Joy of Shamrock Quay

We have covered about 330 nautical miles since Monday lunch time, leaving Sardinia with a very steady 7-10 knot wind from the north east.  The first evening at sea we had a bite on our new lure ‘Baby Bob’ (previous ones lost to strong fish and unsuspecting ribs getting too close to our line), but the baby tuna caught was smaller than Baby Bob. We were over the moon nonetheless, and set about trying crafty camera angles to make it look bigger ready to email to our competitors on ‘Windsurf’ Peter and Marianne!

However, we needn’t have bothered, because the next day with Baby Bob on the rod and his mate Big Bob on a trawling line both came up trumps at the same time. A double whammy.  All of sudden the reel went crazy and as we grabbed it to stop it being pulled overboard bingo, the bungee on the trawling line went taught and the line stretched off to the other side of the boat. Jez started to reel in the first, quick as he could saying “don’t think it can be a tuna as they are supposed to fight hard”, with that off he went right on cue.  Jez fought for about 20 minutes trying to reel Baby Bob in gingerly, with the rod bent and sweat breaking out on his brow, he slowly but surely inched him in until we could see him under the water – a rather large tuna.  He occasionally got the upper hand and shot off under the boat, but we were determined not to let this one go.  As he circled close to the surface, on the fifth attempt I netted him and together we lifted our catch on to the deck (he was twice the size of the bucket), and can’t believe he even went for Baby Bob.  By this time the second catch had worn himself out and given up the struggle, we were not sure we still had him on the line so were surprised to find another tuna, only a tad smaller than the other.

Twenty two large portions of tuna steak in the freezer, plus tuna for supper and Jez ate some raw, yuk!  Check the piccies out – sorry Peter and Marianne, you are playing catch up!  Well done Baby Bob and Big BobJ Are we going to struggle to integrate back into society when we return? !

The rest of the trip went well, hot sunshine every day and just enough wind to sail all but one day when the donk came on.  We had a big dragonfly stay with us for a couple of days, he took a liking to the sofa so we moved him up on deck and he found various places to rest whilst he hitched a ride. As we sailed past S Mallorca we checked the weather and the wind was set to continue downwind and sailable until the following day so we pushed on to Ibiza, arriving Thursday morning.

We have anchored off Ibiza to catch up with some sleep and have hunted down the annoying squeak that the steering wheel had developed over the last few days.  Traced back to a bearing in the steering column hidden behind panels which inevitably meant taking half the boat apart to get to it, but joy as it has been cleaned and greased and squeaks no more. Happy Days, and tuna for supper…again!!

Trying to make this tiddler look a bit bigger for the camera…

At last, a decent sized catch!

Night time visitor

After a couple of days adjusting back to just each other for company, we have had visitors for almost a month and it seems so quiet now, we headed south down the east coast of Sardinia as the winds were more favourable.  The east coast is so quiet and empty of boaters in comparison to the hustle and bustle of the NE corner, but equally beautiful. Long stretches of sandy beaches backed by dunes and lush trees, then high cliffs.  Not many bolt holes though without many headlands or islands to hide behind you are open to the elements at anchor, and in particular a NW moving swell making all our anchorages very rolly. We have had daily storm warnings with ‘isolati temporali’ (isolated thunderstorm) on VHF channel 68, and for the first part of the week enjoyed watching the spectacular lightening displays from a distance.

We have had great sailing though, and as we headed off around the islands on the SE tip our first overhead encounter with the ‘isolati temporali’  came about.  We could see the storm coming over the land out to sea and with already a brisk 25 knots of wind and Joy flying along,  we were about to reef sails when we spotted a tornado on the horizon.  It came down out of the dark grey clouds, a grey funnel turning into a white funnel and then hitting the sea – the water flying up in the air being sucked up by the force.  Our reefing quickened as we could not be sure which direction it was going to travel as the wind by this point was all over the place and the sea building.  Then it broke, the grey part continuing high in the sky being dragged along with the cloud from where it had appeared, leaving the white part still connected to the sea.  As we watched it slowly lost power and disappeared, leaving the sea beneath it white and angry for some minutes.  Then the rain and gusts hit, reduced visibility and so much water filling the cockpit in seconds, gushing from the drain hole in the boom from the main sail.  The drains in the cockpit could hardly keep up with the volume of water, and whilst I had put a raincoat over my bikini (odd combination I know) Jez was still in his shorts and he had the best wash of the season – and so did Joy.  We diverted out to sea to go around the rocky islands, no longer visible, rather than our original intended route between them, and within an hour the rain stopped and we headed for our anchorage basked in sunshine where we dried out and had a swim.  We had at one point during the storm achieved 9.3 knots speed over ground, with a max recorded true wind of 35.8 knts.  Brilliant sailing!

After a very quiet anchorage at Villasimus with such clear warm water, we encountered another ‘isolati temporali’ the following day whilst sailing along the south coast,  we saw in the distance a wall of grey.  We prepared again by reefing all sails, shutting hatches in the cockpit this time that lead down to the galley as we had rather a lot of water inside the day before!  The wind dropped to nothing, bobbing about with barely any canvas up, it arrived in a flash and the wind backed and increased from 0 to 25 knots, backing the slither of genoa.  Hail so hard it made your eyes sting and it completely flattened the sea, Jez helmed with his ski goggles on!  Within an hour it had passed and we were back into sunshine.   Another good wash down for us all!

Our last night at Sardinia was at Porto Sant Antioco on the SW tip of Sardinia, an island connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land built by the Romans and then a bridge, and here we had our third wash down but we were able to watch from inside in the dry as we were at anchor.  It looks a very strange place from the outside, but the town of Sant Antioco was lovely, packed with people until late in the evening. Hundreds of small fishing boats and equally as many locals fishing from the shore. The water in between the island and the mainland is very shallow with a narrow channel dredged for boats to enter the marina, we took the dinghy in to explore and it seems that the waters here are teaming with life. We found a very strange street in the town centre completely covered by tree foliage down the middle which blocked out all natural light, very eerie entering a pitch black street early afternoon! But it was full of people and was a great place for shopping and pizza!

We have loved Sardinia, the coastline is beautiful with hills and mountains stretching back as far as the eye can see, all differing heights and colours.  The cloud formations and lightning displays have been out of this world (well, we don’t watch TV what do you expect?!) and the people have been very friendly and local dishes excellent, I am sad to leave but hope we get the chance to return one day.

We have had a great couple of weeks with Jez’s brother and his family.  After a brief trip south of Olbia to San Teodora where we anchored off a very long busy beach with a great little restaurant, we purchased our permit to visit La Maddalena and surrounding protected islands on the NE tip of Sardinia.  Having read all the bumph we were led to believe that rules on anchoring were quite strict and many places had buoys laid which you had to use, but after hunting for a buoy we gave up and ended up in Porto Palma on the south of Isola Caprera and anchored just as the many other boats had.  After a visit from the park officials to check our permit, we were told it was ok to anchor wherever we liked, it was no problem!

Isola Caprera was beautiful and unspoilt, very few inhabitants and Porto Palma is quite a large natural unspoilt harbour with two sailing schools, so you were sitting ducks for the sailing dinghies practising around you!  We snorkelled around the many rocky coves, lots of beautiful fish, sea urchins and star fish.  With a rather low level of wets on board, we ventured ashore for a shop and found a tuck shop in the sailing school which sold beer and wine!  With visitors happy we spent a few days around the islands, with a short stay at La Maddalena marina to top up with much needed water and some holiday shopping.   A quick lunch stop too, Jez ordered a ‘grande’ beer so we all followed suite and the beers that came were hardly liftable for Saff and I – two hands needed for us girls!!  Then we received a stroppy phone call from the marina staff telling us we had ten mins to move, so as Jez and I left the table our pizza’s arrived and we had to leave them!  After crossing the marina manager’s palm with 20 euros (it was 30 euros yesterday when we had enquired, obviously whatever they choose to get away with at the time) and we got Joy ready to depart.  Chris and Saff followed with our takeaway pizza’s and we headed off around the island on our way to another fab anchorage amongst the rocks for some more swimming.  The diving board was now out (the boarding ramp!) and so Tom was impressing us all with back flips.  We had a great anchorage at Santa Maria, one of the northern islands, and with encouragement from Lily who jumped off the diving board first, I followed suit and Saff did a graceful star jump.  We ventured ashore the next day to another very busy beach fuelled by the small ferry boats from the mainland, and Jez and I swam the length of the beach snorkelling before joining the others for a walk up to the almost derelict lighthouse for some great views.

We also had an overnight stay at Porto Garibaldi on the NW coast of Caprera, and after a long walk ashore down a sandy track we found their one restaurant, Garibaldi’s.  After booking a table for later that evening we walked back and moved Joy a little closer to the beach now that all the local boats had disappeared.  We had a great meal, a set menu of several courses of local dishes which included the famous suckling pig which was superb.  Fat as badgers, we attempted to walk off our dinner on the way back to the beach, and then another infamous card game of Oh Hell on board, Tom was getting closer to winning every night and tonight was his night!

Our last port of call for our visitors was at Golfo di Aranci just north of Olbia, and as we went between the mainland and a small rocky island we spotted dolphins by the fish farm there. A perfect end to their holiday to have a dolphin riding our bow wave!  With a visit to the beach and lunch ashore we found a very pleasant town with a fishermans’ co-operative restaurant. We had a wonderful meal there in the evening, although it is a very basic looking restaurant in a pine building still being built on the quay, but the fresh fish was amazing.

We said farewell to our visitors the following day, and after a few of the usual boat repairs we have become accustomed to and fitting the parts that Chris had brought out,  we stocked up at the local market with fresh produce and made our way to Olbia marina to fill with water ready for our return passage back towards Gibraltar.

We have cruised around the NE corner of Sardinia, although the journey from Asinara to the NE point was wind on nose and very choppy, but once around the corner between La Maddalena group of Islands and the mainland conditions were settled and scenery beautiful.  Many boats about, in particular large motor boats.  We anchored in Cala di Volpe and had a good look at the huge boats with all their toys attached, some even had slides from the top of the boat into the sea!  One had a helicopter on it!  It’s like they are all trying to outdo each other.  The hotel on the shore was buzzing with ridiculously rich people, we had a quick look in there and I felt a bit out of place with my dirty blue rucksack and sand between my toes from beaching the dinghy, standing by the Prada display cabinet!  Instead we decided to follow a sign up into the hills to Hotel Petra Bianca, and after a long hot walk we were rewarded with amazing views over the bay, lovely staff and a place so peacefully chilled in comparison to Hotel Cala di Volpe.  Pina Colada’s for Mum and I, heaven, and luckily the long walk back to the dinghy was all downhill!

A storm overnight with hale and lightening left the following day very unsettled and windy although still very warm.  We went back to Hotel Petra Bianca for a super lunch to say good bye to my Mum, after discovering that a club sandwich in Hotel Cala di Volpe was 35 euros! Mum caught her taxi to the airport late afternoon and we returned to Joy with the wind still blowing strong.  We had another storm overnight but the following day was beautiful with perfect sailing conditions, so we sailed further down the coast to Olbia to prepare for our next guests arriving, the Stickels!

Olbia is a huge port, actually far more pleasant than I was expecting having read all the pilot books.  It has a lot of commercial traffic including huge ferries and cruise ships, and the entrance in is lined with what we think are mussel beds marked by hundreds of buoys, so not very pretty.  We sailed right in to where the old commercial quay is, now completely empty with barriers along it.  We anchored off the quay next to a couple of other boats and went ashore to get provisions and then moored alongside the quay temporarily the next day to collect Chris, Saff, Lily and Tom – and with them our delivery of spare parts. It is becoming the theme for visitors, they must bring a boat part with them!

With all visitors and boat parts on board, we set sail for our anchorage just north of Olbia port on the edge of Golfo di Aranci where we could all have a swim and chill out.

Well we made it through Fornelli’s Passage in glorious sunshine, after enjoying the beauty of the north west coast of Sardinia.  We sailed for a while and then the wind backed and dropped so unfortunately the donk went on again.  The island of Asinara looks very rugged and bleak, it is now a nature and marine reserve but has a history of being a penal colony and a quarantine base, and up to the 90’s housed high risk prisoners.

After clearing the passage, we made our way still in very shallow waters to our anchorage a few miles on close to the mainland, as we entered I realised we were still trawling our fishing line so started to reel it in quickly – and then got a bite!  Frantically reeling I could see the fish being pulled through the water and then a seagull landed on it and immediately jumped off. Mum helped me get a bucket to land it in and as I guided the fish into the bucket it flipped and sliced my thumb with its spines – immediate agonising burning pain. My first reaction was to run downstairs to run it under a cold tap, then TCP, then ice AAGGHH nothing was stopping the pain and it was excruciating, from two little cuts it just didn’t seem possible. Meanwhile with Jez’s crew having abandoned him he put sails away and anchored all on his own!  The pain and swelling worsened and then started to move into my wrist and arm, so Mum called for help and we were directed to Asinara Island and Fornelli’s Beach.  A 20 min ride in the dinghy to the Island, and we were greeted with a wild boar milling about, which Jez scared off, and then a police landrover arrived and we were whisked across the Island dodging all the donkeys, goats and wild boar lying in the road! We finally arrived at the Islands’ medical centre where a group of people were waiting to help me. A cocktail of drugs through a drip and within half hour I was smiling again!  Pain over, thank god.  The doctor told us that the two main injuries they treat are fish spines in feet, and pig bites!!  We were both pleased Jez had scared off that boar!

The drive back to our dinghy in another police vehicle was much more relaxed and I was able to take in the beauty of the Island, so many animals roaming about free I have never seen so many in one journey!  The Italian policeman, who didn’t speak any English, stopped each time and told us the name of the animal in Italian!  Amongst other things we saw lots of white donkeys which are native to the Island and a little Owl sitting in the road, as by now it was almost dark.  A whiz back to the anchorage and we found Mum flashing the torch to show us where we had left Joy. Drama over!  A swollen hand for a few days after and I was back to being a valid crew mate again!  And no, we didn’t eat the fish – it was thrown back in alive!

Arrived in Menorca after a lovely overnight sail, initially we headed for Cuidadela and after anchoring at about 5.30am and turning in for a bit of a kip, we were rudely awoken at 6am by a pilot boat informing us we couldn’t stay as they had a tanker coming in and they continued down the line of boats sounding their horn as they went, moving everyone on.  Well, if the anchor chain dropping didn’t wake Mum, the horn and the anchor coming back up certainly did, and she joined us on deck weary eyed and together we tried to find another anchorage.  We nosed in to a couple of places but decided that they were too small for us, and eventually opted for Cala Santandria about a mile south.  This was beautiful, and copying the existing occupiers, we took a line ashore and tied it to the rocks to avoid swinging in a small anchorage. Plenty of swimming in the clear waters and our tiredness was soon forgotton!  Jez fixed the outboard motor, yippee, and took us ashore for provisions.  Cala Santandria was very busy but with a lovely sandy cove, rocks, sun and such clear water you cannot blame people for coming here.  We had a very enjoyable day here, and as the wind picked up late afternoon we decided to take advantage and sail around the north of the island.

Strange things happened as we rounded the North West corner of the Island, the wind went right around the compass, more than once, which kept us on our toes –then suddenly nothing. Flat calm and no wind, but in the distance we could see white horses and boats heeled over so we knew something was coming our way!  And sure it did, from nothing to 15 knots on the nose with a sea to match, so donk on reluctantly and we motored to find an anchorage to give us shelter. We arrived at Cala Fontanelles which is part of a large inlet with three or so smaller cala’s inside. Lots of boats doing the same as us, but lots of space luckily to anchor, and complete calm inside.  More swimming of course to cool off, it’s such a hard life!!:)