SofF to Corsica and Sardinia - Med Cruise Summer 2014 (lots of pics)

[jfm]

This is a picture set/write up of our 2 week cruise to Corsica and Sardinia summer 2014. It was a complicated cruise – 7 boats from this forum crossed paths at different times. EME (Targa 50) and I did the full two weeks, MRC did the first few days (Manhattan 70), we joined up with A+K and Nick-H in the middle (Squadron 58, Princess 57) then Deleted User (his new Ferretti 630), the Jimmy le Constructeur (Targa 40). Jimmy already did a post on the latter part of this trip – I’ll find a link - edit here it is http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?408594-A-week-away-in-Corsica-(pics)&highlight=corsica

I tried to get the picture count down to 20 but couldn’t, so this takes up a few posts due to the 20-limit. I had some great pictures and video taken on my iPhone on the outbound crossing showing MRC’s hattan 70 wake crossing in perfect glass-smooth blue sea but the next day I dropped my iPhone in the sea and busted it. I sent it off to a data recovery company who soldered new parts in but couldn’t get the pictures out of its memory, which is a shame

I sometimes think you can get lost in cruise reports like this if names of places are bandied about without a map for context, so I’ll try a couple of maps and you can say whether they are any use. First the map below tries to put these med cruises into a Med-wide context.
Red is the cruise in this post – return of course, about 800miles
Yellow is BartW’s delivery to Montenegro – quite a bit longer, though one-way
Green is MWeiss’s delivery to Salerno – again one way
Blue is my trip in previous Sq 78 to Balearics (return of course)

So this Corsica/Sardinia trip wasn’t epic in mileage terms compared with others. Second map below is zoomed in on Corsica and N Sardinia showing our stops on this cruise

I don’t have most of my pics of the outward crossing as explained but the sea was mirror flat – this pic is off another camera. Gorgeous

First stop was Saleccia beach, at the north of Corsica. In the right conditions I think this is one of the nicest places on the planet. It’s 5 miles round the corner from the beautiful town/harbour of St Florent, which these days calls itself the St Tropez of corsica . The beach has absolutely nothing but volcanic mountains behind it – not a single fish n chip shop or other building. The nearest proper road is 12 miles away so everyone on the beach has got there by boat. The water is turquoise – as good as Ibiza’s Formentera imho. (Just take a minute to google image “Saleccia beach” and you’ll see why I love this place – this beach alone is worth bringing your boat to the Med for)

I had a stretch in the Laser

And took the tender (anchored in foreground right) round to the neighbouring 3 small beaches that all seem to be called “Loto”

There are day trip boats so it’s busy in afternoons, but in the evening there can be fewer than a dozen people on the beach and orientation makes for a great sunset G+T spot.

Here is a very fine ship anchored off Saleccia beach that MapisM might love. STB? It’s 84 feet iirc

The flying RIB goes over Saleccia beach.

Here’s that video I shot from this RIB, a couple of years ago (and MapisM’s boat above is a regular, because she appears again anchored off this beach at 1.11in this video)



Then we spent a couple of night berthed in the port of St Florent. I love this place. Here’s the entrance (and it shows at 0:29 in above video).

I’ve got to know the harbourmaster and he gives me berths right on the main strip

Those planes that dump water on forest fires practise in the bay of St Florent. I hate to be Mr H+S about this but they get awfully close to the boats…

I’ve hit the 20 limit so will continue below…

 

[jfm]

Next stop heading south was Girolata, 1/3rd of the way down the W coast of Corsica and in the middle of the Scandola nature reserve and the “Red Rocks” coast. This place is beautiful and has featured in several cruise reports in this forum from JTB, Hurricane, me and others. Again, this is a coastal village not served by any roads so everything that the 14 permanent residents need, plus supplies for the restaurants and bars in the summer, comes by boat from Porto about 5-6 miles south. Rhianna was anchored outside on the chartered m/y Galaxy and we partied together for a couple of evenings (that’s a lie ). The first 2 pics below are grabbed from the net, and the first one shows the whole of the bay of Porto, with Girolata in the foreground (the NE corner of the bay)

We were lucky enough to get one of Girolata’s beach berths, where the harbourmaster lets you tie alongside to the trip boat pontoon. The bow of the boat has literally one foot of clearance before grounding and you can walk right onto the beach. The shack right on Match's bow with the torches became our local restaurant/bar/breakfast spot

There’s a resident bull on the beach. Seemed placid enough initially, though he got a bit china shoppy when we re-visited (with Wakeup, so his fault ) the following week

We visited Girolata again on the way back, so there are some more pictures of it and a video further down in this set of posts

Next stop was Bonifacio, but en route we anchored for lunch in Cala D’Orzo, on the N coast of Gulf of Propriano. (More on Propriano below) This a beautiful sandy anchorage and there is a restaurant on the beach but we ate on board

I seem to have forgotten to take any pictures as we entered the stunning port of Bonifacio, a deep calanque right at the bottom of the W coast of Corsica, but I’ve put plenty of pictures on here before. We berthed on the newly refurbished quai d’honneur

Lozzer, an experienced professional captain on here whom I’ve had the pleasure to meet, recommends berthing in Bonifacio close to Kissing Pigs so this picture is for him

The Lavezzi islands are a few miles south of Bonifacio so we nipped over there. I’ve put loads of pics of them up before

Then onto Sardinia, another 40 miles or so for us. We had a delightful passage thru the straits of Bonifacio, where it blows a strong W’ly 90% of the time so we had zero apparent wind and moderate waves from behind – perfect!

Our first Sardinian anchorage was the bay beside Portisco marina where Nick_H and A+K were already rafted up. The wind got up but this bay was immune from waves, so we launched the Laser again and had several exhilarating rides in it, as well as in one of the Williams

I’ve hit the 20 again and it’s getting late. I have another 40 or so pics and a few youtubes all ready, so I’ll post them tmrw, Hardmy-installments style

 

[Hurricane]

Stuck in a departure lounge in the Dom Republic - delayed flight
Need more pics to cheer us up!!

 

[jfm]

Then we went into Porto Rotondo for a few days, a very nice marina in Costa Smeralda though it had a bunch of Prada and Bulgari type shops all lined up along the edge of the port and berthing prices were fairly eye watering (final bill was the price of a car). We used it as a crusing base for the hwole area around here and it worked well. At least I didn’t have to buy any fuel at their crazy Italian prices – my extra fuel tank literally pays for itself after a couple of cruises like this. Porto Rotondo is close to Olbia airport so makes an easy place to rendezvous – on the day we arrived our guests for the first week departed and new guests arrived on the same plane. Later, EME’s guests departed and Mr+Mrs Wakeup arrived

After a couple of days Deleted User and family arrived aboard their new steed, a beautiful Ferretti 630. Fantastic boat this with a gorgeous Italian sharply styled interior that looked even better in the flesh than in the very nice pictures posted on here– I only have a couple of pictures of her, included in the set below, taken off Isola Mortorio, a couple of miles from Porto Rotondo.

We hired a paddleboard for couple of days and carried it around on the foredeck – great fun

This is a sunset shot of us heading back into Rotondo at the end of that day

Then we began the trip back North and because we liked Girolata so much we decided to do a long leg from Rotondo straight to Girolata and hang out there for a couple of days. This is Match and EME’s T60 departing Rotondo

Then we made our way NW through the Bonifacio strait and managed to oick a day with no headwind so had a very nice trip

Every ten minutes here in August you pass a superyacht – this is Paul Allen’s Tatoosh

This is that lovely beach off the NE corner of Spargi Island that I’ve posted pictures of before – we didn’t have time to stop here on this trip

And then we passed by beautiful Bonifacio – here is a short video showing us leaving Rotondo then passing Bonifacio



EME needed fuel so I took some on Match too – this fuel berth, in Propriano, is staffed by a father and son team who are struggling with reduced demand (sales 50% of the 2008 peak) and previously they’ve been kind enough to stay open late for us etc. They were pleased to see us because we must have bought 8 tonnes or so between us at nice French prices (relatively).

We rafted off one of the beaches on north side of Golfe de Propriano and had lunch then went ashore in the canoes. These are beautiful beaches

Hit the 20 again

 

[jfm]

Then we cracked on, about 4pm I guess, leaving Propriano heading back to Porto and Girolata. Second picture shows the size of the golfe de Propriano - perhaps 10 miles wide at its mouth

Arriving Girolata…

As we were waiting for our berth we could see JTB + Viewfinder were in town - their Targa 40 is far right and that’s EME’s T50 far left.

T50 moored up between buoys

Plus, hull #2 of the Delta 80/88 was berthed here

We got the lovely pontoon berth again; another near grounding job

But here is view of Girolata harbour from the aft deck while on this pontoon berth

We spent a day visiting Porto (which is about 5-6 miles from Girolata) and the nearby caves by tender. Here are some picture of rocks(!) in the bay of Porto

And views of actual Porto harbour, plus the view out to sea from the hill above

And here’s a video of the tender ride around the bay of Porto This Novurania tender, identical with BartW’s btw, has turned out to be fantastic for day trips/picnic trips – it flies along slam-free with 5 or 6 onboard


The girls drive the tender these days, far better than the blokes (this is Porto harbour)

20 limit again

 

[jfm]

Final instalment!

Here are a few pictures of the caves in the bay of Porto, all very explorable by tender. In the 2nd pic, we did just come through that gap - just fitted

Then after a couple of days goofing around here we had to say au revoir to Girolata and make the trip back to Antibes, 105nm, leaving at sunrise because winds were forecast later in the day. They didn’t materialise – this was the crossing, with 30 mins of dense fog halfway across as Jimmy described in his earlier post.

Here’s a bit of video, some showing EME’s Targa 50 in astoundingly flat seas



We had a brief whale encounter which is always a bit awesome tbh. Just the one, and he/she was in a hurry to go deeper so we lost sight after 5 minutes

We arrived back in Antibes exactly 2 weeks after leaving. Jimmy’s berth was occupied so we passed him as he waited on the harbour wall

Really nice trip all in all, if not as big in mileage terms as some previous trips. We still love Corsica and will for sure be back there early next summer. Hope to see as many as possible of you there! EME and Wakeup have a few more pictures so they might post here or in another thread (S, I couldn’t extract any of your pics from the flickr album you sent me a guest pass to)

 

[erik_plus8]

Thank you, jfm, for lightening up what was a very dark and cold Thursday morning here in Sweden. I will probably look into this thread a few more times over the coming months!

 

[Portofino]

Sums up Med boating in our neck of the woods .
Ps welcome to the " busted I phone club " @ sea

 

[STEVEDUNSTABLE]

Thank you, jfm, for lightening up what was a very dark and cold Thursday morning here in Sweden. I will probably look into this thread a few more times over the coming months!

+ x a million !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...............STUNNING !!!........swoon dream siiiigh etc etc etc

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Wow, monster post, thanks for that. We only joined in for the tail end of that cruise but it was fab (as NW Corsica always is). Happy days. Hope for more next summer.

 

[Hardmy]

Thank you!

JFM, I was waiting for such a report from you, just great, stunning!!! Thank you for spending time for this. I have been many times to Corsica during childhood, without boat of course. Your report shows that Corsica has much more to offer than purely land based tourism.

Like also that you had the b*lls to park your boat nearly ON the beach in Girolata, ça c'est du grand art! And with your laser you are combining best of both worlds. You make me think that I should also install a laser on my boat.

Very much looking forward to coming installments, it's depressingly grey in Frankfurt and your pics are saving my day.

A question though in #5. The Delta is only tied to the upper ring of the buoy??? Tell me that there is never wind there...

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

The Delta is only tied to the upper ring of the buoy??? Tell me that there is never wind there...

The Delta is tied fore-and-aft to mooring buoys, the top hoop of which is through-fixed to a chain down to the seabed (just a few metres down) and those buoy chains all connect to heavy chains that run right across the anchorage. It is however a very sheltered spot.

 

[paultallett]

Beautiful pictures...... Just what I needed on a grey Thursday morning Thank you.

 

[kcrane]

Great write up jfm and excellent pics as always. Boating has ground to a halt in the UK this last week and now looks iffy over Xmas, what with strong winds and wasted time spent with family (only kidding) so need trip posts to cheer us up!

 

[Sandyman]

And a big thank you from me. Will be following in your footsteps next year. Can't wait

 

[jrudge]

We are heading to Cannes for Cannes Lions June 21-27 , then will hand around in SOF for a week or 2 and then start a trcck down Corsica and Sardina. Which coast is nicer for the Sardina part - East or West? If all Marinas are as expensive as Porto Rotondo then we will be anchoring a lot!

What was the Pt Rotondo charge?

Be lovely to join you on your Corsica cruise if dates clash.

 

[jfm]

JFM, I was waiting for such a report from you, just great, stunning!!! Thank you for spending time for this. I have been many times to Corsica during childhood, without boat of course. Your report shows that Corsica has much more to offer than purely land based tourism.

Like also that you had the b*lls to park your boat nearly ON the beach in Girolata, ça c'est du grand art! And with your laser you are combining best of both worlds. You make me think that I should also install a laser on my boat.

Very much looking forward to coming installments, it's depressingly grey in Frankfurt and your pics are saving my day.

A question though in #5. The Delta is only tied to the upper ring of the buoy??? Tell me that there is never wind there...

Haha, well I was making an attempt to get close to your Croatia picture post, which sets a new high water mark in the quality stakes Hardmy

Yes, Corsica is beautiful by sea and beautiful inland. It really is the jewel of the Mediterranean in my book. I've been over twice by car (easy ferry every few hours from Nice) to explore the inland parts and the mountains, and it is stunning. For coastal cruising, you need some luck with the weather. The beautiful west coast sandy beaches are caused by plenty of Westerly winds/stormy seas, but on this trip we were lucky. Actually you get plenty of good cruising weather June-September

A Laser is a great idea. The hull is 49kg only, and about 4m long. The mast is in two sections and has no wire stays, which is perfect for a tender. I'm going to buy a carbon fibre mast and boom because they're a lot lighter (=easier to stow) than the aluminium. Not class legal but I'm cruising not racing. But yes it makes a great second tender. There are others too like the RS Fever, etc. Great way to spend an afternoon and get some exercise. A moth on foils would also be great fun but it is hard to stow and has a one-piece stayed mast. However I've recently discovered the www.glidefree.com.au kit for Laser. Made in Australia but now with EU distribution ($4000 or something, eek). Might be on my shopping list next year...

 

[jfm]

We are heading to Cannes for Cannes Lions June 21-27 , then will hand around in SOF for a week or 2 and then start a trcck down Corsica and Sardina. Which coast is nicer for the Sardina part - East or West? If all Marinas are as expensive as Porto Rotondo then we will be anchoring a lot!

What was the Pt Rotondo charge?

Be lovely to join you on your Corsica cruise if dates clash.

Hi Jeremy - we look forward to seeing you next July then. For Sardinia I'd suggest going down the E coast. You then get to see the NE costa smeralda famous bit that I've pictured above, plus the Orosei beaches MapisM posted a couple of months ago. Actually boat coasts have a bit of nothingness in the middle, but only 100 miles or so. The best bits are N and S. When you get to the bottom you can nip round to MM territory, San Pietro

Rotundo was about €540/night for 24m in August. Restaurant prices were generally fine though. Anchoring makes great sense, but we had winds and lots of meet ups/people coming/going so did more marina nights than I'd normally choose. 2/3rd of nights on anchor should be easy in Sq65. Do you have a w/maker? Fuel in Sardinia (with tax) was €1.76 iirc, but I didn't buy any and bought French fuel at 1.40-something. Price should be tailing off now with US making stacks of oil to pressurise Russia, though I do not know how far that has filtered down to boat fuel docks yet

 

[jfm]

The Delta is tied fore-and-aft to mooring buoys, the top hoop of which is through-fixed to a chain down to the seabed (just a few metres down) and those buoy chains all connect to heavy chains that run right across the anchorage. It is however a very sheltered spot.

Yep I think there is metal bar passing thru the buoy, connecting the top loop to the bottom loop isn't there?

 

[jfm]

Sums up Med boating in our neck of the woods .
Ps welcome to the " busted I phone club " @ sea

Yup if Apple made a waterproof iPhone I'd be first in line for one!. It fell out of my pocket in the tender, landed in the "engine well" for the outboard motor, and got splashed/sat in a puddle for 10 mins and that was it.