Blood-red porphyry cliffs 300m straight up out of clear water, a village of 20 people with no road access, and the Scandola…Blood-red porphyry cliffs 300m straight up out of clear water, a village of 20 people with no road access, and the Scandola marine reserve next door, where fish biomass is so high that grouper come to look at you. Ospreys nest on the cliffs. Girolata is reachable only by boat or a two-hour mule track. The Scandola Reserve, created in 1975, was one of France's first marine protected areas and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site alongside the Calanches de Piana. Visitor pressure led to new anchoring and access limits from 2020 onward. Anchorage: Genuinely good shelter from the west and north-west, one of Corsica's few protected west-coast bays. Moorings in the reserve; anchoring restricted in posidonia. Hazards: Moorings in the reserve; anchoring restricted in posidonia. More