Southern Sardinia

At anchor in Porto Giunco

The strong westerly winds were forecast to veer to the north giving us a small weather window for the 200 mile passage to the south eastern tip of Sardinia. We left Ponza before dawn and with the wind on the beam we had a fast but lumpy sail across the Tyrrhenian sea. We dropped anchor the following day in the crystal clear waters of the large sandy bay south of Villasimius. Perfect for catching up on our sleep. Just as predicted the winds turned westerly the next morning leaving us exposed and bouncing around with the increasing swell. We motored back around Capo Carbonara and dropped anchor in Porto Giunco another beautiful bay the other side of the headland. At least we had a couple of days this time before the winds changed again and we were able to explore ashore and say hello to the pink flamingos living in the large lagoon behind the beach.

                                                           Porto Malfatano

Cagliari

Sardinia is beautiful but my goodness the wind does blow here. Since arriving we have experienced daily winds of between 15 and 30 knots causing the boat to constantly swirl around as it is buffetted every which way. Not a relaxing way to spend our time at anchor! We continued west and on round to Cagliari, Sardinia's capital. We anchored off Poetto beach, one of the longest stretches of sand in Italy. The wind was howling here too and the next morning with more than 30 knots blowing we ventured into Cagliari harbour. We had last been here twelve years ago and had found a free place to moor alongside an old wreck in the commercial port. This was long gone so we opted for the cheap and cheerful Marina del Sole for a couple of nights and some peace and quiet. We stocked up with food, diesel and cleared the laundry pile.

Porto Pino dunes

Porto Pino

With the winds predominantly coming from the west, the direction we were going, and picking up considerably in the afternoons, we were going to have to make some very early starts if we were going to make any progress at all. We continued along the rugged coastline and dropped the hook in picturesque Porto Malfatano. With the winds turning briefly easterly we continued west navigating around the danger zone of the Military and NATO firing range and up

Porto Pino

to the fabulous beach at Porto Pino. The incredible white dunes at the southern end of the beach lie in the no go military zone. We have read that they are only accessible in the summer months. A quick look with the binoculars showed people climbing them so we launched the dinghy and went to check out the towering 30 mt high sandy dunes ourselves.

Anchorage with old tuna factory, Sant'Antioco island

Tuna long boats, San Pietro island

Carloforte

Carloforte

Carloforte

Carloforte

We woke the next morning to winds of over 20 knots but this time from the south so we were able to sail the final leg round to the south western tip of Sardinia. From here we were going to have to wait patiently for favourable winds to help us on our way to the Balearic islands, our cruising spot for the summer months. We sheltered from the southerly winds on Sant'Antioco island, before crossing over to San Pietro island the next morning. By now we had discovered our salt water engine pump was leaking. We needed to get this fixed before our long passage to Menorca. We limped into Marina Sifredi in the delightful fishing port of Carloforte with its busy waterfront lined with palm trees. We had also stopped here twelve years ago and were happy to spend a few days reacquainting ourselves with this picturesque town. Unfortunately we just missed the island's annual tuna festival but there were still plenty of fabulous fish restaurants to try while waiting for favourable winds to send us on our way.

Carloforte

                                                            Colourful Carloforte