This blog is brought to you as a result of nagging and cheeky offers of blog ghost-writing services by other members of the boatie blogging community. OK, so it is a long time since we last blogged, but I’ve been busy (cue violins)!

Antonello’s birthday

It was Antonello’s birthday mid-May, so we had another excuse for lemon drizzle cake, a BBQ and grilled prawns.

Bethany, Bryn, Antonello and the lemon drizzle cake (with 1 diplomatic candle).

Antonello is partial to a nice whiskey (to wash down the monster prawns grilled with olive oil, garlic and herbs).

Gosh, two photos of me in one blog – presenting Antonello with my picture of the Cantieri (a commission by some of the liveaboards).

In between making and eating lemon drizzle cake, painting and work, the children did school and guitar, we had a Sing-a-long Mama Mia evening in the gazebo, a BBQ at Paulo’s, and more liveaboards left.

Bryn getting into the groove of ‘Knockin’ on heaven’s door’.

Jürgen and Monica (NEREUS II) leaving.

Chris and Sue (SILVER FINN) leaving.

As if it knew that we would be leaving soon too, Cagliari put on some impressive sunsets for us.

Sunset over Cagliari harbour 1.

Sunset over Cagliari harbour 2.

Life after Cagliari

We finally managed to leave on 19 May and headed off to see a bit more of Sardinia. As we specifically chose some wind-free weather for our first passage of the season, there was no wind and we motored on and on and on. The canoe tagged along behind, I did some work, and the children read.

The canoe tagging along behind.

Beth catching up on her book.

When the canoe got lonely and the kids got bored, they got together for a while.

Villasimius

Our first stop was Villasimius. We remembered how to anchor, and dug out the snorkelling gear from the black hole under Bryn’s bunk. We found some excellent snorkelling on one little reef, and saw lots of fish that we recognise from last year as well as some big cuttlefish and a scorpion fish.

Villasimius.

Anchored in clear turquoise water.

We dug out the snorkelling gear.

We anchored on both sides of Capo Carbonara but near the marina in Villasimius was the most 'comfy' (i.e. not rolly!) anchorage. Valentina came to spend the day with us (with her scuba gear) and we have almost finished cleaning the hull now – just some slimy bits to get off with a washing up scrubber. Bryn and David did some buddy diving with her to work on the keel and made a few more marine creatures homeless. One little golden blenny that we brought with us from Cagliari was displaced and headed into the open ocean – you could almost see him panic and head back to the safety of CAPE's bottom. He tried to find somewhere nice on my mask to start with but then gave up. We hope he found somewhere suitable to live (being a city blenny exported against his will to a rural environment and all that).

The Spanish tower at Villasimius.

It was at Villasimius that we saw our first Spanish tower. There is a string of these watchtowers around the coast of Sardinia. These towers were constructed during the occupation of Sardinia by the Spanish (Aragonese) and were used to warn of attacks by pirates from North Africa; each one is supposedly visible by two others so that they could be used as a method of signalling up and down the coast. Eventually, however, the pirates gained the upper hand and most coastal towns were abandoned and the population moved inland to safety.

The children worked on their canoe wrestling technique (standing on the upturned canoe, wrestling and trying to push each other in). David fished, read and tried to get rid of his white bits, and I did a bit more work. We met up with Roger and Bob for supper on SEA BLAZE.

Canoe wrestling – a new Olympic sport.

Cala Pira and Capo Ferrato

From Villasimius we pushed on uphill (north is uphill isn’t it?), lunched and swam at anchor in Cala Pira – a nice bay but not much there except an impressive array of bins in the car park.

Cala Pira (with its Spanish tower).

From Cala Pira we motored on to Capo Ferrato, which was lovely – just a headland, beach and beach bar. It was, however, too shallow for us to anchor overnight, so we headed into the marina at Porto Corallo.

Porto Corallo

Porto Corallo is quiet, unspoiled (just the beach, and a bar/restaurant/pizzeria) and under development – it’s been under development for years apparently.

Porto Corallo (spot the Spanish tower).

B&B were delighted to find some English children to play with (Rosa and Emily on SANTA PAULA) and it seemed cruel to rush off straight away, so we were forced to drink wine and chat with their parents, Tom and Meg (who were great fun...), and go to the beach together. The wind blew up for a couple of days, so we were forced to drink even more red wine, talk even more junk and eat pizza together.

A day on the beach, pizza for tea, a DVD and some friends to share it all with – what more could a boat kid ask for?

We finally left, escorted out of the marina by Tom and Rosa in their RHIB.

Tom and Rosa escorting us on our way.

Cala Frailis

From Porto Corallo we motored then sailed as the wind increased, and tucked into Cala Frailis (just south of Arbatax) to anchor overnight. It was blowing pretty hard as we were setting the anchor and we forgot to bring the canoe alongside and managed to reverse over its string – David had to don his wetsuit and cut the rope off the prop. As it can’t keep itself out of trouble, the canoe will be travelling on the deck from now on. We spotted a common torpedo ray and a moray eel while snorkelling here

The Spanish tower at Cala Frailis.

From Cala Frailis we intended to potter north along the Golfo di Orosei, as this was a stretch of the coast that had been recommended by lots of people as well worth exploring – isolated, rugged and beautiful. As the wind hadn’t dropped, however, it was a uncomfortable lee shore so we motor-sailed straight across the bay to La Caletta.

La Caletta

It was blowing pretty hard when we came alongside the T pontoon in La Caletta. You can stay here for free although there is no water or electricity. The next day we moved onto one of the marina berths and spent the day pinned by the wind alongside the almost empty pontoon – unfortunately managing to pick up a lazy line around the prop as we came in. When the wind eventually dropped we managed to pull ourselves into a stern-to position to ponder our rope-around-the-prop situation. David donned his snorkelling gear and prepared to go into the water, but was spotted by the marinero who informed us that no diving was allowed, and that we would have to pay an official diver to go down to clear the prop. It just so happened that he was the only diver who was authorized by the Port Captain to do this and he would charge us €200 for the privilege. After some heated discussion in which David used all of the rude words he knew in Italian (which I didn’t know he knew) interspersed with some English phrases that I recognized (the cleaner ones being rip-off and Mafia), the price came down a bit and we were released from our ropey stranglehold. La Caletta has a lovely stretch of silvery sand backed by umbrella pines and the inevitable Spanish tower. The town itself has seen better days, but has an impressive range of bars and restaurants.

La Caletta marina.

Did we mention the Spanish towers?

Costa Smerelda and the Maddalena Archipelago

We carried on hopping up the east coast of Sardinia, past Olbia, onto the Costa Smerelda and through the Maddalenas. We saw some lovely (private) beaches, fantastic (private) villas, and some amazing (private) superyachts (motor and sailing).

The pointy end of Isola Tavolara.

We anchored in Cala di Volpe alongside the superyachts, and watched the beautiful people showing off on the water-ski run. David popped ashore to put our rubbish in the bin and found the sun loungers and matching sun brollies – provided presumably so that the beaches stayed fashionably colour co-ordinated (and to discourage people like us using the Eukanuba brolly we got for free with tons of dog food many moons ago). The fact that access to much of this area is restricted as it is a nature reserve didn’t ring quite true when we saw tractors scraping the Posidonia debris off the beaches – the very source of the fine white sand!

Anchored in Cala di Volpe with Isola Tavolara (Table Mountain) in the distance.

To be honest, we were a bit disappointed with this whole area, and have come to the conclusion that it is just the fact that you have to pay loads of money to be here that makes it exclusive and sought after – you are supposed to buy a permit to cruise in the Maddalenas between June and September. There is no doubt that it is beautiful, but we have been past some equally stunning islands and stayed in some amazing anchorages – maybe we have just been spoiled. We WERE impressed by seeing a small pod of dolphins with a calf – our first dolphins for ages and our first ever dolphin calf.

Bonifacio

From the Maddalenas we carried on north across the Bonifacio Straits to France (Corsica) for the weekend.

Hoisting the French and Corsican flags.

We had been told that Bonifacio was worth a visit and it didn’t disappoint. The scenery coming in by boat is absolutely stunning – a sweep of wind-sculpted chalk cliffs with a walled medieval town and fort teetering on the edge.

A sweep of wind-sculpted chalk cliffs

The Fort and Haute Ville of Bonifacio…

…clinging to an overhang in the chalk cliffs.

Some ex-cliffs.

Once inside, a busy little harbour opens up, its quays buzzing with people, bars, bakeries, boutiques and restaurants.

CAPE found a cosy spot on the end of one of the pontoons.

The view from our berth.

This is the first time the children have been to France and we celebrated with croissants for breakfast and real French bread for lunch.

Real French croissants for breakfast.

We tried hard with our smattering of (menu) French, but Italian slipped out most of the time – luckily the Bonifacians didn't seem phased – apparently they don't even consider themselves Corsican, let alone French! Bryn did manage to get himself locked in the loos one evening. Someone did shout something he said, but he didn't understand what it was – luckily they went on to lock the showers and had to come back past the loos and he was hollering and they let him out. He doesn't seem to have been too traumatized by the event…

We explored the walled town and the fort on top of the cliffs.

Bonifacio harbour from the walled town.

Anchorage number 1.

Anchorage number 2.

We set off from Bonifacio with trepidation, two reefs in the main, a F5 forecast and an eye on the some nasty pointy rocks (the infamous Iles Lavezzi) to port. In the event, we had a STONKING sail, reaching over 8 kts (the best sail that I have ever had) and a quick crossing back to Sardinia. At one point we had a dolphin jumping sideways and on his back in front of us (never seen that before!). The wind stayed on our side as we wove our way back through the Maddalenas, and we only started the engine to motor the last couple of hours into Olbia.

Olbia

In Olbia we went alongside the old commercial quay (for free) for two nights. Olbia was a pleasant surprise – tree-lined squares, pavement cafés and restaurants, the usual array of designer boutiques, a SuperPan supermarket within walking distance of the quay – and the cleanest Italian town/city that we’ve been to.

Arbatax

From Olbia we motored south – it took us 13 hours to cover the 70 miles to Arbatax. We trailed a variety of lures but didn’t catch a thing – not even a plastic bag. The weather was cool, damp and cloudy, the wind was on the nose and the sea was lumpy – a bit like Aber on a good day. We bypassed the Gulfo di Orosei again – this time it was swathed in mist – we were obviously never meant to get there.

Golfo di Orosei – hiding behind a bank of mist.

We finally dug in the anchor at 23:30 just outside the harbour at Arbatax. The wind dropped and the full moon came out from behind the clouds. This morning we moved into the marina for one night and tomorrow we’ll be carrying on heading south.

Views from the anchorage at Arbatax.

We’ll have to leave Sardinia soon – our Sardinian flag is frayed down to 2 whole and 2 half Moors heads!