Villasimius (Sardinia, Italy)

The east coast of Sardinia continued to deny us a comfortable anchorage. The swell had reduced greatly, so we decided to anchor at Cala Foxxi Manna, and were pleased to see one other boat already anchored there when we arrived (a possible indication that it wasn’t too rolly). Another boat joined us soon after, and unfortunately all three of us bucked and rolled all night long. Our boat is heavy and normally this would not be a problem, but I think I’ve gotten spoiled this season with calm anchorages, so neither of us got a good night sleep and both were ready to move a early the next day. The spinnaker run we were able to do at least made up for the bad night’s rest. It was finally beautiful sailing again!

We dropped anchor around the southeast corner of Sardinia, in the huge Golfo di Carbonara. A lovely big bay with lots of room for boats in crystal clear water. This was our last stop in Sardinia, and it was time to rest for a couple of days before heading off to Sicily. The Italian Coast Guard came by while we were organizing ourselves, and Trip went below to get our boat paperwork while I started taking lines so they could tie off to us, Suddenly the skipper indicated there was no reason to tie off, I handed back the line, and they were gone just like that. I joked to Trip that it might have been that they checked by radio and confirmed that our paperwork was in order, or they might have gotten scared of the fact that I wasn’t wearing a bra, only a tank top that showed off my sagging ‘assets’ to all…..

We got a lot done while we were there. We provisioned and did a couple of loads of laundry (with the best smelling laundry detergent to date!). For a change of scene we went to a beach and hung out with the locals, which was great for people watching. The walk back from that beach included a boardwalk out over a brackish pond where flamingoes live (much too far to get a photo, so you have to take my word for it that we saw them).

We also did everything imaginable to stay cool. Europe is once again in the midst of a massive heat wave (named Cerberus after the three-headed mythical dog) and we were in the hot zone – literally. Cagliari, just west of us, would hit a record of 115 F (45.9 C)! Swimming was a must, with nearly everyone around us in the water multiple times a day. Unfortunately it was during one of those swims that Trip was checking the anchor and found that our chain had dropped in between two rocks and wrapped around others, He got out of the scuba tank and went down to work on the situation. We then upped anchor and reset so that when we finally needed to leave we wouldn’t have an emergency.

Our final night we walked into the beach town of Villasimius. While having cocktails I managed to stain my white linen pants. I asked the waiter for some water, and in perfect Italian fashion he instead brought a special stain remover spray and sponge – I would expect nothing less! We did dinner at a local street food place with great kebabs and upside down salads (meat on the bottom, arugula and Parmesan on top). We had time for a final round of provisioning (one last bottle of mirto – they won’t have this in Sicily!), and splurged on a cab ride home to the bay.