Swallow's adventures

As much as we would have liked to circumnavigate Sardinia time constraints and shorter weather windows would not allow it; we were booked into Gaeta on mainland Italy for October so we decided that we would head north and through the Bonifacio Straits. Firstly though we spent five days in Alghero due to organising the repair to our stanchion post and lifeline; the silver lining was that it was a lovely place and the insurance would be paying for our berth (Italy is more expensive than Spain and we had planned to be mainly anchoring).

Our first day in Alghero was occupied with sourcing a rigger to give us a quotation for the insurance company; after putting out a question on the Cruising Association forum we were recommended to go and see Roberto in Aquatica Marina. This guy was a CA rep. and called out SOS Nautica for us and also sorted a 20% discount on our berthing rate; the repair went smoothly, although we now have one stainless stanchion and the others are aluminium (you can only spot this on close inspection). As a bonus we made some nice new friends, Claire, Clive and their 8 year old son Oliver- they were on the boat moored next to us and were soon returning back to the UK after a summer adventure around Greece; they kindly gave us a few useful items that they wouldn’t be needing anymore, one of which was a wifi box as ours had decided to burn itself out! One of Paul’s old chandlery customers also turned up on Rum Truffle, Mark and Gina- they would be following us through the Straits but would then be heading straight for Greece; it’s always nice to meet up with fellow sailors to swop stories and tips; sometimes you can feel a little low not having your friends and family around you and meeting like-minded people always helps to lift your spirits. We also made a local ’friend’ who spends all day, every day hanging around the town quay chatting to the boat crews; I would recommend to anyone who moors here to go in bow to (as we generally do)- a lot more privacy.

Although the modern part of Alghero is a little shabby the old walled town, where we were moored, is charming; every evening we wandered around the cobbled streets admiring the old churches and towers and pottered around the little shops where coral jewellery (sourced locally) was in abundance; of course there are gelataries on every corner and Prosecco is plentiful- I am in heaven! There are so many restaurants to choose from here, we picked a tiny pizzeria overlooking the sea and sat outside watching the sunset- bellisimo!

On Monday 4th September 2017 we set off at 0930 for an anchorage on the north of the island, 36 miles away; we had a fantastic port beam reach with full sail for the first hour but after that the wind died and the engine had to go on and we rigged up a preventer for the main sail. Five hours in Paul had to top up the tank from our 20L reserve can as Alghero was all out of diesel- hopefully we’ll be able to get some in the next port. This coastline is beautiful with sheer, craggy cliffs of ochre and grey topped with green vegetation and backed with sloping hills. We were 9 miles from our destination and we noticed loads of seabirds chasing little fish who were trying to escape a shoal of tuna; there were loads of pot buoys a couple of miles out from the shore too. There was now only 2.5 m under the boat and we were heading through the very narrow Fornelli Passage which was well marked but a bit nail biting- you wouldn’t be wanting to go through here on a rough day! Once through here we noticed two anchored boats and so picked a spot in 4m of water; we were in between Isla Piana and Isola dell’Asinara, which has been a quarantine island, a POW camp and a Mafia prison and is now a national park. As soon as the anchor was set, at around 1700, we had a lovely, refreshing swim, the turquoise water was crystal clear and we could see the sandy bottom; a solitary dolphin was playing 200 metres away. Once again we witnessed an incredible sunset and then a full moon; it was an extremely still night. Strong winds had been forecasted for the next few days so the following, windless morning we set off for Castelsardo, 22 miles away; it’s hard to believe that it can blow a real hoolie through here but I’m sure we’ll witness it soon enough.

On approaching Castelsardo we saw a hilly, quaint fishing village, lined with multi-coloured houses and topped with a ruined castle- just like a picture postcard. Again we were guided in by a friendly marinaro and we were delighted to be told that our rate would be 15 euros per night. The medieval village inside the castle walls up on the hill was spectacular, rewarding to see after the steep walk up there; there were a few shops and restaurants scattered around the alleyways and women were sat in their doorways weaving baskets, it was like going back in time. Many of the old houses had been turned into holiday lets but many older locals still remain; it was so peaceful up there; the 13th century castle, church and bell tower are all worth a visit. The view out to sea from up there was incredible too. Rum Truffle caught up with us here and we had a great evening aboard with them.

We knew that we had to press on and tackle the Bonifacio Straits, unfortunately the weather here was untypically bad for September, so we knew that we would not be able to cruise the Maddalena Islands as we had originally planned; instead we decided to head over to Bonifacio on Corsica and then edge our way around the east coast of the French island before crossing over to the Italian mainland. So as soon as weather conditions allow we will be sadly leaving this beautiful island; hopefully we will return next year.