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!
