To La Maddalena, 7-8 May 2023

From Propriano we had planned to make a stopover on the way to Bonifacio. However, after a very sunny first week with calm winds, the forecast for the next few days was stormy. We decided to sail through the Strait of Bonifacio on the 7th of May to find a good shelter for the coming stormy days without delaying our journey to the south...

But things turned out quite differently. The wind came much stronger than the forecast, from the east, forcing us to tack against the current and the waves in winds of around 25 knots. As we were not progressing as expected and would not reach Sardegna before nightfall, we decided to anchor in a sheltered bay on the way to Bonifacio. We found good shelter, soon joined by two other boats, in a small Corsican paradise, the bay of Arbitru.

To Propriano, 5-7 May 2023

We left the anchorage at the Sanguinaires Islands with some difficulty to head for Ajaccio, where we had to fill up our fuel tanks after crossing from Toulon almost entirely on engine power. We had to use the engine again as there was no wind.

Anchorage on "Les Sanguinaires"

To Ajaccio, 3-5 May

Everything was ready for the 10am departure on 3 May. Almost everything, in fact, as I discovered at the last minute that the batteries for the bow thruster were dead! It took 6 hours to get a new set and we finally got underway at 18:00. After an uneventful night, we saw the Corsican coast line just before dawn.

By then, the wind had disappeared and we started the engine. This is when the problems started...