(Bonnie-fass-e-o)

After the glorious bay of Pinarello we headed off to Porto Vecchio, a relatively large town like Bastia. Unlike Bastia it was not so full of charm and very little was open but we did manage to find a great restaurant for dinner where my lovely French family all had Moules Frites and I had a salad!

The highlight of Porto Vecchio was that the weather when we arrived was incredible and for a few hours it felt like Summer and we opened the ‘Terrace’ doors on the boat to connect the outside with the inside. The designers of our brand of boat, Neel, call this concept a ‘Cockloon’ where the Cockpit of the boat becomes one with the Saloon living area.

Early on Thursday 30th morning we set off for one of our favourite places ever, Bonifacio, which is right at the southern tip of Corsica and has a stunning landscape as you approach the harbour with its rugged cliffs and rambling citadel.

The journey was scheduled to take about 3 hours but we took a small detour to an incredible natural sea scape – the iles Lavezzi. It is difficult to convey the wonder of this area – it really is like a small oasis surrounded by magnificent rocks in the middle of the sea!

We have been there a number of times in high season and you almost have to push other boats out of the way to get a spot! This is how it looked for us this week……You can see there is one lone sailboat in there and we managed to also get in (I was sceptical that we could!) and have a few moments to take in the wonder. You can see in the second picture what looks like a temple arising from the granite. It is in fact a monument to the to 385 sailors and 393 soldiers who lost their lives as their frigate La Semillante ran aground in 1855 – well before any GPS or Radar to assist with navigation!

And then the stunning entrance to Bonifacio and into the town itself which was the perfect place to spend my Birthday!

I had calls from the family and friends and my Mum even managed to FaceTime me! Jacques, Catherine and Pierre spoilt me and we had a wonderful afternoon (with Pink Champagne!) and then dinner in one of the few, but very special, restaurants open at this time of year.

Catherine and Pierre were due to leave us the next day so it was a perfect end to their stay with us.

The following day, after we said sad goodbyes to our guests it was catch up time for tasks such as shopping and laundry – oh joy! We had to get stocked up as the high wind was about to engulf us again – looks like we’ll be in Beautiful Bonifacio for another 5 days until it’s clear enough to cross to Sardinia!

We need to be in the south of Sardinia by 9th April for our next guest to join us – that’s 150 miles to do in 4 days which is a push but not a problem – as long as the weather is kind to us!!