As the anchor wouldn't hold it was necessary to pick up a mooring so we were extremely hungry by the time we settled down to our lunch in the cockpit, with the bimini down to ensure we had plenty of sunshine. On the way I had made a fritatta of eggs, sauteed onion and tomatoes, torn fresh basil and grated parmigiana cheese, which we ate with salad, ham and salami followed by cheese and all accompanied by Sardinian Rose. We were all pleased to spend a lovely afternoon and peaceful night on the water, with only one other boat nearby.
We woke to a glorious Tuesday morning with the sun shining on the aqua and royal blue sea, enticing Richard and Anne to swim and snorkel in water that was still 20 degrees C even though it's autumn. We also encouraged them to explore our surrounds in the dinghy, something we had enjoyed so much during our visit to this area at the end of August. It was strange to see the marina complex completely closed for the year - what a waste of such a wonderful facility in a beautiful part of the world.
Mid morning we set off for Bonifacio, unfortunately with insufficient wind for sailing. On the way I cooked some ham and egg pies which we devoured with some Rose, knowing that the main part of lunch was going to be late afternoon again. The tall white cliffs of Bonifacio with the citadel and old town on top are a magnificent sight, especially with the sun shining as it was for us. We entered the stunning harbor with the steep cliffs either side and berthed stern to the dock directly beneath the old town. We continued our lunch and spent the remainder of the day just soaking up the sun and scenery. How pleasant it is at this time of the year with only one other boat along that dock and not many day-tripper boats churning up the water as they take tourists out to view the dramatic coastline and nearby islands.
Most of the restaurants along the waterside are still open for lunch and dinner because the ferry brings in visitors from Sardinia three times a day and others drive into Bonifacio from nearby areas. Also there is a permanent population living in the old town within the walls of the massive citadel. It was a cold night so we chose a nearby restaurant that looked cosy and all had an excellent meal. Richard's starter course of mussels in white wine and garlic was a huge pot of about 50 mussels, perfectly "just cooked" and served with a bowl of pommes frites! We were happy to help him out with both the mussels and the chips, but thankfully saved room for our delicious chunky lamb stew cooked with olives and sliced potatoes. We are back to Corsican wines now and found our first bottle of red from Patrimonio had too much tannin but the red from Sartene was much softer and fruitier. Back to the boat for our Limoncello digestive with some chocolates before retiring.
The boat next to us was chartered (with crew) by a group of seven German men on holiday to play golf and cards and they were oblivious to our sleeping needs as they loudly played cards until quite late and loudly set off for their golf game early in the morning.
Thank goodness there is only one golf course in the area, the one at Pointe de Sperone. In fact it is the only 18 hole golf course on Corsica but is considered one of the best in all of Europe and being on the high coastline overlooking Bonifacio Strait it is probably also one of the windiest.
Tuesday was another sunny day, quite perfect for Richard and Anne to tour the old town high above and for Greg and me to wash the boat. However we firstly had to move to a deeper berth because the strong easterly wind was forcing so much water out of the harbor that our rudder was touching the bottom. Days rarely go to plan when boating but we all still had plenty of time to achieve our goals. The McKays thoroughly enjoyed their sight-seeing and lunch with a Corsican white (plus Richard tried one of the Corsican beers made with chestnuts). Although Greg and I can't say we enjoyed cleaning the boat it was at least extremely satisfying to see Dream Catcher III looking her best again.
We were rewarded for our labor later in the afternoon when Roberta and Stephan arrived from Sardinia in their 62 ft Oyster and invited us on board for drinks. We had met them at Da Giovanini the night before we left Port Rotondo and had hoped to meet up again somewhere. It's great to make friends with other yachties and we have not found many opportunities to do this, mostly because of the language barrier, but Roberta (Italian) and Stephan (German) are both fluent in English - and many other languages too. Richard and Anne eventually joined us on Luna, a luxurious cruising yacht, and so of course we finished the night by going out to dinner with Roberta and Stephan and their 3 yacht guests from Germany. Most of us dined on Soupe de Poisson, a fabulous French style fish soup where all of the seafood is processed through a moulix to make a smooth rich soup. It is served with toasted baguette slices that you rub with a clove of garlic and float them in the soup after you have also spread them with a mustard flavored type of aolie (garlic mayonnaise) and grated parmesan. It's a great combination. I shared with Greg my dessert of lemon sorbet with vodka. We thoroughly enjoyed the night, even though mother nature sent us a rather wild rain storm. We hope to meet up with Roberta and Stephan again somewhere in the world in the future.
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