June 20, 2025
Everyone was up on the earlier side today to head to the dock to start our boat day. Kyle rented a Zodiac boat from a nearby marina that was just a 10 minute walk from our house. He also rented a sea scooter that you can hold in your hands while it propels you through the water. We had used something similar, a sea bob, a few years back in St.Martin and loved it. Both kids had the confidence that they’d be able to drive it alone but that didn’t happen.
On the way to the dock, we bought a few pool noodles and a football. Each noodle was 5 euro which felt insane but we figured they would help the boys in the ocean. They of course also served as weapons and the boys were banned from holding them shortly after purchase.
We first drove for ~30 minute south along the east coast of Corsica and saw a lighthouse (Phare de la Chiappa) on the way. This makes 6! Len kept asking all sorts of questions about the lighthouse that we had no idea about. One being, “Do people eat dinner in that lighthouse?”
We dropped anchor at a beach called Carataggio, spent time jumping off the boat, snorkeling with the sea scooter and eating snacks on the boat. Len complained a rash on his leg hurt from the salty water, but after 30 minutes of solid complaining in the morning, we didn’t hear about it again for the rest of the day. After a few jumps, Ollie complained he was cold so I hung out on the boat with him while he warmed up.
Next we headed another 30 minutes south to Santa Guilia which looked super busy as we arrived. The water was also filled with people and new to us water devices to rent like a peddle boat with a slide on top and a stand up paddle board with an under-board motor. Thankfully there was an easy to reach dock where we parked the boat for a bit before walking ashore in search of lunch. We went to Trois Deux restaurant for lunch at the recommendation of the gentleman who rented us the boat. The food was fine but the margarita was the most memorable– each of the adults only had 1 but it was sneaky strong and surprised us. We played a game of Uno before the kids snuck off to the water to play while we finished our meals and waited on their kid’s meal ice cream.
After lunch, we all played in the water with the kids and Kyle waited for the margarita to wear off. Then we drove south to Porto Novo; a cove only accessible by boat. This cove had a handful of boats anchored in the bay but the beach looked nearly deserted. Kyle took each of the kids to shore by way of the sea scooter while I slowly swam to meet them. Ollie had been begging to play football on the beach all day so we (mostly Kyle) held up this promise. Len complained he was hungry most of the time we were at the beach but Ollie loved the dedicated football time. I took the sea scooter to the boat for a time check to make sure we still had enough time to play before heading back to the marina. Amanda and Bri were lounging in the sun on the boat and couldn’t hear my shouts from the shore. I found that it was nearly 5pm and we had to return the boat by 6pm– with a ~60 minute boat ride back we were cutting it close. I scootered back to the beach to tell the boys we had to move it. Kyle had the idea of creating a human chain so he could hold the scooter and get the 4 of us back to the boat quickly. Kyle held the scooter with Ollie between his arms then hooked his feet onto the float that held Len and I brought it up the rear by grabbing Len’s float. I had my doubts, but it worked! Len’s job was to hold the football and he dropped it but I snagged it before it floated away.
The ride back was not as pleasant as the ride south had been. We put the awning away so we could speed home and try to make the 6pm cut off. The boat was super light and would crash over the crest of each rolling wave. At one point, Kyle tried to follow along in the wake of a bigger boat but this just made the ride even rockier and unpleasant. I was about to whack him to tell him I’d rather pay the late fee than watch one of our kids fly off the boat, but he soon eased off the throttle a bit. We made it back to the dock at exactly 6pm! It could have been 10pm we were all so exhausted. Len somehow fell asleep on the ride back and we had to shake him awake at the dock. He tried to convince Bri to carry him home but we roused him awake and to his feet.
The boys took a dip in the pool when we were home while we threw together a dinner of leftovers. After a few shows, we all went to bed right when the kids did.
