Castelsandro, Sardinia

We continued motoring through the night which was lovely and calm and not cold. No need for oilskins, what a change from Ireland!

We could see many cruise ships brightly lit loitering near Sardinia, probably waiting until dawn to enter whatever harbour they were planning to visit, otherwise traffic was very quiet.
We had kept the main up as there was enough wind to keep it filled but eventually had to drop it at 05.30 when it began to flog.
The lights on Sardinia and Corsica were in sight during the early morning until the sun came up.

We entered the Straits of Bonifacio which divides Sardinia from Corsica at 11.30. The gap between Sardinia and Corsica was beginning to look very narrow as we approached.
Officially the gap between the islands is about six nautical miles but because of islands and rocks on both sides the real gap is probably half that.
Despite this I decided that we had to sail rather than motor through the straits and luckily the wind had come up enough from the NE to have a gentle sail towards them.
We had expected the wind to die again once we were in the lee of the islands so we left the main down and just unfurled the genny thinking we'd be furling it again soon.

We had a visit from some small dolphins who delighted in crossing back and forth under our bow.

As we closed on the straits they opened up before us and while we had a little navigation to do to get through them, all went well as we kept a sharp lookout for ferries and yachts, most of latter were heading in the opposite direction which made us wonder a bit why no one was going in our direction.

About an hour after we entered the straits the wind increased to a Force 5, a fresh breeze, but luckily was NE so we had it over our starboard quarter and were able to run before it.
When we were well into the straits the wind continued to increase until it was blowing 30 knots (F7) and we were sailing along in front of it doing 7 knots plus, even though we had already reefed the genny.

When we were about an hour out from our destination of Castelsardo we had to furl the rest of the genny and run under engine to head toward the harbour.

We entered the harbour at 18.00 and were met by a helper on the marina who showed us where to berth and helped tie us up. I was very pleased with myself in making the turn and reversing into the berth without any trouble as if I had been doing it for years with Eureka.
Luckily it was a well sheltered harbour and I didn’t have the wind to contend with but as I always say, you're only as good as your last attempt.

Once I had done the paperwork at the marina office, I joined the lads who had a head start on me in the showers.
The lads later did a bit of wandering in the town while I finished off and headed back to the boat.

The weather was lovely and warm and the marina seemed to be only half full and very quite so the staff had time to answer all our questions and we soon had the name of a good restaurant etc.

The town is on a hill topped off with a castle and while it looks lovely from the marina, we had to climb to go anywhere.
We wandered up the main street and discovered that the recommended restaurant was at the top of the hill. Paul due to his leg had a small bit of difficulty with the climb but we eventually found the restaurant and while it was good, especially for the fish dishes, it was not as good as we expected.

After dinner we walked back down the hill which was a lot easier and found a bar near the harbour. We had a few pints and when they closed we found that Mick had organised with the owner, a lift back to the marina.

We had a peaceful night’s sleep or should I say, I couldn’t hear the others snores over my own.

Leg 1 - 174 mls. Total 174 mls.Read more