Sardinia and Bonifacio (Corsica)
Posted at 3:49 PM, Jun. 30, 2006
Time goes by quickly so it must be a catch up day for the blog. So after leaving Cala del Bollo mid morning on Friday 23 June we motored, yet again, with a light northerly breeze on the nose quietly up the northwestern coast of Sardinia for about 20 miles admiring the rugged spectacular limestone cliffs. This part of Sardinia does not appear to be heavily developed or populated. The turning point to the east was planned for the top of Isola Asinara however a closer inspection of the chart revealed a narrow passage to the south of the island (saving probably 15 miles) – the cruising guide said that the depth was 3 metres (we draw 2.8 metres) and only to proceed through on flat calm days with no swell. We picked up the leading light beacons and motored through slowly only getting to a low point of 0.6 metres. The bottom was sand and consequently the water a beautiful turquoise colour so we anchored and had a swim before proceeding across the Golf di Asinara to our planned overnight stop of Castelsardo a further 22 miles on. Again still motoring and when the breeze did manage to get up around 10 knots it was still bang on the nose. Once through the passage and onto the northern coast we could see plenty of development, lovely beaches with lots of people on them. It was still pretty hilly back off the coast but more rolling countryside along the coast.
As we pulled into the small marina at the hilltop medieval town of Castelsardo a marina guy came out in his inflatable and initially it looked as though we would not get a berth because of depth in the marina. In the end we dropped an anchor and went stern to at the end of the largest marina walkway. The photo below is taken from the castle and Savarna is clearly holding pride of place in the marina.
Castelsardo looking down from Castle
Chris, Jo and Liz up at Castelsardo
The town was founded by the Genovese family of Doria in the 7th century and had previously been held by the Aragonians. It is now famous for its woven baskets and carpets , the former made from vegetable fibres. There were plentof woven baskets in evidence for sale. The castle building commenced in the 7th century and the old town is within its walls. We walked around the castle, cathedral and old town the next day, picked up a few provisions and headed off early afternoon after filling up with diesel.
The wind was still from the NE and yet again right on the nose. We planned to stay in a bay under the lee of Cabo Testa about 20 miles across the Golf di Asinara. It was a beat all the way and we tacked along the coast so we could view the geography and the buildings. The NE developed into a 16/17 knot true wind and we had a great sail with Chris on the handlebars all the way – I think he was impressed with the way the boat sailed. We found the bay, which on the chart looked like a nice deserted spot but turned out to be a beautifully developed bay with two beaches and the 5 star Grand Hotel Colonna spanning the small headland that separated the beaches. This is near the town of Santa Teresa di Fallura. There were several other yachts anchored there for the night also – quite a windy night with the NE continuing.
Sunday 25th June saw us up anchor and then with one reef in the main head off into a fresh headwind, which got up to a F5 (20-25 knots) for another nice beat across to Bonifacio about 12 miles away at the southern end of Corsica. It was about this stage that disaster struck although we never found out about it for another day or so. But in furling the jib in a strong breeze the number 2 and 3 vertical battens obviously flogged about and ripped through the headsail at the bottom of the batten pockets. So while the concept is good the reality has proven to be absolutely hopeless - so it will be a talk with the North sail loft in Auckland when I get back. So it was then drop the Italian flag and hoist the French flag again - temporarily. A cloudy day so the earlier thinking of “lets anchor off an island for lunch and a swim” and then go into Bonifacio overnight disappeared. Bonifacio is mind blowing – the entrance is hard to find and not more than maybe 200 metres wide between 500 – 600 foot cliffs. The harbour is long and narrow, the marina completely inadequate for the job it is expected to do today with much larger boats around and in a 25 knot crosswind with boats everywhere it certainly got the blood pressure up. We finally got a berth having earlier declined to take the one offered which was at the end of a walkway about 60 metres long, the fairway not much wider than the boat before opening out at the streetside end where restaurants/bars were plentiful. We had no sooner got ourselves tied up when they out another boat rafted up against us. The pictures below are looking back across the harbour (Savarna can be seen just next to the dinghy) towards the castle and old town and an example of balcony living taken from outside the entrance.
Looking out at the entrance to Bonifacio
Pam dockside - looking across harbour to castle
Who's afarid of heights?
Bonifacio was a Napolean base many years ago. So it was another afternoon of exploring the old town, getting some laundry done, restocking the cellar and more provisioning – but this time back onto French wines and other goodies. In the middle of all this a huge private motoryacht (like 200 ft plus) arrived coming in astern as there was no way they were going to be able to turn otherwise, and tied up at the head of the basin. Some very impressive manouvering required to get in. The Russells and Mortons again treated Pam and I to a very nice dinner at a waterfront fish restaurant that started with champagne and continued with much excellent wine chosen by “Timothy”. The photo below shows Bonifacio from the castle looking down into the harbour.
Looking down from the castle at Bonifacio
The following morning, Monday 26th June, John and Liz departed for Brussels and back into business mode for them. We saw a Hanse 461 also at the marina and later during the morning they called over to see us as they had spotted Savarna. A French couple who have a fulltime skipper on board with them. We completed the housekeeping chores and headed off to the island of Lavezzi for lunch and a swim. This group of islands is impressive as it is so different to what we are used to as shown in the photo below.
Approach to Lavezzi island
It was probably about 4.00pm before we headed off planning to go to Porto Rotundo or a neighbouring marina where we were due to pick up Pat and June Costello. Fortunately as we were yet again motoring down the north eastern side of Sardinia a text came in from Pat confirming that they were not in fact due out until the next day. By this stage we had been passing many islands and anchorages in the area known as the Costa Smeralda so took the opportunity to immediately change our plans. Shortly afterwards we dropped anchor in a largish bay in front of the hotel Liscia di Vacca which the cruising guide described as the most expensive hotel in Italy. We had a few goes at anchoring as the heavy weed so prevalent in the Med does not make for good holding. The trick is to find a gap in the weed and drop the anchor onto a sandy spot and hope to get a hold into sand. A quiet bay boats wise with only one other boat at anchor. It does appear that the cruising ground on the Costa Smeralda is outstanding with no shortage of anchorages and places to explore. From an architectural perspective it is noticeable that the houses are generally not more than one story high and the colours used are natural so it is often very hard to distinguish rocks from houses.
The next morning we motored around to the centre of all activity on the Costa Smeralda, namely Porto Cervo. This is top of the market, the resort that the Aga Khan developed in the 1960’s and the centre of the major yachting regattas held in this part of the Med. Fortunately there is a modest space designated for anchoring, which is where those who are neither rich or famous anchor. As John said you tie up and leave the next day without the boat as they take it to cover the fees! There are a few rocks scattered around that the Aga Khan never cleaned up and we have slightly altered the ballast ratio as a consequence. We dropped off Chris and Jo, who went on to Croatia, and Pam and I spent the remainder of the day exploring the area until Pat and June arrived at about 2200hrs that night. A late BBQ dinner and French red wine in the cockpit. The following morning the Hanse 461 turned up, sailing into the bay in great style, swung across our stern under full sail and crash - came to a grinding halt. Jumped over the first set of rocks and then stuck hard for 45 minutes while various marina boats came to assist. Not sure whether they sacked their skipper then and there!
Later in the day, after the girls had provisioned up but mostly looked at the incredible array of high priced shops we headed off for the port town of Olbia. This is the major ferry terminal for visitors coming from the Italian mainland, also has an airport and is described in the cruising guide as a “grubby little town.” But often it is good to get away from the tourist areas to see what a place is really like. We pulled up onto the private yacht club marina that has no facilities at all and then were asked to pay EUR100 for the night. I started the negotiations and got it down 25% if we stayed a second night and hopefully Pat who took over the boat earlier today while we return to NZ will continue the negotiations. Pat and June had friends coming in by ferry which we picked up that night and we had also found that the only sailmaker on Sardinia was at Olbia. He came down to the boat on Wednesday evening 28th June and said he would have the sail back the next day – which I will be most surprised about.
Anyway that’s us signing off for a while until we return to Savarna for the trip down to Sciliy, the west coast of Italy and Malta later in the year.
Cheers
Keith