Oristano
Another long sail today to Oristano. Good sailing but not many boats around. We came close to a British Yacht and as they were flying a Cruising Association pennant I called them up on the VHF and had a chat. They were on Yacht Muskrat and heading for the same buoys as us. Both yachts ended up arriving at roughly the same time and as Bob had just done his normal swim to get a line through the eye of our mooring buoy - he did the same for Muskrat- which earned us a nice drink later on!
Wednesday
Decided that a bit of culture was needed and that a trip to Tharros was just the thing. Tharros is an archaeological site just by the buoys which was started by stone/bronze age man and then messed around with by everyone else - Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans and even Christians. We walked around with Will and Carole from Muskrat trying to make sense of the layers of different civilisations. By the time we got back to the boat it was too late and hot to do anything so we stayed another night and had some pleasant drinks with our new companions.
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Windy and slightly disturbed night. Bob did his normal thing - lift anchor by hand (!) and sailed off the mooring whilst I was still in bed. The wind ran out after a while so we put into "rock bay". This is a bay with no sand and no landing because of a military base - but the water is crystal clear. Swims lunch and jobs followed. We decided there was enough wind to sail to Bosa 18 m south. With a mixture of motor and sail we approached the bay of Bosa fringed by green cliffs - copper bearing?? The harbour entrance had grown a huge breakwater since our chart and pilot were published so we motored in to have a look at the newish marina and the castle and town in the distance. Our plan was to anchor so we motored round the corner to find a large bay with lots of beaches hundreds of people and their umbrellas and a multitude of windsurfers swimmers canoeists and ribs - it was like trying to anchor in Piccadilly Circus. It took a while because of the frenetic achtivity to anchor - but there was no wind. Suddenly the wind picked up and up and up. After half an hour it was gusting 28 kn - more chain was dropped - I thought the marina looked inviting.... About 8.00pm it dropped - but what will happen overnight?
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08/10/2012, Southwards bound
Said good bye to Richard and Laura. Did washing and provisioning. Sailed to Fertila - hung up washing. I bumped into the back-stay disguised by washing and glasses went overboard. O dear - varifocals and reactolite.... Bob went diving but not clear - weedy etc so no luck.
Sunday 6th August
Windy and slightly disturbed night. Bob did his normal thing - lift anchor by hand (!) and sailed off the mooring whilst I was still in bed. The wind ran out after a while so we put into "rock bay". This is a bay with no sand and no landing because of a military base - but the water is crystal clear. Swims lunch and jobs followed. We decided there was enough wind to sail to Bosa 18 m south. With a mixture of motor and sail we approached the bay of Bosa fringed by green cliffs - copper bearing?? The harbour entrance had grown a huge breakwater since our chart and pilot were published so we motored in to have a look at the newish marina and the castle and town in the distance. Our plan was to anchor so we motored round the corner to find a large bay with lots of beaches hundreds of people and their umbrellas and a multitude of windsurfers swimmers canoeists and ribs - it was like trying to anchor in Piccadilly Circus. It took a while because of the frenetic achtivity to anchor - but there was no wind. Suddenly the wind picked up and up and up. After half an hour it was gusting 28 kn - more chain was dropped - I thought the marina looked inviting.... About 8.00pm it dropped - but what will happen overnight?
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Bob woke early and as he was fed up with the wasps around the boat decided to set sail. Isabel was still "asleep" - so he slipped the mooring lines and gently sailed away. Eventually the sleepy head got up to a lovely morning sail. We drifted the 6 nm to the Fornelli Passage (a tricky gap between the mainland and Asinara - shallows/rocks etc.) where the anchorage was almost empty - which meant that we had no problems anchoring under sail! (Not quite RYA style though). It was our wedding anniversary so we decided to stay put - do jobs(!) and swim. The anchorage is huge and gradually filled up throughout the day with all sorts of boats from ribs to huge ketches - attracted by the turquoise sea - literally hundreds of people just having fun. Most went home in the evening leaving a few yachts calm waters and peace and quiet.
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07/30/2012
Left Arana around 9.30. The anchorage has been quite windy in the night and some rain but at least it was not rolly!
We set off for the Fornelli Passage on our way south (43 nm). Our weather information was a bit out of date as the Gribs were last collected on Thursday and the Kindle wouldn't give us any 3G and we have no French internet connection. We were hopeful. Initially all went well with a lovely broad reach and a good boat speed of 5/6 knots. After a few hours the wind failed so we put on the engine and did some jobs - Bob mending the fridge that had stopped working in the night. We got so hot that we stopped mid -sea for a swim. As Isabel prepared lunch the wind came back on so sails went up again. Whist the washing up was being done the wind escalated to 20 gusting 25 kn now as a headwind -white horses and waves everywhere. Rapid reefing took place and after a while things calmed down a little but by now we were crashing into quite large steep waves that just took away all speed. Funnily enough we couldn't see any other yachts. Then Ch 16 started with its "securitie, securite" etc - the trouble is we can't recognise any of the areas that were being forecasted F7! After a while the winds moderated (but the waves didn't!) Eventually the wind died altogether and we motored - how could it still be the same day? As it looked as if we wouldn't get to our anchorage until dark we diverted to Asinara Island. On our way north we booked a mooring buoy and got charged 36 euros for the night. So this time we headed for the less popular bay in the hope that there would be buoys free and no warden to collect the money. The bay we went in was unbelievably beautiful - no human activity to see - part of the nature reserve - no phone or internet signal! The water was cold - only 21.6° C - but lovely and clear.
(Frog)man checking anchor
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07/25/2012, Corsica
After Bonificacio we headed north towards Ajacio. We had a mixture of busy and quiet anchorages but a common factor is that someone will always anchor too close to you no matter how much space there is. Swell was as usual a common problem as with westerly winds there was little shelter or protection but we had sufficient lovely sandy beaches to swim on. Towards the end of the week the weather turned cloudy and we even had a few drops of rain. Elsewhere on Corsica there were gales! We spent quite a long time in the Sanguinaire Islands in various anchorages. The scenery was dramatic and the walks steep! Graham even managed to catch a fish - but it doesn't go very far between three. It was a lovely relaxing time potting around and enjoying the weather and scenery.
Capella is in the picture somewhere.
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