Italy must be different…. Both the tradesmen turned up (though not at the agreed time). We managed to get the windlass fixed, they found the broken wire quickly. The sail-maker took the dimensions of the dinghy and has now given us a quote, E1200 to make the cover!!! I think we will pass on that, it’s half the price of the dinghy itself. We might take him up on his quote for repairing the helm seat which is splitting as it’s more reasonable.

The last two days have been taken up with preparations to return to the UK and maintenance. We have got our train tickets for the three hour journey to Olbia Airport in the north of the island and checked in and printed off the boarding passes. We’ve washed the outboard through with fresh water and mixed in the fuel stabilizer to prep it for a period without use, bought and installed 40 meters of new ‘topping lift’ (the line that holds up the boom when the sail is not raised) as the old ones cover had split. We’ve dismantled and tested our ‘Redbox’ wifi system which wasn’t working, it appears it’s a cable that’s faulty so we can buy a new one in the UK and try that. We also have a long list of other bits ranging from exhaust hose to ‘Tolron balls’(who knows what they are?) that we need to source at home as having trailed around the chandlers here they don’t stock them.

The marina here at Portus Karalis is great in some ways but has some downsides. The location is good, right in the centre of the town and an easy walk to shops and restaurants. The staff are friendly and helpful and the general environment in the marina is fine. There are two sections, a very open area for larger boats/ships (we spent our first few days there and it’s fairly isolated) and then the ‘Darsena’ which is the main mooring area. This is crowded and tight to manoeuvre in some areas. Whilst it does have CCTV cameras (we don’t know if they actually work) and a fence/coded gate the real security is minimal as these are so easily bypassed and the boats are backed onto the public quay. We haven’t heard of any problems and the comments from other boats in the Cruising Association were positive so maybe this isn’t an issue here. The other weird thing is that this is the first marina we have ever been to that doesn’t have any showers or proper toilet facilities. You can use the loo in the marina café when it’s open but at other times... They tell us they are in the process of building showers and toilets and there is an area where building is going on. It will be ready in two weeks they say… we shall see when we return.

Today we are cleaning down the boat and packing everything up for the ‘summer pause’. We fly out to the UK tomorrow (21st July) and return to Splice on 19th August.

The blog will take a break until we return, enjoy your summer!

Photo: Portus Karalis, Cagliari. Splice in her berth in the centre with the marina buildings behind.