3rd to 6th June - Calvi to Bonifacio (looking much like Ajaccio)

Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Sat 6 Jun 2009 16:56
We awoke to the news that Force 8 gales were forecast in Calvi.  This was rather worrying as the lazy line for our mooring had not been installed (it still sat on the dock!)and so we had moored using the anchor which seemed to be dragging in the wind.  So we tied an assortment of ropes to the boat next door and also to its lazy line, which seemed to work, although when the winds came the forces on some of the lines were tremendous.
 
We had a very helpful English couple moored on our other side, who lived in Calvi.  They said that we should be careful not to snag our anchor as there is a chain that runs along the channel opposite the quay to which all the lazy lines are attached.  Of course, needless to say, when we took the dinghy over to have a look we found that our anchor was trapped under the chain.  We then spent the rest of the day dealing with French bureaucrats trying to get a diver to come and free us.
 
Calvi is a great little town but very windy and so, instead of one night, we were stuck there for three.  Also, where we had northerly winds when we came up the coast, now that we wanted to go back down they had changed to southerlies. The original plan had been to end up in Bonafacio in the south of Corsica but because of the winds we ended up back in Ajaccio on Friday night. 
 
Again we were faced with an anchor mooring as there was no lazy line.  The anchor seemed to be holding and with south westerly winds forecast across the boat I put an extra line on to stop us swinging and we headed out for dinner.  No sooner had we sat down when a huge gust of wind came from the east and when we got back to the boat we found that it had swung into the French catamaran next door and smashed our port navigation light.  Fortunately that cat had someone on board who generously gave us one of his (four!) lazy lines and we were then very secure.
 
The weekend was going to be another crew change.  Pete and Tina had been fantastic on board.  Extremely helpful and considerate and I do not think that we have ever eaten as well as we did this week. Pete only managed to lose a shackle, shatter my diving mask and break my foot - a significant improvement over last year's snubber incident.  The boat also looks immaculate without me having to lift a finger - although I did manage to sneakily use the Hoover without Tina spotting me.