Corsica

June 16, 2008

At midnight we were approaching the last tip of Italian territory in the form of the Isles de Ponza before crossing the Tyrrhenian Sea. Suddenly the radar was covered with tiny echoes showing a grid of targets.
They were only visible on the radar at a few miles range and in rough weather would have been completely unseen. We scanned the darkness helped a little by a near full moon and relatively calm seas. The pattern began to form itself and what we were seeing were lines of drift nets. These were up to six miles long, some accompanied by a fishing boat at one end or the other. Some were lit with strobe lights every half mile or so and some with a single yellow light with a similar spacing. One was completely unlit. The lights were only visible at a couple of miles and then often only with binoculars. The drift nets were laid across our route in echelon and for the next 25 miles we had to guess where the end of the nets were and change course appropriately. This was four hours of unanticipated high adrenalin navigation.

Once free of the nets we continued towards Corsica and had a couple of brightly lit cruise ships making strange course corrections across our path. Fortunately we already know the reason for the odd behavior. They were killing time so as to arrive at their next port at daybreak.

By 0600 hours the forecast wind shift arrived and we were under full sail. This was timely as the engine had lost RPM and although I had changed the "on engine" fuel filter just 78 engine hours ago, this did seem to be the problem. Did we pick up dirty fuel in Salerno? I changed the fuel filter and tested the engine. Normal RPMs were back.

Dawn found us on an empty sea with no birds, no sign of fish and no other vessels. The wind blew strongly for the remainder of the day and the seas soon built to an uncomfortable, short, steep, 4 to 6 foot wave pattern. We were sailing at better than 8 knots however and approaching the coast too quickly. As I write this we are at Position N 41 10.4' E 010 18.7' at 1510 hours UTM. We are 45 miles from the entrance to the Straits of Bonifacio and will arrive in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

June 17, 2008

We sailed through the straits of Bonifacio around midnight and the waves began to drop as we entered the shelter of the land. The straits separate Sardinia from Corsica and the gap between marine hazards is 3
miles. We were going to try to enter Bonifacio harbor around 0100 hours and used the opportunity of lower waves to de-rig the pole system that had been holding the Genoa in place. As we turned north towards Corsica, the winds reasserted themselves, now blowing strongly from the east and accompanied by more steep, short waves. The entrance to the Harbor is a 300 yards wide gap in the vertical cliffs and was near impossible to see until we were on top of it. The radar showed the channel and by using the GPS and binoculars in the moonlight, we eased into the narrow channel. The experience was surreal, with light sandstone cliffs, hundreds of feet high and close by either side. We edged down a winding, narrow channel in the darkness and although the waves were gone, we still had to contend with a headwind blowing the length of the fjord-like harbor. Our destination was a small cove, just opposite the commercial port, with a small anchorage labeled in the cruising guide as "poor holding". The electronic chart also showed this as a possible anchorage, although the area at the entrance was labeled as a "no anchor" zone. Both chart and cruising guide are out of date however, as we found two lines of moored vessels stretching the edges of the cove, some on anchors and some on laid moorings. They had their sterns tied to the cliff walls on either side. We edged between the lines of boats until we came near the head of the cove, where the water was shallowest. There were other moored vessels here and the wind was blowing towards us between the cove cliffs but not particularly strongly. We dropped our anchor, most likely dropping perpendicularly across the anchor lines of the other vessels as far as we could tell. For this reason, we did not "set" our anchor by backing down hard. I had this vision of dragging a half dozen moored vessels with me, back into the main channel. There was no sign of life anywhere in the harbor so we laid our chain down quietly and went to bed at 0200 hours.

At 0600 hours, I looked out of the cockpit to see that the wind had dropped and we were now drifting dangerously close to some of the moored vessels. We retrieved our anchor, which came up way too easily for my liking and cruised slowly down the harbor. The place was crammed with vessels but on our starboard side there were two large sailing vessels, side-to on the harbor wall. We slid in the space behind these and tied up to the dock.

At 0900 hours I went to find the harbor master and was redirected from the commercial harbor master to the "pleasure marina" office at the other end of the harbor. The office was open and I stated that I needed a mooring. The girl explained that they did not take reservations for vessels under 20 meters and I could wait until 1000 hours to see if there was something available. She indicated they were "full". They were a little surprised when I told them we had already arrived and were already "docked". I filled out the usual forms and paid for a berth. They had asked for the berth number and I had showed them on an aerial photograph of the marina where we lay. Then I asked about electricity. At this they brought up a security video shot of DoodleBug and announced in a horrified voice that we were side to! Even though the other vessels were also side to, this would was not permissible. We must rotate 90 degrees and come stern to. I asked if we could get some help with the stern lines when I rotated. "No". We are too busy", was the response. "Then I can't move", I responded. Impasse. We stared at each other. Finally, the marina people agreed they would send a dinghy with helpers and call us on the radio when they were available. Back to Doodlebug.

Ten minutes later, a man in uniform approached. Fast service, I thought. He turned out to be from the commercial harbor and asked us to move. I explained that we were waiting for help from the pleasure marina. He seemed satisfied and left. Another ten minutes and the Commercial Harbor Master himself arrived. Same conversation. He asked me when the marina folks would move us. Was it to be immediately? I suggested that it would be, if he called on our behalf. And so it happened. Ten minutes later and we were "stern to" in the marina proper and officially here!

June 18, 2008

We had planned to leave this morning and head around the coast of Corsica towards Calvi on the northwest coast. My cousin lives nearby and we visit regularly every twenty years or so. When we opened our eyes, DoodleBug was being thrown from side to side at her mooring and the wind was howling. When this is the case at the marina, you have already a pretty good feeling for what conditions might be on the open sea. We went back to bed. There are plenty of places in Bonifacio we have yet to explore.

I might digress here slightly on the subject of European marinas. We had been warned that the majority of yachts were chartered and the crews either inexperienced, or careless, or both. To date we had not really experienced this. Our education began yesterday with a small yacht approaching the dock to moor next to us. I stepped onto the dock to help them with stern lines as the neighborly thing to do. They first hit the side of DoodleBug. They were fendered and so were we but it was still a pretty good hit. Then they hit again. They sort of slid along the port side of DB until they arrived at the dock. I stood waiting for the stern lines and the crew of five Czechoslovakians stared at me. "Welcome", I said, "Do you have a stern line?" A girl about twentyish, rummaged in a locker and produced a line. She secured the end and threw the balance to me. I cleated it off. "Do you have another?", I asked. The rummaging took longer this time but eventually she had another line and we secured that one too. I had handed one of the other crew  members a line connected to the laid bow lines and thought they were set. When I reboarded DB I discovered they had decided to simply tie off to our bow. About twenty minutes later the marina people arrived to relocate them. I asked if they wanted me to release their bowline to which they concurred. I then held their vessel for the next ten minutes whilst they released their stern lines and discussed the effects of global warming on Euro versus Yuan futures. My assistance was not wasted as they then departed without hitting us. An hour or so later, a large catamaran docked next to us. It also hit us hard and slid down the side. Again fendered but the cat people were obviously oblivious to any possible damage to us.

Fast forward to today and the cat decides to leave. The wind is blowing at near 20 knots from the beam and there is a solid thump as something hits us. We boil out from below and the view is of the cat which has run over our bowline and the latter is now jammed under it's rudder. The marina clowns arrive in their tender and instruct me to "drop" my bowline. I said, "You gotta be kidding!" and walked back to the cockpit. Here I began to fire up the bow-thruster and the like while Annette alerted the full time paid crew of the 80 / 90 foot "classic" racing yacht on our starboard side. If we really had released our bow line as instructed, we would have promptly be blown into the side of this expensive looking vessel, plus our stern would have hit the dock. Our lack of enthusiasm and cooperation  sparked the marina people to actually do something and the cat was somehow freed so that it now straddled our bow line. The crew of the classic racer stood by with fenders and we provided such sage advice as, "Put the damn thing in forward!" Marinas provide such entertainment! The wind held off our beam for the rest of the day and most of the night and the area upwind of us which had been crammed with yachts the previous night remained vacant.

After the morning's excitement we wandered around Bonifacio marina and located the Cyber cafe. The marina WiFi was "down" but we could access the internet from the cafe for US$8 per hour. I schlepped a laptop to the cafe and updated the web-site. As I did so, I realized that the last time we were in a marina where the WiFi was actually up and working and could be accessed from onboard your vessel, occurred last year in Ashkelon, Israel.

Bonifacio seems to have about a hundred restaurants and double that in jewelry shops. We hit the jewelry shops of course but Annette bought only postcards. We also had a couple of nice meals and decided that for consistent good food, as of today, the French are the winners. The cost of restaurant meals is about two and half to three times USA prices but we have paid this in other countries for crap food. Our view of European pricing for clothing and shoes is about double USA prices and real estate is just astronomical - California / New York "boom" pricing. I was going to buy a replacement "tank filling water hose" for the one I had bought in the USA for $12. The replacement was only 50 feet long and was priced at US$130. I have another hose that will work a bit longer! Even with Euro / Dollar parity that was last seen five years ago, the prices are much higher than the USA and represent a noticeably high cost of living for European citizens.

When we were returning to DB we noticed an American flag at the refueling dock, the first we have seen. We visited with Bill, Marie and Suzie aboard SV Begonia from Barcelona. Bill was resetting his VAT clock by visiting Tunisia before returning to Spain. We joined them for a glass of wine before they were ejected from the fuel dock to find a berth in the marina proper. Tomorrow they will head for Spain while we head north. Ours is a much better heading for the expected westerlies.

June 19, 2008

Position N 41 44.9' E 008 41.0' at 1250 hours UTM. The wind finally dropped to the 10 knot range early this morning and we made ready to leave the marina. We left our slip at 0830 hours, without hitting the classic racer next to us and headed down the fjord like channel of the harbor. A RIB pulled alongside us as were motoring and

the marina personnel within asked if we had paid our bill. This is the first time I have witnessed such alacrity in their actions and we passed along a copy of our receipt. They apologized for bothering us and blamed it upon "computer problems". For the next two hours we motored at high RPM directly into a 20 knot headwind and short steep waves. The Bonifacio strait acts as a wind funnel and conditions here are often such. As we cleared the Point at Senetosa, the wind began to drop and we were able to rig the mainsail and an hour later were under full sail, close hauled. This was a very pretty sail with 12 knots of wind, clear blue skies, sunshine, a two foot wind driven chop and the rugged coast of Corsica passing on the starboard side. Our wildlife sighting today were tiny "Man-of-War" jellyfish. They were perhaps an inch to an inch and half across and their tiny bubble sail proclaimed their status as fellow sailors. The other specie of jellyfish we have seen are grapefruit sized, with four finger sized tentacles and they infested the marina.

The temperature when we left this morning was 71F and by 1300 hours had only risen to 73F. Chilly! I checked the weather on passage and the latest forecast showed light southwesterly winds. We adjusted our destination accordingly and at 1450 hours, dropped anchor on the north side of Cape Muro in a delightful bay called Anse de Cacalu. The small anchorage has steep rocks right down to the water and the upper slopes are covered in trees. The water is clear and inviting and if the temperature were but 10 degrees warmer we would certainly take a dip.

June 20, 2008

 Today was a day of "firsts". We raised anchor at 0610 hours and set sail for Calvi. The seas just had a slight wind chop and the wind was from the south at less than 8 knots. Dawn in our little cove had been very pretty, with clouds wreathing the rocks and trees close by. We then noticed that these "clouds" were also laying in banks upon the water. Radiation fog!

In the five years we have owned DoodleBug, this was the very first time we had experienced fog. The fog bank settled around us and reduced visibility to perhaps 50 yards. OK, What is the signal we are supposed to sound for fog? I dug out my copy of the sailing Bible - "Chapman Piloting" and looked up fog signals. For a motor vessel underway - this was us, since we were motoring with just the mainsail rigged -  the signal is one long blast of the horn every two minutes. When under sail (or any limited mobility vessel for that matter) the signal is one long blast, followed by two short ones, again every two minutes. Within seconds Annette was armed with fog horn and bell and it was with difficulty that I restrained my tropical princess from ringing and blowing away like crazy. The radar showed no contacts nearby and the fog horn is powered by an aerosol type can of gas. I have but one spare can on board and to date it's main use has been to summon water taxis when at a mooring. Ringing the bell is the signal when at anchor. Deprived of her noise makers she retired to the corner of the cockpit muttering "Aoogah" noises every few seconds.

The temperature was at the 71F mark with clear skies and a sun occasionally seen as a ghostly orb in the fog. I then looked at the World atlas and realized that this is the highest latitude that DoodleBug has entered since she left the factory in La Rochelle, France. Our destination of Calvi, Corsica is approximately the same latitude as Chicago, Illinois and Calgary, Wyoming. No wonder the mornings have felt chilly. We are at 42 degrees north of the equator and the furthest south we have been was Whangerei in 2004, a little shy of 36 degrees south.

By 1000 hours the fog had burned away  and we could see that the highest mountain peaks still had the remains of snowfields. This is the first time we have seen snow from the deck of DoodleBug.

We continued to motor sail along the spectacular scenery of the west coast of Corsica. This coast is all rocks and cliffs with high mountains to the horizon. There were spectacular red colored headlands with sea caves and islands and the highest spots were invariably decorated with ancient stone watchtowers. Tour boats crammed with people were edging into watery canyons between steep cliffs. The cruising guide warns that this is a dangerous coast to be on in bad weather, as there is no shelter between the ports of Calvi and Ajaccio some 58 miles to the south. We passed the Port d'Agro and noted that this was where Lord Nelson landed his guns for the attack on Calvi in 1794. It looked sorta steep behind the beach but I expect he had
help.

There was plenty of shipping in the form of both motor and sailing yachts and they passed in a steady stream to the south. We have seen lots of fancy plastic motor yachts tied up at marinas across the Mediterranean but this is the first time we have seen them under passage at sea. The French Riviera lies to the north of us and French Corsica is a popular destination for many French boaters. This fact was obvious when we called the Calvi Marina on the VHF for a berth. "No, we are full." My cousin had called by the marina office yesterday and was assured that there was plenty of room. We called her on the cell phone and she insisted she would call the marina office

and sort this out. A few minutes later we were asked to provide the marina people with our draft.  We bobbed around outside the marina entrance for another 30 minutes and received a curt call that there was a slip available for us. This was possibly tighter than the one we had squeezed into at Salerno and was priced the second highest ever at 111 euros per night. We moored at 1430 hours at N 42 33.8' E 008 45.5'. A crowd is gathered on the dock to welcome us. Tomorrow is the first day of summer.

June 21, 2008

The day's entertainment began with a visit from three customs officers. We were still at the slip at the marina and had just woken up when they knocked on the hull. They asked to see the ship's papers and began asking how long we had been here and where we had come from. Usually they are looking for yachts that have overstayed the 18 month limit that the vessel can remain in the E.U. without paying VAT (A variant of Sales Tax that is approximately 20% of the value of the vessel).  I short circuited the process by handing them a computer generated list of every port, date of arrival and date of departure, beginning with Kemah, Texas on 12/30/2003. As soon as they realized that we are circumnavigators, they were more interested in the boat (Ah Amel! C'est bon!) and what my pre-retirement profession was.

The cost of moorings at 34 euros per night is less than one third of the marina slip expense (111 euros per night) so we motored just outside of the marina breakwater and picked up one of these. The moorings are operated by a private company who lay them in the bay beginning on 1st. June. As soon as the moorings are laid, it becomes illegal to anchor in the bay. At the end of the season, the company recovers their moorings and it is legal to anchor again. Handy cooperation from the port authorities.

After lunch we met my cousin and her family at the local family beach. There were children running about, dogs strolling through the sand and a significant number of topless bathers. This was quite a different experience from New Caledonia where the girls glowered at you if they thought you might be peeking. Here the pretty young things strutted along the strand and several stood facing the other sunbathers with their arms raised and hands behind their heads. If these actions did not provoke enough attention, they would up the ante by rubbing coconut oil on their breasts as they gazed around. I was not offended by this. You would have to pay good money for such a show in the USA.

That evening we had planned to meet for supper and the gathering point was at a seafront bar. Annette noticed three young men in uniform and was absolutely delighted when she realized that they were Foreign Legionnaires. They even wore the white Kepi hats. Annette had assumed that the Foreign Legion belonged to the twenties in old Hollywood movies and no longer existed. She confronted them and demanded her photo with them. They of course had no chance whatsoever and graciously donned their hats for the photo session.

We ate a fine supper at a local Corsican restaurant before climbing the steep paths to a bar in the citadel. The view from the citadel was spectacular with the town of Calvi and the bay spread out below us. The town was celebrating a music festival and the musicians playing in our bar swung into action just after midnight. Unfortunately "Cruiser mid-night" occurs some three hours before "jazz group mid-night" and we bade everyone goodnight and dinghied off in to the darkness to find DoodleBug and bed.

June 22, 2008

First thing this morning we packed a laptop in a waterproof bag and schlepped it ashore in the dinghy to a seafront cafe that provides free WiFi (pronounced "weefee" en Francais). There had been WiFi at the marina of course but like all of the other European marinas we have been in, it was non-functional. There must be something about coffee and beer that triggers the network servers. Perhaps a glut of IT managers now working as bartenders. With a working internet I was able to make a car rental reservation for pickup at the Calvi airport.

This afternoon we toured the picturesque villages in the surrounding hills. These are perched on impossibly steep hillsides and cliff tops and are accessible only by foot or by donkey. Inside the villages are a maze of narrow passageways with tunnels dipping around hidden corners. Many of the homes were in sore need or repair and restoration and I imagine that modern construction methods might require helicopter access for the equipment. The donkeys would be cheaper.

June 23, 2008

We continued our village tours today with a visit to the village of Pigna. A sign at the closest vehicle access point proudly announced that Pigna is a "CO2 free zone". Were we supposed to hold our breath as we climbed the

narrow stairways into the plant free stronghold? Pigna is noted as a source of music boxes. There was indeed a store selling these and the proprietor was hand painting a wooden box as we toured her store. The boxes were pretty but many times their cost at "Pier One".

June 24, 2008

Today's destination was the interior of Corsica and we drove through rich and green farmlands to the island Capital of Corte. Corte is a University town and home to the National Museum of Corsica www.corte-tourisme.com. After a fine lunch we toured the museum located below the town citadel. The museum had a good range of exhibits with artifacts and photographs depicting life here of the past couple of centuries. The family group pictures of rural poverty could just have easily been taken in the United States during the same period and brought home to me the common roots of American settlers.

To wrap up the day we drove up the river gorge of "Tavignanu". This is one of the most popular tourist destinations and it was easy to see why. The mountain river was filled with huge boulders and wound it's way down a steep, tree filled gorge from a mountain pass. The peaks still had snow fields in places although the day was warm. Mountain hiking is hugely popular and Corsica a favorite destination for many European hikers. The hikes themselves must be boring without the American hazards of rattlesnakes, bears and mountain lions but the scenery more than makes up for this deficit.

June 25, 2008

Today was a work day and we spent the day readying DoodleBug for passage. I made a last visit to the cafe with "free" wireless internet and updated the web-site, beer in hand. Annette had her latest grocery list and we

visited a large supermarket with the unlikely title of "Casino". The ability to drive into a real car-park, pick up a shopping cart and shop a real selection of fresh groceries, is a luxury that we used to take for granted. The norm for cruisers is to pick over some dusty and fly blown packets of pasta in a tiny, cluttered, street level room, one step up from a mud hut and then wonder if the weevils ate all of the contents or just some. Then you carry what you can to a muddy and rocky beach and load the dinghy. This shopping experience was first class! You just have to remember to take your own bags for your groceries, since this is PC Europe. Annette bought hers in New Zealand and if you didn't notice the "Go Green" logo, the bright green color of the bags should clue you in. We then drove our rent car to the marina and parked illegally while we loaded up the dinghy from the dock. Didn't even get our feet wet!

That evening we had a delicious supper at the home of my cousin's daughter, beautiful and exotic Emma. Her son Michelange provided the evening's entertainment when he brought in his toy keyboard. Michelange is 3 years old and carefully adjusted his microphone before beginning his number. Of course the microphone doesn't work but that did not stop him  from "singing" for us. A fun evening and we reluctantly bade the family farewell. 

Corsica has been a wonderful and memorable visit for us. We have enjoyed visiting far flung family and the island itself is beautiful. Corsica has rugged, tree covered mountains and rich, verdant, agricultural valleys. (of course it did rain a lot this spring). Sunshine, sea and snow. It has it all. We hope to return in the future.