11^th May   PORTO TEULADA

38 55.7 N   08 43.3 E

Very light airs and a sea like glass. The fuel berth was about 60m from our mooring – but in the fishing harbour. I checked it the previous day, there was adequate depth around it, you could see the bottom. Looked about 10-15 ft. The Costa Guardiere were in an office right by it. I checked with them, they reckoned a 1.9m draught boat would have no problem, the depth in the fishing harbour was around 4m.

Before leaving I asked the guy at Marine Sifredi (really great marina). He said I could do it, but to wait an hour or so because the tide was rising, (this gave me about another 3 inches!). He said go very very gently, if I nudged the bottom about half way in, just a little more engine would push me through, and the bottom was very soft sand and silt. So it proved. There was a spot of about 10m where a little more power was needed, then it was into the deep water around the quay. There was plenty of room to manoeuvre. That was about as close to the limit as I would care to go – his advice a lot more useful than the Coastguard!

We left the fuelling berth at 11:00 and headed for Porto Teulada as our jumping off point for Sicily. No wind, we stopped a couple of times to look for it, but it was a sea of glass again. We saw a couple of pilot whales. The scenery was superb, very little building, green, wild. Endless distant mountains fading into sky and sea.

Porto Teulada is in a deepish bay, it was about an hour to get to once we entered. We got there around 17.00. There is a large marina – but a guy came out in a rib after a while (we were calling on VHF and had no replies) as we waited inside the marina. He said there were no showers/toilets – anything! We said never mind. We’d stay anyway.

I’d decided earlier to go for Sicily before the weather broke, it had been so calm for so long, and the forecasts showed things blowing up in a day or two. So the plan was to leave about midnight – after a meal ashore and a rest.

Ashore we found – as mentioned in the pilot guide – a mobile canteen selling drinks and snacks. The only people there were locals (about 4 or 5 of them). Paul ordered a couple of beers, then became involved in an argument with the barman. Paul said he’d given him a 20, the barman said it was a 5. The barman then shrugged and gave him another 5 (which meant paul now had 6 euros). Paul reiterated he’d given him a 20. The barman became agitated and said he hadn’t, he had no 20’s in his till.

We wandered off down a small path that led to the sea. I can’t remember anywhere that I’ve been that was more beautiful. There were wild herbs in profusion, thyme, basil, I picked a bit of a small herb – it was coriander. There were so many different kinds of wild flower. We walked through bushes about 3-4 ft high that were covered in white flowers with yellow centres, it was almost like snow. The evening sun was low, and bathed it all in an ethereal light, it was like being in a John Martin painting, or a Ruskin (it was like the light in I think it is “Lost Sheep”?) I couldn’t believe it.

There were small dark cypresses against the sky and the lighter greenish blue of the sea. The air was clamouring with scents. It was absolute bliss. It was as if the planet was laughing in delight with itself, as if to say “This is what I can do! This is how I can be!” And all the while there was this voice going “7 Euros each, that’s what those beers cost!”

The pilot guide recommended a restaurant: La Mezze Luna. Apparently they would send a boat to pick you up, so we assumed it was just the other side of the bay. I asked the marinerowho kept apologising for the state of things, everything was being rebuilt, absolutely everything. Whole place a building site. He said leave it to him – he would organise transport to the restaurant (he was intrigued we’d heard of it), the restaurant would organise transport back, and that it was, indeed, a very fine restaurant. Great!

We leave the boat at the appointed time, and there, waiting for us, is the barman who had (apparently) short changed Paul. We got in the car. Off we went. We didn’t go anywhere near the other side of the bay, we headed off down a narrow road inland. First time I’d been in a car for weeks, didn’t know where he was taking us.

I did consider that he might have been so mortally offended at being called a cheat in front of his mates that the Sardegnan code of honour required that we be eliminated after a particularly grisly torture in some remote farmhouse where they still have a bit of Paul Getty’s ear on display. Noone knew where we were. Psyche would be quietly sailed out at dark to the no fishing, no anchoring area at the top of the bay, seacocks opened and it’s “Goodnight nurse….”

But lo and behold – a sign pointed to La Mezze Luna up a gravel track, and there we were. He refused to take a fare from us. The restaurant was empty, but they’d obviously been told we were coming (it was also quite early for eating out, about 8).

The food was good – and we watched the A Team on telly as we ate, dubbed into Italian. At the end of the meal we asked if they could get us a taxi. No need, they said, pointing to an old guy who had been watching telly for the last hour – he’s taking you back. Which he did – and adamantly refused any payment.

Back on the boat we prepared for a 23.30 pm departure to Trapani.

Today we covered 34 NM