Ajaccio in a storm

Friday's strong winds came during the night and, although Greg had pulled us well out from the dock towards the anchored mooring at the bow, we still bashed into the dock a couple of times because of the surging sea, just as other boats all did. We do have a fender on the bottom of the transom (for non-yachties that's the area across the stern or rear of the boat where we have the boat's name) and in one of those surges the fender was broken in half! So Greg was up in the middle of the night putting more fenders at the stern while I slept soundly.

In the bay near our marina boats of all kinds and sizes were sandwiched in, seeking shelter from the gale force winds, but they have scattered in many directions again now. One interesting result of the winds is that the open seas retain 2 - 3 ft waves for a few days after and so we still have a surge even in the marina. The calf muscles are becoming well-developed because, without even realising it, we are constantly holding our bodies steady.

Yesterday was haircut day for both of us. I made another attempt to have my color returned to normal but I still haven't found someone who understands that I don't want my hair dyed blond all over! I'll try to keep my hat on in the photos.

I have no idea what happened to the rest of the day other than I cooked roast veal, rosemary roast potatoes and ratatouille for dinner and it was a lovely night to eat in the cockpit. The moon rose full and cast a superb glittering staircase on the rippling water at the bow of the boat and then we were fortunate enough to see it eclipsed and exposed again during the evening. What a fabulous sight! We could also see the fireworks that were launched around the corner to celebrate Napolean's birth date so it was an extremely pleasant evening.

We woke to a little rain this morning, but it soon cleared to a perfect day. After picking up a rental car at the airport we drove around the bay (Golfe d' Ajaccio) to Porticcio which is supposed to have one of Corsica's best beaches, but we have seen better. However we did find one of Corsica's best boutique hotels, Hotel le Marquis, with a fabulous restaurant set above the bay. So the idea of just having a simple panini for lunch somewhere was quickly forgotten. I'll send Bill some photos to show the beautiful setting and then it will be understandable why we had a bottle of rose and even stayed for desserts and coffee.

Greg's main course was mixed grilled fish (today's catch) and I had lobster with angel hair pasta. The shared desserts were profiteroles with ice cream and chocolate sauce and a variety of sorbets with fresh fruit. We could not eat all of the petits fours that came with the espresso and there will be nothing much for dinner tonight!

Before returning to the marina we drove along a little more of the lovely coastline, looking for suitable anchorages for a swim later in the week, but are saving the rest of sightseeing in that area until after Geoff and Wendy Moule arrive on Tuesday.