Cruising progress 2017 (Click to enlarge)
Current location using Vessel Finder
31st May 2017
Our first sail was a lovely gentle broad reach for about 18 miles down the coast, where we anchored in beautiful clear turquoise water for the night. The following morning we continued on our way and for two or three hours we passed millions of tiny floating objects. We fished one out in the bucket and took a close up picture, which showed it to be a tiny polyp in the shape of an inflatable, complete with tiny mast and triangular sail and they’re called velella.
Next day we motored to Carloforte, on the island of San Pietro, and tied up at the empty town quay. Carloforte is a lovely old town whose inhabitants originate from Genoa. They were settled there from a Genoese colony in North Africa in 1738 to escape Tunisian persecution and named the town after Carlo Emmanuello, who effected the migration. Fifty years later they were abducted by Tunisian pirates and the Sardinian government had to pay to get them back again.
Our intention was to stay here for a couple of nights only, but we ended staying four because of high winds. During our stay we enjoyed meeting Ken & Maureen on s/v Solway. Maureen is from Newton Stewart in Scotland and Ken is American and their boat has been berthed in Carloforte for the last eleven years. I think Mike has finally met his match with Ken's technical know-how!
Shortly after we arrived in Bosa we ordered 75 metres of anchor chain, which we were advised should arrive in seven working days. This was ideal as we would still be on the hard and it would be easy to transfer to the boat. However the despatch was delayed and we arranged to collect it in Cagliari mid-May. After we left Carloforte we had to shelter for two days from 40kt winds and once calm was restored we continued on our way. Mike had e-mailed the company for a tracking number for the chain and was then informed that it would now not be dispatched until the last week of May. Not a lot upsets Mike, but this certainly did and he fired off numerous e-mails of complaint which seemed to have the desired effect, with the despatch date brought forward to 19th May and arrangements made to have delivery to Porto Rotondo.
We enjoyed four nights in Cagliari and after we'd washed the boat and done the laundry we set out on the bikes to do a bit of sightseeing. On our first trip we climbed to the top of Torre dell'Elefante so called because of a small statue of an elephant on the southern wall of the tower. It was built to guard one of the main entrances to Castello. It was then used for storage and then a prison. The botanical garden is very impressive and we spent a couple of hours wandering around it. We also visited the Vice Royal Palace which is the seat of the Prefect and of the Province of Cagliari, parts of which were very ornate.
After we left Cagliari we started heading up the east coast and anchored overnight in Arbatax and left early the next morning to try to beat the forecast wind, but we were halfway across a huge bay about six miles offshore when we were hit by winds of 46kts over the deck. Luckily we'd seen it coming and were reefed down in time but it was decidedly wet and not very pleasant! We sheltered at the end of the bay for lunch and then continued until late evening with the wind peaking at 38kts. Once we'd anchored for the night Mike discovered that the wind/solar regulator had blown a micro-chip, so the next morning he did a temporary repair to get both to work, until he can order spare parts.
It calmed down a bit overnight but was still fairly breezy when we left the anchorage the next morning and we had a good sail up to Golfo Aranci, where we stayed for two nights because we now had time to spare before the chain was due to arrive - or so we thought. Mike had been repeatedly requesting the tracking number for chain and was finally informed that it had been despatched a day early and that there would be no tracking number. We managed to get to the marina and remove the existing chain twenty minutes before the courier arrived with the new stuff. Fitting it was the most straightforward part of the whole operation. If you are ever going to order Maggiore chain, make sure you are not in are not in any hurry to get it delivered!
We continued north and then crossed over to Porto Vecchio in Corsica. Just as we were heading over to the anchorage from the marina after buying diesel, Mike spotted our Swedish friends Peter & Elizabeth on Ananda coming towards us. The last time we'd checked they were on Elba, so it was a lovely surprise to meet up again. We had a couple of days with them, ending with a delicious meal in a nearby hotel, before they headed off back to Sardinia to pick up some friends.
Mike had ordered spare parts for the regulator, which he'd arranged to be delivered to Bastia, so we left a few days after Peter & Elizabeth and spent two nights at anchor on the way up. Thankfully the package was waiting for us when we arrived at the marina, so we arranged to stay for two nights to do some sightseeing.
