Thursday 20 September 2019

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 fast moving ferries using the traffic separation scheme. We also felt the route would give us cleaner wind. The island of Tavolara is a tall, narrow high chunk of granite, with steep sides but at the western end is a low lying spit, extending about 3/4 mile, with a golden sandy beach. Not surprisingly the north west gradient wind was swirling in different directions around the southern side of the island, but we had a good sail all the way.

We dropped anchor in the bay and, as usual I went for a swim with mask and snorkel, to check it was bedded in. It wasn’t. It was just lying on the seabed on its side. The bottom has lots of rocks and weed, not the sort of terrain that our anchor bites  well in. We therefore decided to enjoy the scenery while we had lunch, and then move on. It was only another six miles to the bay of Porto Brandinghi, where we would have overnight shelter from the wind.

Again this bay has a fabulous beach, with lots of holiday makers enjoying it. As the sun set, at about 7pm, the night club music started pumping. We couldn’t see in the dark, but guessed the partying was on the beach. We were sufficiently far away, for it be not too much of a disturbance. Just as well, as the base thumping went on until about 3am. It is reminiscent of Spain!

Distance covered today	20.0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	251.0	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	1304.0	nautical miles

Tricia (and Steve)