Sunday June 29th. 2014   Marina Di Portisco, Sardinia.

The Walls of Cagliari

The heights of Cagliari

Last Sunday Lizzy and Tony Dyson joined us and we explored the southern port city of Cagliari.  The town has grown around a heavily fortified hill-top, which is now home to Sardinia’s most secure prison (where all the Sardinian banditti are held we were informed) and some fancy restaurants and bars with spectacular views over the city and the harbour.

The Aperol Spritzer.

At one of the latter we tried a drink called an Aperol Spritzer, which appears to  be very popular with the locals.  It is a mixture of Aperol, a decidedly medicinal flavoured spirit, mixed with the local prosecco. It is a lurid fluorescent orange colour but in our minds fails to improve on either drink alone.  At our next visit to the supermarket it was Gordons that was placed in the trolley.

Our track from Mallorca.

During the next few days we did some fairly long trips up the Sardinian east coast. The Roman writer Pausanias, two thousand years ago, called it  “an unbroken chain of impassable mountains, and if you sail along the coast you will find no anchorage on this side of the island, while violent but irregular gusts of wind sweep down to the sea from the tops of the mountains”.

Well, he was right and on Wednesday we set off from La Caletta, a small harbour and marina two thirds of the way up the coast.  There was a light breeze but when we had gone about half an hour Julie noticed dark clouds to the north, right in our path, with a few bolts of lightening and some thunder.  We decided to stop and see if they would continue blowing towards the north east but new rain bearing clouds gathered just west of us so the decision was made to return to port.  Unfortunately we were overtaken by the weather just as we got back into the harbour and a fierce wind and driving rain, whipping up the water’s surface, made it not only impossible to come alongside but hard to control the boat within a confined space.  We therefore opted to return to sea and safety.  For a brief period there was virtually no visibility and, as we had seen two other boats heading for La Caletta, we were concerned that we might collide with them. Fortunately the storm passed very rapidly and within about twenty minutes the wind and rain eased and we were able to re-enter the harbour and tie alongside without difficulty. Even managed to retrieve our fender which miraculously stayed in the harbour after blowing off during the storm. A few more valuable lessons learned.

Leaving La Calleta the second time after the storm.

Within a couple of hours the wind had dropped, the sun returned and in perfect weather we set off for Porto di Puntaldia, which is a purpose built resort and marina with beautifully manicured lawns – not something you see often in the ports of Sardinia- designer shops and good restaurants.

Drying out in Marina di Pultaldia.

Here we dried out and debriefed on an interesting day and enjoyed 2 nights in this stylish marina.

Lunch at anchor in Porto della Taverna, the majestic Isola Tavolara in the distance

Yesterday we bypassed the city of Olbia to overnight in Porto Rotondo, a marina with 640 berths, mainly superyachts, however the shower and loo, yes there was only one for the whole marina, were so ghastly we are now in Porto di Portisco another marina one nautical mile away on the fringe of the famous Costa Smeralda.  This is the Sardinian equivalent of the French Riviera, conceived and bankrolled by a consortium headed by the Aga Khan in the 1960s.  It is now the playground of the rich and famous. The Italian Waters Pilot, our absolute bible on the trip, states “In July and August the beautiful people arrive; movie legends and rock starts like Bruce Willis and Mick Jagger rub shoulders with royalty and celebrities, the rich and super-rich show off their new floating toys worth millions of pounds, the hangers on and the minions run around in circles disappearing up their own nautical specifics and the place hums and buzzes with activity.  It has to be seen at least once and the yachtsman is lucky to be able to drop in and see it.

Monday June 23rd. Cagliari, Sardinia.

Sunday June 8th we sailed round the bay to Porto Alcudia, the main port for the north of Mallorca and found a comfortable berth in the marina and booked in for a week. We had a rendezvous with ten friends, most of whom had worked with Terry at the Hospital in Bermuda around 1975. Every year they have a reunion in some warm place at this time of year, often in Mallorca, so we brought Exotica to the nearest port. Two teams came sailing with us on the Monday and Tuesday and we then went to stay at their villa for a few days. It was a delightful spot in a small village, Llubi, with excellent accommodation and a warm swimming pool. We have still not been tempted into the sea yet.

ex-Bermudians lunching in Mallorca

Second group of ex-Bermudians.

The whole team at Llubi

On Tuesday June 10th Michael Milne-Home arrived from Australia, one of the experienced crew to help us passage to Italy. It was about then that we started looking at the weather to assess when we will be able to cross from the Balearic Islands to Sardinia. It is in this two hundred and forty nautical mile stretch of water that the dreaded Mistral wind blows. It is a wind that originates in the Rhone Valley and then sweeps down the Golfe de Lyon and south towards Africa. The weather all week had been perfect but just as our departure approached we could see a storm developing at exactly the time we had planned to leave.
On Friday June 13th Barbara and Malcolm Shaw arrived and completed the crew to make the passage. The weather, however, was definitely unsuitable so we pottered around Alcudia and then back to Puerto Pollensa for another couple of days. Our only excitement was to watch, and then help, an Oceanis 45 attempt to leave the marina in 25 knots with scant crew who omitted to drop the mooring line which caught around his keel causing him the swing wildly into the boats in their marina berths. It was an example of very poor seamanship.

Leaving Mallorca at dawn

By Tuesday 17th June the weather forecast was favourable so at 5am we were up and by 6am we had cast off the lines at Pollenca and with a final backward look at Spain set off for Italy. Initially there was no wind and we motored along. Just on the south east corner of Menorca a beautiful norwesterly  14-18  came in so we had 3 hours sailing before it came, again, from the west and abated, therefore dead astern so back to the “iron genny”. We maintained a strict watch system of three hours on and four and a half hours off which gave us plenty of rest. Julie had cooked an excellent chilli con carne which was reheated on a number of occasions and proved delicious during a cold stint on deck.

Sunrise on the start of the passage to Sardinia.

We were favoured with a beautiful sunrise when we set off from Pollenca and a lone dolphin played briefly in the magnificent sunset. Overnight a bright three quarter moon, the ocean seemed vast and uninhabited, not even by birds and only one other boat in the distance. On the morning of our second day at sea we were running a bit behind if we wanted to get into port before dark so we ran the motor much of the day, but did manage a few hours sailing when a stiff northerly with 2 metre sea blew up around midday. At 3.45pm got our first sight of the Italian coast.

Landfall in Italy.

It wasn’t until 7.30pm that we finally entered the port of Caloforte on the tiny Sardinian island of San Pietro, moored at the marina and had a good drink to celebrate our first major passage.

Carloforte, our first Italian town.

We spent a morning in Caloforte, exploring this walled town with its history of pirates and tuna fishing.

The national flag of Sardinia.

We were also intrigued by the Sardinian flag which is the Christian cross of St George with the severed heads of four Saracens in each quadrant.  Not exactly a multicultural emblem.

We have now moved round to the capital of Sardinia, Cagliari, and our crew have left to be replaced by Lizzy and Tony Dyson with whom we bareboated in the Greek Islands in 1982.  In those days it was a 26 foot boat which we thought very grand.  Our plan is to move up the east coast of Sardinia day sailing into ports and anchoring in pretty bays.

Sunday June 8th.   off Punta de la Avenzada, Mallorca

We must pay tribute to our close friend, Graham Bush, who was one of our first visitors on Exotica last August. After a very short illness he passed away on May 16th in York. We returned to UK for his funeral, a very moving celebration of a life taken far too young.

Opera House in Palma

We were thrilled to get first night seats to the surprisingly excellent production of Verdi’s Otello in the charming Teatre Principal de Palma. The small stage was filled by the frame of a galleon which was cleverly moved for each Act. The principal singers were all Spanish and remarkably good, there was a fine, robust chorus and the orchestra under conductor Manuel Coves was of a high standard. After our opera extravaganza in April in the major opera houses of Europe this was an unexpected treat.

Leaving Palma for the last time.

We departed our home marina of Real Club Nautico in Palma, where Exotica has been moored since 2005, last Monday with mixed feelings, we loved being right in the centre of Palma but are excited about the prospect of new experiences.

Jeremy relaxing.

Jeremy Garling joined us on June 1st for 6 days of mostly good sailing. The wind of the Mallorcan coast is full of surprises, frequently “on the nose” no matter where you go, at other times 180 degree shifts. Keeps the helm on their toes. We anchored one last time in Santa Ponsa’s turquoise waters. Tuesday motored through Dragonera Passage then a 16-20 knot southerly filled in so we had an enjoyable run, firstly with full sails then just under genoa, to Port Soller , the only harbour half way up the 80 nautical mile spectacular north west coast. We looked very small tied up amongst the super yachts. They did, however, provide excellent “people watching”. Who does own these boats?

On the way to Soller, near where the gennaker shredded.

We had seriously considered buying a gennaker, which is a large  foresail to be used in light winds aft of the beam, and we had a sailmaker in Palma come to give us a quote. However it proved to be difficult to fit on our bow and ridiculously expensive so we decided against.  On our way to Soller in about 18 knots of breeze we saw a 45 footer try to hoist one.   The sock, which controls the sail, wouldn’t go up properly so the sail couldn’t fly, they got it wrapped around the mast before it shredded and landed in the water. An ill advised hoist in those conditions. We had the decency not to take any pictures, although we were tempted, and felt that we had definitely made the right decision to stick to our headsail.

The very expensive salad bowl.

Spent Wednesday taking the old tram from Port Soller to the charming town of Soller in the mountains above the port. Famous for it’s orange and lemon trees, each shop was adorned for the Orange Festival. We re-visited the olive wood shop and treated ourselves to the most outrageously expensive salad bowl…now an heirloom.

A disappointing passage from Port Soller to Puerto Pollensa on Thursday. The sky was blue, the wind cold, the sea lumpy and the wind on the nose for the entire 6 hours. However, one could still marvel at the majestic mountains along this coast. Our last night with Jeremy we had excellent fish at Restaurante Ca’n Josep.

Where we lost the dinghy overboard.

At anchor in Punta de la Avanzada, Julie was checking the anchor at 5am and saw the hillside above Alcudia ablaze, back burning or a forest fire we will never know but at daylight a plane water bombed the area for hours. A brisk northerly built up during the day, it must have been some gust that lifted the upturned dinghy over the lifeline and into the drink. A quick up anchor to retrieve the getaway, which will from now on always be secured!

Today we move to Alcudia to spend time with some old Bermuda day friends in their villa and be joined by our “passage” crew. Weather permitting, we will be crossing from Mallorca to Sardinia this time next week!