Kayaking in Corsica (27 images)

Feel like an eco-friendly adventure on the Mediterranean? Grab a kayak and head out onto the coastline of Corsica


Sea Kayak in Corsica - Corsica at water level

Secret creeks, sandy bays and red rocks. To discover natural Corsica, kayak offers a complete and exhilarating freedom.

Lined up as for the parade, eight red and yellow kayaks are waiting for us, on the sand of the small bight of Portigliolo, in the south of Ajaccio. After a short briefing...
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Feel like an eco-friendly adventure on the Mediterranean? Grab a kayak and head out onto the coastline of Corsica


Sea Kayak in Corsica - Corsica at water level

Secret creeks, sandy bays and red rocks. To discover natural Corsica, kayak offers a complete and exhilarating freedom.

Lined up as for the parade, eight red and yellow kayaks are waiting for us, on the sand of the small bight of Portigliolo, in the south of Ajaccio. After a short briefing about the secrets of the "double paddle" and a reminder of the safety rules, we break adrift. Direction Propriano, 25 miles in the south. In theory, three days of navigation are enough to join back the Valinco gulf... Unless the "ponente", western wind coming with the oceanic perturbations, decides to send us a disturbing swell...
I will not lie to you, despite a sea as smooth as a millpond, we start paddling with a lot of splashes and even soakings for some of us. Under a fierce sun and a water of a clearness and a temperature worthy of the Tropics, it is not that disastrous. Our kayaks, long and stable, with raised canvas to plough through the waves, are especially conceived for the sea navigation. Comfortably settled in the kayak, legs lied down, we easily learn how to keep our balance and to stand out to the sea.
In kayak, at water level, we quickly think we are a seadog. We keep wavering between the rocks and we almost are on familiar terms with the seagulls that are heavily flying, railing against these strange invaders. The coastline unthreads with its small creeks, its strings of rocks, and its sandy bights bathed in an emerald green water. The violent and antagonistic perfumes of the maquis go down on the water and get lost into the marine effluviums. Full and heady freedom of the discovery of a nature and secret Corsica. Flying fishes spread in front of my stem, rebound once or twice on the wavelets before disappearing under the surface.
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