As our bracing sail down from Corsica calmed down in five minutes to a flat calm we (I) were able to relax and have a look around at what was going on. We passed through the beautiful Madalena Islands or at least we were assured they were beautiful they were so shrouded in the usual haze we couldn't really see them and all photos were scrapped on inspection. One thing I have to say is that some parts of northern Sardinia actually look a little like peerie Shetland islands - low lying with no trees but alas no sheep or ald stane dykes so there the similarity ended.
We also spotted this boat on the way South, a very strange shape indeed.
The cliffs at Capo Figari were full of big caves and holes, we could come very close in as it was so deep.
We were headed for an anchorage at Isola di Porri in Golfo di Olbia to rendezvous with John and Shirlee on board Solstice. We had to keep an eye on the big ferries heading into Olbia they were fairly rumbling past but nothing more than usual. The girls like the ferries here as many of them in the Moby group have cartoon characters painted all over .
Corsica/Sardinia ferries with the moors head on the side.
A 'Moby' ferry with Sylvester, Daffy, Bugs, Tweety Pie, Wyle E Coyote and Taz on the side. You can see the attraction to the girls.
When we got into the anchorage the wind picked up again, we listened to the weather forecast and promptly just before dark put out the second anchor - again. It turned out to be lucky for us that we did as the wind increased in excess of 40 knots over night and well into the next morning, luckily from the North so we were well sheltered. Once it died down again Ali got out into the dinghy to put rubber strips over the stern anchor arrangement so that if we do ever bash anyones boat again it should be a bounce more than a scrape.....
Ali also hadn't realised how big his bald spot was either (spot?? more like head!)
During the windy morning we got some amusement in the form of this poor guy in the power boat trying to attach to the mooring buoy at the beach. Firstly he dropped his anchor and went around and around the buoy we presumed trying to use the anchor as a grapple on the buoy. The second attempt was to slowly approach the buoy then run out with his boat hook but it was so windy that by the time he was at the stern of the boat the buoy was miles away. His third idea after a few tries of method 2 was to try and get the buoy with the boat hook leaning out of the wheelhouse window which he did indeed manage but then had to drop the boat hook as he was nearly pulled through the window with it. Finally he went back to recover the hook and left, rather quickly we thought. I hope there aren't people like us around if I am ever hanging off the front of the boat on a windy day trying to catch a buoy, no mean feat even when someone else is at the helm!
With the wind and the sun we noticed our batteries had charged up to a level not seen since they were new! The solar panel and wind generator are definitely working and thank god as we need the fridge now for cool water if nothing else (beers, tonic etc...)
We hadn't expected Solstice to appear form the south in the strong northerlies and got a shock when she pulled into the bay!
Solstice looking for a good spot to anchor. We dinghied over when John and Shirlee had got all tied up and had a very welcome afternoon beer to catch up. The girls were a bit desperate to get to the beach so we had to go but invited John and Shilree over for the evening.
The dinghy with the girls little dinghy and the two yachts in the background.
Kaylee had packed herself full of sand so Ali chucked her into the sea naked so that she didn't fill the boat with it.
Alisha still didn't like the water and did some shore exploring instead.
The rest of the two days spent at Isola di Porri were spent at the beach during the day and then having a few drams with John and Shirlee at night. We had Corsican beer, goats cheese and pate. I had some Menorcan Gin Shirlee had taken over for me to taste, and of course some Scotch! John was interested to see what marmite was when the girls were having their supper of marmite on toast so he had a slice too, I don't suppose it was the culinary highlight of his trip.
Soon it was time for us to head south and Solstice to head east to Rome. We are hopeful of meeting them somewhere again as our cruising roots cross over a bit.
We headed down through the Isola Tavolara and Capo Coda Cavallo marine reserve which was very pretty as you thread your way in between some lovely islands and coast line.
Isola Taolara, and Isola Molara, and below a shipwreck in the channel, it was flat calm so hopefully there was no chance of us joining it!
We sailed around seventy miles that day down to the port of Arbatax and went into the marina, Solstice had just been there and although the prices had doubled since they were there with the change from May to June it was still cheap compared to many Italian marinas.
The girls found some feathered friends to feed some stale bread to. The marina is run by an English bloke called Alan at the weekends and it was nice not to have to face the language barrier for once. He gave us loads of info and told us how to get into Tortoli the next town as Arbatax doesn't have much in the way of food shops and we were low in just about everything.
We checked the weather and it seemed as if we didn't leave for Sicily the next morning we wouldn't be able to get there in increasing easterly winds until about a week later so it was off into town on the bus for a big supermarket run.
Tortoli turned out to be a nice enough town. It was Saturday afternoon and there was a wedding on which in Italy means a parade of cars going up and down the street honking their horns after the bridal party anyone can join in so the young cruisers do too, very noisy!
As we walked through the town we came across evidence of the wedding outside what we presumed was the registry office - lots of smashed crockery and flowers on the ground. Alisha didn't think people should smash 'pretty things.'
Tortoli also had lots of murals painted on walls around town which were quite pretty and brightened up a pretty run of the mill town.
We were walking up towards the supermarket and the pavements were covered in guano when we looked up we saw why lots of swallows nests tucked in under the eaves.
We left Sardinia the next morning and yes we are completely aware we didn't do the place justice at all, only actually going ashore at two places but that is the penalty for having a sailing schedule to stick to. I would love to come back and perhaps we will on the way back to Shetland next year.
On the way out of the harbour Ali spied some very dodgy concrete work on the harbour light, certainly no up to the same standards as the Northern Lighthouse Board!
We left Sardinia at about 10am Sunday morning set for Sicily 175 miles away. For Ali it was a very poor trip, we had to motor into very light head winds the whole way and he didn't catch any tuna even after getting tips from John who had caught two between Menorca ans Sardinia! For me and the girls it was great, lots of time to read stories and we saw our first Med whales, two sightings close to Sardinia of two groups of two pilot whales. Of course they only came up for a minute and certainly not long enough to grab the camera. We also saw dolphins a couple of times which is always a delight. We were looking forward to Sicily!
At the moment we have just rounded the heel of Italy and are in Otranto in the Adriatic, it is getting hotter and we basically have to shelter from the sun from 2 to 5 each day or swim to cool down. Not a bad complaint when we hear the weather reports from home! We are hoping to cross up to Croatia in the next week or so weather and spare parts permitting as we are waiting on a new spreader being shipped to Brindisi marina. That's all for now!
We also spotted this boat on the way South, a very strange shape indeed.
The cliffs at Capo Figari were full of big caves and holes, we could come very close in as it was so deep.
We were headed for an anchorage at Isola di Porri in Golfo di Olbia to rendezvous with John and Shirlee on board Solstice. We had to keep an eye on the big ferries heading into Olbia they were fairly rumbling past but nothing more than usual. The girls like the ferries here as many of them in the Moby group have cartoon characters painted all over .
Corsica/Sardinia ferries with the moors head on the side.
A 'Moby' ferry with Sylvester, Daffy, Bugs, Tweety Pie, Wyle E Coyote and Taz on the side. You can see the attraction to the girls.
When we got into the anchorage the wind picked up again, we listened to the weather forecast and promptly just before dark put out the second anchor - again. It turned out to be lucky for us that we did as the wind increased in excess of 40 knots over night and well into the next morning, luckily from the North so we were well sheltered. Once it died down again Ali got out into the dinghy to put rubber strips over the stern anchor arrangement so that if we do ever bash anyones boat again it should be a bounce more than a scrape.....
Ali also hadn't realised how big his bald spot was either (spot?? more like head!)
During the windy morning we got some amusement in the form of this poor guy in the power boat trying to attach to the mooring buoy at the beach. Firstly he dropped his anchor and went around and around the buoy we presumed trying to use the anchor as a grapple on the buoy. The second attempt was to slowly approach the buoy then run out with his boat hook but it was so windy that by the time he was at the stern of the boat the buoy was miles away. His third idea after a few tries of method 2 was to try and get the buoy with the boat hook leaning out of the wheelhouse window which he did indeed manage but then had to drop the boat hook as he was nearly pulled through the window with it. Finally he went back to recover the hook and left, rather quickly we thought. I hope there aren't people like us around if I am ever hanging off the front of the boat on a windy day trying to catch a buoy, no mean feat even when someone else is at the helm!
With the wind and the sun we noticed our batteries had charged up to a level not seen since they were new! The solar panel and wind generator are definitely working and thank god as we need the fridge now for cool water if nothing else (beers, tonic etc...)
We hadn't expected Solstice to appear form the south in the strong northerlies and got a shock when she pulled into the bay!
Solstice looking for a good spot to anchor. We dinghied over when John and Shirlee had got all tied up and had a very welcome afternoon beer to catch up. The girls were a bit desperate to get to the beach so we had to go but invited John and Shilree over for the evening.
The dinghy with the girls little dinghy and the two yachts in the background.
Kaylee had packed herself full of sand so Ali chucked her into the sea naked so that she didn't fill the boat with it.
Alisha still didn't like the water and did some shore exploring instead.
The rest of the two days spent at Isola di Porri were spent at the beach during the day and then having a few drams with John and Shirlee at night. We had Corsican beer, goats cheese and pate. I had some Menorcan Gin Shirlee had taken over for me to taste, and of course some Scotch! John was interested to see what marmite was when the girls were having their supper of marmite on toast so he had a slice too, I don't suppose it was the culinary highlight of his trip.
Soon it was time for us to head south and Solstice to head east to Rome. We are hopeful of meeting them somewhere again as our cruising roots cross over a bit.
We headed down through the Isola Tavolara and Capo Coda Cavallo marine reserve which was very pretty as you thread your way in between some lovely islands and coast line.
Isola Taolara, and Isola Molara, and below a shipwreck in the channel, it was flat calm so hopefully there was no chance of us joining it!
We sailed around seventy miles that day down to the port of Arbatax and went into the marina, Solstice had just been there and although the prices had doubled since they were there with the change from May to June it was still cheap compared to many Italian marinas.
The girls found some feathered friends to feed some stale bread to. The marina is run by an English bloke called Alan at the weekends and it was nice not to have to face the language barrier for once. He gave us loads of info and told us how to get into Tortoli the next town as Arbatax doesn't have much in the way of food shops and we were low in just about everything.
We checked the weather and it seemed as if we didn't leave for Sicily the next morning we wouldn't be able to get there in increasing easterly winds until about a week later so it was off into town on the bus for a big supermarket run.
Tortoli turned out to be a nice enough town. It was Saturday afternoon and there was a wedding on which in Italy means a parade of cars going up and down the street honking their horns after the bridal party anyone can join in so the young cruisers do too, very noisy!
As we walked through the town we came across evidence of the wedding outside what we presumed was the registry office - lots of smashed crockery and flowers on the ground. Alisha didn't think people should smash 'pretty things.'
Tortoli also had lots of murals painted on walls around town which were quite pretty and brightened up a pretty run of the mill town.
We were walking up towards the supermarket and the pavements were covered in guano when we looked up we saw why lots of swallows nests tucked in under the eaves.
We left Sardinia the next morning and yes we are completely aware we didn't do the place justice at all, only actually going ashore at two places but that is the penalty for having a sailing schedule to stick to. I would love to come back and perhaps we will on the way back to Shetland next year.
On the way out of the harbour Ali spied some very dodgy concrete work on the harbour light, certainly no up to the same standards as the Northern Lighthouse Board!
We left Sardinia at about 10am Sunday morning set for Sicily 175 miles away. For Ali it was a very poor trip, we had to motor into very light head winds the whole way and he didn't catch any tuna even after getting tips from John who had caught two between Menorca ans Sardinia! For me and the girls it was great, lots of time to read stories and we saw our first Med whales, two sightings close to Sardinia of two groups of two pilot whales. Of course they only came up for a minute and certainly not long enough to grab the camera. We also saw dolphins a couple of times which is always a delight. We were looking forward to Sicily!
At the moment we have just rounded the heel of Italy and are in Otranto in the Adriatic, it is getting hotter and we basically have to shelter from the sun from 2 to 5 each day or swim to cool down. Not a bad complaint when we hear the weather reports from home! We are hoping to cross up to Croatia in the next week or so weather and spare parts permitting as we are waiting on a new spreader being shipped to Brindisi marina. That's all for now!
Wow! What a fun trip! I love your pictures. The water looks so blue! I bet you had a blast!
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