Portoscuso, Sardinia
Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Fri 22 Aug 2008 17:28
39:12.055N
08:22.832E
We were quite happy
to leave Mahon, Menorca. The town itself was pleasant
enough
and we enjoyed a very nice and reasonably priced
meal at one of the waterfront restaurants,
but we were not
impressed with the moorings. They were (not unexpectedly) expensive.
The overnight charge included 7 euros for water, but when we said we didn't need
to use the water we were told we had to pay for it anyway. No shower
facilities, other than an outdoor one on the pontoon, and no access to the shore
other than by rib. Still, at 68 euros a night, it is apparently cheaper
than elsewhere in the Balearics! We could have anchored for no charge, but
after a long passage we both felt the need for a decent night's
sleep.
We left a little
earlier than planned after being told we needed to leave if we were not staying
another night - friendly! The sea was lumpy at first but the winds were
good and the sea settled down later at night. For the first time in ages
we were able to sail the entire passage with good winds, making decent
speed the whole way. We used the engine only once, and that was to get out
of the way of a tanker whose officer on watch was obviously not. We had a
couple of instances of large vessels that appeared hell bent on mowing us down,
but either we or they eventually took avoiding action. It is
difficult for a yacht to know what action to take unless the intentions of the
large vessel are clear, and this was not the case on these occasions.
We did discover
through these incidents, however, that our VHF radio is not transmitting,
although it does receive. This discovery came about as we tried to radio
the vessels in question to ask them their intentions. We finally made
contact with one using the hand-held VHF. Since arriving in port we have
tested the radio and it works with the emergency aerial, so it seems that the
aerial is kaput. We only had it checked out in May. For the
time being we will have to use the emergency aerial, then get a new one fitted
at the earliest opportunity.
We arrived in
Portoscuso in Sardinia this morning, to a yummy smell of pastries baking.
We followed our noses and found a little place right by the marina where warm
pastries were on sale, so had a delicious continental breakfast in the
cockpit, before giving the boat a good wash down and tidy
up.
We had worried about
the red tape here and boat tax of 500 euros, although everything we read
and heard suggested that this was only for boats of 14m and over. One
occasion when we were glad we are 5cms shy of 13m! In fact, it was the
easiest place so far to check into. As Steve got out the folder of boat
papers to show, the guy simply waved it away and produced a single form for
completion. No passports, boat papers, insurance documents - nada
(actually that's Spanish, but I have absolutely no Italian!)
The town is next to
an industrial area, and we had to smile when we saw the people on this
beach - with the chimneys and cranes etc in the background. Still, I
suppose if you are lying on the beach, you can't see them!
