Sardinia in "spring" - 10:53 AM, Apr. 12, 2008

This year's plan were laid in October last year - Cyclades in May, then Corfu at the end of August, but somewhere between Christmas and New Year, our friend Raph tabled the idea of a week "somewhere warm" during the Easter holidays, so that his teacher SWMBO could be initiated into the joys of cruising. So by early January we'd sorted the boat, the flights and the crew.

Crew : Popeye and Olive (of course), Raph (veteran of Turkey 2007) and his partner Isa, Guy (former porfessional skipper), Manon, Guy's 14 year old daughter, and Diego, 11 yr old son of Guy's business partner

Boat : Tommy, 5 year old 3 cabin Bav 38

Saturday March 29 Belgium-Portisco

Crew meets up at 08:00, Cologne airport. Only 2 hours drive from home, year-round cheap flights to Olbia, 8 days parking only 32 Euro. Hats off to TUIfly, Ryanair, eat your heart out! Good flight to Olbia, where pre-ordered minibus awaits us, in cool sunshine. On arrival at the marina discovered that early season is out of season, supermarket won't open till mid-June, so shopping party of 4 taxis back to Olbia outskirts to do the provisions. Marina restaurant also closed, so dinner on board.

Sunday March 30 Portsico - Cannigione

Call to base manager to get extra blankets - standard equipment was one very thin "pancake" per person, so we'd all shivered the whole night. Marked anchor, briefed crew and left around 11 with a forecast of NW3, to do the 15 miles to Cannigione. Dropped the hook at Liscia Vacca for lunch, not that comfortable. In the windy approach to Cannigione, spotted our sole dolphin of the whole trip. Very windy arrival in the "marina", which was very much work-in progress. 23 Euro for the night, no WC, no showers! Many Sunday tourists in the town, frequenting the plethoric gelaterias. Beginning to despair of finding an open resto for dinner, but finally Isa spotted a pizzeria which had started to heat its oven - excellent meal with drinks and dessert for 100 Euro!

Weather outlook fairly grim SE 7 and rain

Monday March 31 Stuck in Cannigione

Well, we got the rain. Decided to stay put, and quickly exhausted the delights of the town. More valiant crew members got out dinghy, outboard and swimming costumes, between showers. The rest read, dozed, drank.......

Tuesday April 1 Cannigione - La Maddalena

Our wedding anniversary - 19 years (+ 10 years cohabitation before that)

We're all going stir crazy, so decide to head to the island of La Maddalena anyway. Quite a bumpy sail, 3 hours for 8 miles during which we noticed a red flashing light on an uncharted part of the electrical panel. What could that be? Clumsy arrival, marineros on lunch break, so Raph jumps on to the pontoon, others fend us off the neighbouring Rassy, and the boat hook decides to go for a swim (subsequently recovered by Raph, after a brief-but-chilly dive). The marina is right in the middle of town, and we start to feel on holiday at last. Still no WC or showers (closed for winter), but at 16 Euro, much better value than Cannigione. Enjoy the "passagiata", pre-dinner drinks on a terrace owned by a guy from the area we ski every year, pizza in a very "family" restaurant (complete with TV), then after dinner drinks in the same bar.

Wednesday April 2 Maddalena - Bonifacio

Started the day with problem of blocked heads - "no paper" part of briefing had not been fully explained / understood. Raph is accused of having mega kidney stones, to have achieved this result. Guy does his plumbing thing, and all seems to be well.  

Wasn't personally over-motivated to do Corsica, Bonifacio strait having something of a nasty reputation, but was out-voted. As it turned out, 5 hours fairly comfortable tacking, breathtaking arrival in the calanque of Bonifacio. Once again, no WC or showers (being rebuilt for forthcoming season), but at least we got 10% reduction on berthing fees because of that. Visit of splendid old town, including Denis the butcher, whose pâté is to die for. Hesitated about choosing a resto for dinner before deciding to do spag bol on board, which ended in a bowline competition with leftover spaghetti.

Thursday April 3 Bonifacio -Santa Teresa

Yesterday's plumbing problem returns - blockage now in holding tank, which isn't actually in use, since "out" pipe permanently open (strange Sardinian interpretation of environmental issues). Finally realise what uncharted red light was trying to tell us! Heads need pumping every 5 minutes, just to put the overflow back into the HT.Reluctant to flush the thing out in the marina, so after leaving Bonifacio around 11:00, tried manual pump-out at sea - not successful. Temporary fix by pumping excess out into washbasin (yuk), then heads replaced by bucket. Pleasant 3 hour sail to Sta Teresa, wind up the chuff. Very pretty entrance to another out-of-season marina, but bliss - this time with sanitary facilities! Called the plumber, who dared to do what we didn't, and flushed enough fresh water through the HT to send loads of floaters into the marina (double yuk).According to the pilot book, the town is 10 minutes walk from the marina? What it doesn't say that it takes 20 minutes to walk round the marina. So Sta Teresa remained unvisited, and we had dinner in the first open pizzeria we found.

Friday April 4 Sta Teresa - La Maddalena

A superstition says "never put to sea on a Friday". Well, we didn't have much choice - had to be back in Portisco Saturday. Forecast was NW 5-6, right direction, if a bit strong. Reality turned the 5/6 into 7/8, and the gale warning we picked up an hour after departure brought us rain, hail and gusts of 10/11, which hit us at 11:30.

Reefs in everything, including teatowels. Boat speed over 10 knots. Fortunately, the nasty bit only lasted 10 minutes, and we were more than happy to tie up in La Maddalena at 12:45 for a well deserved lazy lunch, followed by a good nap.

Dined at "Lio" (Lonely planet), followed by a "grolla" at our favourite bar.

Saturday April 5 La Maddalena - Portisco

Diego, youngest crew member (11) caught a fish! Not a nasty port mullet thingy, maybe a daurade? He was determined to kill it and eat it, but was rapidly convinced to throw it back. Reluctantly left La Maddalena around 10:00 for our last leg. Wind was fickle -out of 5 hours passage time, 2 hours were under motor, and the other 3 under every combination of sail imaginable. We'd been told to refuel at Porto Rotondo, being the only fuel pump open in the area, but when we turned up there, it was "chiuso". Called the Portisco base, who sent someone along to open the Portisco pump. Nasty surprise - 45 litres! Given that we had done 8, 5 engine hours during the week, either something was very wrong with the engine, or the tank wasn't full when we took the boat out - memo to self to check next time.

As soon as we'd tied Tommy up to the pontoon, Diego's patience paid off again, with a respectable specimen -which was also returned to its natural habitat. Supper on board (no option - all's closed), bags packed, early night

Sunday April 6 - back to Belgium

Taxi picked us up at 06:30, back home at 13:00, having encountered snowstorms in Germany and southern Belgium  - and we thought Sardinia was chilly!

Would we do Sardinia again? Yes, absolutely! Would we sail again so early in the year? Definitely not!