Sardinia continues to stun us with its magnificent terrain and is certainly living up to its reputation of the ‘windy island’. The wind is steadily blowing at 30 knots as I write this, sitting or bouncing around the boat in Arbatax Marina. We are in the midst of a mistral that started yesterday afternoon with gusts up to 37 knots and is due to continue for another three days! Thank goodness we made it back here in time to have the boat lifted on Monday.
We spent a lovely week on the north eastern coast of Sardinia and, with slightly lighter winds, departed our anchorage at Porto Sole to sail the short distance to La Maddalena Port on Isola Maddalena. This is a lovely, laid back port with ferries offloading bunches of tourists to walk and cycle around the beautiful islands. It’s a lot like the Scillies with white sands and crystal clear waters but the significant difference is that even in October the water is about 10 degrees warmer. The top photo shows Cala Spalmatore, one of many stunningly beautiful bays in which to anchor. The islands are protected so we had to apply for a permit to sail there and many of the bays have moorings to ensure that anchors don’t damage life on the sea bed. There are so many glorious spots we could easily have stayed a month. The only downside is that they lie at the eastern end of the Bonifacio Strait that separates Sardinia from Corsica and the wind howls through, changing from east to west within a few hours, making it difficult to find a sheltered spot to moor.
With an eye on the weather and strong southerlies predicted, we retraced our route southwards via the beautiful anchorage of Cala Banana in the Bay of Olbia and our previous stop of La Caletta. We were glad of the sheltered harbour there as winds hit 35 knots overnight and we also enjoyed some fabulous dinners – tuna tartare, cuttlefish ink pasta, seafood fregola and raw langoustines which were much, much nicer than when they’re cooked. We waited a day for the seas to calm and then headed south to Santa Maria Navarrese which has become one of my favourite harbours. It’s tiny, with really friendly staff and nestled into the tree clad cliffs. Only a few minutes a`way the coastline opens out into a tree fringed beach that stretches for miles, all the way to Arbatax, with magnificent mountains as a backdrop. The boatyard close by is also very friendly and their mechanic Marcello did the 1000 hour service on our engine, constantly muttering Italian to himself and then explaining all the nuances of the engine service to us in incredibly rapid Italian. Even with google translate we didn’t really understand very much. Nonetheless it was great to get some of the important overwintering jobs done.
We left Santa Maria on the 4th of October and made the very short hop along the coast to Arbatax. For the journey we had a lovely calm sea but when we ventured by bike to the ‘sheltered bay’, Porto Frailis, just around the headland the surf was up. Yesterday was calm and we were able to take down the sails and rigging, although by the afternoon the wind started to pick up from the north. I had to hoist Jono to the top of the mast to rescue a mousing line and the wind was really picking up as I lowered him down. Within less than an hour it was gusting to 37 knots with the marina staff racing around securing the super yachts either side of us. Thankfully we now have all the overwintering jobs done so the boat is ready to be lifted to dry dock on 11th October – provided the wind has dropped. We’re planning to spend a few weeks staying in and exploring the beautiful mountains of Oliguria before returning to England.