One Moor for the road

San Ciprianu

Genoese Tower

We had such a fast passage across to Corsica that we had to reduce sail to slow ourselves down and avoid arriving in the dark. We dropped anchor at dawn in the crystal clear waters of San Ciprianu bay just north of Porto Vecchio and stayed put for a few days. Having had a taster of Corsica last year we decided to return but this time spend a bit longer exploring this lovely island and its delightful anchorages. San Ciprianu is a stunning bay surrounded by sandy beaches but it is large and therefore crowded and noisy. We'd soon had enough of the jet bikes and water skiers zipping by and moved north to Anse de Cola, a much smaller bay which we shared with only a couple of other yachts and a beach of nudists! We ventured off the boat (fully dressed) to climb up to the Genoese tower perched on the next promontory which afforded stunning views back down to the boat as well as over to the bay of Pinarellu and another swathe of sand. Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from these idyllic anchorages and go in search of provisions, internet and most importantly, a Corsican flag.

Anse de Cola

Golfe de Pinarellu

Corsican flag

Corsica has had a turbulent past and has been the subject of many invasions. Pascal Paoli, Corsica's revolutionary leader between 1755 and 1769, established the Moor's head with white bandana as Corsica's official emblem. It is seen everywhere - on beer bottles, shops, official buildings and on the traditional flag. 1769 marked the end of Corsican independence and apart from a brief two year period under British rule it has remained part of the French republic to the present day. We therefore hoisted two courtesy flags with the Corsican Moor taking pride of place above the French flag.

Porto Novo

Porto Novo

Spot the bird!

We anchored next to Porto Vecchio marina and dinghied ashore. We managed to re-activate our last years data sim and filled our shopping trolley to the brim. Stocked up again we ventured south and found a couple of lovely wild anchorages in Porto Novo. Both were deserted with no bodies on the beach and not a building in sight. We explored the etang (lagoon) lying behind the large beach and put our bird watching skills to the test as we disturbed the abundant wild life in the reeds.

Porto Novo

Porto Novo

Porto Vecchio from a very windy anchorage

Our time in this lovely spot came to an end with a strong westerly wind forecast. Although there are plenty of safe sandy anchorages in this area we decided to head back to the glutinous mud and good shelter afforded by Porto Vecchio harbour. The strong Mistral blew for a few days and the anchorage was quite full the night the huge storm was due to pass over. We were alert for any yachts trying to anchor close to us and needless to say at dusk a French catamaran anchored right in front of us. We gesticulated to him in no uncertain terms that he had to move away from us which thankfully he did. We spent much of that night on deck keeping an eye as the wind strength crawled towards 50 knots. Suddenly we were aware of frantic shouting and torch lights waving around. The catamaran we had told to move away had dragged his anchor and had careered into a large Polish yacht lying not far from us. It did not stop there and was now heading towards the shore. The police and lifeboat came to the rescue and the catamaran was towed to safety and tied to a mid channel mooring. Thankfully we survived the night with no mishaps and by morning the wind abated. It was time to move on. We had friends arriving in a few days and we still had to get round the northern finger, Cap Corse, to meet them in St Florent on the north coast.

Porto Vecchio from a flat calm anchorage

Sunset over Porto Vecchio harbour