We did, however, decide to try a different establishment for our morning coffee outing, choosing Restaurante La Tavernetta at the southern end of the bay after enjoying a nice long walk along the beach. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bad choice. We were definitely not impressed with a constant smell of sewerage, barely a mouthful of coffee and a less than mediocre pastry.
Not wanting to return to Paw Paw straight away, though, only to listen to the howling wind, we decided to “take two” and enjoy a better coffee morning back at Mare Azzurro.
Being hyped on caffeine and sugar was probably not the best idea either and, by the time lunchtime rolled around, neither of us was particularly hungry, so we settled for a bit of fruit. One bite into the chopped up plum, however, had us wondering whether or not we’d just eaten a lemon, it was so bitter. Absolutely awful. It was clear that fruit, with a few exceptions, has not been the European Union’s strong point thus far.
Back onboard, Roy added our route to the chartplotter to get around the northern tip of Sardinia and on to the northwestern staging area. We were feeling a tad more optimistic, although the wind howled all night, it seemed to be settling. That was until this afternoon when it was back up to sustained winds of 25-30 Kts. After a week of being pinned down, we had to come up with Plan B, especially after one of the servers ashore indicated that the locals prefer the wind, since it keeps the temperatures bearable in the summer. Not exactly what we wanted to hear.
Respite from the wind, however, may arrive if temperatures hit 35/36C as forecast later this week to coincide with lighter winds. It’s hard to tell, though, when the forecasts are so unreliable and it seems these lighter winds are being kicked down the road like a tin can, never to actually materialise.
To add to our frustrations, we had a whole new set of charter yachts arrive today, after some yachts departed this morning to continue south or east and, with that, came another numpty to anchor over our anchor and swing across our bow.
This time, however, Elaine got in the dinghy and went over to the yacht, armed with her cellphone in the event she had to translate. After explaining that we were uncomfortable with a yacht so close to us, not only over our anchor, but swinging wildly in the stronger winds, they apologised profusely and indicated they understood and would move.
Well, a little while later, while Roy was on deck checking the mainsail head bolt, he first noticed these charterers getting their dinghy in the water, then, when trying to lift the anchor, they inadvertently jammed the snubber in the windlass. While all four of them were on the bow, they didn’t realise they’d dragged to within a few feet of Paw Paw’s bow, almost turning her into a trimaran. It wasn’t until they saw us standing on deck with a fender each, did they narrowly avoid hitting us by motoring forward.
Of course, their windlass was still jammed and by the time they had that sorted out and re-anchored they were barely metres from their original spot, although more to our starboard side. At this point we decided to let sleeping dogs lie, knowing they had let out plenty of scope and were well dug in, based on how violently the yacht jerked forward with the engine at full throttle in reverse in 25 Kts of wind on the nose and the anchor bit. We were surprised to see the bow of their yacht was still attached; it was the best we could ask for under the circumstances!
To say this is a circus, is an understatement, which is proving to be more entertaining than watching animals. When Roy spotted one of these same charterers starting the dinghy engine, while it was still mounted to the transom of the yacht and out of the water, then revving it, we were one hundred percent certain that these folks were an accident looking for a place to happen. Plan B simply had to be executed sooner rather than later!
By 2200 we were still on numpty duty, but numpty is simply not a strong enough word to describe the fool tonight, who came in after dark, in howling winds and shoehorned a huge racing yacht in between us and our floating neighbours to either side of us and right over our anchor. Well, he got more than he bargained for when all of us starting blowing our horns and shouting at the skipper to move. He then still had the audacity to put up a fight before eventually succumbing, taking a perfect spot to our starboard side and aft of us all, where there was amble space to begin with and where he motored right passed, choosing to shoehorn in instead.
It’s fair to say, by this stage, we’d both simply had enough; Elaine, in particular, was now on the warpath and she won’t be taking any prisoners moving forward!
To try and decompress after a stressful afternoon and night we sat out and enjoyed the supermoon rising before retiring for the night.
After being yacht bound all of yesterday, we decided to use the “dinghy carpark” service again, pay our €5 for the privilege and enjoy a break from bouncing around in the fetch.
A coffee and baked delight at Mare Azzurro added some sweetness to our day, before we took another walk to the little convenience shop at the campgrounds. Thankfully, although a Sunday, it was open, as we wanted to have everything we needed for the remainder of our stay in Sardinia, as well as our overnight sail to Spain.
Taking a more scenic route back lead us to the southern end of the beach and, being a Sunday, with better weather, it was packed. Given the number of cars parked in the various carparks, it was clear these were mostly locals enjoying a Sunday outing.
Back on Paw Paw, while Elaine sanitised and stowed our purchases, tidied up and started to upload our photographs to the website gallery, before encountering an issue, Roy started the watermaker then cleaned the fuel gauge tank sensor on the port diesel tank, after it decided to play up. Fortunately we have a functioning starboard gauge and we keep a log of our consumption, so it’s not a major issue. It may well have to be replaced, as did the starboard one a few years back; time will tell. At this particular point in time, though, we’ll be returning to Gibraltar, after our visit to Ireland, like packhorses again, with all the parts we’ve had to order since returning from the US in March this year. A never ending cycle, but a tad frustrating, given all the work we did on Paw Paw over the winter to prepare her for this passage and our Atlantic Ocean crossing later this year! It is the nature of sailing, however; fixing something on a yacht in an exotic location, as a cruising friend of ours once said.
By mid afternoon, the anchorage had definitely started to fill up with yachts, like ourselves, waiting to get further north and around the northern tip of Sardinia to take advantage of the improving weather to the west of Sardinia, while the eastern side of the Strait of Bonifacio continues to have less than ideal weather.
The excitement of the day, however, was Roy and his rescue missions this afternoon; not only one, but two. First, cruisers in their dinghy lost the use of their engine and were battling to row back to their yacht against the strong wind and the fetch. Then, after towing them back to their yacht, Roy discovered they were actually on their way to rescue a windsurfer, who had been swept right out of the bay and was struggling to get back. So, after securing their dinghy, off they all set to rescue the windsurfer. They had almost reached him when the beach rescue crew arrived, rather late to be honest, since apparently the windsurfer had been struggling for more than 30 minutes to get back. Either way, he was definitely relieved to get a tow back to shore. For his efforts, Roy was offered a cold “thank you” beer, much to his delight. The coincidence in all of this was that the woman in the dinghy, who Roy rescued, was actually from Belfast; what are the chances!
Our day ended with a beautiful full moon, rising to the east of the bay, while the winds continued to howl from the west. Our anticipated early morning departure tomorrow was definitely looking very unlikely!
Since we’d planned to stay onboard today anyway, we just stayed in bed then had breakfast and went back to bed.
When we surfaced around mid-morning, the cloudy skies had given way to sunshine, but the beaches were almost deserted; not surprising given the wind. The windsurfers seemed to be the only ones out enjoying the weather. We were delighted and relieved, however, to find that the yacht, which had anchored immediately in front of us last night and was swinging wildly across our bow in the strong winds, had left.
Lunch was an interesting, tasteless experience after discovering that you can’t freeze Italian bread; it was as hard as a rock after being defrosted, forcing Elaine to use the “emergency supply” of processed long-life bread. This together with cheese that was one molecule away from plastic, or indeed one molecule away from cheese, didn’t melt, making for the most peculiar toasted cheese sandwiches.
To keep busy, Elaine completed her efforts on cataloguing all our photographs and getting them ready for upload to our website, realising this hasn’t been done since January; she was clearly a little behind.
Roy spent his day on sewerage duty again; this time on the port holding tank, unblocking one of the pipes. We have no idea why this calcified so quickly, given that the entire sewerage plumbing system was overhauled just before we left Turkey. The only conclusion we’ve come to is that the toilet cleaning product we purchased in Turkey versus using our tried and tested vinegar, was not up to the job. Another lesson learnt.
By 1700 we both had indigestion from our lunch and headaches from the wind, but, with the wind turning more to the northwest, we were hoping that the system was moving through quicker. We’ll know soon enough!
Satisfied we were far enough away from these numpties, we dinghied to the “dinghy carpark”, hired another mooring ball and got our shuttle ashore, where we enjoyed a mid-morning coffee and baked delight in the very pleasant setting of Mare Azzurro, before disposing of our fresh garbage and enjoying a walk. This allowed Elaine to enjoy the inland scenery for a change, visiting the campgrounds and convenience store along the way.
From the size of the standalone villas, nestled amongst the natural vegetation, it was clear that this area of Sardinia was much more upmarket than other areas we’ve seen during our sail through Italy. The campsite was also at the upper end of the scale compared to other campsites we’ve seen during our travels, including pretty gardens and major security system installations; partitioned fencing, controlled access gates, cameras, etc.
By lunchtime we were back onboard, but not before we both got wet as a rain shower, associated with the front we’ve been watching, passed over us during our walk. This didn’t deter folks from enjoying their beach day, though, although the beaches haven’t been as crowded these past few days.
Another perusal of the weather indicated that the storm to the northwest of Sardinia, the one we’ve been waiting on and preventing us from getting around the northern coast of Sardinia and continuing west, was in full swing and approaching as forecast.
However, the most astonishing fact of the day goes back to other cruisers anchoring on top of Paw Paw.”; it truly is the most bizarre behaviour we’ve seen.
After re-anchoring this morning, a country mile from where the other yachts had shoehorned in around us yesterday evening, and positioning ourselves almost in the middle of the bay, without a single yacht anywhere near us, this afternoon, not only one, but three yacht shimmied up to Paw Paw ready to drop the anchor. Not sure what caused them to change their mind; possibly the vibes they were getting from Elaine, but they, nonetheless, decided to reverse or turnaround and anchor slightly further away, but still in close proximity to us, while our original location remained wide open with bags of room for people to anchor. We’ve truly never seen anything like it before. There is oodles of room in this anchorage with reasonable depths. Do these people just prefer to snuggle up or what? We don’t understand the psyche at all, especially when howling winds were expected later and having plenty of space between the yachts, allowing for plenty of scope, is the prudent thing to do. We are completely baffled! The laugh of it all is that, as transients clearing in to the European Union to sail in these waters, we had to show our Captain’s Certificate of Competency.
Moving on from this unfathomable situation, we enjoyed a nap after lunch, then Roy finished his efforts on the leak in the starboard aft head (aka toilet), while Elaine sanitised and stowed our provisions and cleaned around the cockpit and helmstation.
By 2000 the westerly winds we’d been waiting on eventually arrived. It was almost time to move on!
After breakfast this morning, it was time for another dinghy shuttle to shore, to drop off the rest of our garbage, separated into smaller bags and for Roy to take another walk to the campgrounds in search of a possible propane filling station, something we only thought about after he’d returned yesterday. Unfortunately that attempt was in vain. Hopefully there are facilities in Spain to fill our bottles.
With the westerly winds expected tomorrow, we decided to re-anchor closer to the buoys demarcating the swimming area to prevent any yachts from anchoring in front of us. Well, within minutes of doing so, a gaggle of yachts arrived and lo and behold one squeezed into the tiniest gap slightly to our port side and will now be swinging across our bow when we all turn to face west. Yesterday we had the exact same situation and had to ask the cruiser to move. This would all be understandable if we were in a small, crowded bay, but we’re not; it’s a huge bay with ample room and good depths for everyone. Completely and utterly mind boggling!
Before our afternoon nap, Elaine did some cleaning and packed away her winter clothes which were still sitting on the bed in the starboard forward cabin, after she’d hauled out her summer wardrobe a few days ago. Roy, on the other hand, was on sewerage duty again, clearing a pipe on the starboard holding tank and repairing a minor leak on the starboard aft head (aka toilet).
After our nap, Elaine continued her cleaning efforts, while Roy drained more gunge out of the RACOR fuel filters of each engine and washed the port engine; it seems we got contaminated fuel in Italy as well, not just in Greece. By then, though, we both needed a swim to cool off, but it was more of a quick plunge as the water is still freezing.
By sunset, we were surrounded by yachts, including a catamaran that came flying through the anchorage with fenders flapping and dropped his anchor behind everyone, but to be in front of everyone when we turn, blocking the dinghy pick up / drop off lane entirely. It wasn’t long before he was told to move by the operators of the rental speedboats, given that the catamaran had essentially ended up in their mooring field. What a carry-on!
Next activity was to relook at anchoring possibilities up the northeast and northern coasts of Sardinia and to find a possible staging anchorage for our sail to Spain, although we won’t be moving for another few days due to bad weather north of here, specifically between northern Sardinia and southern Corsica. We expect to feel the effects in the way of strong westerlies on Friday and Saturday. In the interim, we’re enjoying the protected anchorage we’re currently anchored in and working around all the inconveniences of getting ashore, including how to dispose of our garbage.
Although Elaine slept all afternoon, after dinner, we dinghied ashore, left the dinghy floating in the water, dropped off smaller bags of our garbage in the carpark bins and enjoyed a lovely long walk along the beach. Most of the beach revellers had departed for the day by then, but there was a wedding about to take place. Unfortunately neither of us had our phones with us, so we never captured any closeup photographs, but it was most unusual; all the guests were dressed in white and the bride arrived in a small traditional sailing yacht. The ceremony and reception took place at the 12.1 restaurant where we had lunch yesterday, but the beach area was also set up with table and chairs too. Of course, we had the music to contend with, but at least it was half decent and we actually recognised most of the songs; anything is better than the booming noise of techno-clubbing music.
A pretty sunset sealed our day.
However, during Roy’s early morning watch, the wind backed to westerly and a countercurrent developed, just to add insult to injury, slowing us down as we could no longer motor-sail.
By 0700, Elaine spotted land ahoy and by 0945 we were anchored off a long golden sandy beach in the village of Porto Taverna. Conspicuously absent were the multi-dwelling buildings; replaced with single-dwelling homes dotted down the hillsides and bordering the shoreline. Based on the price we paid for a very tasty lunch at the 12.1 restaurant, a rather strange name, it was a very affluent area and the beaches were packed with Italians; it was, once again, a case of spot the foreigner. We were definitely starting to wonder if Italians work at all.
Once we had data connectivity again, we also discovered the reason for the terrible sea state we had encountered in relatively light winds; there were two low pressures weather systems developing to the north and the south of us. That, of course, also meant we wouldn’t be going any further for the next few days.
Our challenge, however, is staying in an area where beach access is prohibited. In fact, beaching the dinghy anywhere in this large bay is now illegal, based on new laws that have been implemented recently. They have two dinghy pick up / drop off lanes, but that’s it. So, both tired after our 3-hour watch schedule overnight and after trying to have a nap, unsuccessfully, Elaine wasn’t in the mood for this nonsense and certainly was not taking no for an answer; we asked the speedboat rental company if we could hire one of their moorings for a few hours. Voila! For €5 we tied up the dinghy and they took us to shore and back, after we’d enjoyed lunch and a nice walk on the beach to stretch our legs. It was the most ridiculous situation, though, given the number of yachts anchored here, all facing the same problem.
It’s fair to say, it is becoming increasingly frustrating dealing with the issue of getting shore access, which has plagued us all through Italy, with the exception of the marina in Syracuse, Sicily, and the little Yacht Club in Naples. This is exacerbated by the fact that we can only anchor in areas designated as Zone C, which generally don’t have shore access; anchoring anywhere else comes with hefty fines. We’re sailing vast distances every day and then struggle to get ashore to enjoy the destination we’ve arrived at. They’re making it as difficult and challenging as possible, especially since, additionally, there are no dinghy docks anywhere, no room in the marinas for transient yachts, nowhere to drop off garbage, etc, leading us to believe Italy really don’t want cruisers in their country; we’re simply not welcome. Let’s hope Spain is more accommodating!
As our day drew to a close, a shower, a light dinner of bacon on freshly baked soda bread and bed, followed in quick succession.
