It was a bit overcast and blustery, but never the less we thought we would walk the 8 mile return trip to Caprera Island and visit Garibaldi’s house. It was closed, it was Monday, trust us.

The next morning after a visit to the local Jungle Wash laundry, always good for a laugh, we headed off on the bus to the beach at Cala Spaltamore. There were only a few people there, the sun did come out and we ventured in to the crystal clear sea.

 

 On our return Felice, a marinero we had been chatting to when he was fishing for squid earlier that day, motored over in his tender and presented us with a big bowl of squid & pasta cooked in the squid ink. It tasted lovely even though it takes a bit of looking at. Gordon had three bowlfuls!

  

We left Cagliari on 14 April 2016 to begin the next part of our adventure which is to go up the East coast of Sardinia. This will mean we will have gone round the whole Island partly by car and party by boat.

Leaving Cagliari

It was a 38 mile sail to Porto Corallo, which is nothing to shout about but a helpful night stop going North. The next day was a further 30 miles through fog part of the way on to Santa Teresa Naveresse a nice village and good wee marina. Gordon had to return home for a few days so I just chilled and enjoyed the peace and quiet on the boat on my own.

Approaching St Maria Navaresse

Marina St M Navaresse

Hull scrubber M St Navaresse

Hill top view of St Maria Navaresse Marina & Arbatax in distance

Rock stack North of Navaresse

We are now heading up towards Olbia as our friends Iain and David are coming out on the 3^rd May for four days, so we are taking the chance of some quiet anchorages, peaceful days and early nights before they arrive. Our last Marina stop was La Caletta for a ridiculous 7 Euros 30 cents a night!

La Caletta

That won’t last we are now headed into Aga Khan Territory with super yachts the size of cross channel ferries.

There was some fine sailing on the way to La Calleta and then on to our fist anchorage this year Porto Brandinchi.

We spent last night in a beautiful bay in Porto Brandinchi that actually turned out to be quite rolly during the night but very beautiful all the same.

Anchorage Porto Brandinchi

Today we moved along to an anchorage just off Isola Tavolara. It’s a great time to be doing this as in the Summer it seemingly gets very very busy and we currently have these bays to ourselves. Bliss! We are also having some great sailing here, so far the Med hasn’t disappointed us in that respect.

Next we headed for Olbia Marina as this was a good place to pick up Iain and David. Well, did I get the shock of my life when they arrived. They had what I can only describe as a very large suitcase bag type of thing on wheels plus two small hand bags. They were also having four days in Rome and said they needed the extra clothes for that. Can I say now, anyone coming out to visit must only bring a small SOFT bag, their own towel and Tetley Tea Bags, yes, I know, its stricter than Ryanair baggage rules.lol

As usual, we had a great time with the guys, visiting some of the areas on the Costa Smerelda . Portorotondo who do great cocktails but have crap toilets, no pun intended and Porto Cervo which is where” those and such as those go”.

Day sail to Portorotondo

Afternoon cocktails

And then evening ones !

To be honest, we were all a bit disappointed in Porto Cervo, we had gone there as we thought the boys would like the abfab reputation -it was dead. However we had a belated Birthday party for Gordon with balloons, banners and sparkly things which the guys brought out, followed by a fantastic meal which we were treated to by our guests. Thanks guys

The boys also put in some work this time with some sail training as they are constantly talking about getting their own boat. I think they’ll need a few more visits before they venture out on their own but all in all, they both did well.

The winds here can be quite strong and come from nowhere so you are always on your toes. The day Iain and Dave left it was to blow up a bit, so as soon as they got into their taxi to the airport we jumped back in the boat and headed out to Isola La Maddalena before it got too strong.

We arrived here two days ago and are in Marina La Gavetta. We needed to get some provisions and this is one of the few places in this area with a supermarket. However, it looks like we will be holed up here for about a week as another Cyclone is on its way. We would have time to nip across the Bonifacio Strait to Corsica, but that would mean not seeing anything of La Maddalena Archipelago and I have been really looking forward to this part. So nothing else for it, stay put till the wind eases at the weekend and then explore for a few days in some of the beautiful anchorages off the Islands in the Archipelago.

Even at that, it’s going to be a whistle stop tour of here, Corsica and the West Coast of mainland Italy. It’s a horrifically expensive area in high summer for marinas, and it’s meant to be extremely busy, so we are trying to get to Sicily by mid to end June and we will decide where we go from there. So that’s the thinking at the moment, but it’s only the current plan and that can change on a daily basis. All part of the fun!

La Gavetta berth – Camira the smallest as usual

La Gavetta