Fertilia 40:35.47N 08:17.25E

Red Skies
David Alexander
Mon 7 Jul 2014 20:34
Friday 4th July - Stintino .With no Americans in sight, this day passed without major flag-waving or downing cheap booze. However, we set off from Castelsardo with some anxiety from the crew as gales had been forecast on the Navtext. The skipper had examined several forecasts and decided that the said gales would be in a different part of the relevant sea area and, most fortunately, on this occasion he was correct. The wind was all over the place and whilst we had the occasional interesting gust, it was nowhere near a gale. Stintino was relatively full and we later learnt that it was completely full the night before, with local yachts and catamarans sheltering from the high winds.

Saturday 5th July.  A breakfast-time call to our granddaughter, Tilly, who was celebrating her 7th birthday. On completing the call we set off for the Asinara Island and had a fabulous sail across to Cala D’Oliva. This was the site of the town that had to be abandoned when the authorities moved the locals out to first set up a quarantine station, and subsequently a penitentiary for the mafiosa. The displaced inhabitants relocated to the mainland and established the town of Stintino in a similar style and layout. Asinara has for the last decade been established as a national park and marine reserve, with close control of all activities there. No anchoring is allowed and a permit must be purchased to navigate in their waters and to pick up a mooring buoy. There are some fabulous walks in stunning scenery and we would certainly return to do more.

   
A local inhabitant of Asinara Island

    
A view of Cala d’Oliva as we left in the early morning

The abandoned town - now partially occupied by environmentalists

Our ritual of walking to the nearest lighthouse was unfulfilled on this occasion as the signpost indicated it was over 5 hours away and we didn’t have sufficient daylight to make the round trip.

Sunday 6th July.  We left early in order to pass through the Fornelli Passage whilst it was still calm. On this occasion the transits were easy to identify as the sun was shining on them, however, the second set of back transits had to be viewed directly into the low sun, which was a little tricky.  Having safely negotiated the rocky shallows we had a decent sail down the North-West coast with the wind directly behind us. Our destination was Porto Conte, a huge bay with many places to anchor, although it is till part of a marine reserve. As it was a fine Sunday, the various bays were crowded when we arrived. However, by nightfall we were the only yacht, together with a German catamaran, left to enjoy the tuneful cicadas. An evening swim had elucidated that the anchor was sitting on rock and so a calm night was requested. A peaceful night followed but gusts around 8:00am indicated that a early departure might be prudent.

Monday 7th July. Fertilia.  A short passage of 7 nM brought us to Fertilia, the boatyard where we have arranged for RedSkies to be lifted ashore whilst we return to the UK for the Summer. It has a shallow entrance and our alarm was constantly sounding as we approached our berth. The boatyard is a somewhat quirky but the staff are most helpful. This evening we were intrigued by a close neighbour, a commercial fishing boat, who employed a chain gang to unload its catch of tuna fish, one by one, to a waiting lorry, each being weighed on the way. Clearly the age of casual labour in these parts is not dead.