it's a sandy bottom. I give a short blast of reverse, and the boat floats free. Phew!

I was convinced there were 4 metres of water in this spot, and we draw 1.8 metres, so there should have been plenty to spare. I know there is a shallow spot in the middle and stayed on this side to avoid it. I was so absolutely sure of the depth here that I wasn't monitoring the depth sounder. Mistake. We back off a bit and drop the anchor. Looking at different pilot books and charts, they don't quite agree on the depth in this part of the bay, and that should have set off the alarm bells. I should have put Laura on the depth sounder, calling out readings as we approached. Lesson learned.

While we are getting our lunch ready, another small yacht enters the bay. It approaches from the south and makes a big loop ending up at the spot we were aiming for. Lifting keel? Local knowledge? We'll never know. Now, back to lunch, and by the way what's that stink? Four day old Brocciu. Peeew, better finish it today. It's getting late and I want to get past the Pointe de la Ciappa and into the Gulf before the strong winds arrive and before we lose daylight. So we pick up the anchor and head off again.

The plan is to have a look at Stagnolu bay in the northern end of the Gulf of Porto Vecchio. If it's sheltered then we will spend the night anchored there. If not we will continue on to the marina. We're tacking up the coast in a good 10 or 15 knots of breeze, but we seem to be losing a lot of ground on the port tack. "Is that the same bunch of red rocks again?!". I definitely need to polish my sail trimming skills to make better progress to windward.

We come to the entrance to the Gulf of Porto Vecchio. There is a big Bourbon tug waiting at entrance, but we don't see what he is waiting for. It reminds me of a YouTube video of another Bourbon tug, the Abeille Flandre in the Iroise Sea. I hope they are not here to do some filming in bad weather!

Stagnolu Bay in the Gulf of Porto Vecchio. Rocks off our stern!

We pass the green Benedettu lateral mark, but instead of heading southwest towards the marina, we head north into the Baie de Stagnolu. It is well sheltered from the northeast wind just as I had hoped. We head for the 3 metre depth contour in the northeastern part of the bay. Eileen drops the anchor on cue, and we reverse as the chain pays out. We keep an eye on things for a while to make sure the anchor isn't dragging, and then we can relax. 

Well, not completely because there are a bunch of rocks about 150 metres off our stern. And the wind is blowing us in that direction. But there is hardly any wind for the moment and we'll be fine as long as it doesn't blow up during the night.

It's beautiful and calm in this part of the bay, so we plan for dinner on deck. Unfortunately we don't have a cockpit table! We enjoy a lovely pasta dinner off our laps, complete with Corsican wine of course. We listen to birds, watch the odd boat passing in the distance, and enjoy the peace and quite. Finally the tiredness overcomes us and we head for bed. I set an alarm for every three hours, because if the wind rises during the night it could push us on to those rocks off our stern. The night is quiet, and I pop my head out at 02:00 and at 05:00 to take a quick look at the Benedettu and check our distance off the rocks, then crawl back in. 

Eileen and Laura are sleeping in the forecabin tonight, and at one point after checking the anchor I hear a surreal argument: "You poked me with your toe!", "I did not!", "You did so!", "Did not", "Did so", "Didn't", "Did". Then silence. In the morning I think I must have dreamt it...

Log entry for Tuesday 20/04/2011

Fuel: 4/4

Batteries: 1 (engine) = 12.8; 2 (domestic) = 12.5

Water: Tank 1: 1/2; Tank 2: 4/4

Baro: 1016

Weather forecast: East coast: E-SE F2-3, increasing to F4 by evening; Senetosa to Bonifacio: E-SE F4-5 increasing F5-6 by afternoon

From: Bonifacio; Log 77 @ 09:45

Towards: Rondinara; Log 92 @ 13:10

From: Rondinara; Log 92 @ 15:30

Towards: Baie de Stagnolu; Log 109 @ 19:30 

Porto Vecchio -> Bonifacio

Entrance to Porto Vecchio marina at dawn

Bonifacio or Bust! Right from the beginning since we planned this holiday, the goal for me has been to make it to Bonifacio. At the same time, I know that there is a good chance that the weather will not be good enough for us to make it through the Strait. If worst comes to worst, we will stay in Porto Vecchio and day-sail from here, stopping off in the many bays and anchorages in the near vicinity. We could probably even get a bus to Bonifacio.

But things seem to be coming together, and the forecast is for light to moderate winds today, strengthening by evening. So we aim to leave early and make Bonifacio by early afternoon. It should take four or five hours to get there.

After a quiet night, I'm up at 07:00. Eileen and Laura are still sleeping so I savour the peaceful stillness of the place. Mist is swirling and rising off the surface of the water in the harbour as the sun's rays start heating things up. A pilot boat comes in, followed by a huge ferry that heads for the commercial dock. The HUGE motor yacht parked near the entrance to the marina starts to move. Eileen is awake so I call her over to watch it leave. It slips out quietly and effortlessly. Yesterday Laura said she thought it looked like a blue whale. We find out later that it was a Mangusta 130, worth about €10,000,000. Details here if you are interested...

We're on our own from now on, so the real adventure begins here. Check and double-check the weather forecasts, read and re-read the pilot books, plan the passage. Prepare the boat and head off, with a few butterflies in the gut. The Gulf of Porto Vecchio is very big, and it takes about an hour to get from the marina, tucked away in the south-west corner, to the entrance. We immediately notice the swell as we leave the shelter of the gulf.

We give the Roches de Chiappino a wide berth and head south, passing between the mainland and the Cerbicale Islands. These small, uninhabited rocky islands are part of a nature reserve, and landing is prohibited during the spring and summer months. Laura gets out the binoculars to look for birds. Suddenly the boat is rocked by a wave, she loses her balance and sits back against the cockpit table. Crack! The table breaks off it's hinges and Laura crashes to the cockpit floor. Ouch. She picks herself up and dusts herself off. Plus de peur que de mal. The teak and stainless steel cockpit table, on the otherhand, is finished. I take the pieces below and store them under a settee, wondering how much a thing like that might possibly cost.

Passage de la Piantarella

There are three main passages through the Strait: the Grande Passe (used by commercial shipping, and by yachts at night and in bad weather), the pass between Lavezzi and L'Ecueil de Lavezzi, and the inside passage known as the Passage de la Piantarella. The Piantarella is the shortest way to get from Porto Vecchio to Bonifacio, saving about 10 miles compared to the Grande Passe. But it can only be undertaken in good weather and by day. We have light winds, not too much swell, and plenty of daylight so we decide to go for it.

The Piantarella passage starts at a rock called the Ecueil de Porraggia, which is to be left about 150m to port as you take up a course of 228°, heading towards the Ile Piana. It's a bit unnerving passing this close to rocks and rocky islands, and we are constantly checking the chart plotter. "Remember, the chart plotter is master". Next we're looking out for the Tignosa di Ratino north cardinal that marks the outlying rocks off the Ile Ratino. Once past, we head 190° and back into deeper water. The next navigation mark to look out for is an isolated danger mark called "Le Pretre". Pass that and round Cap Pertusato and we're through! Phew, we can breath a sigh of relief. The geography is changing fast and we're going from reddish granite outcrops to chalky white cliffs.

Bonifacio from a distance. Spot the entrance...

We're heading north now and soon we can spot houses on the edge of the cliff ahead. That must be Bonifacio! We get out the binoculars and try to spot the entrance to the harbour. There is no obvious break in the cliffs. Then we notice a big cruise ship stopped near the shore. Soon, a motor boat passes near the chruise ship and disappears into the cliffs. That's the entrance!

As we get nearer the cruise ship starts moving off. Eileen takes the helm as I put out fenders and prepare shore lines. Then I go below to radio the harbourmaster for a berth. "Port of Bonifacio, Port of Bonifacio, this is yacht Achab, Yacht Achab". I finally get to use my VHF radio license! The harbourmaster responds and I ask for a berth for the night. She replies that we should proceed to the end of the harbour and take a berth on pontoon J "Juliette" or K "Kilo". I repeat J "Juliette" or K "Kilo". No reply. Oh yeah, you have to press the button to talk... Try again and get confirmation.

Now I'm back on deck and we're through the entrance. It's very narrow with cliffs on either side. We can see people way above on the ramparts looking down. Eileen is going very slowly and we're savoring the incredible spectacle. Impatient tour boats are passing us left and right. Thalassa 1 coming in behind us. Thalassa 3 going out. We can hear the narration of the tour boat's loud-speaker. The wind is building all the time, and I'm aware that berthing is going to be tricky.

The harbour is about a mile long and it takes 15 or 20 minutes to get from the entrance to the very end. Finally we spot pontoons J and K. Thinking it will be easier to back upwind, I pick J. There is quite a bit of wind now, this is going to be tough. As well as that, there is a great big ugly catamaran at the entrance between the pontoons, and a small red buoy right in the middle. What in the heck is a buoy doing there!!!

Citadel seen from the inner harbour

I turn the boat and start backing up the fairway. I'm trying to go as slowly as possible, and as we approach the big cat there is a blast of wind that nearly stops the boat dead. I give it a burst of throttle to keep up steerage way and this kicks the stern to port, directly towards the cat! Short bursts of throttle get us back on course, but we pass very close to the cat turning in between pontoons J and K. There are 3 people standing on the rail of the cat watching, but to my surprise they don't yell!?

Past the cat now, and lining up to moor stern-to. Suddenly I realize that there are no cleats on the pontoon. I panic: "Eileen, there are NO CLEATS! What do we do!?" She replies "I'll just put the mooring rope through those rings there on the side of the pontoon". Oh yeah, there are rings on the side, relax, zen... We reverse up to the pontoon and Eileen gets a line through a ring. We get another stern line on and then I pick up the lazy line and take it to the bow. Cleat it off and we're done! We made it!

We tidy up the boat and I try to hook up the shore power. Wrong sized plug. We have lots of juice in the batteries, so we will do without. We get ready for some sight-seeing but first we have to check in with the harbourmaster and pay for the night.

On the way back we see one of those fake train things that ferry tourists around. It goes to the top of the hill and Eileen is all in favour. We ask how much. 5 euros. Each. You must be kidding? We go buy ice-creams and walk up instead.

Easier coming down than going up!

We walk up the road and there are great views out over the harbour. When we reach the top of the hill we can see the entrance to the citadel and the old town on the right, and a path going up a hill off to the left. We take the path up the hill and soon we are awe-struck by views of the cliffs down towards Cap Pertusato on the left and the old town perched on the cliff edge on the right. It's hot now and we are tired so we don't go too far. Well actually two of us are tired and one of us is full of beans! After a bit we turn around and head back towards the citadel and the old town.

We pass through the entrance gate, which has a real working draw-bridge. The mechanism inside for raising the bridge is quite amazing, and looks like it would draw up the bridge in about 2 seconds flat! It was installed in 1598 when this was still the only entrance to the citadel.

We wander through the narrow streets, admiring the views in all directions. We stop at one point and overhear a bunch of locals speaking Corsican. I'm amazed at how often we've heard people speaking Corsican. It sounds quite similar to Italian, but at the same time it's very distinctly different.

The "Grain of Sand", with Cap Pertusato in the distance

We consult the trusty Michelin guide for restaurant recommendations. The nearest one to where we are is the Café de la Poste, which is located in the old post office. It's too early and they haven't started serving yet, so they suggest we have a drink on the terrace. Good idea! Eileen and I have the by now compulsory glass of Muscat. For some reason we always seem to be early for dinner, but it ends up working out well because the restaurants usually end up being packed later on.

Once again we have a lovely meal. Eileen and I both have the "menu dégustation" where you get to try small portions of 3 different dishes. Laura negotiates for ham again but they bring hamburger instead. Oh well, at least it's a change. Eileen asks if they could add some vegetables like peas or green beans. When her dish comes it has courgette instead. Come to think of it, we haven't seen a pea or a bean since we got here.

Laura is taking forever to eat as usual. The waitress is not happy with her progress, and lets her know it. Eventually she finishes and we can order desert at last. We finish up and stroll back down to the marina.

This time we take the Montée Rastello steps that lead straight down the very steep hill. When we get to the bottom we see that we have many new neighbours. There are lots of boats now on pontoons J and K, including two 50 foot yachts next to us. As we get closer we see crews of young Italians milling about on the pontoon. We tuck up in bed with visions of all-night parties, loud music, and drunken debauchery. Maybe they were tired too, or maybe they are just a considerate well-mannered bunch but in any case we didn't hear them all night.

We made it to Bonifacio, we didn't go bust, and we didn't need to take a bus! 

Log entry for Monday 19/04/2011

Fuel: 4/4

Batteries: 1 (engine) = 13.8; 2 (domestic) = 13.6

Water: Tank 1: 3/4; Tank 2: 4/4

Baro: 1016

Weather forecast: East coast: N-NE F2-3; Bouches de Bonifacio: E F3-4 increasing to F5 by late afternoon

From: Porto Vecchio; Log 51 @ 09:00
Towards: Bonifacio; Log 77 @ 14:00