Saturday/Sunday, Oct 11 – 12, 2014 —
We left Menton about 6 pm for the overnight sail to Corsica. Sailing away from the coast was a beautiful sight with the villages along the water and a backdrop of the mountains. The deep ravine in the limestone cliffs beside the marina marks the border of France and Italy. When people describe the French and Italian Riviera we have never heard the mountains mentioned. To us it is what makes the coastline so magnificent.
We had no wind but enjoyed the almost mirror like seas. Owing to the smooth seas dinner was easily prepared on the grill during the early hours of the passage–salmon with haricot vert and potato salad with local olives. After about eight hours of motoring the wind came up enough to set the sails and turn off the engine. We love that silence. To further add to the beauty of the night the 3/4 moon rose out of the water and lit up the sky for us. Until it rose we enjoyed the amazing number of stars that filled the sky.
We can confirm that the cruise ship industry is alive and active. We each spent our overnight watches monitoring the heavy volume of cruise ships in the area. Our AIS system provides information on the name, size, destination, direction and speed of boats around us as well as closest point of approach and timing which, along with radar, helps keep us safe. Twice we had a cruise ship within 2 miles of us – one of them only 3/4 mile away. That is very close for something that big and moving that fast. Later I listened to operators on two cruise ships who were within one mile of one another discussing how they would pass. At least in a pinch we are more maneuverable!
Calvi came in to sight about 17 miles out with its mountains rising about 8,000 feet. Calvi, located in the northwest corner of the island of Corsica has a wide bay, lined by beaches, and again backed by a mountain range. It is a popular landing spot for cruisers crossing from anywhere along the southern coast of France as well as being a great town, so it tends to be very crowded in the summer months. Along with an always full marina, the bay has an additional 230 moorings for rent and space to anchor. It is easy to enter and has great holding ground. Now that the cruising season is coming to an end, in spite of it being a weekend, the moorings are gone and we are the only boat anchored in the bay. 
The water here is the clearest we have seen in the Med. In 19 feet of water we can clearly see the sand and small starfish on the bottom, along with the anchor and chain.
While Corsica is part of France, it is actually closer to the mainland of Italy than to the mainland of France. Calvi is more Italian in culture than French from its history. There is a large citadel on the top of the solid rock hill in the city. It was built in 1268 (13th century) when the citizens of Calvi asked the Genovese for protection which it received for 500 years until it was given to the French in the 18th century. Today there are old homes leaning over the stone cobbled narrow streets, some occupied and others that look abandoned. The French Foreign Legion has a base within the citadel and there is a basilica at the top that is still active.