Porta Della Taverna

40:51.53N    09:39.40E   

Thursday as the weather was perfect we decided we would head out to the Tavolara Island and anchor around the corner from Point Spalmatore.  When we sailed into the bay the sea was whipping up and we headed towards mainland Sardinia into Porta Della Taverna.  A large wreck of an old ship lies on the reef between the Piana Island and Rosso Island which looks like shark’s teeth. 

Porta Della Taverna is absolutely perfect and with a beautiful white sandy beach we were in heaven.  We swam, dined and had a very quiet night on the anchor. 

The next morning Jim and I took the dinghy ashore and we walked the length of the beach.  A number of villas have been built on the slopes around the shore. We were very lucky to spot 15 flamingos in the inland lake which drains into the sea at one end of the beach.  This made our day!  I am sorry Julie and Richard did not see them while they were still with us.

Around midday the wind changed and Ariel started to swing around so we moved to the other side of the bay and tucked in under the hill near Cana Island for lunch. Just as beautiful with another little beach and houses down to the shore.

The afternoon weather report on the Navtex suggested a south wind blowing a 5 so we moved back to the harbour in Olbia where we stayed until our new visitors arrived on Monday.  On the Sunday the wind blew so hard the dust from the car park managed to reach Ariel and by Monday morning we were covered.  It could not be helped as we had nowhere else to go in such a wind storm.  Luckily the sun shone the whole time which didn’t make it feel so bad.