Little Dragon Grotto

First morning in Bonifacio. The hotel Solemare is great. We've been upgraded to a suite and there is a relaxing pool with a citadel view. If there is a drawback it's that the clubs opposite us on the marina play techno dance music until 230 AM and the bass heavy reverberations carry across the marina water very well. 

For breakfast I buy a Pain des Morts (Bread of the Dead?) a local bonifacien specialty. It's a round loaf of bread with a lightly browned top filled with raisins and walnuts. Reminds me a little of a raisin challah. 

After breakfast it's off to the 1 hr boat tour of the grottos and calanques in the coastline that surrounds Bonifacio. 

I'm on the Thalassa 1 with about 20 other people. Dana hasn't joined me because we will be spending the afternoon on another boat and she figured you've seen one grotto you've seen them all. I totally agree with her decision but I can't resist the opportunity to get a few shots of Bonifacio from the water. 

The first stop is the Grotto dI Sdragonatto (Little Dragon Grotto). The boat heads towards a large alcove in the cliff wall. At first it looks like there's nowhere else for the boat to go. Then you notice the crack in the wall at the back of the alcove and that maybe, just maybe there's enough room for your boat to get through into the chamber beyond. Long story short, there is. 

Once inside the grotto you can gaze into the greenish blue waters, stare at the crystalline structures on the walls or look up to see the hole in the roof of the grotto that looks very much like the outline of Corsica itself. 

  

After the Little Dragon grotto the boat continues a little further west jn order to take us by a few calanques, which are rocky inlets which are often unreachable by foot. Finally the boat passes by Bonifacio from the sea allowing us some spectacular views of the staircase and the village overhang.