Snorkeling at Vardiola Plage, close to "La Testa" and Pinarellu

Description of the site

This spot is difficult to find, but worth the trouble to do your best. The beach has no facilities at all. The advantage is clear: no crowds on the beach. But you'll be surprised by the amount of small boats 'parked' close to the beach.
The village close by Pinarellu has better facilities, but of course a lot of people too.

Google Maps offers a resonable view on the beach at the most East point of the beach, although the details are not very good in this picture.

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 41 25.53 N 9 23 15.22 E (this is the most precize way to view the spot anyway!)

Snorkeling character:

The site only gets two stars because of the safety conditions of the most eastern side of the beach (on the left in the large picture), close to the place where you enter the beach, coming form the parking. Without this disadvantage the site would surely get three stars.
At the easterly and of the beach, the bottom of the sea, the water is very shallow. The bottom of the sea is covered with large (some 40cm) and sharp stones. Caused by that, you can not snorkel here and even walking into the water is not safe. Even when you use your flippers or shoes: the size of the stones make it impossible to walk safely.
But this is a unique ecosystem! We did not see anything like it at Corsica.
So take the trouble of walking west a little, swim towards the boats, then turn east a little (towards the open sea) and swim back towards the coast. This way you will reach this unique spot coming from deep water. You can just float over the unique spot, staying in safe depth.
Take your time, you may have the luck to see a moray (we had).
Vardiola Plage may not be suitable for east and south wind conditions because of its poor protection against waves.

Travel suggestions

Vardiola Plage is difficult to find. Driving on N198, follow the signposts towards Pinarellu. Drive noth through the village. First follow the signs 'Testa' or 'La Testa'. You will have to look for a small sign 'Vardiola Plage'. Follow the road, at the end of it you will find a small sandy parking.

Respond to webmaster Erik Toussaint

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Upper picture of the beach: T. Liannet.