11th to 12th June - Bonafacio to Alghero (a giant leap for Iankind)
Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Fri 12 Jun 2009 22:37
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The weather problems earlier in the trip meant that
we decided to skip our first stop on the north coast of Sardinia and
head the 85 miles straight to Alghero (named after the algae that washed up
on the beach) on the west coast. The forecast posted in the marina was for Force
5 westerlies rising to Force 7 later in the Bonafacio Straights, which we would
be heading straight into. So we headed out at 5:30 in the
morning anticipating a rough trip.
Jackie was happy as she relished the chance to wear
her new sailing wellies that she had carried all the way here from Wales.
Unfortunately she never had the chance
to try out her rubberwear as the strong winds never materialised. We
still had to motor as the winds were on our nose for most of the time but in the
last couple of hours did manage to get in some decent sailing.
Alghero has a massive marina and we were able to
get a very nice berth on a pontoon overlooked by the walls of the old medieval
town. As he went ashore it was a giant leap for Ian, not because we had tied up the boat poorly but
because it was the first time he had stepped on Italian soil.
Everyone was rather tired after the long trip and
possibly fuelled by a few too many arrival beers had become rather ratty.
After trekking through the town to find a restaurant that we thought would
appeal to everyone only to have it turned down because it did not have any
chicken dishes, we were close to having to perform Bali Hai's first burial at
sea. Finally we ended up at Neptuno, a pizzeria back close to the
marina, which did very good pizza (or in Jackie's case - beer and
pizza).
Friday was generally a day for sightseeing and
relaxing. Although I had to fix the gas supply as water had got into the
new regulator (because it had been installed upside down) and the gas had
stopped working. Fortunately as the weather was so hot I just left the
regulator in the sun for a few hours and the water evapourated away.
After spending so much time with other people in
last three weeks, Jackie and Ian where happy that we did something
separately that evening and so Emma and I went for dinner together at Andrieni,
described as Alghero's "restaurant of the moment." It was an excellent
meal and we were not home until 1:30 in the morning.
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