Equinox_2019

We were woken early by a large ship arriving in the harbour, their thrusters being rather noisy. It made us aware, that the port is a commercial one, in addition to the small fishing fleet and the marina. The Sards, we find, are very reserved, but once you manage to engage with them, they open up and are then very friendly. The lady in the marina office gave us her first smile, when we commented on what a beautiful place she worked in. We had to stay with the boat during the morning, as one of the guys from a local marine services company was coming back with a part to fix the air conditioning. He replaced a broken part, but I was still suspicious that we hadn’t addressed the true problem of how it had burned out. My hunch proved true, when the same problem recurred later in the day, having run the air con for only half an hour. In theory we shouldn’t need it at the moment. When there is a breeze, the wind funnels through the boat and keeps us cool, but in the late aftern...

The day got off to a great start.  The shower facilities were by far the best we have come across in Sardinia so far.  Clean and spacious, and with limitless supplies of hot water, it was a real pleasure to be able to indulge oneself. We then had to prepare the boat for departure and set off on a not quite so mega voyage.   We were moving on to another marina on the other side of the bay only.   We wanted to visit both ports as we finalise our overwintering spot and both were candidates.   It seemed a little odd to be putting away all of the in-port gear knowing that we would be getting it out again in an hour or so, but it must be done. Even on a short journey in benign conditions the unexpected may occur, and it is essential to have the decks clear and be ready for anything. The biggest navigational challenge of the day was which side of a large group of rocks to go, we opted for the deeper seaward side as it only added a couple of hundred yard to ...

Gonone was all action from 8am, as teams of people were readying the day-tripper boats and ribs for the tourist trips to nearby caves. We didn’t have time to investigate, but the caves must be spectacular. By 9.00, coach loads of people were arriving to be taken out on the boats. It is a very small harbour in a very small town, whose existence seems to be to ferry tourists out on day trips. We found a gap in the traffic and eased our way out of our very tight space, with the help of the neighbours each side. At least their fenders were the correct height for us, so it was just a case of making sure they stay down to protect each of the boats. The German boat on our right also had to protect their overhanging barbecue. To have such a thing on the side, must mean they haven’t been squashed in, like sardines in a can, before. Looking back the town looks very attractive, as it is set in the steep sides of the mountain, but we were very happy to be moving on. It is the most expensi...

Tricia’s Birthday! Time for us to move on, and undertake one of the larger steps south down Sardinia.  We set off with a strong cross wind still blowing us in the marina, which made the exit rather difficult.  We were being pinned against a tourist boat, which had much higher sides than us, and its fenders were set to hold off other boats of the same size.  They were a menace to us. Once clear, we had a nice wind, coming from behind us most of the way, and we ate up the miles.   Our plan was to stop for the night in a bay about half way to Arbatax. The wind was forecast to be from the west to north west and die away during the night.  We anchored for lunch and settled to what we hoped would be a peaceful stopover. Unfortunately, the wind did not do what the forecast had predicted, continuing to blow from the south east, straight into the bay.  It also caused an unpleasant chop to the water and showed no sign of abating.  So by 16:00 w...

After the excitement of yesterday, a quieter day today. We managed to be up and to the shops in time to buy croissants, making up for yesterday.   While walking around the marina, we struck up a conversation with a guy on another British registered yacht. He was doing maintenance tasks between crew being available, and was planning to leave his boat there for the winter. Later he came by with some information for us, and we had a good chat over coffee, picking his brains about the places ahead. He had come from the south of Sardinia, overwintering in Cagliary last year.   We were able to tell him about some of the places further north that we had been.   We were planning a larger shopping expedition, and were very happy when Keith said that he was going to the supermarket, had a hire car and we were welcome to join him.   We took the opportunity to stock up on larger heavier items.   We still have a few weeks ahead, and will be away from shops for some days. ...

It’s the day of our 40th wedding anniversary, so we were determined to avoid chores and admin for the day. It’s also the last day of summer, it being the equinox tomorrow. We learned that there was to be fiesta in the main town of Bodoni, celebrating the end of summer. Seems like a good excuse for a fiesta to me. We therefore had a very relaxing start, but so relaxed that the shop in the marina had run out of croissants, our usual Sunday treat breakfast, by the time we got there. No matter, we had other food. We spent the morning out on our bikes, exploring this fabulous coastline, with it’s miles and miles of beaches. On the way back, we came through Budoni to see if the "last of summer" all day market had anything we wanted. It was very quiet, as this was now siesta time. The stalls had local cured meats and cheeses, jams, honey and lots of jewellery, leather goods and a few clothes. This lady was crocheting baby sized Converse Style basketball boots...

We woke to peace and tranquillity outside that we knew would not last. The sea was like glass and it was easy to see the bottom.  As we were preparing to leave the wind started to come in, and we got going as quickly as possible. The aim was to be at the next port, Ottiolu well before the worst of the wind arrived.  During the trip the wind was strong and built a bit during the morning. There was a very confused, lumpy sea, and so the trip was not the most pleasant.  We were glad we only had 6 or so miles to go. When we arrived we had to dock in a strong cross wind. We had asked the port to send a rib to assist with the process, which they duly did.  We were tied up before noon and the wind continued to blow strongly for the rest of the day.  Where we are in the marina, we are not very sheltered from this wind direction. This a lovely marina, beautifully kept, with well-tended flowers.  The facilities are the best that we have found in Sardinia...

We have been looking ahead and are trying to plan our moves over the coming days. The objective is to be in Cagliari in 2 weeks time, when we have our next guests arriving.  Time and distance wise this should not be a big problem, but there are only a limited number of suitable stopover points and we want to keep to our policy of shorter distances sailed per day this year.  We also have to tie this in with the weather forecast, as one of the nights will be in a bay with comparatively little shelter, especially from the east. The result of all of these deliberations was that we would stay put today, and enjoy the surroundings.  Stronger winds are forecast for the weekend, and we will aim to be in a marina while these pass through.  This will also give us the chance to have a mains electric connection and fill the water tanks, as we have been out of port now for a week. We took the dinghy ashore early on to have a walk along the beach. We are in a marine reser...

The ferry to Corsica did depart in the late evening yesterday, to be replaced by the new arrival at about 6.00 in the morning. No matter though, this one didn’t seem so noisy. It was moored on a different quay in the harbour with its bow lines out to two huge mooring buoys. A tug helped them to moor so we wondered if the vessel had a problem. Later, we saw it heading into Olbia, so I think that must have been the case. Next to the fishing harbour is a new marina of sorts, with just a few pontoons. There looks to be a nice promenade along the sea front. If we come back this way, it will be a good place to go if we need the services in a marina. For now, being at anchor here has been excellent. We slipped lines late morning to head for the bay of Spalmatore di Terra at the western end of Isola Di Tavolara. We went the long way round to avoid crossing the TSS leading into Olbia and a narrow channel between the island and the main land. There are some large ships and fa...

Last night we had a most spectacular vista of the lights of the land reflected in the glass calm water, with an accompanying wonderful view of the night sky. By the time we adjourned below, to avoid the mosquitoes, the moon had not risen. This morning the sea was still completely tranquil. We were the only boat at anchor in this large bay. After breakfast, we launched the tender and motored over to the small harbour, to then go into the village for food supplies. The harbour is way to shallow for us to take Equinox in. However there was a thriving boatyard there, with lots of smaller sailing and motor boats on the hard stand, being repaired. We saw several of these in the harbour. We think they are floating drinks and sunbathing platforms. The village was a quiet, sleepy place in the mid morning. It felt very much that high season is finished. We were advised to head for the vicinity of the church, to find the shops. As we passed the church, male singers were in fu...

Our Pass for the National Park has now expired, so we decided to leave rather than either renewing it or risking being caught. We slipped away from our mooring buoy at mid morning, slightly relieved that the yacht that had been moored to the nearest had already left.   We had been very close together overnight when I had checked, sufficient that I had shortened our mooring lines to prevent us from actually touching.   The things that you end up doing in the middle of the night. Initially the wind was barley enough to sail, but we persevered and were rewarded by the breeze filling in and the speed increasing as a result. We came past Porto Cuevo and the Costa Smerelda, the playground of the super-rich, but decided that we would not go into the port, even just to look around.   The pages of sailing social media are full of tales of mere mortals being turned away.    In nearby bays there were yachts of all shapes and sizes moored. One, reasonably size shi...

Under no particular pressure of time, we got ourselves together and prepared the boat to leave. The anchor was duly raised, and we headed off to the next stopping point.   There was a pleasant wind blowing, and we were able to sail, always a bonus. We went to a bay called Cala Portese, which is bounded at one end by a fairly narrow causeway linking what would otherwise be two separate islands. There are named separately, Isola Caprera and Isola Rossa.   There were mooring buoys laid, and we duly picked one up, although not as smoothly as we would have hoped.   Despite our efforts at fixing the “Swedish thing”, after one successful use a day or two ago, it reverted to type, and refused to perform its trick of putting a rope through the eye at the top of the buoy. Never mind, we caught the buoy with the boathook, but while trying to thread the mooring line through the eye by hand, the two halves of the boathook, separated and the useful end with the hook on it, floa...

We got up to peaceful serene scene, with the sea floor visible through cristal clear calm water. I had a swim from the back of the boat to the rocky shoreline, before breakfast. There is lots of healthy sea grass. A large shoal of fish was under the boat, presumably enjoying the shade we offered. I saw just one large prawn feeding on something in the sand. We took another trip through Deadman’s Passage, in the dinghy to get a closer view of the beaches and coves.   Aah, but it is Sunday, and with that brings oodles of day tripper boats, mooring too close and a massive increase in noise. The place is transformed from a quiet anchorage to a party scene, with lots of loud music, shouting, screaming, etc. We needed to let Equinox stretch her legs, so we slipped off the mooring buoy at lunchtime and headed out through the passages between the rocks and islands, into open water. As we passed through the last channel, a huge motor cruiser was steaming in. We had right...