Having enjoyed a night in Cala
Lazarina on Île Lavezzi, on the French side of the Straits of
Bonifacio, on 2 June we sailed back across the strait to the beautiful
Maddalena archipelago on the Sardinian side. Whilst we were in Bonifacio we
had bought online a 4-day permit to allow us to sail in the Maddalena National
Park and we are glad that we did; it is a spectacular sailing area. None of the
passages we made were long but the Bonifacio Strait, in which the islands sit,
is windy so we had some excellent short sails as we moved between idyllic
anchorages. Our longest sailing day was just a 13 mile passage so there was
bags of time to enjoy being at anchor. The
pictures in this and the next 3 Blogs will give you a feel of the place and, as
you can imagine from looking at them, we had a very relaxing 4 days swimming,
reading, enjoying the sun as well as just living on Blue Velvet.
We anchored in Cala Lunga on Isla Razzoli. Isla
Razzoli is one of the islands in the northern part of the park. No one lives on
these islands, so they feel like a true wilderness area. Whilst there were
about a dozen boats at anchor in Cala Lunga during the day, by sunset there
were just 3.
After a couple of days in Bonifacio we decided to
move on to Île Lavezzi, one of a number of rocky islands in a
Nature Reserve on the French side of the Straits of Bonifacio. The island lies
in a mass of reefs but the initial approach to Cala Lazarina is quite
straightforward.
Once within half a mile of the beach though, it is
a case of threading your way carefully through the rocks and, in the process,
trying to keep clear of the tripper boats that make their way in and out of the
islands at nothing less than full throttle! The beach, off which we anchored in
only 2.8m, is very well protected from almost all directions and consequently
is very well frequented by tripper boats and local yachtsmen. We knew that it
was a popular spot but we were still surprised at how busy it was on the first
day of June (admittedly a beautifully sunny Sunday) – it must be absolutely
heaving during July and August. In fact the anchorage was so busy that the
available space was somewhat closer to the rocks than we would have liked.
The water was fabulously clear, so much so that
when the sea’s surface was still it was easily possible to make out shells and
small pebbles on the bottom. It was also surprisingly warm, possibly because we
were anchored in so shallow a depth, so we braved our first swim of the year
(rather than a wetsuit-clad snorkel).
As
the day progressed many of the yachts moved on which allowed us to repositioning slightly so that we were well clear
of the rocks. The evening was beautifully still with a fabulous sunset.
Cala Lazarina is a lovely anchorage, just the sort of place we came
to the Mediterranean to find.
