Cala Coticcio

About This Anchorage

Cala Coticcio is the most photographed cove on Caprera and, for many crews, the single image they take home from the archipelago: two small beaches of pale sand between rounded pink-granite bluffs, in water that shades from white through turquoise to deep blue within a boat length. It sits on the north-east coast of Caprera inside Zone B of the La Maddalena National Park, which means navigation and daytime anchoring on sand are permitted but the bottom must be chosen with care and the night must be spent elsewhere. Land access has been restricted since 2020 — walking in from the Caprera trails now requires an authorised guide — which paradoxically makes arriving by sea the easiest way to see it. Caprera itself is the island where Giuseppe Garibaldi spent his last 26 years; his white house at the south end is a national museum and the whole island is a nature reserve.

Hazards

• !Very limited swinging room: the cove takes only a handful of boats and the granite closes in on three sides
• !Open to the NE: any north or east component turns the cove into a lee shore with no room to manoeuvre
• !Rock and Posidonia between the sand patches: verify the bottom visually before dropping — the fine for anchoring on seagrass here is real
• !Tripper boats: excursion traffic from Palau and La Maddalena arrives from mid-morning and swings unpredictably at close quarters

Skipper's Tips

• →Arrive before 10:00 or after 17:00 — between those hours the cove belongs to the excursion boats
• →The water is clear enough to eyeball the sand from the bow; send someone forward rather than trusting the sounder alone
• →Combine it with a night on the Porto Palma or Cala Portese buoys on the other side of Caprera — 5nm round Punta Rossa
• →Garibaldi's Compendio Garibaldino museum at the south of Caprera is worth an afternoon if you have a dinghy and legs

Nearby Anchorages