See our account of our time in Cagliari and (navigational) notes for Sardinia
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Our anchorage just outside the marina had become rather crowded, and a German HR had dropped his anchor rather badly next door to us. Overnight the wind shifted to the east, and we finished up bumper to bumper. It suited us to go and re-anchor in the bay where we could swim and not be disturbed by the constant comings and goings at the marina. We had a pleasant day, Mo reading and John finishing off his second attempt at a watercolour. All a lot more difficult than he had imagined! At around 1730 we packed up and went into the marina, planning to go stern-to so that visitors could step on and off more easily. We called up the ormeggiatori and he met us. Consequently we were under pressure to perform, and unfortunately made a complete hash of it which the man very efficiently sorted out by using his dinghy as a tug to push and pull us into position. We were impressed that both he and the fuel berth were in business on a Sunday evening, and that for the first time we were presented with a 'welcome' booklet describing (in Italian and good English) Villasimius, its history and its surroundings, with adverts, bus timetable, etc. The 'registration' form was inside, and our friend was around later to collect it from us duly completed. The day before we had collected a leaflet with rates for 4, 1 years, months, days in and out of season. All very nicely up front and organised after our previous experiences in Sardinian marinas (and relatively reasonable, too). Recommended perhaps if you want to fly-sail given the wonderful surroundings, and proximity to the airport.
Mo was out of a bed like a shot as she had things she wanted to do before visitors arrived! John lay awhile in bed recovering from a bad night with cups of tea. He had been detailed to fill the water tank and clean out the cockpit. We did a quick run to the shop for bread and to the office to pay the marina bill and were in good order by the time Paul (Mo's former boss) and Diane (his wife and our attorney) and their friends Chris and Liz appeared. They were enticed into submitting to a sail in the easterly F3 to 4, and we returned to the east side of the cape so that they could get a seaward view of the bay, the lagoon and their hotel. We anchored, and after a brief swim, set off back to the marina, anchoring outside to save further embarassment with the ormeggiiatori (who appeared to help us in as we approached in any case).
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| Paul at the helm in charge.. | A precarious exit but no ormeggiatori! |
Once they were safely landed back in the marina, we tried relaxing for a while, but John was antsy, and so it was decided to make for a bay that had some promise of shelter from the easterly wind. We arrived just in time to witness the sun drop out of site behind cloud at about 1900 hrs, with a lovely view of a river valley and broad expanse of beach. It had been great fun to see Paul and Diane, and satisfying that they had observed our 'dwelling' at first hand.
We survived the night ok. The wind had remained with sufficient east in it to afford some shelter from the point under whose lee we had anchored. During the night the land breeze had even blown off the beach. However, we got up and got going as we were not confident about the weather, which was supposedly on the change towards the west. At first we were running, which we hate, and so tacked down wind, with legs alternately away from and then inshore. The next bay would perhaps have provided us with even more shelter. However, as we sailed along the wind shifted south, and then more or less died on us. We made directly for Cagliari. Once in the harbour, we made for the SE corner where the marinas were, and were met by a dinghy from the Marina St. Elmo. We needed fuel in any case, so we indicated this and were directed with a wave, apparently out of the harbour! We decided to mooch about and try to suss out the lie of the land, firstly around the marinas, and then we ventured into the inner harbour where the pilot book suggested there was fuel nearby. There was nowhere to get fuel there, it seemed (there is a filling station nearby), and so we set off across to the NW corner of the harbour. The fuelling pontoon was 'closed', not surprisingly as it was siesta time, but as we made ready to go alongside and wait, a chap appeared from the nearby marina Motomar Sarda. Fuelled up, we set off back towards the marinas, and phoned Marina del Sole, who we learnt from some New Zealand yachties in Carloforte, were much cheaper than St. Elmo. We were disconcerted to be met by the same dinghy, but were beckoned in by Max from Marina del Sole, who made us welcome.
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| Inspecting the Roman ruins at Nora |
Peter Manly came out to visit us over the weekend, and so we went out for a sail. We anchored west of the point, enjoyed a swim, and then went ashore to explore the Punic/Roman remains of Nora. We left it a bit late to set off for Perd'e'Sali, not very far north, where there was an attractive sounding marina written up in the pilot guide. We called up on the vhf as directed, and received no reply at all. It seemed strange to be calling the oil terminal at Sarroch in any case. However, when we arrived off the marina, a chap on the quay was holding his arms out, not sideways, but one hand above the other. We finally understood what he meant as we ran aground some distance off the entrance. We managed to turn around and with one or two more bumps make our exit. It was now getting towards dusk, and we had no option but to motor up wind back to the marina at Cagliari. The following day we enjoyed a good sail around the headland and north east towards Marina di Capitana, but as the weather seemed settled in the north and east we elected to anchor off rather than go into the marina. The following morning we set off early as we had an appointment to view the Halberg Rassey next door which was up for sale. When we dropped Peter off at the airport in the marina run-about he had the hots for the boat and was nearly ready to make an offer.