Calvi to Propriano - On a Mission

 May 6th to May 9th

With our very good friends, Roger and Tama, flying in to Olbia, Sardegna to meet us on May 9th for a two week stay on the boat, we were on a mission to make it down to the southern tip of Corsica by May 8th and then on to the northern tip of Sardegna by the 9th. We were not entirely certain how or where they were going to join us aboard, but we had a couple of days to work it out. Rog and Tam were being very flexible with everything, knowing that we could promise them either a place to pick them up or a time to pick them up, but being at the mercy of the elements we could not promise both.

Our plan worked out great, leaving Calvi to make our way along the east coast of Corsica on a beautiful sunny morning. We hoisted anchor in our sheltered anchorage, Golfe de la Revellata, leaving the turquoise water and reddish little jellyfish behind, to head south along the coast to a new anchorage to be determined as the day went on. The rock formations continued to impress, towering over the shoreline. I became a bit concerned when Neil stated that he was seeing an alien. But, there it was right in front of our eyes above the water. It then became a game to try to identify images in the rocks, with Neil seeing a beaver (or was it a lizard?) climbing out of the water. 

Our travels took us through La Scandola Nature Reserve, the first marine and terrestrial nature reserve to be established in France. No overnight anchoring is permitted in this area, so we were hoping to see some interesting birds or marine life along the way. Apparently the reserve is home to 127 species of birds, including the sea eagle, osprey, cormorant, and Audouin's gull. Apparantly sea otters play in the area as well. I wish I could entertain you with wonderful stories of all the beautiful fish and birds we saw, but I cannot. We saw cormorants, but that is not very exciting as anyone who sails Lake Ontario can attest. We did, however, see what we believe were Audouin's gull, yet since our bird identification skills are not in top form we could not be sure.

Leaving the reserve behind, we had identified an anchorage for the night on the App called Navily. According to the "Real time warnings" on this app, we were in for a calm night of little swell and little wind, yet they would be coming from opposite directions. With the sun still shining we pulled into the bay and secured a good hold with the anchor. The first order of business after securing the boat is always to get Finnegan ashore so that he can do his business. Apparently one can train a dog to "go" on a mat on the deck of the boat, but so far our efforts had been futile. Finnegan was not interested in the pee mat. This is not uncommon and it is well documented that dogs will often go for quite a long time before they finally give in and use the designated area. 

The beach was beautiful, very quiet and it had three restaurants/bars to choose from. We were all in! Finnegan had a good snoop around while I collected some sea glass on the beach and we headed to the bar to share a small bottle of cold "pink wine". Everything was calm with no foreshadowing of the night to come.

Neil did not seem to mind the roll and howling wind (even though it was only about 10 knots, it sounded like 40!), but I had a really hard time falling asleep. When the boat is rolling, I find I have to sit or lie in a position where I can move with the boat. So, if the boat is rolling side to side, I must face the side of the boat. As a result, staying in bed was not an option and I had to move to the main cabin and lie on the couch to engage in the correct roll. Unfortunately, sleep continued to evade and I did not settle until 4:30 a.m., getting only about 2 hours before we pulled anchor to continue on our way to Propriano.

The difficult night was quickly left behind as we pulled out into the bay and were able to hoist the Code 0, a large off-wind sail. It allows us to reach decent boat speed in lighter winds. The racer in Neil was entertained while quickly sailing over the boat that was ahead of us in no time. We had a fantastic day of sailing! 

A good night sleep in Propriano had us well-rested for our trip to the next stop, Bonifacio, at the southern tip of Corsica. It will prove to be one of my favourite places so far!