it always has been and still is a playground, a place to gaze and [for some] a place to show off …… and very full over summer – that sums up the Cote d’Azur.
Antibes is one of the 'hyped' spots along the French Cote d’Azur. This was where we met our new crew – Simone & Bernward with their 4 amazing children Damian, Miriam, Paula and Lea.
It was the first time for them to be on a sailing holiday in the Med and to be counted on as an active crew – with Damian being the supervisor.
A week is not all that long. The idea was to do a round trip and cruise down the coast, find a few quiet anchorages, spend a few days around the Iles d’Hyeres and then return to where we started so they could pick up their car again and continue their land holiday - and that was exactly what we did. We past the Iles St. Margarite with its spectacular abbey and fort right on the water edge. Then found a quiet anchor spot around the Cap Roux and continued the next day past the absolute playground of Plage de Pampelonne to Iles Levant, our first stop in the Iles d’Hyeres group. We had to motor quite a bit as wind was still scarce, but the next day we found some wind and sailed to Ile Port Cros. We had a nice cruisy day there exploring the island and a snorkeling educational marine park. On the way back towards Antibes we dropped anchor next to the Ile d’Or – I thought I mention that just in case there are some ‘Rin Tin Tin’ fans amongst the readers. We dropped into St Tropez town on the way and explored the very busy streets. Then we arrived back at our starting point Antibes.
All in all we had a wonderful week and made the experience that the PasoDoble can also accommodate a family with 4 children.
The following week was scheduled without crew on board and the plan was to head back to the west coast of Corsica, find a quiet spot to finish off some of the many started and unfinished jobs around the boat and then – relax a bit, in one place. We achieved both in the Port of St. Florent on the north western corner of Corsica. But first the mistral showed some of its teeth and we endured a very heavy deluge during our last night in Antibes. After cleaning up the boat we took our chances and tagged ourselves to the last winds of the mistral from the night before, heading out for an overnighter around 5pm. The passage was mixed with steady NE winds of around 20 knots to start off for the first few hours and we logged good progress. Then the wind dropped off and we motor sailed for a few hours under a starry clear night sky. At about 4 am the wind came up again, but this time from the SE and steadily increased to about 20 knots. We had to reef the genoa for a few hours with the wind changing to a SW. By mid morning we were motoring again with a light northerly breeze. At 4.30pm we dropped anchor outside the port of St.Florent and stayed in the bay for a few days before more wind and some fierce looking clouds convinced us to get a mooring in the port.
The following Saturday we were joined by Fleur, Marco, Heidi and August for a 2 week journey down the west coast of Corsica.
The trip started uncomfortably wet and windy with a choppy sea, something the west coast of Corsica can offer any time. We made it to Ile Rousse where we were allocated a mooring right next to the ferry terminal. A rather interesting and intimidating experience to have breakfast with a close up view of the big Med ferries [check the guy hanging out the bow hole].
The forecast of force 8 winds we received the following day convinced us that it was a good idea to stay put. Instead we explored the light house precinct close by and looking out onto the rough sea made us feel better to be on land. To our surprise we found a sheltered bay just under the light house and even snorkeled.
The next day was only marginally better, but we decided to move on. We motored into a heavy head wind with short, choppy sea and some of the still not so sea experienced crew on board felt rather uncomfortable, but we made it to Calvi that day. After that experience and still no improvement on the weather we stayed another day in Calvi to recover. It was worth it as Calvi with its spectacular mountainous backdrop had plenty to offer.
The wind abated and we continued our way south, happy to find some beautiful anchor spots in the abundant nature of Corsica’s west coast after days in ports. A sleep out on our great trampoline under a beautiful night sky was included - only cats can offer that ......
Ajaccio was our next stop where we picked up Susanne. After replenishing supplies we headed out again in search for more nature and found it aplenty. We rounded Cap Rosso and weaved our way through a rocky passage with some incredible underwater rock formations and colours, requiring some special piloting. After many futile attempts we finally caught our first fish and baptized our newly installed gas BBQ.
After some more spectacularly beautiful yet completely different anchor spots and some exhilarating sailing in the strait between Corsica and Sardinia we arrived at our final destination of Bonifacio at the very southern tip of Corsica. Having been there before about 7 weeks ago we already knew the attraction of the place and were not disappointed. The upper town is perched on top of overhanging rocks about 150m above the sea the town and is steeped in history, claims a visit of Napoleon Bonaparte and is well worth a visit. Behind the natural protection of the rocky sandstone cliffs and through a narrow entry lies a picturesque harbour. Contrary to our first visit during peak season we even managed to get a mooring this time.
