Today we left St. Tropez at 8 am and headed south east for Calvi, N.Corsica. As we came out of the marina a swell hit us immediately because it is at the head of a gulf which shallows steeply at its end and the sea builds up causing swell. As we moved on out into open waters the swell subsided to be replaced by a confused sea which the forecast had deemed to be ‘slight’. It seemed to be more ‘moderate’ to us and there is always the thought that it could get worse over the course of the next 110 miles until we hit land again. But the forecast was giving the wind variable 2 to 3 and dying away by the afternoon so we decided to press on at least for an hour and then see. It was the first time we’d had anything but slight seas so we’d been very lucky up to now. After an hour it wasn’t any worse so we pressed on and soon it became calmer and the skies lifted so we were able to increase the speed.
Just one of the many large private boats in St. Tropez. The owners prefer to call them yachts even though they don't have sails.
Did we see any of those large private boats that we had seen in St. Tropez with their liveried crews? No we did not. In fact the only boats we have ever seen at sea with us have been fishing boats and the occasional sail in the distance and so it was today. Andreu tells us that not many people do what we do! It may well be the cost of diesel that deters them and it is expensive. The mooring we have booked in Corfu is half the price of the one in Majorca and we have received a big refund on that as it still had 7 months to run when we left. So that is partly paying for our diesel and the fact that we shall have cheaper mooring when we get there. Also we hardly go swanning about in exotic places wearing Calvin Klein – well perhaps we swanned about in St. Tropez but in George from Asda and proud of it.
Off watch
So the 110 miles were soon eaten up and we arrived in Calvi in bright sunshine at 1.30 pm but again with the usual tricky wind which gives us the jitters when we are trying to get on to a pontoon. We fuelled up and went alongside the welcome quay. When the capitainerie opened at 4 pm (we were lucky they did even that bearing in mind it was a Saturday and it was Corsica) we paid for one night and were told we could stay where we were and we were thankful for that.
For lunch we had quiche and salad and gratefully settled down for a rest. For Michael this was merely a matter of 40 minutes or so for Ann it was pretty well for the rest of the day. After chilli con carne and nectarines in the evening we went for a walk in the town. Calvi was where Nelson lost his eye in 1794. We didn’t find it. Scrabble – Ann won.
During the evening a small rough sailing boat came to join us on the welcome pontoon and we helped them with their rope - rope not ropes because they only one which they used to tie up front and back. They were a bit rough and ready and we speculated that they were father, son and two daughters. A short time after, the two girls appeared all dressed up in heels and handbags and headed for the town followed a bit later by the two men in leather jackets and clutch bags. We wondered where they had come from and assumed that they had sailed from a nearby village as it was easier than by road for a night on the town.
We never saw them again and their boat was still there when we left.
The Citadel at Calvi which Nelson was attacking when he lost his eye. After he had used 11,000 rounds of shot and 3000 shells in four weeks the Citadel surrendered.
May 27
It is becoming apparent that the weather is deteriorating and the depression that has been forecast for several days is now imminent. Our barometer has fallen back from 1010 to 980. While we have been travelling, less favourable conditions have followed in our wake and now are catching up with us. Winds force 8 and 9 are forecast for South of France and N. Corsica where we now are. We saw that 60 miles to the south however at Ajaccio the winds were forecast much less at force 3 to 4 possibly 5. So we left Calvi at 7.30 am and headed south.
Now we were on to new ground for us as we have covered Majorca – Corsica before but in the other direction. The scenery on the west coast of Corsica is breathtakingly beautiful. We came past Port Girolata some 10 miles south of Calvi and read in the pilot that it is entirely shut off from the land by the mountains and ravines behind. Apparently it is now populated 'by a motley collection of a dozen or so characters without a road in a weird confusion of Biblical and Bohemian simplicity, gardening, hunting and selling food and drink to passing fishermen, off-beat tourists and artists, and gangsters cheating the law'. We remembered our neighbours from last night and wondered..... Anyway we gave Girolata a wide berth!
We went into the Golfe de Porto which our Corsican pilot book says has been described as the most spectacular place in the Mediterranean. We couldn’t pass this by. It was clothed in some morning mist with the sun behind it so we saw it in silhouette and yes it is beautiful. We had coffee and saw some dolphins. We reached Ajaccio at 12 noon and fuelled up. However there were no berths inside the marina (everyone else had heard the forecast too) so we picked up one of the buoys laid along the outside wall and trailed a rope back to the jetty and tied up.
It does not look as though we can leave here until at least Wednesday it now being Sunday so a much needed rest is ahead of us.
Silhouettes in mist near Golfe de Porto, N Corsica
A sea dragon guards the entrance to the Golfe de Ajaccio
The weather forecast web page showing the situation on Monday 28th May at 3 pm. Four tails on the arrows pretty well everywhere except at Ajaccio W. Corsica. The conditions where we were just two days ago are now appalling. We have been very lucky to have come through when we did.