Month: July 2023 (Page 2 of 2)

My dreams of exploring the Gulf of Orosei were dashed by the weather – the combination of an easterly wind, an easterly swell, and no land protection would make this anchorage untenable, so we had to push on. Several miles south, I had Arbatax listed on the chart as having good protection from both swell and wind from the east/south, so we decided to rest there for the night. Unfortunately the winds shifted to the northeast and we were forced to drop anchor in the messiest chop (along with 12 other boats that read the weather wrong). Fortunately the weather lay down within a couple of hours and we got a decent rest that night. The reviews of Arbatax are not kind, but we decided to head ashore for the morning anyway.

We found the Coast Guard station right away and had them stamp our constituto. These papers, which are only required for non EU-flagged vessels, always seem to confound the authorities. We are supposed to get them stamped whenever we are in a harbor where there is a Coast Guard presence. However, we hadn’t had ours stamped in weeks. The islands didn’t have a Coast Guard, and towns that did usually had no office open. Luckily these officials didn’t think it strange that we hadn’t gotten a stamp recently and happily stamped it for us. Then they argued amongst themselves about whether or not the next port even had a Coast Guard. It was all done in a good natured way, so we weren’t too worried.

We walked along the red rocks that line the edges of the harbor, stopped at a supermarket stand to stock up on provisions, and treated ourselves to lunch at a local butcher/chop house. I savored a local Sardinian red wine along with a local Sardinian steak (that only cost $20!) and the creamiest roast potatoes. The reviews of Arbatax might not be generous, but we were thrilled with the small town and would definitely come back.

The famous island of Tavolera was not in the cards for us or even the mega yachts with the wind and swell plowing in from the south east. However, we were lucky enough to drop anchor with a spectacular view of the island (along with all those mega yachts). Cala Girgolu, as it turns out, is rather like the Baths in the British Virgin Islands. The coast is littered with stunning rock formations that are only accessible by boat, swimming, or a long, hot, sweaty hike. (Trip rowed, I paddle boarded).

We had seen ice cream boats in other anchorages, but now we discovered the Bar Boat! A wave of the hand was enough to get their attention, and soon enough Trip was enjoying ice cream while I had a lemonade & Mirto slushee (of course with Mirto made by one of the boat owners).

I had a flash of realization while in this anchorage…..in all the cruising we had been doing in the islands, we had seen no private docks (marinas excluded). The waterfront is considered a protected public space. If there is a beach, motorized boats of any sort aren’t allowed at all unless there is a ‘dinghy lane’. Even anchoring must be done 300 feet from the beach, allowing swimmers and others a safe place to enjoy themselves. A refreshing change from the US, where there seems to be a constant battle between public and private access to the waterfront.

We opted to take the train to Olbia, since we were happy with the Aranci anchorage. We were late getting ashore and even later walking in the heat to the train station, so we were pleasantly surprised to find a conductor who helped us make sure we got the right tickets from the automated machine just minutes before the train left.

We had really wanted to go to the archeological museum, but of course it was Monday and it was closed. We settled for culurgiones for lunch at a local restaurant.

It was brutally hot (the beginning of the Cerberus heat wave in Europe, because all weather phenomenon are now being named). I wasn’t in the mood to walk much, but we did make it to the Basilica of San Simplico. Unlike the ornate churches and cathedrals that we had seen in Europe to date, this church (built in the 11th century) is incredibly simple in its construction, but beautiful in its own right. Unfortunately the necropolis below was closed (Monday), so we made do with the church before heading back.

We sailed past the Costa Smerelda (the Emerald Coast), where all the celebrities and wealthy keep their fabulous McMansions and mega yachts.

We tucked around the corner into the Golfo Aranci (Gulf of Oranges). It boasted an underwater modern art museum that was a bit underwhelming, but fun to visit by dinghy and snorkel for an afternoon.

One of the best parts of this anchorage were the dolphins that came to visit around sunset. So many people were ashore having dinner, and dolphins were casually swimming around all our boats. I don’t care how common dolphins are, I will never be tired of them.

As we were coming ashore one day, I managed to catch a photo of a mermaid statue in the harbor. When we came back to the dinghy at the end of the day, the statue was gone! After some careful googling, we learned that it rises from the sea twice a day to show herself, and we were lucky to be there at one of those times. A wonderful and unique greeting to locals, fishermen, and tourists.

I love the islands, but we needed to to laundry and we needed some provisions! It was off to Canningione on the mainland of Sardinia for both (I know – Sardinia is an island too, but I was referring to the numerous little islands off the Sardinian coast – it is eye opening to find how many of these little islands there are). I set out to do the laundry while Trip went to try to register us with the local Costeria Guardia (who are never in the office). I got three big loads done, Trip found a great chandlery, and the grocery store was close to the dinghy dock – score! We treated ourselves to a charcuterie plate and some wine at a local enoteca. Italy laws may drive you crazy (registering the boat everywhere we go, trying to dispose of trash, etc), but the food really does make up for it.

We were in town for a couple of days waiting for the winds to change so we could start our trip south. Saturday afternoon we were lucky enough to get front row seats to a Sardinian wedding when we had lunch at a cafe in the main square across from the local church. Sigh…..the fashion….men with no socks and beautiful leather shoes…..women in colors we never wear in the US. It was so fun to ogle.

The trick to anchorages and moorings is to plan your arrival for late morning, as everyone is vacating for the next cove. We lucked out on Caprera Island and got a mooring (I have mastered laying down on deck, hanging out of the lifelines, to get a line through the ring as no pennants are provided).

The harbor is home to a sailing school, and we would watch 50 dinghies go out every morning and afternoon to practice. Boats further out in the anchorage found themselves as marks sometimes, with dinghies tacking to get around them.

We took the dinghy ashore and stretched our legs with a walk to a local restaurant for lunch in the woods. Along the way we foraged for wild figs and black raspberries, and saw lots of evidence of wild boars (they are incredibly destructive and dig up everything in their way).

That evening, we had new neighbors Tim and Sharon aboard for drinks (they were kind enough to bring Pimms cups in honor of Wimbledon). A British couple, they knew New Jersey well, as they lived in Morristown for a couple of years. It’s always funny how small this world really is!

We wanted a change of scenery and still needed protection from the strong westerlies, so we headed up to the northern side of La Maddelena Island. What we didn’t anticipate about the anchorage was that it was a low lying side of the island with almost no land to protect us from wind. However, there was no swell whatsoever, and we were the only ones in that part of the anchorage. We watched local kids out in dinghies (dinghies can do incredible speed in 20 knots!) and enjoyed a beautiful sunset all to ourselves.

The posts for this part now start with a sunset and end with day shots, since the pattern in the Maddalena Islands is to arrive and anchor at the end of the day after the day tour boats have left (and you have the anchorage to yourself). Have a wonderful night of a cove to yourself, get up, and over breakfast, around 9:30, the onslaught of another day’s worth of daytrippers arrive.

We left Asinara Island with 50 miles to do to get to the Maddalenas – the other marine sanctuary in Sardinia. We were waiting for the winds to calm (toward the Maddalenas they were still blowing in the 30’s) and the seas to calm down (we already had two choppy sails and we didn’t need another).

The wind now was almost too light, so we motored for a bit here and there, but the seas were calm and it was a nice sail. It got a bit sporty as expected when we got to the islands (the wind & seas build as they get squeezed between Sardinia to the south and Corsica to the north) and it was blowing mid-20’s, but we were prepared. The anchorage I had picked was empty (a boat seemed to be chasing people out), and we quickly realized that it was unsuitable with the winds and swell. Luckily I had a backup picked just a mile around the corner. We dropped anchor among four other boats and relaxed.

Asinara (land of the donkey), is a large but remote island off the northwestern tip of Sardinia with a fascinating history. Humans have been there since Neolithic times, but the scarcity of fresh water has kept the populations to a minimum over time. It didn’t become Italian state property till the end of the 19th century, when the locals who lived there were shipped off to found the village of Stintino on the mainland to make room for a penal colony on the island. Ironically the penal colony had its own herd of cows, a cheese factory, a vineyard, and even a pasta factory (priorities – it is Italy). Then it was a quarantine site, and was a POW camp during WW1.

A maximum security prison was built in the 1970’s to house terrorists and members of the mafia, and the island became known as Italian Alcatraz. Then it all came to an end in 1997 when the island and neighboring waters were turned into a nature preserve. Almost no building has been done since and the remnants of all the past buildings have been left to decay. There are more donkeys (including the famous albino ones) than anything else there these days.

We were lucky enough to get a mooring at the island, and were ‘stuck’ there for four days as the mistral winds howled in from France. We had a chance to explore Cala Oliva where you can visit the remnants of the old prison. It is now called a museum of memory, and does a very thoughtful job of considering the concept of prison in such a beautiful remote place. It does not try to hide the history, but rather invite reflection.

There was one restaurant open and we treated ourselves to our newly favorite Sardinia pasta, culurgiones (pasta meets pierogi stuffed with potato and mint).

We had originally taken a mooring in Cala Reale, only to return from exploring that it was suggested that we move our boat to one of the smaller mooring fields up island for better protection. We didn’t need urging (I thought those mooring fields (only 8 moorings each) wouldn’t have had room, and we high-tailed it to Cala Bianca where we found one other boat. There were some tourist boats the next few days that braved the winds to come for a swim, but otherwise it was just a few of us hanging out swimming and relaxing till we could move on.