Naty B.
review about Corsica and Capraia .... nature to live July 2019
Hurried tour of Capraia, with a few stops to swim and early return to port: at 9.00 on Sunday morning we were already at the port of San.Vincenzo and on Saturday at 18.00 we arrived in Baratti (not mentioned in the itinerary), which is just an hour of navigation from the port of S. Vincenzo, in fact the return took place a day earlier than expected.
The skipper cooked only twice in a week.
Very interesting and detailed instead hints on sailing and navigation.
Overall however positive experience. ----------------------------------------------------------------RESPOND OF THE SKIPPER MAURIZIO: Premise: on board all new guests at the first sailing holiday experience. All decisions have always been shared between the skipper (Maurizio) and the guests, even the smallest.
It was not two days of "bad weather", but throughout the central Tyrrhenian Sea with a focus on Corsica, Elba and Capria there was BURRASCA (beginning Sunday evening, ending Wednesday morning ...)!
In port, 3 damaged boats were brought by the Coast Guard.
In port in Marciana Marina there were 30-35 knots of wind and out waves of about 2 meters .... Look a little at the skipper's scruple, instead of keeping you still in San Vincenzo, he took you to Marciana to see a new place anyway. On board all new people never got on the boat.
Obviously at that point going to Corsica became time-consuming, as everyone wanted to do luuuuuuunghissime swims, stay in the coves to sleep and relax, surf little.
Moreover, with "dancer" wind and minimum intensity. Rather than do a "mower" of many hours, in agreement with all the guests we opted for a different ride.
We stayed a full day (morning, afternoon, night at anchor, morning and tour of the island before heading towards Tuscany).
The island of Capraia does not offer many shelters except those where we were with pleasure to swim. Moreover, the boat is large and you can not get too close to the shore or slip into the narrowest coves!
Maybe Naty preferred to wake up at 4 in the morning and sail with the sound of the engine, arrive at the port and disembark without a last bath?
I think instead that the idea of sailing in the afternoon of Saturday, going to the harbor in the Gulf of Baratti to still swim (very long more than an hour to play in the water with the tender) and relax with dicesa on the ground at the pub on the beach, was an excellent solution. Appreciated by all.
The fact that some locations are not mentioned in the itinerary, depends on the fact that the itinerary changes every moment according to weather conditions, the wishes of guests. The fact that the embarkation is in the late afternoon and the disembarkation in the early morning is clearly indicated in the proposal and is used by everyone to be able to proceed with cleaning, remittance etc. They do it in hotels, they do it with Airbnb, they do it on a boat. Otherwise it is not possible to guarantee a level of cleanliness and order adequate to the offer.
The skipper (Maurizio) is NOT obliged to cook!
He does this with pleasure by sharing with guests the kitchen, cleaning, conduct and management of the boat.
If Naty wanted a different service she could ask for it, perhaps specifying that she would not do anything to help clean the dishes, prepare meals or manage the common areas. We could have provided the hostess service appropriate to your requests.
Boat life is made of complicity and collaboration, sharing, passion.
The pleasure is also to discover the "local" flavors and make them known to other guests. Just want to be involved.
So much so that when I also made food because the pleasantness of the company was so much, the result was amazing. Congratulations and slurp from all !
With great patience and passion I always try to involve guests in the practice of sailing, but the "passivity" of some.... it's a bit daunting :-)
