Snorkeling in the 'Golfu di Rondinara' 
Naar de Nederlandse Corsica pagina's
Description of the site
Rondinara is probably the Corsican bay that is most often portrayed on postcards. This must be inspiring, the bay is
crowded with boats in the water and people on the beach, although all postcards show the bay with only one or two
charming ships.
Close to the beach is a camping located. The camping does not offer very much comfort, nor much shadow. But it does
offer a place very close to the bay.
The beach is long and wide. Close to the waterline the beach is sometimes covered with dead sea grass.
The Southern edge of the bay is in fact a peninsula: Punto de Rondinara. When you take the trouble of walking a
different direction than the vast majority, you may find yourself surprised by another bay at the other side
of the peninsula.
Starting form the peninsula to snorkel in main bay is not easy and not very safe. So when you want to explore the
Southern part is the bay, it is better to start form the Southern end of the beach.
Google Maps offers a resonalble view on the bay and the peninsula.
For Google Earth users: our provider Tele2 is not willing to change the MIME-settings of the server, so the server does not support placemark files. Therefor we supply two alternatives:
- save placemark file as *.kmz file (so not as zip) and duouble click it from your explorer, or
- cut and paste the coordinates into the 'fly to' box: 41 28 00.33 N 9 16 06.39 E (this is the most precize way to view the spot anyway!)
Snorkeling character:
The sea grass is rather grey at Rondinara. The diversity and quantity of fish is therefore rather limited. On top of that,
the bay is crowded with boats in all sizes, which makes snorkeling not very attractive. Because of these facts, Rondinara
gets only three stars.
But when you start from the South
end of the beach, you can leave the boats on your left, and explore the rocky and shallow waters where boats do not
like to come. Over here the sea grass is less grey. The water is so shallow the sea grass almost reaches the surface, leaving
only some 50cm water over it. You may find snorkeling a bit scary over here: the sea grass harbours all kind of animals, and
you will touch the sea grass with your body every now and then.
(The picture shows the south end of the bay and the peninsula.)
Above this sea grass we had a very special encounter: two Garfish. Very long and narrow fish that swims at the surface
of the water when hunting. 'Neck-pain' position for snorklers. When you take the trouble of looking up every now and then,
you may find Garfish more than once, when snorkeling in Corsica.
Other special animals we saw at Rondinara: a walking sea star and a young Gilt-head Bream (probably lost its way)
Travel suggestions
Finding Rondinara is no trouble at all. You will find signposts 'Suartone'and 'Rondinara'at the N198
(Bonifacio - Porto Vecchio), some 15 km North form Bonifacio.
The road is not very good and curving. It brings you brings you to Suartone, a village 'in the middle of no-where'. In hills
that often suffer from fire. In 2004, the hills were totaly blackened, except for the village and some 100 metres extra.
A few minutes later you can enjoy the view at the bay. When you pass the camping, you will find a large parking, almost
at the Southern end of the beach. From here, you can explore the bay or choose walk South to the other bay. Of course Google maps can also help you to find your way.
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