It was another motor to weather, but we were hopeful that this was the last, since northerly and easterly winds were forecast for our overnight to the Balearic Islands.
Besides a few yachts under sail, we also had the usual speedboats, fishing boats and fishing pods to avoid, all of which caused a “traffic jam” ahead of us at one point. The corker, however, was a “gin palace”, flying along at 15 Kts and hurtling straight towards us. After Elaine altered course to starboard to pass port to port, this motoryacht didn’t budge. It wasn’t until she hailed them on the VHF radio to ask them what there intentions were, did they jump into action, stuttering and spluttering on the radio as they did so; they clearly weren’t paying attention and hadn’t seen us, although both yachts showed up on the AIS (Automatic Identification System).
After Elaine’s morning nap, around 1100 it was Roy’s turn and we could see the headland in the distance.
By 1630 we were anchored in a beautiful anchorage off Piana Island. It was the first European anchorage that reminded us of the South Pacific, with crystal clear turquoise water and the lovely white sandy beaches of “Spiaggia La Pelosa” and “Spiaggia La Pelosetta” running along the headland, with the ancient medieval tower of “Torre della Pelosa”, built in the 1570s to defend Sardinia from invasion, standing guard on the edge of the Asinara Strait that runs between Capo Falcone and Isola Piana.
After admiring the scenery, we however, had various tasks to complete for our imminent departure to Spain, including activities on our pre-sail checklist, checking the oil on both engines and saildrives, unzipping the stackpack of the mainsail, lifting the sunscreens on the saloon windows and giving all the windows of the saloon and helmstation a good wash; between dust and seawater they were so dirty we couldn’t see out of them anymore.
Sadly, we’d saved the best for last in Italy, but time was marching on and we had to press on. Staying another day was not an option, unfortunately, especially since strong easterlies were expected, exposing the anchorage and these were winds we wanted to take advantage of.
