Day 158: A Bumpy Boat Ride — Epic, Dreamy Lunch on Secluded Cavallo Island — Two Gorgeous Beaches
When I pictured my 40th birthday, my fantasy was always an epic lunch at some south of France spot, with crystal blue water twinkling, rose wine flowin, hot sun, good friends, family…. Alas, my 40th is August 5 and it falls when we’re in Shanghai, so the dream wasn’t meant to be…
Or so I thought!
Today WAS the dream birthday party, albeit a little bit unexpectedly. We pretended it was my 40th. It was everything I pictured…
I knew from my 1993 time in Corsica that key to experiencing this place is finding someone with a boat and getting them to take you to all the only-accessible-by-boat beaches and coves.
So I worked with our house-booking agency to book a boat for a day. We met up with skipper Victor at the Porto-Vecchio Marina and boarded our boat by 10:30 am.
Interestingly, most of the boats in the marina are Zodiac-type raft boats — even the big ones. The kind that serve as tenders for yachts. It might be because they’re light and shallow, and the terrain is rocky and craggy?
So we had a 12-person Zodiac, and set out to enjoy lunch on a nearby island and nearby beaches for swimming and sun.
The first thirty minutes of our trip out to the island — Cavallo Island — was uneventful. Sunny, laughter-filled, wind in our hair.
Then.
As we reached more ocean-y, dark blue waters, the swell picked up and our tiny little raft thing headed nose-first into the white caps, our destination a hazy faint line in the distance. The kids and Jo and Dave sat in the rear where it was “less bumpy,” while Teddy and I sat in the front.
We got pummeled. It was so, so unpleasant and uncomfortable and admittedly frightening. Relentless beating wind and thudding boat pounding the water over and over.
After a few particularly hairy slams against big waves, Teddy was like, “This is really borderline. This is really borderline.” He was holding on to a rope. I had my legs braced against one of the sides of the wall. Everyone in the back got soaked head to toe.
I could hear Joanna in the back saying things like, “It’s an adventure! We’re almost there!” to calm the kids.
After more than half an hour of this, the waters calmed and we finally found ourselves zooming over calmer waters, the coast of Cavallo Island within reach.
As we pulled into the marina, I was angrily muttering to myself that whatever awaited us on shore couldn’t *possibly* be worth that hellish ride.
But I was wrong!
So, so wrong. What awaited was lunch at Hotel Des Pecheurs, a luxury spot on the water.
It’s the kind of place you see in magazines and dream about. The kind of place where Hermes shoots ad campaigns. In fact, there was an Hermes photo shoot happening there when we arrived!
And because it’s June, the place was empty. We were the only guests on the deck when we arrived.
Every ounce of stress and irritation about the boat ride evaporated in seconds.
The kids threw bread to the fish off the attached dock while the grownups enjoyed a pre-lunch drink.
We settled into our lovely table for six for lunch too, enjoying white wine, homemade seafood pasta and fish in the sun.
A few more folks trickled in for lunch, but it was generally very quiet and peaceful.
Our cute waiter told us Roberto Cavalli has a big villa on the island — which we read later is known as the “Mustique of the Med” — and regularly dines at the restaurant with his entourage, including his 25-year-old girlfriend. Apparently he isn’t very nice to the staff.
Since this was suddenly my “birthday party,” the waiter brought us out two platters of petit fours and goodies.
We could have lingered there for hours more. I want to come back. Maybe my 50th??
We couldn’t leave without some pics on the dock so we headed that way after settling up.
But – oh no! – a gust of wind caught James’s famous Orioles hat and lifted it up into the air and down into the water!!! Panic!!!
Fortunately the water was inviting and turquoise, shallow and clear. Teddy chucked his shirt and climbed in to fetch it. Hero!
We got all of our shots and reluctantly said goodbye to this magical, dreamy place.
Victor our skipper assured us that the rest of the ride wouldn’t be like earlier.
Indeed, the cross back to Corsica was milder and we went on to make two more fun stops:
- A rocky cove. Victor dropped anchor about 200 feet from the shore of an empty rocky beach and we all jumped in and swam to land. The kids wore their life vests. Water was brisk, but got noticeably warmer and more comfortable as it got shallower. The beach didn’t have sand but flat round-edged pebbles instead, making it nearly impossible to walk barefoot, but quite comfortable to lie on. They were hot and smooth — heaven for warming up after the swim. The six of us basked there to dry out for a while before swimming back and checking out the next place.
- We rode about 15 minutes away to a sandy shore with an unbelievably blue and turquoise stretch of water. Again, we jumped off the back and swam in (Jo opted to chill on the warm boat). Basked on THAT beach for a bit, then eventually got summoned back by Victor — it was time to head back to Porto Vecchio.
The kids got wrapped up like burritos in their towels and slept the 45-minute ride back to the marina. It was a lovely ride in the golden-y late afternoon sun.
Back at home we had a heavenly little aperitif house on the deck, followed by grownup dinner of grilled vegetables, chicken breasts and some baby potatoes out on the deck. Simple and delicious. What a day.
