The usual pre departure duties. Ed washed down Arctura, whilst I went shopping for provisions. The local Spar had everything we needed and a small diversion to the local Boulangerie and Patiserie, completed the shop with fresh baguette, croissants and cakes.

We slipped lines at 1252, in glorious sunshine and headed to Cavallo, on a parallel course to the Corsican coast, admiring the wonderful scenery of chalk cliff shaped and sculptured by the sea and winds.

We arrived at Cavello after passing Lavezzi and tacking northwards. Our second visit to this wonderful island was better than the first. Beautiful sunshine filtered down through the still waters, making them turquoise and throwing defracted sun rays onto the sandy bottom, some 4 metres below the surface.

We readied the tender and headed for the beach. According to some reports, you can’t go beyond the wooden fence, but we saw no signs that this was forbidden. In fact, yards from the beach, there a concreted road that seems to go the whole length of the island. We turned left and followed the road for about half a mile, passing what appeared to be hotel staff accommodation, before eventually coming across the beautiful hotel and spa, “Des Pecheurs”. A beautiful setting, with a restaurant facing the sea and with its own private beach, with a terrace to match. Had a look at the menu and the dishes on offer, started from around €30 for basic pasta, we weren’t tempted and after a brief walk around the restaurant and bar area, we returned to the beach. It was so warm in the sunshine and after testing the water,I decided to go for a swim in the crystal clear waters of the bay.

The waters were as warm as any indoor swimming back home in Anglettere. I was tempted to swim all the way back to Arctura, but was persuded to drive the tender home, to Arctura.

Back on board, for a pleasant supper of sausage, potatoes and salad accompanied by a fine Muscadet sur Lie.