Leaving early again at 06.30 we motored up the east coast having a very similar trip to the last voyage, no wind in the morning and a reasonable following wind to motor-sail in the afternoon. It was just cloudy and close rather than the sun of the previous days. A very easy trip in a period that had been very quiet weather-wise, we should have known! We arrived in Porto Brandinchi at around 15.30 and dropped anchor. Despite the name it is simply a large south east facing bay and even though the small swell was from that direction we had thought tucking behind the small island in the north corner would work until the wind died later. It was OK but after a couple of hours Chris was not fully comfortable with this as an overnight berth so we upped anchor and moved around the headland into Cala Coda Cavallo. This was much better with good shelter from all but the north-west and even though there is some development on the shores it is far more attractive.
We had just relaxed around 18.00 when the thunder and lightning started accompanied by very heavy rain, those folks upstairs were moving some very heavy furniture, it was deafening. This continued for around an hour and we were then treated to a rainbow as the sun came out. The rainbow had its origin on a small island just off the coast, unfortunately the island is out of bounds or we would have gone and got the pot of gold (they say it’s for nature conservancy reasons but now we know better!) The peace continued and we had a pleasant evening, taking ourselves off to bed early after our early start. At one in the morning there was a huge crash which had us both jumping up only to realise it was another thunder storm which rattled around the bay for an hour before letting us get back to sleep. At half past three we had another repeat performance but this time they had brought the ‘big guns’ out – the rain was torrential, gusts of 20 plus knots (against a forecast of less than 5 knots) and the noise and lightning were spectacular. The sky was constantly lit and the bolts of lightning were travelling horizontally around the sky whilst the giants above smashed up their wardrobes and threw the bits down the stairs! It was sufficiently dramatic that it was almost worth having to get up and monitor the situation - but another 90 minutes of sleep lost. Chris hasn’t seen lightning like it since the last night of his Atlantic crossing in 2009 when the Caribbean gave a similar performance with horizontal bolts blasting across the sky as they approached Barbados.
Today started a bit cloudy and grey but the sun has come out and we are back to pleasant weather. We inflated Fizz and took a paddle around the bay, dropping of our rubbish in the bins provided on the beach and stopping for a coffee in the small beach bar on the low cliff in front of our anchorage.
We are now within easy reach of Olbia which is where Kath and Steve join us in a weeks’ time, so we can relax and explore a few of the bays to the south of the town before getting organised for their arrival.

Photo: The ‘rainbows end’ at Isla Molarotto