A week in Sardinia

On Tuesday we sailed on to bay Liscia de Vacca. There was a NE to E wind forecast and this large bay is well protected. During the day wind was quite strong, so we read and did some work. The most important was installing another winch, since we now often sail with two front sails - genoa and solent sail at the same time. Captain drilled some holes in the deck beside our other winch, filled them with epoxy and let it harden. Next day he took the winch apart and cleaned and greased it, and then he screwed it in place. I was helping, a bit like a nurse in operating theatre, and had a lot to do myself, so unfortunately didn't have time to take photos until it was finished. 

So it was already rather late when we sailed off, Captain planned half an hour for cleaning and installing the winch, but it actually took three hours. We sailed further South, I wanted to see some of the places I liked when we were here 8 years ago, but didn't have the time to explore. Despite this being most developed part of Sardinia, there are still many wild and pretty places.

We sailed into Cala di Volpe and we saw another one of big and expensive sailing yachts - the Black Pearl. It is similar to Maltese Falcon, that we often saw in Caribbean years ago, but of course bigger.

I was hoping we would anchor in Cala di Volpe and stay the night, but the field of buoys for super yachts was expanded and there was almost no space for anchoring and even that was already taken.

So after a short swim we sailed back towards North. S/Y A was also in front of the bay.

After a couple of miles we anchored in a very pretty bay of Gulfo Pevero. It is the next bay of Porto Cervo, where there is THE marina for the rich, and the limited space between the swimming buoys and the field of buoys for super yachts was full of motor yachts, but luckily they returned into marina in the evening. It was very calm in the evening, water very clear and it was a joy to swim. Next to us there was a sailboat with five children and we saw where to put them so that adults can have some peace.

After a calm night the bay looked even prettier in morning light. There are some nice houses on the shore.

In the morning Dilbar came - the largest privately owned motor yacht in the world. And to our surprise picked up a mooring buoy.

I hope there is a really big block of cement under the buoy.

After breakfast we sailed off, further North.

We anchored again in Liscia di Vacca, there was some rain and wind from NE to SE forecast, so we wanted to be somewhere protected. There was some rain in the afternoon, and again in the night, even with couple of wind gusts, but most of the night was calm.

By now Captain was having enough of sailing from bay to bay, he started to push to make a move towards North and crossing to Menorca. After studying the weather forecast we decided to stay for two more days while the bad weather was going to last, and then sail to the Northern side and see if we could do the passage to Menorca in the middle of the week.

Next day there was a storm warning for afternoon, so we sailed further North to find even more protected anchorage. We saw this pretty classic sailboat.

I'm always surprised how different ecosystems are right next to each other - some rocks, then sand dunes and behind the marsh.

We anchored in the bay of Porto Puddu. I'm sure this is the most protected anchorage on this part of the coast The bay makes a turn in the end behind a small island, so it is almos completely enclosed by land. And since there are no marinas there, there are no big motor yacht that would make noise and wash.

The sandy beach with mountains to the South.

Small island protecting the bay.

Later in the afternoon we heard a lot of thunders and saw big dark clouds, but it all stayed to the South over the mountains and not even the rain came to us. We didn't mind, we like it when the forecast is wrong this way. Not the other way around.

Next day we sailed North to bay of Porto Pozzo to do some shopping. We also thought to spend the night there and then sail on to the North side of Sardinia next day.

We didn't like the bay,  and after Captain did some shopping we unanimously decided to return to Porto Puddu and have another very calm night. This time we anchored close to the beach...

...and made a dinghy trip around the small island.

There was a very red dawn that evening.

Next morning we sailed off and discovered the elephant at the head of our bay.

We sailed around the NE corner of Sardinia...

...and after couple of hours made a stop in Isola Rossa.

And there is actually an island made of red rocks in front of the town.

On the East side of marina there is a nice beach...

...with incredibly clear water, where we anchored. That's a small fish above our anchor.

In the evening we dinghied ashore, bought some food and had nice pizza and beer and gelatto. The night was not so good, despite there being no wind or waves - there was a very loud music somewhere on the shore, but it didn't end until very late or rather very early.