Sardinia & Corsica

The channel between Sardinia and Corsica is one of the few places in the Mediterranean where the sea genuinely keeps you honest. The Strait of Bonifacio funnels the prevailing westerlies into something considerably fiercer than the surrounding waters suggest — gusts through there can reach 35 knots with almost no warning, and the current runs hard.

Respect it, time your passage for morning when conditions are typically more settled, and it rewards you with some of the most dramatic granite scenery on the planet: ochre cliffs, stacked boulders the colour of old brick, water so clear you can read the anchor chain all the way to the sand.

Day sailing between the two islands suits most charterers well. The dominant wind regime is westerly to north-westerly, the maestrale, which makes southbound passages comfortable and northbound ones a beat or a motor in light summer air. Costa Smeralda's anchorages — Cala di Volpe, the Maddalena Archipelago, Spargi — are beautiful and busy; arrive by noon in July and August or accept a rolly spot near the channel.

Porto Cervo is the megayacht circus it's famous for, worth a drink ashore before you escape south toward Villasimius or west toward Carloforte, where the tuna culture and Ligurian dialect feel like a different country entirely.

Charter bases run out of Olbia and Portisco on the Sardinian side, and Bonifacio or Porto Vecchio on the Corsican side. Provisioning is straightforward in larger marinas but expensive near the superyacht quays — shop in the towns, not the ports. French paperwork for Corsica and Italian for Sardinia means carrying both sets of ship's documents if you're crossing.

May and early June offer the best balance of decent wind, uncrowded anchorages, and manageable prices; anyone who dislikes a lively sea should rethink the Bonifacio passage entirely.