Having returned to Sardinia after our wonderful time on the mainland, we were pleased to find Maya safe and sound and we were refreshed and ready to finally start taking the pace a little slower & start enjoying our time finding little anchorages to hang out in & relax.... Having stocked up on fruit, veg, fish, diesel & water, we head off just north of Algehro to a small anchorage known to us both from when we had last sailed to Sardinia with our good friend Robert. And it was just as we had hoped for, a tiny bay with us being the only boat there, peach! We spent the next two days, swimming, relaxing & in between hitch hiking with the kids to the local 'Neptune's grotto' to see the amazing stalagmites & tights.... Good thumbing Nicky!
We'd been told by a German couple Bernd & Hedi in Alghero, of a lovely little village only 30 miles south, where we could anchor and enjoy the beautiful beaches for a few days so we decided to head off the next morning only to find the windlass didn't work! That's an anchor puller upper to you none lays! Luckily we'd only been anchored in 7 mtrs for the past few days so the job of pulling up the anchor by hand was not too back breaking.... So off to Bosa, slightly upset that we might have to go into another marina with the windlass not working, we went. As we gently made our way down the coast I set to working trying to figure out if the windlass had gone, the diode had gone or if the switch had gone. Having short circuited the windlass and got it wizzing around above my head I found the deck switch had totally corroded. Bring out the Coca Cola! For those not in the know, Coke not only tastes great, rots your insides but it also cleans up corrosion on metal in a jiffy. After 10 minutes of scrubbing with a tooth brush the switch was clean & working as good as new. Time to hit the beach!!! As we head out of Bosa town quay marina & into a beautiful bay around the corner, we were again the only yacht around. Audrey & Bertie just love being on the beach & the excitement of getting in the tender & zooming ashore always makes them smile.... Having read in one of our yachting books that it's good to get the kids involved & rowing ashore can be one of these activities we rowed ashore. One dicky oar & a slightly deflated starboard side tube was nothing to worry about! We'll not until the afternoon wind picks up anyway! As we were almost ready to leave, the beach turned into a scene from Lawrence of Arabia and I suddenly realised we might seriously struggle to get back to the boat.... Leaving Nicky & the kids on the beach I frantically rowed for all I was worth against the onslaught of wind, and as I reached Maya I dropped an oar in the water. As I leant over the side to save the oar I fell out of the tender, much too Nickys fright on the beach. I was now faced with the tender rapidly going one way, the oar & Maya going in different directions. Luckily I was able to swim to the tender & rescue it, the oar & myself by swimming in the lee of the yacht. Pretty? Pretty ugly! and not to mind feeling a wee bit silly for leaving home without the outboard motor! Lesson learned.
Our next stop was to be one of culture & nature goodness. The ancient city of Tharros is situated pretty much half with down the west coast of Sardinia & was founded by the Phonecians in approximately 1900BC. As you pull round the headland you are treated to the sight of the cities ruins, with its columns still in tacked, and a beautiful anchorage right beside the city to spend a few nights. We enjoyed walking to the look out tower which over looked the whole head land, and the ancient ruins below.
Our next port of call was to be the beautiful island of St.Pietro, so named because Saint Peter had apparently been shipped wrecked on its shores, and perhaps more renowned for where many children from the children's crusade were also washed ashore. We again had a beautiful sail down the coast till around 3pm when the wind picked up to around 30kts plus, which seems to be pretty standard around these parts at this time of year. Unfortunately Carlo Forte which is the only harbour on St.Pietro is located on the east side of the island and is only accessible by a very narrow channel and more worrying is a very very shallow channel. With less than half a mile gap to get through and more importantly the water suddenly disappearing to around 3-10metres, the prospect of racing down wind with that much wind up our bum didn't fill me with any joy. So we bit the bullet and took the scenic route round the outside and came in from the south instead. Once round the back of the island the conditions improved dramatically and although it added a few more hours to our trip, I tend to think this was the more prudent option.....
Carlo Forte is a lovely lovely place, the long promenade with its palm tree lined front, you feel like you could be in the south of France, but it's kind of cuter than that because it's so not glam & glitz. The pace is slow and the food is excellent. We visited a local restaurant which specialises in tuna, and the food was excellent. St.Pietro & Carlo Forte seem to have a special history regarding Tuna, and we were amazed to find you can buy Red & Blue tuna in a tin at up to €35 a pop. Not quite your John West then! We also enjoyed the delight of the Italian piazzas.... Here around evening time everybody comes out to play, especially the kids. Audrey & Bertie were in heaven... The tens of kids running around playing games, on their bikes, setting out small stalls with their dolls on, whilst the parents & grand parents look on, is something of another world from London. And they immediately picked up on Audrey & Bertie & included them in their games....
We left Carlo Forte & St.Pietro starting to feel what it's like to be living in Italy, and pretty happy with that!
The next leg of our journey would take us around the south west coast and up in to the capital of Sardinia, Cagliari, to pick up spares, refuel & look for a weather window for our crossing to Sicily. This south western tip of Sardinia is stunning with beautiful islands just off the coast, and we finally had some company of yachts again which made for some interesting afternoon racing! We decided on a final anchorage before we hit the big city again, and found the most beautiful bay of Malfatano on the south coast which had a perfect anchorage to the west and beach & anchorage to the east. As we arrived in late and there were already quite a number of boats in the western bay we took our place on the outer side of this bay, which to be fair I'm always happy with. As long as you have enough shelter, the side with the most water to run too is my preferred choice. We put the hook down and enjoyed an evenings swim around the boat before supper on the BBQ.
At 7am we were woken by the kids. By 7.30 we were all sitting up on deck as the most deadly rumble of thunder rolled over head followed by huge cracks of lightning. By 7.32 we were in total white out being hammered by a 70knt blast. I was just quick enough to jump on the fore deck and tie the tender on before it got blew away. Maya was healed over at 30 degrees and we were being hammered by a blizzard with hailstones the size of large marbles. With Nicky & kids down below all I could do was sit behind the dodger and watch on the chart plotter as we were slowly dragged out to sea. I started the engine just in case we needed to move some, but my greatest fear lay in a yachts above us to the wind, loosing or dragging on their anchor more rapidly than us on ours, and come flying towards us. After 25-30 minutes of the strongest winds I have ever seen or felt had abaited, we were 200-300 mtrs from our original anchorage spot in 20mtrs of water, which had been 7mtrs. Thank goodness for plenty of chain & a big enough anchor & for being pushed out to sea. We had been lucky to be on the outside. A catamaran inside us had dragged so badly that it had taken a large monohull with it and they had both almost ended on the rocks behind by metres. On the other side of the bay one poor unfortunate had been blown squarely on the beach & lay stranded, pending coast guard rescue. Lessons here a plenty, but anchor, chain & katabatic winds..... Beware!
Unfortunately after this rather rude awakening, we didn't stick around for the day, which I now regret as the bay was really very pretty, and the kids especially would have enjoyed to stay. I think in the forefront of our minds now was that the season was getting long, and we had a hole chunk of water to get cross to get to Sicily for the winter. As we came into Cagliari the two Prada AC45s were practising in front of the harbour which was a real treat to see these boats up close & foiling Americas Cup stylee! We pulled into Cagliari for the evening and decided to stretch our legs by means of a walk around the old town, which we decided was ok but not really worth a prolonged stay, so by the morning were looking at the the weather gribs, ready to make our final tracks for Sicily for the winter......
To go, or not to go.... That is the question?
We'd been told by a German couple Bernd & Hedi in Alghero, of a lovely little village only 30 miles south, where we could anchor and enjoy the beautiful beaches for a few days so we decided to head off the next morning only to find the windlass didn't work! That's an anchor puller upper to you none lays! Luckily we'd only been anchored in 7 mtrs for the past few days so the job of pulling up the anchor by hand was not too back breaking.... So off to Bosa, slightly upset that we might have to go into another marina with the windlass not working, we went. As we gently made our way down the coast I set to working trying to figure out if the windlass had gone, the diode had gone or if the switch had gone. Having short circuited the windlass and got it wizzing around above my head I found the deck switch had totally corroded. Bring out the Coca Cola! For those not in the know, Coke not only tastes great, rots your insides but it also cleans up corrosion on metal in a jiffy. After 10 minutes of scrubbing with a tooth brush the switch was clean & working as good as new. Time to hit the beach!!! As we head out of Bosa town quay marina & into a beautiful bay around the corner, we were again the only yacht around. Audrey & Bertie just love being on the beach & the excitement of getting in the tender & zooming ashore always makes them smile.... Having read in one of our yachting books that it's good to get the kids involved & rowing ashore can be one of these activities we rowed ashore. One dicky oar & a slightly deflated starboard side tube was nothing to worry about! We'll not until the afternoon wind picks up anyway! As we were almost ready to leave, the beach turned into a scene from Lawrence of Arabia and I suddenly realised we might seriously struggle to get back to the boat.... Leaving Nicky & the kids on the beach I frantically rowed for all I was worth against the onslaught of wind, and as I reached Maya I dropped an oar in the water. As I leant over the side to save the oar I fell out of the tender, much too Nickys fright on the beach. I was now faced with the tender rapidly going one way, the oar & Maya going in different directions. Luckily I was able to swim to the tender & rescue it, the oar & myself by swimming in the lee of the yacht. Pretty? Pretty ugly! and not to mind feeling a wee bit silly for leaving home without the outboard motor! Lesson learned.
Our next stop was to be one of culture & nature goodness. The ancient city of Tharros is situated pretty much half with down the west coast of Sardinia & was founded by the Phonecians in approximately 1900BC. As you pull round the headland you are treated to the sight of the cities ruins, with its columns still in tacked, and a beautiful anchorage right beside the city to spend a few nights. We enjoyed walking to the look out tower which over looked the whole head land, and the ancient ruins below.
Our next port of call was to be the beautiful island of St.Pietro, so named because Saint Peter had apparently been shipped wrecked on its shores, and perhaps more renowned for where many children from the children's crusade were also washed ashore. We again had a beautiful sail down the coast till around 3pm when the wind picked up to around 30kts plus, which seems to be pretty standard around these parts at this time of year. Unfortunately Carlo Forte which is the only harbour on St.Pietro is located on the east side of the island and is only accessible by a very narrow channel and more worrying is a very very shallow channel. With less than half a mile gap to get through and more importantly the water suddenly disappearing to around 3-10metres, the prospect of racing down wind with that much wind up our bum didn't fill me with any joy. So we bit the bullet and took the scenic route round the outside and came in from the south instead. Once round the back of the island the conditions improved dramatically and although it added a few more hours to our trip, I tend to think this was the more prudent option.....
Carlo Forte is a lovely lovely place, the long promenade with its palm tree lined front, you feel like you could be in the south of France, but it's kind of cuter than that because it's so not glam & glitz. The pace is slow and the food is excellent. We visited a local restaurant which specialises in tuna, and the food was excellent. St.Pietro & Carlo Forte seem to have a special history regarding Tuna, and we were amazed to find you can buy Red & Blue tuna in a tin at up to €35 a pop. Not quite your John West then! We also enjoyed the delight of the Italian piazzas.... Here around evening time everybody comes out to play, especially the kids. Audrey & Bertie were in heaven... The tens of kids running around playing games, on their bikes, setting out small stalls with their dolls on, whilst the parents & grand parents look on, is something of another world from London. And they immediately picked up on Audrey & Bertie & included them in their games....
We left Carlo Forte & St.Pietro starting to feel what it's like to be living in Italy, and pretty happy with that!
The next leg of our journey would take us around the south west coast and up in to the capital of Sardinia, Cagliari, to pick up spares, refuel & look for a weather window for our crossing to Sicily. This south western tip of Sardinia is stunning with beautiful islands just off the coast, and we finally had some company of yachts again which made for some interesting afternoon racing! We decided on a final anchorage before we hit the big city again, and found the most beautiful bay of Malfatano on the south coast which had a perfect anchorage to the west and beach & anchorage to the east. As we arrived in late and there were already quite a number of boats in the western bay we took our place on the outer side of this bay, which to be fair I'm always happy with. As long as you have enough shelter, the side with the most water to run too is my preferred choice. We put the hook down and enjoyed an evenings swim around the boat before supper on the BBQ.
At 7am we were woken by the kids. By 7.30 we were all sitting up on deck as the most deadly rumble of thunder rolled over head followed by huge cracks of lightning. By 7.32 we were in total white out being hammered by a 70knt blast. I was just quick enough to jump on the fore deck and tie the tender on before it got blew away. Maya was healed over at 30 degrees and we were being hammered by a blizzard with hailstones the size of large marbles. With Nicky & kids down below all I could do was sit behind the dodger and watch on the chart plotter as we were slowly dragged out to sea. I started the engine just in case we needed to move some, but my greatest fear lay in a yachts above us to the wind, loosing or dragging on their anchor more rapidly than us on ours, and come flying towards us. After 25-30 minutes of the strongest winds I have ever seen or felt had abaited, we were 200-300 mtrs from our original anchorage spot in 20mtrs of water, which had been 7mtrs. Thank goodness for plenty of chain & a big enough anchor & for being pushed out to sea. We had been lucky to be on the outside. A catamaran inside us had dragged so badly that it had taken a large monohull with it and they had both almost ended on the rocks behind by metres. On the other side of the bay one poor unfortunate had been blown squarely on the beach & lay stranded, pending coast guard rescue. Lessons here a plenty, but anchor, chain & katabatic winds..... Beware!
Unfortunately after this rather rude awakening, we didn't stick around for the day, which I now regret as the bay was really very pretty, and the kids especially would have enjoyed to stay. I think in the forefront of our minds now was that the season was getting long, and we had a hole chunk of water to get cross to get to Sicily for the winter. As we came into Cagliari the two Prada AC45s were practising in front of the harbour which was a real treat to see these boats up close & foiling Americas Cup stylee! We pulled into Cagliari for the evening and decided to stretch our legs by means of a walk around the old town, which we decided was ok but not really worth a prolonged stay, so by the morning were looking at the the weather gribs, ready to make our final tracks for Sicily for the winter......
To go, or not to go.... That is the question?
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