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| The harbour as it unveils itself | View from the end of Bonifacio harbour | |||
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| Bars and eateries along the quay |
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2nd September, Anse de Chevanu 10nm
John was distracted by the book he was reading, and lingered in bed not realising that Mo was up and about. She had dealt with the proceeds of her cooking session, washed up, and prepared breakfast before retiring to the cockpit to see what happened. It took a while for John to realise that it had all gone quiet, and he tentatively enquired as to Mo's whereabouts, and received an earful. We had planned to go for a sail in the light breezes, but then John spent quite some time working on the web site so that he could update the family and collect any mail on the same phone session. By the time he was ready to go sailing, Mo was ready for lunch, and he was in no position tto argue. We set off and fortunately kept a reef in, as by now the wind had freshened to F5, against us. Slowly the breeze built, and the original objective seemed decidedly out of reach. We cut our losses and made for Anse de Chevanu. On the first attempt our anchor dragged through weed, on our second we were too close to the only other yacht, and on our third we were more successful. It was a beautiful spot, with mountains as a backdrop, a lovely beach, and church bells from the distant church of L'Annunziata near Calderello on the ridge inland.
3rd September, Cala di Tizzano 17.5nm logged
We decided to push on a little further west and north, as hopefully this would not put us in a more disadvantageous position getting back to Sardinia, provided the wind remained in the west. John had contemplated snorkling, but contented himself with a quick dip, as we thought it would be better to get to our destination and then go for a walk. We had to recover the dinghy, so we set off mid morning, with the objective of reaching Tizzano. Unfortunately, the wind was SW to start with and veered to WNW during the day, so we found ourselves beating, initially with a short tack followed by a long one, then beating straight into it. The wind was a very gentle 8 knots or so, freshening gradually, but required our reef from previous days to be shaken out. It was a most enjoyable sail, with dramatic scenery, the mountainous backdrop, and splendid beaches. We had to dodge through Les Moines, offlying rocks that form part of a mammal sanctuary. Unfortunately no one has told the mammals about these reserves and sanctuaries, and none are to be seen. Tizzano looked a bit tight, but we were among the first to anchor, and all the later comers found a space. We went ashore for a stroll, to dump the rubbish, and enjoyed a drink at one of the three bar/restaurant establishments in this little place. On the way back we visited the wreck of a J-type boat that had hit the rocks just outside the Cala. It was very depressing to see the sails still on, the mast standing (on the rocks), but keel, rudder and bottom had mostly gone.
4th September, Cala di Concha 5nm
John woke early with the wash of passing boats leaving the anchorage, and took the opportunity to listen to the 'Med Net' (0730 local time). The net co-ordinator reading the forecast was barely audible: some other boats around the Ionian were intelligible. The best was a conversation between people with Indian and South African accents arranging some work, 1 kc below the nominal med net frequency (but interfering). Our call went unanswered. Next it was Monaco Radio for the weather forecast, and then weather faxes from Germany. Mo meanwhile got up, and we had breakfast, after which she started to mix yeast and dough for a first attempt at breadmaking on board. After that we were able to set off, towing the dinghy. The early promise of a breeze vanished, and after slowly lolloping along for an hour or so, we decided to motor. We anchored in the beautiful surroundings of Cala di Concha, but disappointingly there was a never ending procession of large jellyfish past the boat. They resembled a large pin-cushion, with forward facing tentacles sticking out (like pins with black heads) from the cushion. On the other side was an orange venturus, with which they were able to propel themselves. John managed to 'process' some by reversing the outboard into them, but decided that multiple pieces were probably more difficult to avoid in the water than the whole thing. The bread eventually came out of the oven, and we finally enjoyed a very pleasant lunch late in the afternoon. John tried to clear the propeller of barnacles, but was put off first by scraping his back on barnacles on the bottom, then by jellyfish clandestinely creeping along the hull to attack. We spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing and reading. The surroundings were lovely, other boats came and went, and we enjoyed the sunset past the 'turtle' shaped rock.
We had set the alarm, and so were roused and soon ready to go. We left the anchorage at 0700 hrs and set a course once outside for Asinara. This island was until fairly recently a penal colony, and access was forbidden. It is now a nature reserve, and there are restricted areas defined both at sea in respect of marine activity, and on the land. It was flat calm, and the only interest was provided by passing ships. We arrived at Asinara at about 1300 hrs, and made for a cove opposite the main landing at Cala d'Oliva, where we anchored. We had hardly been there a few moments, when a park rib came out and explained that we would be liable for a penalty of many euros if we stayed there. It was a shame, because the settlement there looked worth a visit, but is effectively out of bounds to yachts. There was a coach driving along from the beach opposite, which seemed to have people on it. As instructed, we went around the point and fetched up at the rather grandly named Cala Reale (Royal), where there were about 25 moorings laid off the quay. It is marked on the chart as Lazaretto. A catamaran and a monohull were moored on the quay, and we picked up buoy No. 3 close by. Soon, another catamaran came in and offloaded its trippers. Sometime after lunch we were visited by the rib belonging to Marina Asinara, the concessionaires, who relieved us of 32.50€. Reading the small print on the back the rate per metre outside the month of August should have been 2€, but it seems we were charged 2.50€. While Asinara has now been opened for business, there are a number of rules and regulations (in Italian) amongst which is the requirement to sail within Zone B, using the engine minimally to pick up a buoy or leave the mooring. Anchoring in Zone B is not allowed. The pilot (Heikel 2002)is out of date, as the designations of the restricted areas seems to have been considerably changed. Later, we went ashore and only when we were ashore wondered whether we should have used the outboard (it is severely forbidden). Refer to the web site above. There are a number of buildings: some appear to be recently refurbished, and the imposing building opposite the quay sports brass plates denoting offices of the National Park. The church, situated at the top of a rise, also appeared to be in good condition. By contrast, a number of other buildings appeared to be in various stages of ruination. The only facility open appeared to be a mobile food and drink bar, operated by the same couple that collected the Marina fee. Red wine was off, the white rather odd, and the keg beer would not run to a full glass. On shore there were various ex domestic animals running about: a number of goats, some black pigs who patronised the bar and begged from customers, and a few mules.5th September, Asinara 38nm
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| Fuga on a buoy off Cala Reale | The church, with scaffolded building at rear |
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| One of the many four-footed residents | A recent addition to the population |
The tripper boats eventually departed, and we were left almost to ourselves, apart from two latecomers who picked up moorings and were visited by the Marina staff. One of these boats provided the cabaret, with live music and singing, but otherwise it was very quiet. Two buses remained unused throughout our visit, and we never saw anything of the coach from Cala d'Oliva, which seemed to be served by separate tourist ferries. Although it is interesting to see, we wondered about their marketing: do they want a viable tourist operation with sensible controls, or do they actually not want anyone (particularly yachts) to visit?
6th September, off Ancora Yacht Club 7.5nm
We had a number of unwelcome visits by mosquitos during the night, so came too quite early. John tried to listen to the Med Net again: the co-ordinator was unreadable and only one boat in Croatia was really understandable. It seems that the net is dominated by our American cousins and does not serve any really useful purpose? I wonder too about its timing and frequency (8122KHz, 0530 UTC). We had a late breakfast as John was finishing off a book in the sunshine. A tourist ferry came in and seemed to be running a guided tour, as everyone remained in a tight, attentive group. We slipped the mooring and set off under engine, as there was no breeze. Later a NE F3 came up and we set sail, encountering the same sailing boats returning with a new batch of punters coming in the opposite direction. John rang Jacqui, and she rang back. We anchored off Ancora, but in contrast with our first visit here in July there were only three other boats. John dashed off some e-mails, we had lunch, we swam, we read, we snoozed the day away, not necessarily in that order.
7th September, off Ancora Yacht Club
We decided on a walk and landed at the Yacht Club, leaving the dinghy on the outside of their small breakwater, hoping it would not attract attention or cause offence. There were people playing with racquets, sunbathing, etc. but no obvious official to whom we could offer obeisance, so we surreptitiously left the premises and turned right along the road. The beach draws a lot of people and there was a small army of attendants collecting parking dues along its length. The beach opposite the hotel has a windsurfing and sailing school establishment, as well as organising excursions by catamaran to Assinara. A whole day trip, including food on board, was 65€, an exclusive charter was 650€ for the day. We walked up the hill to a small shopping area, denied the temptations of an out of date 'Sunday Times' at 5€, and various Sudoku books that did not have Mo's favourite 'killer' variety. We found a track leading over the rise overlooking the bay behind, then made our way back, relieved to find the dinghy there where we had left it, unmolested in any way. Later in the evening, John took the dinghy out beyond the tower that guarded the entrance to the passage and attempted a sketch while anchored beneath the rocks. He returned after a short while feeling rather green.
8th September, Porto Torres 10nm
We ate breakfast with the last of our fruit purchased in Palau, and then set off for Porto Torres. There was no wind, so we had to motor and arrived shortly after noon. Having called the marina with no success, we hovered a while, when the ormegiatorre appeared at speed in a rubber dinghy. Later in the afternoon we went ashore, and found that the daily rate (36€) could be flexed a little. We settled to pay 110€ for a four day stay, rather than try to rush the shopping and other jobs, leave and return on Monday. We then set off to try to get our bearings, and almost immediately fell upon Lidl, just east of the port and one block in. We picked up some wine to sample and some fruit, and continued on our walk. We found a cash machine, but failed to find a source of gaz bottle exchange. We returned to the boat, tried the bottle of Bardolino, and so satisfied went out to find somewhere to eat. There was some kind of music festival on, but when we arrived opposite the church where we had seen a stage and people setting up, a very pleasant guy came up and in perfect english (he had a house in Yorkshire) explained that it was an Evangelical religious group looking for recruits. Moving on, we fell into a wonderful Pizzeria/Tratoria and emerged well fed and watered 24€ lighter, plus a tip.
9th -10th September, Porto Torres
The marina's wifi is not working. We had managed to find some car hire details from the internet via mobile phone, and so while Mo defrosted the freezer and continued attacking the laundry, John went looking and eventually found the car rental. It was not cheap at 70€. We made a total of 4 trips to Lidl, returning with plenty of wine for the cellar locker, and still had more to get from Mo's list on Monday. We were able to wash the decks (and mainsail) down, having access to water for a change.