Days 30 – 34 Sardinia



Yachts anchored off the cliffs of Ponza

We had a great sail through the night; the wind was finally cooperating and pushing us along at a good speed. The weather forecast didn’t look good for crossing over to Sardinia so Dan planned a stop at Ponza to wait it out. We approached the island as the sun was coming up; it’s white cliffs visible several miles off shore. The wind was in the wrong direction to use the anchorage off the main town so we dropped the hook at a small bay around the leeward side. The water here was beautiful, turquoise and crystal clear. We took the dingy to shore in an attempt to walk to town; on the beach were signs prohibiting entry but we thought that meant the caves carved into the mountain side with doors on them behind a wire fence. No sooner had we started to walk down the beach, a police boat pulled up and told us landing on the beach was prohibited. We spent the late morning swimming off the boat and by early afternoon the weather forecast had changed so we would make a night passage to Sardinia.
The wind was still pretty strong so we sailed under a double reefed main and also put the first reef in the foresail. Fred and I had the best of it, the boat heeled over and powering through the waves, water coming over the bow; by far the best sailing of the entire trip.



Fred at the helm



And yours truly

We finally arrived in the evening at Cala de Volpe and anchored for the night; we didn’t bother launching the dingy, which was lashed down on the deck for the passage, since the plan was to set off early in the morning.
Our next stop was Porto Palma where we rendezvoused with Em on Oyster Cracker; this was a quaint little town similar to what we had found in the Greek islands. Fred and I went on a mission to locate a suitable place for dinner and luck was with us as I waitress at a bar we stopped at for a couple beers recommended a spot a few kilometers out of town.
Dan was having dinner with the crew on Ems’ boat and Arv and Marita had a big lunch, but the rest of us hired a cab and made our way far out of town. The driver pointed out a restaurant that does a similar type of dinner but said it was for tourist, he asked how we had heard of the one we chose since usually only locals go there. We were passing through farm country and turned at a small hand painted sign leading up a dirt road, which was the driveway to the farm on which the restaurant was located.



Looking out from the restaurant parking lot

The restaurant is in a small renovated farm building overlooking the hills and countryside; it’s nicely decorated but there is no AC or ceiling fans.
Just outside the dining room there was a building with small pigs roasting on a spit over a wood fire. The meal is a fixed price affair with all traditional Sardinian specialties; the waitress brought out a large carafe of wine with some homemade cheese, salami, dried sausage and prosciutto. The courses kept coming out as soon as we finished the previous one and the carafe was never allowed to go completely empty before it would be taken away and refilled. I can’t remember all the courses but they included fried ricotta balls sweetened with sugar and lemon zest, zucchini caprese, zucchini with macaroni and cheese layered in a phylo type dough, ravioli with ricotta and lemon zest and the star of the meal roast pig. When the waitress laid the platter down on the table the head was right in front of me so I didn’t hesitate one second and grabbed it up. The skin was the best I have ever had and the meat was juicy and succulent. After the meal a round of aperitifs arrived, a bottle each of grappa, mirto ( a local liqueur) and house made lemoncello. Dessert was a fried ravioli filled with sweetened ricotta and soaking in honey, and was served with espresso. We called our cab and he arrived shortly to return us to the marina.



Little piggys on the spit



After making the mistake of walking past the bins of lambs heads in Athens, i finally get some head on this trip

The next day we made our way to a national marine reserve at Cannagiore where we took a mooring ball for the night. There were a bunch of youngsters racing in dingys when we arrived and it was fun to see them compete, especially at the marks. We had a quiet relaxing evening with dinner aboard and the next morning headed off for Madellena, our last stop in Sardinia.



Youngsters out having fun without the internet

This was probably my favorite stop in Sardinia, a quaint town with the pastel colored buildings and narrow winding alleyways we have become accustomed to. We took a berth at the marina and were tied up to the wall along the main road, a great place to sit and watch the people pass by. Strolling through the town there were numerous cafes and restaurants, we stopped for pizza at one of them with shade and wifi. I had a seafood pizza, complete with 6 mussels still in the shell on top of it, they offer one topped with tomato, mozzarella, horse meat and french fries, but it sounded pretty gross to have french fries on a pizza.



A main street with shops and restaurants



And a small back street with apartments and a restaurant, but not the one we went to

I found a nice little place for dinner, up an alley with just a small sign hanging above the door. We were the only ones not speaking Italian in the restaurant and were reminded of the tee shirt saying “I’m not yelling, I’m Italian that’s how we talk” because the volume of conversation was similar to being in a football stadium when it’s fourth and short and the visiting team is going for it; it reminded me of Sunday dinner at my grandmother’s house with my nine aunts and uncles and all the cousins.



Dan and I shared a mixed seafood grill for two

Following dinner we had some nightcaps in the cockpit; once everyone had gone to bed I was still up and heard what sounded like karaoke coming from one of the nearby bars. Turns out it was just three guys singing along to the sound system using the TV remote to simulate a microphone. Right away they noticed my I was one of them, at least in ancestry, so I was press ganged into singing along even though I didn’t have a clue what the words were; I just lip synced and gave out a lot of “la dee dee, la dee dahs”. Around 1:30 we took the party outside and within a few minutes a man living in a second floor apartment next to the bar came out on his patio and began spraying us with his garden hose; once we figured out the maximum range we continued to serenade him while he yelled out some of the words my father would use while working on the family car when I was a child.
The whole thing ended around 2:30 as the bar staff locked up, so I went back across the street to our floating home to get ready for tomorrows sail to Corsica.

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A traditionally rigged boat in Sardinia, we saw several of them while sailing