13th to 14th June - Alghero to Buggerru (Yes - that really is a place!)

Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Sun 14 Jun 2009 22:28
The west coast of Sardinia is a not often visited by yachts and there are few facilities until Cagliari on the south coast.  Our plan was to spend the weekend sailing down to the Isola di San Pietro off the south west corner stopping at anchorages on Saturday and Sunday night - with Sunday being at the wonderfully named old mining town of Buggerru.
 
The forecast was for a pleasant north westerly wind which would enable Jackie and Ian to try out the spinnaker.  However, true to form, when we left Alghero, the wind was southerly and we were going straight into it.  Fortunately after and hour it moved more westerly and strengthened so we had a lovely sail down the coast - at one point sailing 7 knots in 8 knots of wind (Hurray for the new propeller!). 
 
We anchored for the night at Capo Mannu, just off a long white sandy beach, famous for its windsurfing.  Jackie and Ian swam ashore supposedly to check-out the windsurfing facilities although, given that the first thing Jackie said when back on board was "gosh I feel rather tipsy" (or something similar) I do not think that they made it much past the first bar.
 
That night Emma volunteered to cook dinner.  And then proceeded to prepare a lovely vegetarian pasta with honey and mustard marinated chicken breasts à la Tina without hardly touching any cooking utensils. Sitting on the boat as the sun was setting was beautiful and as we watched the sun go down, several large flocks of flamingos flew past, migrating  for the summer.
 
It was 38 miles on Sunday down to Buggerru.  There was absolutely no wind and we thought we had to motor all the way but again the wind filled in later in the morning and we had some good sailing.
 
Buggerru is described in Lonely Planet as a gem and I suspect that the author bought his wife a cubic zirconia engagement ring.  The setting was spectacular but the town itself comprises some very bland buildings.  We ate ashore at a non-descript pizzeria and returned to the boat for another round of Uno, where Ian must have used some dubious tactics to somehow score more highly than me.