Solenzara -> Paris

Captain

Xavier comes at 08:00 to pick up the bits of broken cockpit table. He takes them to the office and comes back to say that this isn't the first broken one they've had, he considers it a design fault, and they aren't going to charge us for it. Great, thanks! Next time we won't risk it, we'll fold up the cockpit table when underway.

He comes on board and we go through the list of breakages, malfunctions, and the grounding. I don't bother with our list of suggestions because we are running short of time. 

For breakages we had the cockpit table and the binocular eye piece. For malfunctions we had a leak in the coachroof near the mast, the wind instrument whose display went blank at one point, and the autopilot that sent us off in the wrong direction once. The wind instrument and autopilot both worked normally after rebooting them, but the heading on the autopilot never did agree with the compass heading from the beginning.

First Mate

In case someone from Cotema is reading this, here are the suggestions: a gas lighter would be better than matches for lighting the gas rings, a hand brush and dustpan would be useful for tidying up crumbs, and a coffee maker would have been nice. Also a few bits of small cordage and a spare roving fender always come in handy. 

In general though, the boat was great. It was clean, well equipped, and well prepared. I had been worried about having problems with a brand new boat. The internet forums are full of people complaining about problems with their new boat and it's true that they do seem to need a bit of "debugging". But everything was well sorted on Achab and the few malfunctions we did have were insignificant.

We tell Xavier about the grounding at Rondinara and he asks me to show him on the chart where it was. I show him and he is pretty sure the bottom is sandy there. In any case I know we didn't hit rock and he doesn't seem to think there will be any damage. He calls Raphael to tell him about it. We meet Raphael at the office and he says he would like to lift the boat out to inspect the keel. Fair enough, but unfortunately the boat has to go out again so their won't be time to do that beforehand. Hmm, not great. I ask if they have a diver who could take a look but he says they don't. We agree to contact the insurance company.

Bosun

Raphael has arranged for someone to drive us to the airport, and it's time for us to get going. The driver is a young Brazilian who has been living in Corsica since he was 6 years old. He is very nice and we talk about Corsica and Brazil and languages and work and everything. He loves it here, he says the Brazilians describe Corsica as a "mini Brazil". He thinks we should move here, after all the real estate is cheap in comparison to most other places. And why would you want to live anywhere else?

Soon we arrive at Figari airport. We want to give him a tip, but the only cash we have is a five euro note that Eileen found in the street on her way to work. Her "lucky fiver" that she's been saving in order to buy a lottery ticket. We give it to him, and hope that we'll get some good karma in return. We'll never know if we would have won the lotto.

The good ship Achab

As soon as we stop moving the ground starts swaying. After a short delay, we board the plane. It's cloudy so we don't see much during the flight home. After an uneventful hour and a half we land in Paris, and boy is it hot! It was cloudy and 18° when we left Figari, and now it's sunny and 25° in Paris. We get a taxi home. It's Easter weekend, we'll have to try to find a piece of lamb for dinner tomorrow. For some reason I keep checking the wind forecast for the Strait of Bonifacio...

Bavella

Heading up towards the Bavella Pass

The forecast was right, its raining. It's supposed to rain all day and most of tomorrow too. We're up after a good night, having breakfast and putting a few things together. The plan is to head over to the Tourist Office and see if there is a bus or maybe even a taxi to take us to the Bavella Pass.

We ask the lady behind the desk if there are any buses going to Bavella. No, it's too early in the season and the bus hasn't started running yet.

What about a taxi? She calls the local taxi and asks how much it would cost. 80 euros. Hmm, tempting. But is that one way or the return trip? She asks if it's one way or return trip. One way, plus 25 euros per half hour while waiting at the pass.  Hmm, that sounds a bit too expensive.

She asks if we wouldn't rather rent a car? We explain that we tried yesterday and there were no cars available. She says she'll give it a try. She calls Hertz in Solenzara, no cars. She calls Hertz in Porto Vecchio, no cars. She tries a Total garage in Travo that is also an Avis rental agency, and they have a small car available!

We are the only people in the Tourist Office except for the lady behind the desk and an old guy milling about. When we came in he was criticizing brochures for a nearby attraction, and so I assume he works here. He's listening in to our predicament, and when he hears they have a car in Travo he immediately says he'll take us there. The lady behind the desk explains that we can have a car for the day for 101 euros, and the old guy will take us over to pick it up. When we drop it off, they will run us back into Solenzara. Perfect!

The old guy says "follow me" and he's off out the door. We thank the lady for her help and run off after the old guy. He has a mini-van, and we climb in. Laura goes in front and the guy's got a little dog in the front of the van that jumps up and licks her! He's a super-friendly cute little fellow, and Laura is thrilled. The old guy tells us that he is retired, and does odd jobs to keep himself busy. He used to build wooden boats. He asks where we're from and when he hears that Eileen is Irish he tells us that he spent a few years in Belfast in his younger days and really enjoyed it. And he's still a big fan of Irish whiskey!

He doesn't recommend going up to the Bavella pass today. Won't see a thing, he says. Better off heading north, where the sky is a bit brighter. We have no idea how far it might be to Travo, but after about ten minutes he drops us off at the Total garage. We thank him profusely and say bye to his dog.

The car hire lady says that the car we were supposed to get is blocked in the parking lot, she can't find the keys to the car that's blocking it, so we've been upgraded to a Peugeot 308! We do the paperwork and buy a map of Corsica. I realize that I forgot to bring the Michelin guide, so we'll have to go back for it. We drive back to Solenzara, get the guide book, and put together some food for a picnic lunch. We'll have to try to find bread along the way.

Despite the old guy's advice, I still want to try the Bavella Pass. We might not get great views, but we'll get a taste of the mountains. We take the road that leads towards the beach, then take a left at the round-about. The road immediately starts gaining altitude. And the farther we go the twistier it gets. We're a bit worried about Laura getting car-sick, but the motion of the boat for the last week seems to have immunised her. At first the visibility isn't too bad and I have high hopes for the pass.

View from the Bavella Pass

Our ears are popping as we climb higher and higher. There's a lot of fallen rock on the road. Eventually we're climbing into the clouds and the visibility is getting worse and worse.

By the time we reach the Bavella Pass, it's reduced to a few hundred yards. The light is really fading, and it almost feels like night is setting in. The old guy was right, we can't see a thing. But the atmosphere is magical, a bit like a solar eclipse. And the rainwater seems to increase the intensity of the reddish hues of the rocks, and make the greens greener.

After a few super-tight hairpin bends the road straightens out a bit and descends as we head for the village of Zonza. We figure we'll find a place to picnic there. We're not sure yet if we'll then continue on towards Porto Vecchio, or turn back through the pass. It's still raining when we get to Zonza, and it seems like everything is closed. Looks like we'll have to make do without the bread.

We picnic in the car and then put on raincoats and head out for a walk around the village. The architecture is quite interesting. Most of the buildings are made of granite blocks similar to what you see in the north of France, but the red tiled roofs are definitely southern. There is a lovely looking church but it's locked up so we head back to the main square.

The mountain village of Zonza

There is a nice looking café that seems to be open. We open the door and find a small group of locals crowded around a tiny bar. Beyond the bar is another small area with a plastic table and chairs. Strange, it looked really nice from the outside. Did they spend their entire budget on the exterior and run out of money for interior renovations? Oh well, it's warm and dry and the people seem friendly enough. The sign outside said coffee, cakes, pastries, etc. but all we can see is a bar with a few bottles behind. The lady comes over and asks what we want. We order coffees, a hot chocolate for Laura, and ask about pastries. They only have one piece of cake left. We'll take it! She brings the piece of cake and 3 plates and we divide it up.

Back outside we find the Corsican specialty shop is now open. We go in for a look and end up buying cookies, figatellu, and a bottle of Corsican lemon liqueur that looks like limoncino. The only other thing in town that seems to be open is a traditional restaurant, but we just had our lunch so we decide to start heading back. We'll go back the way we came instead of continuing on towards Porto Vecchio which would take too long.

Tonight we are planning on going to the ferme auberge A Pinzutella that we saw in the Michelin guide and also at the tourist office. It sounds interesting and we'll take advantage of having a car, because the ferme auberge is several miles outside Solenzara. So we retrace our steps over the pass and back down towards the coast. It is still just as foggy and still raining as we descend from the mountains.

It's a bit early when we pass by A Pinzutella, but we decide to stop and see if they are serving yet. We follow the track up towards the house and park in the small parking lot. As we are getting out of the car a man comes towards us with an umbrella. I'm thinking how nice it is of him to come and welcome us and escort us from the car when he says "sorry, we're closed". He says the weather is too bad so they are not going to open tonight. Wow, we are very disappointed and unsure what to do next. A quick check in the Michelin guide and we decide to try the traditional restaurant just on the edge of Solenzara, called A Mandria.

Since A Mandria is on the edge of town we decide to take the car back and ask them to drop us off directly there on the way back. That way we avoid having to take the car back early in the morning, and Eileen can have a glass of wine with dinner since she's not driving. By the time we get back to A Mandria it's no longer early and the parking lot is filled with cars. We hurry inside, hoping it's not booked out.

It's a family run place, and once inside we are greeted by le patron and led directly to a table. There are many empty tables and we wonder where all the customers are. Looking around a bit more it turns out that the place is quite big with several other dining rooms which are all full. Eventually our dining room fills up too.

The building itself is a converted barn, with stone walls and thick wooden beams. It is very nicely done up and decorated with many antiques. There is a big open fireplace at one end where meat is being grilled. Le patron is quite a character, an old guy with a very direct manner but very friendly and helpful. Eileen spots a poster of Nicolas Sarkozy on the wall and wonders if he might have eaten here during his recent visit to the military air base.

Live Corsican charcuterie!

I decide to take a big risk and go for the most traditional dish on the menu. It includes several types of charcuterie corse. I usually try to avoid the traditional French dishes which consist of various animal parts that you wouldn't normally eat like head cheese, calf's tongue, or bone marrow. But I'm feeling adventurous and hope I don't regret my decision.

We start with Muscat and the glasses he brings must be twice as big as any we've had so far. A good start! When my main course arrives I'm a bit worried as it consists of very fatty-looking strips of grilled pork belly with the skin still on and a figatellu sausage, with baked garlic potatoes and a blob of pasty looking stuff. The whole thing turns out to be delicious. The pork skin is crispy and the fat melts in my mouth. The figatellu is tasty too and is meant to be eaten with the blob, which is a sort of chestnut flour polenta.

As we start eating le patron comes by and takes away our Muscat glasses. Eileen is horrified and whispers that she wasn't finished yet, there was still a drop in the bottom of her glass! A few moments later he brings her glass back and says "Hey, you didn't finish! Go on, we can't waste any!". We have a good laugh and Eileen rather sheepishly finishes her drink.

As we're leaving, the boss's wife comes to see us off and Eileen asks if she would mind if Laura played a tune on their piano. We had spotted the piano on the way in, but the restaurant is full of diners now and I'm pretty sure she'll say no. Laura is really hoping she'll say no. Poor girl, she says yes. Laura resists a bit but then agrees to play one piece. She plays Scherzo by Anton Diabelli and gets a big round of applause. The piano is actually an antique player piano, but the lady tells us that the "player" part doesn't work anymore.

We walk back to the boat in the rain. It's quite late when we arrive and we still have to clean the boat and pack. We'll be leaving for the airport in the morning. Xavier will be coming by at 08:00 to pick up what's left of the cockpit table and do a final check. First priority is to get Laura tucked up in bed, then we start cleaning and packing. There is some swell coming into the marina now and there's a fair bit of wind so the boat is pitching and rolling. By the time we get to bed it's very late and we're too tired to notice...

Log entry for Friday 22/04/2011
Baro: 1014, falling
Rain!
From: Solenzara; Log 132

Towards: IN PORT

Baie de Stagnolu -> Pinarellu -> Solenzara

Stagnolu Bay. Laura takes off in the dinghy

It was a quiet night with very little wind, and the anchor held. I'm up before the others and just looking around, not wanting to make noise and disturb anyone. Anyway we're in no hurry today as we have plenty of time to get back to Solenzara.

I see a pilot boat go by, and then a few minutes later a big ferry comes in. I was a bit worried about getting shaken up by wash from the ferries, but he is going really slowly, and he's passing about a half-mile away out in the gulf, so there is virtually no wash.

I go through my weather forecast routine: Weather Pro, Wind Guru, Weathertrack, Passage Weather, Meteo France. Having done this for nearly a week, I'm coming to trust the Meteo France marine forecast more than the others. But I still check all of them and try to stick to the "use the least favourable forecast" rule. We've even tried to get the weather forecast from the coastguard on VHF, but either we end up getting a bunch of static, or some Italian fishermen. The mobile phone coverage is definitely better than the VHF coverage here.

It looks like there will be some bad weather moving in on Friday, so we'll return to Solenzara today. That will cut short the sailing by a day, but I was hoping to be able to rent a car to drive up into the mountains anyway.

Eileen and Laura are up and we get breakfast. There is some activity on the beach off our stern, near what looks like a sailing school. Soon a rib is towing a string of 5 or 6 catamarans across the bay. Each little cat has 2 kids on it. Then another rib takes out another group of younger kids in little Optimist-type dinghies. They are all set free from the ribs, spreading out around the bay, and soon the older kids are swarming around us like butterflies, obviously having a blast. The younger ones are unfortunately getting yelled at a lot, as their instructor is something of a drill sergeant. But thankfully they still seem to be enjoying themselves too in spite of him!

After a lazy breakfast we play around in the dinghy for a bit. No swimming though as the water is still too cold. That's one real drawback with coming this early in the season. Eventually we pick up the hook and get on our way. First we head south towards Benedetto, then east along the edge of the channel towards the entrance to the Gulf. We pass between the Pointe de San Ciprianu and the Tourelle Pecorella, exiting the gulf and head north towards Solenzara. After looking at the chart we decide to stop along the way in Pinarellu Bay. There are so many beautiful anchorages along this part of the coast, but we only have time to visit a few of them. A week is too short!

Les Aiguilles de Bavella seen from Pinarellu Bay

Today is something of a repeat of yesterday, with a northeast breeze and a port tack that sends us sailing off in the wrong direction. Eventually we arrive at Pinarellu. The approach to the anchorage is straight forward, just stay between the Ile de Pinarellu and the Ilot Roscana. We head in until we get 7 or 8 metres of depth and drop the anchor.

The hills surrounding this bay have many houses, holiday resorts and hotels but in general I find the construction in Corsica blends in well with the environment. We haven't seen any of the big concrete and glass high-rise hotels that disfigure so many coastal regions of the Mediterranean and elsewhere. There must be enormous pressure from property developers to build such monstrosities here. Hats off to the Corsicans for resisting, and long may it last.

Late lunch on deck. There is a fair bit of activity in the bay, with kayakers heading over to the Ile de Pinarellu, several jet-skis zipping back and forth, and water-skiers. We're even buzzed by joy-riders in a small open motor boat. They wave as they blast by. We wave back. Dylan would not approve.

Next thing we get a visit from two customs guys on a rib. They approach from the stern. We wave. They don't wave back. I'm expecting them to ask to board, but they lose interest and head off elsewhere. Later on we spot a customs cutter shadowing us a few miles offshore as we head north. Eventually it loses interest and heads off elsewhere too. The sky is getting hazy and it's starting to cloud over. Definitely going to be in for some rain tomorrow.

Nice hat!

Raise the anchor and head for Solenzara. We're motoring now with the wind on the nose. It's getting late and we want to reach Solenzara before dark. We call the Cotema office and ask if they can arrange a rental car for us for tomorrow. The lady calls the Hertz office in Solenzara and calls us back. They don't have any cars. We tell her that Xavier said she would probably have to call to Porto Vecchio and they would deliver a car to Solenzara. She calls to Porto Vecchio and calls us back. They don't have any cars either. It's the Easter long weekend and there are no cars to be had. Zut, zut, et re-zut. Well, maybe we'll go out with the boat tomorrow instead.

As we get nearer to the marina, we call Cotema again to find out where we should berth. We'll be on Quay Est, Place 350. Eileen does a few circles in front of the entrance to the marina while I take in the dinghy, put out fenders, and prepare mooring lines.

Quay Est, Solenzara marina

When everything is ready, we motor in slowly. Xavier is waiting on the dock to take our lines. Thankfully we are sheltered from the wind, and the water in the marina is flat calm. Try backing into the spot. Prop walk sends us turning way off course towards other moored boats. Go forward and try again. Same thing. Try again, finally get steerage. Slowly approach spot, backing in, avoid hitting neighboring boat, don't hit quay. Throw a line to Xavier. He calls out about someting at the bow. I leave the helm to check the fenders but the gearbox is not in neutral, and the boat starts creeping forward. I run back to helm and give a blast of reverse, which of course causes the boat to spin sideways. We manage to get stern lines ashore and take a line from the bow to the mooring buoy. Not very pretty, but no damage done!

We tidy up boat and hook up shore power. Eileen has been without battery charging for her Crackberry for two days now, and has had to severely ration useage. She's suffering a bit from withdrawl symptoms. We fill water tank number 1. Tank 1 ran dry today but I couldn't figure out how to get water from tank 2. Does tank 2 really exist? We'll never know.

It's getting late so we walk up into town heading for the third pizza restaurant, the one we haven't tried yet. We start with a refreshing glass of Muscat, then salads and pizza. Laura has ice-cream for desert. Eileen and I are too tired and too full for any desert.

Back in home port!

I'm really happy to have made it back to Solenzara without accident or incident. But we came back a day early to be able to spend a day in the mountains, and it would be a shame to be this close to Bavella and not be able to make it up there. We decide to try the tourist office in the morning. Maybe there is a bus or something. On the way back to the boat we check out their opening hours. Once on the boat we brush our teeth and pass out with exhaustion.

Log entry for Thursday 21/04/2011

Fuel: 7/8

Batteries: 1 (engine) = 14.1; 2 (domestic) = 14.0

Water: Tank 1: 0/4; Tank 2: 4/4

Baro: 1019

Weather forecast: SE F3-4, increasing to F4-5 by evening

From: Baie de Stagnolu; Log 109 @ 13:10

Towards: Golfe de Pinarellu; Log 120 @ 15:45

Fuel: 7/8

Batteries: 1 (engine) = 13.4; 2 (domestic) = 12.7

From: Golfe de Pinarellu; Log 120 @ 17:15

Towards: Solenzara; Log 132 @ 19:30  

Solenzara -> Porto Vecchio

The plan is to head out at 08:30 with a skipper for a half-day. He will show us the different systems on the boat and explain how everything works. We get up early and have breakfast on the boat. The wind died down over night and the sea is calm.

In preparation for this trip I have invested in a whole load of iPhone weather apps. Weather Pro, Wind Guru, Passage Weather, Weathertrack, Meteo France. I consult all of them. The accepted wisdom is to have several sources of weather forecast and take the least favorable one. Today they all pretty much agree that there will be light winds. A good way to start off on a new boat in a new area.

Xavier shows up and asks how we want to spend the morning. I ask if he would mind taking us to Porto Vecchio. The general idea being to get as far south at the start of the holiday and work our way back slowly. He agrees, even though it means someone having to pick him up in Porto Vecchio.

Xavier immediately starts unhooking the shore power and undoing the stern lines. To his great frustration the starboard stern line hasn't been done correctly and is jammed on the cleat. "Incredible! Who could have done this?!" he says shaking his head in disbelief. He looks like a salty old sea-dog, and has quite a different manner from Dan, our instructor in Greece. Xavier is very business like, more of a skipper and less of an instructor. Things start off a bit cool. I get the feeling that he is there to assess our ability to take the boat on our own rather than help prepare us to take the boat on our own!

After a while we warm up to each other and Xavier is showing us the furling lines, in-haul, out-haul, kicker, main sheet, jib sheets, wind instrument, depth finder, chart plotter. We unfurl the main, reef the main, furl the main. Unfurl the jib, reef the jib, furl the jib. I'm asking as many questions as I can think of, trying to get as much information and local knowledge as I can from our skipper.

Pte de Sponsaglia, with ruins of a Genoese tower

As we are sailing along we spot many towers on points and headlands along the coast. Xavier explains to us that they were built as a system of defense from North African pirates when the island was controlled by Genoa. Each tower could be seen from it's neighboring tower, and when unknown ships were spotted on the horizon, a fire would be lit. The message would be passed from tower to tower thus alerting the whole island to the potential danger.

We explain to Xavier that the south coast of Ireland has the same system of towers (known as Martello towers), which were built by the British and inspired by these very Corsican towers!

We are unsure about the French pronunciation of the name of the boat (Achab) and ask Xavier about it. He thinks it must be the name of the captain from Moby Dick. That's what we thought. I mention that things didn't turn out too well for Captain Ahab... Hopefully not a bad omen!

Achab has a chart plotter in front of the helm, and with all the rocks, shallows, and isolated dangers in the area it really makes life easier. "Remember, the chart plotter is master". In other words, the chances of the chart plotter being wrong are much smaller that you being wrong. The boat also has a roller-furling jib and in-mast furling main sail. That means the sails can be handled without leaving the cockpit. A real plus in bad weather.

What it doesn't have are any decent life jackets. We always wear self-inflating life jackets when sailing in Ireland, and Sail Ionian also provided them in Greece. They are very compact and comfortable enough that they don't hinder movement and are comfortable to wear. The life jackets on Achab are the big, bulky, bright-orange foam things that no self-respecting sailor would ever be caught dead in. Xavier explains that French sailors never wear life jackets in the Med, so they don't bother buying expensive self-inflating ones.

There is no way in hell I'm going to wear one of those big bright-orange things and this makes Eileen quite uncomfortable. As well as that, there are no child-sized life jackets (Xavier was supposed to bring one for Laura). We agree that we will try to find a chandler in Porto Vecchio and buy some life jackets.

Xavier opens the cockpit locker and smells petrol. Not good. The jerry-can has tipped over, and the lid was not properly screwed on. There is a good quantity of petrol in the bottom of the locker. Thinking about it now, the thought of that fuel catching fire sends a shiver up my spine. Luckily it was found and Xavier cleans out most of it by mopping it up with toilet paper. We'll be leaving the locker lid open from time to time over the next few days, as there is also a smell of petrol in the heads.

Gulf of Porto Vecchio

After about three hours of sailing and motoring we come to the entrance to the very large and beautiful Gulf of Porto Vecchio. We navigate the entrance and follow the channel markers towards the marina. We're getting closer and closer but still can't see the entrance. Eventually it becomes clear that there is a gap between the breakwaters, and we motor in slowly.

Xavier picks an empty berth and backs in. He pulls out again and now it's my turn. I manage to get in without too much trouble. He asks if I want to try again, and I say yes. Mistake. There is a cross-wind and the boat has a very pronounced kick to port when going astern. As Eileen would say, I make a right hames of it. Try again, and again. Xavier suggests turning around and standing behind the wheel. This helps and eventually we are all tied up and secure. "Remember, stay calm, zen!".

It's true that the most stressful part of cruising is the first and last few meters from the dock. The slower you go, the less chance of causing great damage to neighboring (expensive!) boats, but you also have less control over the boat. The wind has more effect, currents have more effect, and if you go too slow you lose steerage way and have no control what so ever!

To celebrate a successful passage we have beers accompanied by bread, cheese, and salami. We talk about our plans for the next few days and Xavier makes a list of the "not to be missed" spots in the area. He also reassures us about the passage to Bonifacio. It's not that difficult in good weather. Just keep an eye on the chart plotter. Then he has to go and we are on our own.

First priority is to check in with the harbourmaster. We tell the lady behind the counter which berth we are in, and she asks us to move! To a more difficult inside berth! I explain that it's afternoon and we will be leaving early next morning. She explains that the pontoon we are on is reserved for bigger boats. But she says that if there are 3 or 4 berths available on that pontoon we can stay. If the space is needed we will have to move. Sounds fair. We see several free spaces so we should be OK.

The second priority is to get ice-cream. Laura missed out on her ice-cream yesterday, and has been promised that we will find some in Porto Vecchio right away. First thing. It's not difficult, as there are several cafés along the edge of the marina that sell ice-cream. As all things in Corsica, ice-cream is also a mix of French and Italian cultures. I was hoping that it would be real Italian gelato but it's just not quite as good. But Laura is not as fussy and is quite satisfied with whatever she gets, as long as it's ice-cream.

Next on the agenda are showers for all. We get shower tokens from the harbourmaster's office. The lady there explains that the boiler is a long way from the showers, so we might want to run the sinks for a while before starting the shower. Otherwise it is likely to be a cold one. Good tip, thanks. The showers and toilets are a bit grotty, not what I expected in a place like this.

Entrance to the Old Town

After showers we read up on Porto Vecchio in the Michelin guide, and jot down a few restaurant recommendations for dinner. We head up the hill to the old town, amazed by the view and the giant cacti. Laura gets sucked into a souvenir shop and comes out pleading for money to buy a key-ring. She doesn't have any keys, but for some reason she has developed a thing for key-rings. We give in and hand over the 5 euros.

We can't find the first resto on our list, and end up going around in circles for a while. Finally we are able to find the second choice, Chez Anna. Highly recommended. I try their speciality, a pasta dish called "dollari" which is very good. Eileen has a delicious aubergine lasagne. Laura has ham with pasta. That girl is not very adventurous with food... We have a really lovely meal, and head back to the boat.

We are getting in the habit of having a glass of Muscat for an apéritif, and a half-litre of Corsican wine with our dinners. They make very drinkable rosés in the region around Porto Vecchio, and the reds aren't bad either. The food in general is very good, with fresh, local ingredients and a nice mix of Italian and French dishes.

Back on the boat, we are subjected to another episode of The Incredibly Annoying Laura. Followed by several games of Fish which are won by Eileen, although we suspect she was cheating.

Corsicans have a habit of dropping the final vowels in place names. Solenzara becomes "Solenzar", Rondinara becomes "Rondinar", and Porto Vecchio becomes "Porto Vecc". Maybe it's an attempt to make the Italian-ish names more French-sounding. Laura picks up her imaginary portable phone and says in her best yuppy-teenage-chick impersonation "Salut mec! J'suis à Porto Vecc!".

Log entry for Monday 18/04/2011
Fuel: 4/4
Batteries: 1 (engine) = 13.8; 2 (domestic) = 13.7
Water: Tank 1: 4/4; Tank 2: 4/4
Baro: 1020.5
Weather forecast: F2-3 offshore, F1-2 near the coast
From: Solenzara; Log 32 @ 09:00
Towards: Porto Vecchio; Log 51 @ 12:30

Solenzara

Solenzara Marina. Note snow-topped mountains!

Eileen and I wake up feeling wrecked. Neither of us slept well. Laura wakes up refreshed after a great night's sleep.

It turns out that the cow bawling was actually coming from a pontoon bracket rubbing against the pile. The fact that it is still bawling means that the sea is still rough. Maybe it will calm down by afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Eileen and Laura go searching for a bakery. We have a lazy breakfast on board, then unpack more stuff and generally get things sorted out. Yesterday we agreed with Raphael that we would try to go out this afternoon. He comes by late morning to tell us that he thinks it's still too rough. We agree to try again tomorrow morning.

We spend some time on the boat. I'm reading the Michelin guide, the owner's manual for the boat, and looking at charts. Eileen and Laura play a game of scrabble.

Stuck in port

Laura is also becoming a real book-worm. She brought a bunch of Enid Blyton books with her and they come in very handy on days like this. We even bought her some Enid Blytons in French because we thought she was reading too much English and not enough French. She likes them in both languages!

At one point I mention something not sinking in, and Eileen promptly bans the "s" word for the remainder of the holiday. After all, we're on a boat. Dishes are now done in the "wash basin". Laura asks to borrow my phone to look up something on YouTube. Soon our ears are being assaulted by the incredibly annoying orange. Time to get some fresh air.

There is a beach right next to the marina in Solenzara, but the river exits between the two, so you can either wade across the river (quite high at this time of year, but we saw a fisherman in waders do it) or detour around it. Apparently there used to be a little bridge going across but there is no sign of it now. Maybe they had to remove it during the work they are doing on the breakwater.

Scaffa Rossa Beach, Solenzara

We walk through town trying to find the detour. We're heading out of town now and still no sign of beach. A wet person is walking towards us, dressed in wind-surf type gear. We must be getting close. We ask him for directions. I feel like the tourists in Paris who ask for directions to the Eiffel tower when they are only a block away. He explains that we have to follow the road over the bridge, then turn right at the camp ground. It's a lovely beach and we spend a nice afternoon there.

On the way back we stop on the bridge and watch a tiny bat flying in crazy zig-zag patterns below. Tonight we try the other pizzeria in town that Raphael recommended. We have a nice dinner and retire to the boat. This time I get out and squirt some dish soap on the bawling cow (pontoon bracket) and this reduces the noise somewhat. The wind dies off during the night, the sea calms down, and a reasonably good sleep is had by all.

Log entry for Sunday 17/04/2011

Fuel: 4/4

Batteries: 1 (engine) = 13.8; 2 (domestic) = 13.7

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

Baro: 1018

Weather forecast: F3-5, temporarily F6 near Chiappa

From: Solenzara; Log 32
Towards: IN PORT

Paris -> Solenzara

On the tarmac in Figari

The nearest airport to Solenzara is Figari - Sud Corse. Eileen finds it hilarious that we are going to a place called Figari. She pronounces it Fi-GAY-ree. Something to do with an Irish word meaning "crazy idea". That seems entirely fitting somehow.

Our flight from Paris Orly to Figari is scheduled to leave at 08:30. This means arriving at the airport by 07:30 which means leaving home by 06:30 which means waking up by 05:30. As usual the packing was done late the night before which means very few hours of sleep.

We get a taxi to the airport, which zips through the empty streets of Paris and on south to Orly. Bags are checked in and we make our way to the departure lounge where we wait. And wait. And wait. Flight delayed due to the plane having not been cleaned (?!). Eventually we board the plane and get settled in for the 1 hour 40 minute flight. About the same as flying to Cork.

We pass over the volcanic "Puy de Dôme" in central France, and catch a glimpse of the snowy Alps in the distance. Then Corsica comes into view. It's very mountainous, much more than I expected. As we get closer and it becomes clear that we are starting our approach for landing, we still can't see any airport. In fact we can't see any piece of ground flat enough to put an airport on! Finally we see a (very) small, (very) short looking strip of tarmac off to the left. Nah, that couldn't be it?

The plane banks sharply, doing a 90 degree turn, quickly losing altitude and heading directly between the two mountain ranges. "Please fasten your seatbelts." No problem! The plane lands, thrust reversers howling, and then a violent slam on the brakes. Welcome to Corsica!

We walk across the tarmac to the tiny airport terminal and wait for the bags to arrive. I'm looking around trying to identify the person from Cotema who will pick us up and take us to the boat. Hmm, several people hanging around, looking like potential drivers, but nobody with a "Cotema" sign or anything. I get my phone and call the office. A guy a few feet away from us answers and comes over straight away. This is Raphael, who looks after the charters and with whom I have had many email conversations. Always interesting to meet people in the flesh.

We get our bags and he takes us to his car, and introduces us to Xavier. Xavier is a skipper with Cotema, and Raphael is dropping him off in Porto Vecchio on the way to Solenzara. It seem that there is one of their charter boats there that got stuck due to bad weather. It was supposed to return to Solenzara yesterday but the sea was too rough!

Raphael entertains us with interesting stories along the way, including how the pilots who fly to Figari need a special qualification due to the shortness of the runway. But he makes a poor judgement call at one point and tells us about a charterer who left port in bad weather against his recommendation and subsequently wrecked the boat...

The countryside looks fabulous, lush green with lots of trees, reddish rocky outcrops, and we can even see snow on the tips of the highest mountains. Nearing Solenzara the road follows the coast and we catch glimpses of sandy coves and emerald-blue water. The roads are incredibly windy, and poor Laura is starting to suffer. Eileen gets a sick-bag ready. "Only three corners left" says Raphael, obviously worried about puke in his car. "Has she been on a boat before?" asks Xavier, obviously worried about puke in his boat!

Solenzara marina

At last we arrive at the marina. We take our bags from the boot of the car and put them on the boat. We have a few hours to get settled in and get some lunch before Raphael returns to go through the inventory. We also have a skipper booked for a half-day introduction to the boat, but it's not clear at this point if we'll be able to go out today. The wind is still strong and the sea is covered with white-caps.

We look around the boat and unpack a few things. We spotted two restaurants on the edge of the marina, and it's nearly lunch time so we decide to go and get some groceries and then eat at one of those restaurants. 

We walk through the town and find the grocery store. We fill a trolly with water, yoghurts, milk, wine, cheese, coffee, pasta, etc. All the usual stuff, but selecting local Corsican varieties when possible. Wild boar salami, maquis honey, strawberry tree jam, canistrelli fig and nut cookies, Saint Jean coffee from Bastia. We'll come to regret the brocciu goat cheese in a few days when it really ripens. Raphael said that we could ask the grocer to deliver to the boat, so we do. Very handy.

The fact that we are starving by now (we haven't eaten since 05:30 this morning) makes it really easy to chose a restaurant. We pick the first one. It's quite posh in a designer-trendy, Italian kind of way. In fact Corsica has a very Italian feel to it, and it seems strange at first that everybody is speaking French. The menu is a mix of French and Italian food which adds to the confusion.

Corsican courtesy flag

We finish lunch and head back to the boat to meet Raphael. He goes through the inventory with us, showing us where everything is and what it's for. He thinks it's too windy to go out today, but the forecast is for improvement during the day tomorrow. We agree to try tomorrow afternoon. He says he is not sure if it will be him or another skipper. Slight disappointment, but then again we are so tired that it is probably no harm for us to relax and rest a bit before heading off.

In the evening we walk up to the main street and pick a pizza restaurant. They have a huge outdoor terrace, but it's too chilly for eating out. There is a big brick wood-burning pizza oven near the entrance, and a big queue for take-away. A good sign. On the menu there are the usual Italian pizza varieties, and a Corsican pizza with figatelli. I ask the lady what's figatelli? Traditional Corsican sausage made with liver. She warns me that it has a strong taste and not everyone likes it. I give it a try and it's actually quite good. Laura custom orders a Hawaiian pizza, which was not on their menu. She assures me that it was quite good too. Eileen has a Tuscan pizza, but can only eat half so the rest goes into a doggy bag. Is this too much detail?

Back on the boat, there is a lot of motion due to the wind and waves. It's also quite cold, so it's a good thing we brought sleeping bags. We're not used to the motion of the boat or to the many different noises in a marina on a windy night, so sleeping is a real challenge. But why is there a cow bawling? Moooh. Moooooh.




Log entry for Saturday 16/04/2011

Fuel: 4/4

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

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

From: Solenzara; Log 32
Towards: IN PORT