Advice on Berth for a month in July in N Sardinia

Hooligan

Hooligan

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After 3 great seasons based in Menorca we are moving Eastward and plan to move the boat in June, berth it for a month in N Sardinia and then spend August cruising Corsica and Elba and across to settle in Italy. Been looking at berths for a month and to say they charge like wounded bulls is an understatement. Hooligan is a s58 and I wonder if anyone has a view on decent marinas with reasonable prices. So far I am leaning towards Sta Teresa Galluro which has been the most responsive and friendly without being any more expensive than others I have checked out plus a good place to set out from. Any advice gratefully received.

Ps been following the excellent cruise reports on Corsica and Elba and they have definitely whetted the appetite.
 
Personally, I prefer the south.
We had a great time there a few years ago.
Carloforte - on the island of San Pietro - south west at the bottom of Sardinia.
Prices are much more realistic - in fact if you book for several months it is as cheap as anywhere.

MapisM will probably pop up soon and advise you of the north but he berths in the south - for a reason - it is beautiful.

We will be returning someday.

I have lots of pics and videos but this one from MapisM, for a starter, shows what the island is like.

 
Thanks Hurricane and great video. Lack of other boats a joy!! We will definitely find our way south at some point but pretty set on W Corsica and Elba this year. Seduced by Jfm trip report! Love your reports and pictures. And thanks for the tips on weather predictors. I downloaded WindPerfect and it looks great. I have used passageweather and Windfinder Pro which are both good but not always accurate as I found to my near cost last October.
 
We had nearly a year in Alghero. Loved the town and good flight connections to UK.
Bit of a swell in the marina so would not recommend for the winter but good for the summer.
The marina was split into individually run pontoons. Ours was run by an excellent guy called Frederico. Still get a Christmas card from him after 10 years.
Link below
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=s...Federico,ru_q:Ser-Sea%20Crisafulli%20Federico
 
Hurricane said:
MapisM will probably pop up soon and advise you of the north
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Actually I don't have much to add to what you already said.

Hooligan, I'm afraid that being asked an arm and a leg for a berth in July is rather the norm than the exception, in Sardinia.
In fact, the marinas are not so interested to offer a decent deal for a whole month, during the timeframe when the demand of daily transits (which for them are the most profitable) is at its peak.
Btw, this is true also in the south, though even at the highest rates that part of Sardinia remains much less expensive than Costa Smeralda.
Anyway, back to the point, Santa Teresa di Gallura is a lovely place indeed. If you are happy with what they offered, I wouldn't bother looking further, because it's extremely unlikely that you will find a bargain berth anywhere in Sardinia, in the peak of the summer - let alone in Costa Smeralda.
But if you wish to check something else, one spot that I very much like in the N (well, NW actually) is Stintino, near Asinara island.
You might try to check their offer, since they are a bit off the beaten path, but I don't expect the place to be much cheaper than S.Teresa.
Btw, it also depends on how much you wish to stay in a location which is conveniently connected with flights.
In this respect, Stintino is much closer to Alghero than Olbia, but the former usually has less flights than the latter.
Actually, also S.Teresa is not so conveniently located, because the road that goes to Olbia is just 40 miles or so, but it's a traffic nightmare in the peak of the summer.
If a close distance from a good airport is what you are interested in (aside from Cagliari in the S, which is where BartW has his boat at the moment), nothing can beat marina di Olbia, which is at just a couple of miles from the airport.

That said, I would just throw in another consideration, since you said that you would like to see also the S sometime.
Not that I want to change your mindset, mind - just consider these thoughts as a sort of helicopter view.
When coming from the Balearics, heading to the S or to the N of Sardinia is pretty much the same distance.
So, if you wish to see the both Sardinia and Corsica before heading towards mainland IT, it's more efficient to go to S Sardinia first, then head N (either along the W or the E coast, which are both lovely), then do Corsica and eventually point towards Elba.
Different story if you wish to do the full monty and circumnavigate Sardinia, because in that case I would point to Alghero or Bosa first, and then circumnavigate CCW (which is usually better, weatherwise), eventually reaching S.Teresa, and crossing to Corsica from there.
Anyhow, the point is that in terms of overall route it's worth doing both Sardinia and Corsica before heading towards Elba and Mainland Italy.
Even without knowing if afterwards you wish to go towards SoF and possibly back to Spain, or S along the IT coast, possibly up to Sicily with all the islands in between, it would be a very long way to come back from there to S Sardinia.
As I said, just some thoughts...
 
Hooligan said:
Been looking at berths for a month and to say they charge like wounded bulls is an understatement.
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You'd be right on that. We had a season in N Sardinia a few years back and charges in marinas like Porto Cervo, Porto Rotondo and Portisco in July and August are an arm and a leg and then the other arm and leg too. The Costa Smerelda is a magnet for Italian boaters from the mainland in July and August and the marinas ramp up their charges to ridiculous levels because during the rest of the year they're very quiet so they have to make their money then. FWIW, we kept our boat in Marina di Olbia which is outside the Costa Smerelda hotspot but close enough to cruise there. The marina is modern full service and very close to Olbia airport which is convenient for Easyjet flights to/from UK but otherwise has little to commend it.

I have to admit that the Costa Smerelda and N Sardinia generally despite its glitzy reputation would not rate as one of my favourite cruising areas. Apart from the high prices for marinas (and that includes maintenance costs too), the area is known for being quite windy. In fact it always seemed to be windy when we were there, in fact so windy that Marina di Olbia does not allow larger boats to proceed to their berths in windy conditions without the presence of one of the marina RIBS to bail them out if it all gets out of shape

After our season in Olbia we had 2 seasons in Carloforte in SW Sardinia which IMHO is a far nicer and cheaper location to leave a boat although it is a schlap from Cagliari airport
 
Deleted User said:
After our season in Olbia we had 2 seasons in Carloforte in SW Sardinia which IMHO is a far nicer and cheaper location to leave a boat although it is a schlap from Cagliari airport
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You must have really OD'd on the Tuna and Pizza :D:D:D

Only joking - we found the water around Carloforte to be the clearest that we have seen anywhere.
MapisM's tour of all those anchorages was a great experience.
Swimming in and out of those long thin deep underwater caves in Mezzaluna was fantastic.
And so much other stuff on the doorstep.

I have heard that boaters have intended to use Carloforte as a staging post on the way to the Balearics and end up staying for decades!!!!
:D:D:D
 
Tuna ice cream.....definitely time for bed!! Thanks everyone for your help and advice. MapisM appreciate the thoughts re trip planning, definitely food for thought. I looked at flights as a marker too and was somewhat shocked how few flights to Alghero there were at least from near me in the SW UK.
 
Deleted User said:
The tuna ice cream was the final straw;)
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You must be joking, surely? If not, pls let me know where you found such thing.
I've been based there for a dozen of years, and I've yet to come across it.

Otoh, believe it or not, not later than a couple of weeks ago I tried a new seafood recipe.
Tuna was actually just one of many ingredients, but it was fantastic! :encouragement:
 
Hooligan said:
I looked at flights as a marker too and was somewhat shocked how few flights to Alghero there were at least from near me in the SW UK.
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Beware, if you checked what flights are available NOW, you might well not have found ANY between Alghero and the UK - possibly not even from/to Olbia, I'm not sure.
Both airports are surely much busier in summertime.
But coming to think of it, I wouldn't know how to check that, other than trying to book a flight in June on some airlines websites...
Aside from the usual Ryanair and Easyjet, you might try Meridiana and Alitalia.
 
Hooligan - We're currently based in Marina di Olbia and will be there until the end of May. Our friends are also there in their Squadron 58.

We too will spend the Summer cruising around Sardinia, Corsica & Elba. I haven't compared any prices for Summer berths as we will mostly be at anchor or popping into different marinas for an odd day or two. I was told that Santa Teresa di Gallura is about the most reasonable (price wise) on the northern coast of Sardinia, but it depends if price is your only motivator (eg. if are you coming back to the UK for the month of June & just wanting a storage space for Hooligan).

IMO, Marina di Olbia is a really good, convenient marina and a fair bit less expensive than the ones previously mentioned on the Costa Smerelda (Porto Cervo, Rotondo, Portisco etc.). It's sheltered, very well run and very convenient for flights to the UK in the Summer months. As others have said, the airport is a couple of miles away. There aren't a lot of bars & restaurants around the marina, but there is a large supermarket in walking distance and a fairly decent local town (Olbia) a 10 minute drive away (the marina provides a free shuttle service).

We also visited Santa Teresa di Gallura and agree that it is well situated if you want to visit Corsica & cruise the N. coast of Sardinia. From here, airport accessibility is more of a pain, as MapisM has stated. We use Skyscanner or Googleflights to search flight availability in advance ; both are very easy to use. The local town at Santa Teresa di G is a 5-10 minute drive away and is OK, but not as big as Olbia nor does it have as much choice in terms or shops, restaurants and chandleries (there's always something I seem to 'need' when I walk into a chandlery !). There also seemed to be a decent swell rolling into the marina when we were there which I wouldn't want to live with if spending time on board in the marina. If it's just a place to store your boat for a month whilst you're back in the UK, I wouldn't be too bothered about it. If you are doing that, you could always have your boat lifted and stored on the hard for a month (will be cheaper and you can get jobs done ahead of your cruise around Corsica & Elba). Just a thought....

Either way, Sardinia is a beautiful place (as is Corsica) and I hope we see you on the water there this Summer ! We're a Princess F62 called STORMY.
 
Hi, interesting discussion, thank you. We are also planning to sail around Corsica and Sardinia this summer, but we are a sailing boat.

For a berth in Santa Teresa is it convenient to fly to Bonifacio and take a ferry to Santa Teresa. It seems closer than Olbia.

I like the suggestion of taking the boat out of the water for a few weeks in the summer. But if I have it washed I think that I will have to give it at least one hand of antifouling (I have the selfpolishing Hempel). That seems to complicate things a bit. Or does anybody take the boat out without washing it? (new antifouling will be applied in March)

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions
 
Thanks for this Terranova. Yes the idea is to park the boat for a month and then come back and go. Not sure I feel comfortable taking her out and dealing with all the potential hassle around that but good suggestion. Look forward to seeing STORMY on the calm seas! Hooligan is hopefully not a hooligan so as to speak :). Family reasons which at times when there is silence when radioing in I regret! But hey ho....
 
Hooligan said:
Thanks for this Terranova. Yes the idea is to park the boat for a month and then come back and go. Not sure I feel comfortable taking her out and dealing with all the potential hassle around that but good suggestion. Look forward to seeing STORMY on the calm seas! Hooligan is hopefully not a hooligan so as to speak :). Family reasons which at times when there is silence when radioing in I regret! But hey ho....
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Haha - I thought as much. I doubt that many Sq58 owners would ever be classed as Hooligans.

If you're parking your boat up for a month to fly home to the UK, then I guess the most important factors are cost and security. I'd imagine that you have found the cheapest marina around there - the main negative for you will be the airport transfer. I still think it may be worth contacting Marina di Olbia for a quote as you can't really get any closer to an airport.
 
estekey said:
Hi, interesting discussion, thank you. We are also planning to sail around Corsica and Sardinia this summer, but we are a sailing boat.

For a berth in Santa Teresa is it convenient to fly to Bonifacio and take a ferry to Santa Teresa. It seems closer than Olbia.

I like the suggestion of taking the boat out of the water for a few weeks in the summer. But if I have it washed I think that I will have to give it at least one hand of antifouling (I have the selfpolishing Hempel). That seems to complicate things a bit. Or does anybody take the boat out without washing it? (new antifouling will be applied in March)

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions
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Hi estekey

I guess you could fly to Bonifacio & then take the ferry, but I'd imagine the journey time will be slightly longer by the time you've factored in the drive to Bonifacio ferry port, waiting for the ferry and then the crossing. There won't be much in it, but the drive from Santa Teresa marina to Olbia airport is about an hour (I've only ever driven it with clear traffic).

Sorry, I can't help you on the antifouling question. I don't have any experience with the antifoul that you're using or whether boats can be left out for a month without the current antifoam suffering.
 
DavidJ said:
Far less flights to Alghero than there used to be I notice but Ryanair do direct flights from Stansted in the summer months. Also there are summer flights from Luton with easyjet.
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It was the same with Easyjet flights to Olbia when we were there. Summer months only. AFAIK, the only airport in Sardinia which has year round direct flights from London is Cagliari which makes marinas in the south of island a better choice for permanent mooring
 
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