from the harbour
We had hoped to get away on Thursday towards the south, but John wanted to do some more work on the new laptop while he had the benefit of 'free' wifi. The boat laptop, used for navigation as well as all the usual e-mail, correspondence, web maintenance, and photographic purposes, has ceased to perform reliably. In addition, when the inverter failed in May, John managed to blow the battery maintenance circuitry so that it will no longer work on battery. A new one seemed to be the best solution, but required the old stuff to be transferred on to it. The plug in mouse had gone missing, and could not be found anywhere. This was a subtle way Mo had to encourage John to go through every conceivable locker like a madman, tidying and replacing stuff that had been moved to make room for the visitors. Eventually it was found in the computer bag, where it had been nesting since our trip ashore with the computer some weeks ago in Palau. Although we had failed to do the shopping, we had had a productive day, and went out for a longer walk along the walls and south of the town, stopping for a drink again on the way back.
We made a business like start and managed a visit to EuroSpin for more wine and other essentials. We are now stocked for two months or so, but with excellent wines at under 1.50€ it seems a pity not to take advantage of the opportunity. We filled up with water, and washed down the decks and cockpit, before finally setting off at 1400 hrs. There was little wind, so we had to motor the 18nm logged (it is under reading) arriving at 1730. We enjoyed the sunshine and sunset.
We left Bosa at 1115. Initially there was very little wind, and so John decided that he would like to catch supper. He totally failed to get the 'planche' bought in France to submerge at all, despite doing his best to follow the French instructions, drilling extra holes, and putting additional weights on the trace. When it did, close to the boat, it exerted an enormous pull on the line. Needless to say, his efforts were without success, and when the wind picked up to SE Force 6 the exercise had to be abandoned. Given the deterioration in the weather, and our natural reluctance to use marinas, John decided to use the windward commercial port rather than the marina which seemed exposed to a long fetch across the gulf. The pilot referred to hoped for improvements with the development of the inner basin at the head of the commercial dock. We arrived there as it was getting dark at about 1930, much to the annoyance of many fishermen who were fishing off one of the pontoons, and made fast alongside a pontoon by the entrance. Apart from a few local fishing boats, the only boats were launches belonging to authority: the police, customs, carribinieri, guardia costa, etc. and the entrance to the pontoons were gated and locked. Mo had boiled the spaghetti and we were about to eat when port officials came and very nicely moved us on. We were not welcome as we might get in the way of a rescue operation, but we could go to moor by the fishing boats near the fuelling berth. It was now dark, and we had given this the no-no as we had motored past, however we now had little choice but to comply. In the dark it was impossible to assess the berths, to discover if they had moorings laid, etc. and after an abortive call to the port authorities we decided to try for a berth alongside a commercial sized dock. This was high up, and had enormous cylindrical floating fenders attached where the bollards were situated. We managed to poke in between, and although she does not know how, Mo managed to scramble onto the dockside. As we made fast, our friendly official came and agreed we could stay there, but only until 0700 the next morning. Getting Mo back down was slightly more difficult, as she no longer had the benefit of the pulpit to help her.
We set the alarm for 0630 and were soon up and about, actually casting off at about 0800. This too was interesting. The wind had gone into the NE and was blowing us gently off the dock. We let go the spring and stern line, leaving Fuga blowing off the dock. John managed to remove the final bow line off the bollard, and scramble down onto the pulpit, thus avoiding a swim. We set off out of the harbour and ran down towards the military exclusion zone around the point at the south side of the gulf, with the motor running. The wind then veered around, and blew freshly (E F7) off the cliffs, so that we were obliged to put a second reef in. For a while we made good progress with over 7 knots over the ground. The wind moderated, then suddenly died altogether, and came back just as quickly SW F4! At about this point we were passing the attractive coastline around the village resort of Buggeru. The beaches and scenery in this area look beautiful. In a couple of places there were high dunes covered in scrub. Our respite from the wind did not last for long however, and we soon had our easterly F6, NE F7 gusts, finally veering to a SE close reach F6. We were pleased we had the second reef in. John then came up with the bright idea of anchoring in a bay near Portoscuso, and altered our course accordingly. When we saw the bay, we realised it was very steep-to and probably rocky bottomed, so settled instead for a spot just outside Portoscuso under the lee of the breakwater of the commercial harbour of Porto Vesme. His swim was very short lived: the sea temperature having fallen to 22C.
All was well until about 0200 when we woke to the sound of wind and waves. Luckily we had stowed the main last thing at night. The wind was now in the SW, but not the F4 that had been mentioned in the forecast, but gusting to full gale F8! We were now on a lee shore, with very little room between us and the beach. John fired up the computer, and monitored our position while rain and lightning lashed overhead. The conclusion was inevitable: there was no sleep to be had there. So Mo got up, and as we prepared to set off the wind eased perhaps a little. Apart from the anchor being really well dug in, we had an uneventful trip to Carloforte, following a ferry into the harbour. Trying to work out where there were berths was more difficult. Kari had written that they had enjoyed a free berth on the quay, but in the dark with shore lights against you it was difficult to see much at all. We finally found a French visitor with a vacant (bows to) berth alongside, and took that. By this time, there was hardly any wind at all, but we were pleased to be in a secure berth for what remained of the night. The next morning, we went ashore when Mo had finished doing some laundry while waiting for John to try out the wifi. There were wifi signals, but none useable. We had not walked very far when the skies darkened, and we began to anxiously search for a bar. We had seen a place advertising traditional Sardinian fare at seemingly modest prices, and made for that as the heavens began to open. Once there, we decided on an early lunch, which proved to be most enjoyable. We returned to the boat in the dry, but the weather continued to alternately blow and spat for the remainder of the evening.
We spent Tuesday at Carloforte. It continued to blow hard with occasional rain showers all day. In the morning, we set off to explore the town. John was distracted by the fact that there were large ferries running in and out quite frequently. We had followed one in very early the previous morning. Now there were no less than four berthed! He insisted on going to find out what was going on (nothing, as it happened) and took a photo to remind himself. Carloforte being the main town, and there being no tourists etc. in evidence, the need for so many large ferries was a mystery, when compared for example with the Isle of Wight. We walked inland, and discovered a flight of (Mo thinks 177) steps that led up outside the old castle wall. This is now totally hidden from the sea by buildings in front of it, but there is an enormous length of wall with the narrow slotted windows used to provide a firing point. Inside the wall there is now a school. We returned back to the harbour, and then cut back in up an alley with steps. The houses are terraced with narrow streets between them running parallel with the quayside, crossed by alleys with staircases going up. Further south, where it is flatter, there are roads going up.
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| The old castle wall | Stepped alleys led up from the harbour | The church |
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| The square where it all happens... | Carlo Emmanuello, the man who set up the town.. himself |
We eventually found the church, whose tower poked above the houses, at the end of a major pedestrian thoroughfare off the quay. A number of citizens were holding forth on one of four circular benches around the base of trees in the square: a noise resembling squawking starlings. We then made for the supermarket, at the north west end of the quay, and on returning met up with the crews of a Canadian and a New Zealand boat. After lunch, John went off in an attempt to hook up to one of the wifi points that he had detected: this walk proved to be abortive because although he could briefly get a connection he was soon thrown off the network never to be allowed back on! He found the marina chap at his hut on the end of the pontoon, so offered to pay which proved to be a painful experience at 70€ for the two nights! (This for water and electricity, but no loos or showers). The marina Sefredi in the NW corner of the harbour was apparently very friendly and open to negotiation, but did have some facilities at similar rates. Our marina, Marina Carloforte, was adjacent to it, boasting new pontoons. At the southern end of the quay is the old Yacht Club, but also another new pontoon.
We were late up, and were under some pressure to get to the supermarket before it closed for lunch. We did however make it, and returned with some bread, fruit and other essentials. The weather was slowly improving, and so at about 1600 hrs we slipped and made our way out of the harbour to an anchorage that John had identified on the SE side of the island. We hoped this would be sheltered from the NW and therefore a reasonable place to spend the night. When we got there, it was indeed sheltered from the wind and quite pretty, the wind only being about F4 in any case. Unfortunately there was a scend coming in from the south which meant that we rolled, and this continued all night with the usual associated squeeks and other noises. John attempted to sketch the nearby cliff and rocky point, trying out his new watercolours, his first attempt at painting for some 47 years. There is a lot to learn before he emulates his great grandparents!
We made no particular effort to get going, but set off from our anchorage about 1020. The wind was light (F3) westerly, so we made slow but steady progress. The log transducer had ceased to read boat speed owing to scale, coral worm and a visitor - this time an unidentified maggot type of animal, and had to be cleaned. Normally this gets a dab of antifoul, but it was withdrawn when the work was done by the yard at Almerimar, so had missed out. We enjoyed a really great sail and took it in turns to doze. Gradually the wind picked up a bit, but never more than Force 4, the sun shone hotly, and we were almost able to make our course except that it was down wind. To start with, we had current with us, but as we approached Capo Teulada where there is a restricted area for the military to practice firing, we found we had over a knot against us and it seemed sensible to turn the engine on to get past the headland. When we reached our anchorage at about 1830, it proved to be idyllic, with mountains behind, and only a few local fishing boats (initially - a British motorboat later joined us) for company. The sun soon dropped below the nearby hillside.
The alarm went off at 0700, and we ignored it for a while. It had been surprisingly cool, and bed seemed rather attractive. However, by 0915 we were recovering the anchor and departing from this beautiful and peaceful anchorage. The wind was virtually non-existant, and there was no alternative but to motor. The scenery as we went past Capo Spartivento was quite spectacular, with mountains behind the beautiful beaches. Our journey across the approaches to Cagliari was quite uneventful, with hot sunshine punctuated only by bacon and egg sandwiches at 1300 hrs. Gradually, and unbeknown to us, a south westerly F3 had built up behind us. Although it was too late to try sailing, we decided to make for the east of Capo Carbonara, where at 1550 we found an anchorage under the lighthouse in the lee of the hill. Here too the views were spectacular. We enjoyed a relaxing evening with drinks on the foredeck, preceded in John's case by a swim to clean the boot top of a fresh crop of barnacles and to snorkel over the anchor.
We awoke quite early, and John tried to listen to the Med Cruisers Net, which was almost readable. Although he managed to get one boat with a particularly good signal to respond, they could not read us. As soon as we had had breakfast, we recovered the anchor and set off back around Capo Carbonara towards the marina at Villasimius. We had planned to anchor off, and when we got there we found there was a good anchorage behind the breakwater beside the entrance with one boat already there. We anchored, then launched the dinghy to go ashore. The marina had loads of available space for visitors, and we set out to find the shop that was supposed to be here. Initially we missed it, and set off to look for the village centre, but aborted and returning to the marina stumbled on the main 'centre' where the office, facilities, bar and shop were. At the shop we managed to buy the essentials, so returned to the boat for lunch. We were able to swim from the boat. We relaxed and John started a painting of the surroundings.