Heading West
17 July 2012
Belinda and Kit
Current Position: 41° 35.35N 009° 17.84E, Porto Vecchio, Corsica
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Malta: Our sailing year got off to a fine start and with fair winds we managed to sail almost all the way to Malta from Marina Di Ragusa without the aid of the engine – brilliant! … but we’ve been in the Med too long to expect it to last!
Cruising came to a dead halt in Malta because for various reasons it took 6 weeks to complete the rigging work – and then it was only finished because Clive and Jane on ‘Jane G’ arrived and helped get to Kit up the mast to complete it! – but it was worth the time and effort as Quilcene now has two furling sails up front and looks very smart! (and thanks again C & J!)
During our stay we had good company; Christina and Bjorn, former owners of ‘Mischief’, whom we had met both in Finike and Marina di Ragusa, are now land-based on Malta and we had lovely time seeing the island with them and enjoying several sundowners and dinners.
..and it was nice to see Malta again, we’d been there in 2009. Two things struck us on this visit; firstly Maltese is widely spoken by young and old alike, and definitely not a dying language as we’d previously thought. This must be good as it helps to preserve the culture and character of Malta. Secondly, and sad to say, the absence of the lovely old yellow buses, now replaced with mundane modern ‘bendy’ buses, has the opposite effect.
Sicily and Aeolian Islands: Leaving Malta we moved on quite quickly, first stopping on Sicily at Syracusa and Taormina. Although Syracusa is one of our favourite places, we only lingered for a few days as we were anxious to be on our way and start heading west. ..also, the water in the anchorage was a bit murky and green; not very inviting to swim in!
We navigated up through the Straits of Messina, managing to dodge 3 ferries, a cruise ship and a cargo vessel whilst at the same time steering through the tidal rip and mini whirlpools at the turn of the tide….not to mention a close encounter with a strange, elongated swordfishing boat (picture posted) phew!
We’d planned an overnight stop in the small fishing port of Bagnara Calabra, above Messina on the Italian side, but were asked for 50 euros for the pleasure of tying up on the fuel dock for the night with LOUD music playing (a festival they said!). A no-brainer really, so we said ‘Ciao’ and set off to sail 40 miles across to Stromboli!
Stromboli is a live volcano with a cone that sticks up out of the sea and grumbles away endlessly, sending red-hot ashes out on a regular basis. We know ‘cos we sailed around it overnight. It was amazing to sail one mile off from this natural fireworks display in the pitch black night; every ten minutes or so there would be a loud booming explosion and glowing showers of red hot pumice and ashes were sent tumbling down the north west face. Wow!!! Sadly my camera is not clever enough to capture any of this so you’ll just have to imagine it!
Next stop, the island of Vulcano, which, as the name suggests is another volcano, although very much less active! However there are warm springs bubbling up just off the beach in front of the anchorage - these increased the local water temperature to that of a warm bath but gave off nose-wrinkling pongy smells when the wind blew in our direction! A big attraction for tourists are the hot sulphurous mud pools just behind the beach where people pay to soak in a mud bath then pop into the sea to wash it off. It’s supposed to be therapeutic but we weren’t tempted! Clive and Jane on ‘Jane G’ and Vic and Marge on ‘Ice Maiden’ were also in the anchorage on Vulcano so we had sundowners together to catch up with news and discuss the next leg of our journey – a long sail over to Sardinia.
We set off from Vulcano to head across to Sardinia expecting it would take 2 days/nights. Not so! During the first night our engine compartment fan started complaining loudly and soon stopped altogether so the engine began to overheat. Of course there was no wind to sail so Kit took the insulated covers off both sides of the compartment and used our cabin fan to try to keep it cool. The heat and noise in the cabin was awful as the engine is tucked underneath in the galley, so no chance of us getting any sleep! Then the relay started arcing and the engine hiccupping. We were 30 miles north of Cefalu on Northern Sicily so we headed there to effect repairs and ‘limped’ into the anchorage. As morning broke we contacted ‘Jane G’ with our news and were touched when they offered to change course to give us a hand. Kit thought he could sort it out alone so we declined, but what great people we meet cruising!
Once safely anchored and in daylight Kit could deal with the problems. He replaced the relay (an ongoing problem) and by an amazing coincidence we had recently acquired a spare fan!! ...so after a few minor modifications and curses it was fitted and we were up and running again. It was a difficult decision that morning whether to continue to Sardinia (another 2 nights at sea) or stay in Cefalu - the town looked inviting from the anchorage and we were very tired after one sleepless night, but the weather looked good to go so after a reviving bacon butty we set off again. The rest of the journey went OK, although it was quite an eventful trip; we had a bit of everything en route – calms, lumpy seas, fog and strong winds! There were nice bits too when we were escorted several miles by playful dolphins, and we saw several turtles swimming on the surface miles out at sea. The strong winds came on the nose as we neared Southern Sardinia so we headed further up the coast and could sail for a while. We finally anchored at Arbatax and enjoyed two days well-earned rest! We were a bit sad tho’ as ‘Jane G’ had gone further south so we wouldn’t see them again for a while.
Sardinia and the Maddalenas:
From Arbatax we slowly made our way up the coast, anchoring at Porto Brandinghi before entering the busy port of Olbia via a long buoyed channel. This was interesting as very large cruise ships also use the channel, which marks the safe route through mud banks and rocks! One came up fast behind and towered over Quilcene, and although no overtaking is allowed in the channel we soon moved out of the way!!
Once inside we moored to the old commercial quay along with several other yachts – including, we were pleased to see, ‘Ice Maiden’. It was quite good to go ashore with Vic and Marge that evening for a beer and a pizza, we hadn’t been off the boat for a week! Olbia is a surprisingly nice town; we’d expected the area around the old commercial docks to be a bit ‘rough’ but the main street nearby is full of smart shops and café’s with colourful awnings and tables spilling out into the street – a nice place to spend a few days - and with lovely views of the distant mountains from the quay.
The northeast of Sardinia is very beautiful. It is indented with numerous calas (bays) affording a wide choice of pretty sheltered anchorages. The Maddalena archipelago lies just offshore (requiring a permit to anchor) and much of area is designated a National Park, Marine National Park and Conservation area. Development has been limited to well-spaced low-rise buildings designed to blend in with the coast. In many of the calas it is difficult to spot the hotels amongst the trees, so well are they designed. The beaches are white and the water over them impossibly blue and there are lots of naturally sculpted white rocks just to enhance all this. It is really beautiful.
We slowly pootled up the coast anchoring in various calas and enjoying the wonderful scenery. Naturally, it is a very popular area so some places can get crowded with boats, especially now at the height of the season (July) when the rich and famous arrive with MASSIVE yachts and motor yachts complete with jet skis, fast RIBs etc. and take up half the anchorages! One we spotted looked more like a cruise liner and even had a helipad on the front deck! We soon learned to head for the shallower areas where these ‘big boys with toys’ as we call them, couldn’t get into!
Vic and Marge were following the same route as us so we kept seeing them as we moved northwards. It was nice to have such good company and we shared several sundowners and investigated a few café bars together!
We parted company when we decided to buy a two-day permit and head out to the Maddalena’s. It wasn’t expensive at 14 Euro per night and we could anchor on sand or pick up Park buoys on the islands.
Cala Corsara on Spargi was our first stop, again stunningly beautiful but crowded. …especially when several tripper boats arrived and disgorged their passengers onto the beach. However, in the evening, when all the day-trippers and most of the motorboats had returned to their respective ports, the shore and beach looked pristine. Not a scrap of rubbish or sign of humanity was left so it seems that the National Park designation works and people respect this wonderful area. Unfortunately the wind turned SW which put us on a lee shore so just before dark we popped over to the safer anchorage of Liscia on the mainland to spend a quiet night.
Next day we hauled out our colourful MPG (Multi Purpose Genoa – light front sail) and sailed over to the NE of Maddalena Island for a lunch stop. Sadly this was not to be! We were turned away from the two calas we tried (Spaltamore and Massimo), as they are private! A bit disappointed, we ate lunch on the move and headed over to Deadmans Reef Passage anchorage between the islands of Buddeli and Razzoli in the north of the archipelago; another fabulous spot where Park mooring buoys are provided to preserve the seabed. The water was so clear we could see every ripple on the seabed and every blade of seagrass 8 metres below us! In the evening we took the dinghy and explored Deadmans Reef Passage – definitely not a passage to take Quilcene through! It is a very shallow area with brilliant white sand on the seabed and dotted with numerous above- and below-water rocks, some sculpted by wind and weather into fantastic shapes. This is a wonderful spot and we’d have loved to have spent a bit more time here, but strong winds were forecast from the west and after a peaceful night we decided to visit Corsica, only 10 miles away across the infamous and daunting Bonifacio Strait.
Corsica: Expecting the worst and with two reefs in the mainsail and only a scrap of the yankee out we headed out into the Strait – and the wind slowly died!!! Kit hoisted our French courtesy flag, unused since 2007, as we entered French waters. Porto Vecchio, a few miles up the coast of Corsica looked to be a sheltered anchorage to sit out the coming blow so we slowly motored north and finally anchored at the head of the deep bay. Porto Vecchio is a ferry port overlooked by an old town on a hill, and surrounded by wooded mountains, a picturesque spot. There’s a marina on the shore and a small restaurant/café/shopping area. Currently we have 30+ knot gusts and Quilcene is dancing about on the end of the anchor chain as I write this. …but the holding is good so we feel quite safe here. Every time we look at a forecast the windy spell seems to have increased both in severity and duration, so to make things more bearable we’ve been ashore and bought some of the tasty French cheeses and pate’s – mmmmm!
There are dozens of yachts and motorboats (including many of the ‘big boys’) also taking shelter here and it’s great to see all the anchor lights bobbing at night. Last night we were treated to an amazing firework display in celebration of Bastille Day (July 14th). We had a ‘front seat’ view as they were let off from a raft moored just off the marina. At the end of the display there was loud cheering from all around the bay and car horns and foghorns hooted in appreciation – quite an event!
So that’s us up to date! Oh! Just one more paragraph to mention my new Kindle bookreader. It is fantastic (thanks Marcus!), no more do we run out of books to read on a windy night, or have our bookcases overflowing! I/we (Kit now has one too) still prefer the ‘feel’ of real books but the Kindle is a good substitute. It seems to connect wherever we are and if all else fails we can even get a weather forecast on it! A must for all you cruisers!!!