Corsica and Elba Cruise 2016 (lots pictures)

[jfm]

This is a quick story of our 2-week Elba and Corsica cruise last month (August 2016). Our route was Antibes (France) to Portoferraio then Azzurro (both in Elba) then Bonifacio, Girolata and St Florent (all in Corsica), then back to Antibes. That is just a listing of the ports we stayed in - we stopped in various anchorages in between and spent some nights on anchor. Weather was wonderful. Below is a quick map; the first long leg Antibes-Elba is about 140nm and the whole trip was perhaps 400nm so this wasn’t a long distance cruise.

Below is a quick video if you’re in a hurry, and some stills follow if you have a bit more time.



Now some stills. Our first port of call was Portoferraio on the N side of the Italian island of Elba. I love this port. We arrive August 15th which was a big holiday and we had a firework show that night. The Squadron 78 in the distance far right of picture is Belle Michelle, on which Lozzer of this parish worked as captain a few years ago and which I visited during its build when agreeing with Fairline the build spec of my previous boat.

We then cruised around the island slowly anticlockwise. Lots of nice little beaches etc. you can see faces in the rocks!

This next pic is taken on s coast of Elba, "processed" by a Samsung Galaxy

We finished with a night in Port Azzurro on the E coast of Elba. Really nice little town. The OuterReef 70 is well known to this forum - MapisM, Solitaire and Powerskipper will remember it well!

We left early next morning heading for South Corsica. This is Monte Cristo, passed on port side.

I’m skipping loads of pictures, might include them later, but we arrived in Bonifacio after lots of nice stops in beautiful anchorages along SE coast of Corsica

From this base in Bonifacio, where a bunch of friends joined us, we cruised around for a few days and had a great day in Sperone/Ile Piana right at southern tip of the island:

We stuck out nose in the caves when going back into Bonifacio

This jongert was oddly on the wrong side of the road entering Bonifacio, and got a heavy 5 blasts from the ferry

Continued in next post because of the 20 limit...

 

[jfm]

Continued from above...

Then we cruised up the W coast of Corsica, stopping for the day at one of my favourite spots: Cala Orzu on the NW corner of bay of propriano, 1/3rd of the way up the west coast. The water here is perfect - these shots are straight from the camera with no enhancement. Amazing place. We shot a lot of the video here - the bits where people went under the boat with the Seabob.

Our next destination was Girolata, right on the beach jetty. We travelled up there fast in the evening.

Girolata is about 1/3 of the way from top of Corsica, on w coast. It’s a beautiful place and lots of people on this forum have been there and posted about it.

We stayed there a coupe of days and explored the caves on the Golfe of Porto, and cruised alongside Silver Dee (my brother’s boat) for a few days

All wine was suitably dressed...

Randomly, art for art's sake

Continued in next post...

 

[jfm]

Continued from above...

Then we went up to St Florent, NW corner of Corsica and a beautiful place that I’ve posted pictures of before. There is a very nice harbour and town where we stayed a few days, and a whole load of stunning beaches (especially Saleccia and Loto) and anchorages, both sandy and rocky. Pictures are more useful than words:

While anchored off one of the beaches we tried out Lumishore’s new lights - this is a set of 12 of their latest RGBW through hull THX1602 lights (of which only ten were turned on in these pictures!)

And then our time was up, for now, so we left St Florent headed for Antibes, 105nm, in smooth seas at about 7am

As you can maybe tell, I love Corsica. Best island in the W med I think (not that the others aren’t beautiful). It can be windy but we got really lucky on this trip with light winds.

 

[RobWales]

Great pics and thanks for sharing J, quick question as these are first pics I've seen of Match in a long time as not been on here in ages, is flybridge roof an addition?....cannot recall seeing it when Clarkson helmed....
cheers

 

[kashurst]

brilliant quick video, looks like you all had a great time. The new lumishores are amazingly bright

 

[jfm]

Great pics and thanks for sharing J, quick question as these are first pics I've seen of Match in a long time as not been on here in ages, is flybridge roof an addition?....cannot recall seeing it when Clarkson helmed....
cheers

Yes Rob the hard top was added later. When Match was built the hard top option for sq78 was being designed and drawn, but wasn't ready for my boat, so they fitted it after 2nd season on the boat. Thread here http://forums.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?421121-Fairline-Squadron-78-refit-fit-Hard-Top. It's a really nice addition. You're right that it wasn't installed for the Clarkson movie, but it was for the Caspar/Joe movie

 

[scubaman]

As you say, the pictures speak for themselves... It can't get much better than that. Loved the video too, good use of media from different sources. I also recognized some of the places from your earlier posts. Thank you for taking the time to put the post together.

That Seabob seems to go well. I noticed you can set the max depth for a dive but are there any other safety features (such as a 'dead man' -type switch with the Pilot Belt)?

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

Nice report and beautiful places J.

Sounds you had a blast this season. Keep it up

 

[Nigelpickin]

Well that whets the appetite for our next few years of adventures. Lovely photographs - will have to get a few of ours up soon, although the water around here ain't quite so blue...

 

[MrB]

Just wonderful, thanks for sharing your trip.:encouragement:

 

[Hurricane]

Fantastic JFM

Thats the kind of cruise that I seek out.
You seem to get it right though.
Thanks for taking the time to post it.

 

[MapisM]

The OuterReef 70 is well known to this forum - MapisM, Solitaire and Powerskipper will remember it well!

I wasn't aware of Powerskipper involvement with Mr.P boat. Or are you mixing her up with Nautical, maybe?

It's a pity that our schedules didn't match for just a few days, it would have been nice to catch up with yourself and Mr.P - also because you can add Deleted User to the forumites who know that boat and her owner.
In fact, we did a bit of the same route, just reversed, coming from Maddalenas, following the SE Corsican coast up to Solenzara, and then crossing to the southern part of the Tuscan archipelago.

Btw, not sure if you've already been there, but just in case, that area (which is not much further S from Elba) is also worth seeing: Giannutri offers a large and sheltered bay for overnighting, and also around Giglio and the Argentario peninsula there are many beautiful anchorages.

Not that the other places where you have been leave anything to be desired, of course!
Well done, and many thanks for sharing the experience. :encouragement:

 

[CharlieAlpha]

Water should not be that clear and blue - next you will be telling me its warm as well - Thanks jfm for sharing.

 

[jfm]

I wasn't aware of Powerskipper involvement with Mr.P boat. Or are you mixing her up with Nautical, maybe?

It's a pity that our schedules didn't match for just a few days, it would have been nice to catch up with yourself and Mr.P - also because you can add Deleted User to the forumites who know that boat and her owner.
In fact, we did a bit of the same route, just reversed, coming from Maddalenas, following the SE Corsican coast up to Solenzara, and then crossing to the southern part of the Tuscan archipelago.

Btw, not sure if you've already been there, but just in case, that area (which is not much further S from Elba) is also worth seeing: Giannutri offers a large and sheltered bay for overnighting, and also around Giglio and the Argentario peninsula there are many beautiful anchorages.

Not that the other places where you have been leave anything to be desired, of course!
Well done, and many thanks for sharing the experience. :encouragement:

Not mixing her up: P'skipper just happened to be around when solitaire brought the OR70 into Universal marina on the Hamble here in UK back in 2010 (I think) and was generally helping mooring etc, that's all. I met her then. But you're right that Nautical should have gotten a mention

Yes, pity our paths didn't coincide. My diary and work commitments were tricky this summer - indeed I left the boat in St florent and flew back to London for a board meeting, and missed my connecting flights on both the outward and return trips! I did look for Mr P on the OR70 but couldn't see him. There were some of his friends/family on board. I only spent one night there, arrived late, went out to dinner, and got up 6am for fuel then "hit the road" for corsica, so it was always going to be unlikely for me to shake his hand again (I last met him 2009, in Antibes, with you). Anyway please pass on my regards next time you bump into him.

I definitely didn't spend long enough in Elba - I'd like to do a week + there sometime soon

Thanks for the notes on cruising the IT coast south of elba - I have never done it (yet!)

 

[SammyB]

Looks like it was a great trip. Definitely something we plan to do, thank you for posting!

 

[MapisM]

Anyway please pass on my regards next time you bump into him.

Roger wilco! :encouragement:

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Thanks for the notes on cruising the IT coast south of elba - I have never done it (yet!)

Great pics and vid, jfm. Yup we did a little bit of that trip in the reverse direction in August and it was a shame our paths didn't cross. Your photos of Corsica are fantastic and I look forward to exploring more of the island ourselves next season. Seems you did get lucky with the wind. Whenever I go anywhere near Corsica it seems to be blowing half a gale!

Btw how on earth did you get berths in Portoferraio and Azzuro in August? I tried for days to reserve a berth in either place or the other marina at Marciano, which is also nice btw, but failed. In the end we just plonked the hook in the anchorage at Lacona on the S side of the island. I have to say that Elba is a beautiful island and well worth exploring by car as well as boat

 

[Cheery]

Looks absolutely dreadful, not surprised you only persevered for a fortnight.

 

[jfm]

Btw how on earth did you get berths in Portoferraio and Azzuro in August?

I always go thru an agent for those two ports - Sacomar.it, who are very good imho. It's too hard otherwise. I even got a pole position berth for august 15th night as you can see in the pictures above, which was a big deal. Sacomar add hefty commission, like e200 per night, but it is worth it imho. Weirdly I haven't paid a penny yet: they are supposed to invoice me but I haven't received anything yet. All contact with them is by efficient email (they speak EN) and they meet you at the quayside as you come into your berth. Good firm

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Weirdly I haven't paid a penny yet: they are supposed to invoice me but I haven't received anything yet.

Yes I know its weird. I've been leaving unpaid bills all over Sardinia and Italy this year and its not because I don't want to pay them. Its because they never seem to want to send me an invoice despite me virtually begging for one. Maybe all Italian companies are really mafia money laundering businesses and their customers are incidental to the operation?

I expect I'll find a horse's head in my bed soon