June 26th - July 13th, 2005
I'm writing this as we are leaving the Cala di Volpe, (on the northeast top of Sardinia.) Its a small bay with only a hotel. The "rich and famous" bring their yachts there and anchor. Then they release a collection of dinghies, jet skis and ski boats from the bellies of their boats. The kids race around, drive everyone nuts with their wakes and noise and the adults take the tender in to dine at the hotel. Dinner per person we hear is over 200 Euros a person before wine. Our group (about 8 US boats) passed on the dinner option and instead raft up at the different US boats and have BYOB drinks and munchies. Each night we go to a different boat. Last night was the last night we are all together for the season. Four of the boats are heading down to Turkey and Greece and Tunisia and three of us are going up the west side of Corsica to Italy and the island of Elba. We all rendezvoused for a Fourth of July celebration on the north of Sardinia.
As we are motoring along today, I have inserted our comments about what we see along the way.
"Is that another golf course? No, that's just someone's yard!"
To bring you up to date, our last night in the Balearics, we took the dingy around to check out some old forts by the water. En route to the fort, we found another anchoring bay and saw several American boats, including one from Seattle. We came along side to say hello and they invited us aboard GlenLyon. This group of cruisers had been sailing around for the last 15 or so years so were a wealth of knowledge. The Seattle boat (Imaginess) hadn't been back to Seattle since 1992 and were now on their way to Brazil but wanted to stop by Morocco so we were able to give them our limited knowledge. When we mentioned we were heading for Sardinia, they suggested we leave tomorrow because the weather was looking bad if we waited till the end of the week.
"Wow, look at that house - fountains, not even an insignificant fountain - a regular park fountain."
So, after rechecking the latest weather forecast on the computer, next morning we left at 6am for an overnight crossing to Alghero, Sardinia. We sailed about half the way till the winds died down. We arrived about 1pm and found a slip near our 2 buddy boats, Triumph and Tapestry and had a great reunion dinner that night. Alghero is a fabulous walled city with lots of small cobblestone streets with interesting shops. Outside our marina there were about 10 park benches and as the day progressed, the occupants changed - Women and kids in the morning, old men in the late afternoon, then lovers at night. It was quite a lively place.
The next day our buddy boats headed north while we rented a motor-scooter and toured the northern part of Sardinia. We visited the Neptune Caves, a spectacular display of stalactites and stalagmites. Then we visited Stintino and the beach resort at the pass that we had to go through the next day in the boat. It sure looked a bit rugged to enter the straits.
We had planned a Fourth of July get together with all the American boats in Porto Pozzo. We had about 9 boats total, some which we hadn't met before so that was great fun. Unfortunately the wind really picked up the next day and everyone started dragging their anchors so we had to reset anchors several times. Steve and I finally decided to go around the point to another bay that didn't have such a poor holding (weedy) bottom. Another Nordhaven boat also came there. That's a power boat that they drove across the Atlantic last year. The company had sponsored the rally and about 20 Nordhavens crossed together. They carry 1000 gallons of diesel so a stop at the gas dock is no insignificant event. We had seen them in Gibraltar last summer. It turns out the couple is also from Michigan. He used to be the dean of the Michigan Medical School so we had a great time talking about Michigan and winning football teams.
"Look at that, every little piece of beach is filled with people."
We then moved our reunion to the Gulfo di Arzachena, about 10 miles away. Steve and I rented a car with Lorraine and Bert on Twist of Fate and headed towards Sidello, where they were having some kind of "dangerous horse race." In fact, they said its a strange mixture of guns, horses and booze. When we got close to the town, all the town signs had bullet holes through them. When we parked the car, we saw gun shells all over on the street. Then, we saw people walking towards horses so we headed that direction.
"Look at the hidden cove in here - see the two masts sticking up? Man, look at the size of that house - - wonder if its a hotel?"
There were about 40 horses and riders that were working their way to a particular part of town. Most of the riders were drinking and having a great time. The town priest was leading the way. When the procession got to the appointed spot, everyone stopped, they started passing out little donuts and wine and beer to everyone (including us). The local band played a few songs, then the guys with the guys shot off about 100 rounds, then the priest lead the procession to the next spot, where again we got donuts, wine, beer and more guns shooting. This was repeated once more so by this time, we were really getting into the celebration. Finally we found someone who spoke English and asked them about the race. They said it was this morning at 7 am. So, we did another stop along the route of the town, had some more donuts and wine and called it good.
"Is that someone's yacht or a ferry? There's a guy doing a Stairmaster on the top deck!"