Corsica

La Dolce Vita

/ Ben Starling / Leave a comment

Just back from another lecture at Limehouse… La Dolce Vita: Cruising the Islands of the Central Mediterranean, presented by Kath Stott. 

About 10 years ago, Kath and her husband joined and enjoyed a great flotilla vacation with Neilson Holidays. They were so taken with the experience that when they (shortly thereafter) retired, they sold their house and with the proceeds bought a flat… and a Hallberg-Rassy 43. 

This was their first boat and they have been sailing ever since.

Along with some stellar photos, Kath presented an overview of their experience and learnings from a three-month exploration of Corsica and the Italian Islands of Elba, Sardinia, and Sicily…


Highlights

  • Islio Giglio and exporing the interior of Isola d’Elba (the island where Napolean was exiled)
  • Girolata and Bonifacio
  • La Maddelina Archipelago
  • Sardinia: Santa Maria Navarese
  • Sicily: Castellsmmave del Golfo
  • motorbikes to Segesta
  • Cefalu with excited shouting greeters
  • The Aeolian Islands
  • Strait of Messina – with swordfish harpooning ships
  • buying pizza – sold by the metre (1 metre = 1.0936133 yards)!

Pluses 

  • super value wine at €2 for 1.5 litres ($2.60 for 1.32 quarts)!
  • fresh food at farmers’ markets, great cuisine
  • easy to provision
  • lots of anchorages – for free!
  • scenery
  • lots of historical sites
  • challenging sailing

Minuses

  • high season costs – so plan ahead to avoid expensive areas
  • macho men who shout at docks
  • a lot of prices are not set – so you have to negotiate… in Italian

Tips 

Sail Training 

  • Kath noted the offshore training course they took with John and Amanda Neal at Mahina was their best training investment to date.
  • Taking a 1 day course on how to park your boat – over and over and over again – is also great tuition spent.

Touring in Italy… 

  • A ‘marina’ in Italian just means a place to rest by the sea side – it could just be a good place for anchoring.
  • Avoid Naples and the west Italian coast as it is very expensive, especially during high season. 
  • Unlike Greece not much English is spoken, so it is helpful to learn some Italian if you can.

Anchoring is the way to go!

  • 50 nights at anchor, 4 at mooring buoys (total cost €40 /$52 – so mostly free! But sometimes there are anchor charges.)
  • 20 nights at marinas (total cost €680 /$884) 

 
Sailing in general… and Fishing

  • A sports whistle is a good way to get other boats’ attention (for example if one boat is dragging down on another).
  • Pour a little gin into the gills of caught fish before you kill them – it’s a sedative and ‘works a treat’.


Our Conclusion?

We actually didn’t need any persuading to check out Italy… but this was a fact-filled and very useful lecture. 

We are definitely destination dreamin’ of Corsica and the Italian Islands!

Ever cruised in Corsica, or the Italian Islands of Elba, Sardinia or Sicily?

Which islands did you visit?
What do you recommend as must-sees and don’t-forgets?

–Captain Cat


(transcribed by the Can Opener) 

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