23rd May Macinaggio to Bastia + 24th May, Island tourism

Sealion
Richard Martin
Fri 24 May 2013 21:53

42 42N  09 27E

 

Having had a long day sailing from France to Corsica on Wednesday we had a late morning and leisurely breakfast Thursday morning – not to mention cold showers  – then set off for a sort trip down the East coast of Corsica to Bastia. – The sky was clear so we could see the Island of Elba (just off the coast of Italy) to our East

 

We had chosen to go down the East coast of Corsica to shelter from the westerly winds that have started to roar across the Med. Nonetheless the winds were gusty and very fickle – anything from nothing to F6.

 

Having arrived at Bastia we heard that the weather/wind situation was getting worse and winds of 60knots were forecasted during the night and into tomorrow. So it rapidly became clear we were going to get stuck in Bastia on Friday.

 

Well the warnings proved right and heavy winds blew last night gusting to 50 knots in the marina – so heaven knows what it was like at sea. The boat was rolling around and pretty noisy with these heavy winds.

 

Friday morning the wind was still screaming through the marina so we set off to visit Corte in the centre of the Island with a long train ride up through the hills and mountains stopping at many little stations (including the ‘Big and the Ugly’ )

 

Tonight the wind has dropped so we hope to move on further South tomorrow but heavy winds seem to be hitting the Med generally so it is now very likely we will not be able to achieve our target of Sicily in a sensible time frame.

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