anchoring Sicily/Sardinia

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blenkinsop

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The edition of the Imray Italian Waters Pilot we have seems light on anchorages in most areas. Perhaps there are not many in Italy!
Later in the summer we are will be going from Greece west via Sicily and Sardinia and would be grateful for suggestions of places to anchor in these areas (thus avoiding what we understand to be extortionate Italian marina fees - and we prefer anchoring most of the time)
 
The anchorage at Syracuse is one of my favourites for shelter and the view in the Med. There is lots to see and do, the holding is good and it does'nt cost a penny. It would make quite a good landfall from Greece, depending on your point of departure. Further north on the East coast of Sicily, the anchorages are not really much good so I would then look to anchor in Vulcano in the Aeolian islands, where I rode out a full gale (gusts over 50 kts) at anchor last November.
I look forward to comments about Sardinia as we will be heading that way ourselves in September
 
Porto Palo on the South West tip of Sicily is a handy anchorage, generally used as an overnight before heading to Malta. No facilities to speak of, and lots of fishing boats, but OK for a night or two.

Second vote for Syracuse but, if you stay more than a few nights, be prepared for a bottom encrusted with barnacles. Lift the dinghy from the water every night, and lift the engine when not in use, or the barnacles will make future life hell!

Further up the coast the bay at Taormina and Naxos is an enormous anchorage, and an excellent place to stay for trips to Taormina and Etna. Bit of a swell is possible. Riposto Marina 6 miles South of the bay is handy for a bit of R & R, Fuel and water - fabulous shower blocks.

A variety of anchorages are available in The Aeolian Islands, and I understand there are a few off the islands off Trapani, (sp??).

Sciacca Marina on the South Coast is simple and cheap. Good supermarket and a few handy bars. I think you can also anchor off the breakwater.

In Sardinia the pilots suggest that you can't anchor in the bay off Villasimius, but you can, as long as your anchor is in sand. In 2009, the Marina allowed us to berth for free in the day - not sure why, but we didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Super beach restaurant at the Northern end of the bay. Looks like a cafe from a distance, but it's really posh.
 
Syra is great but you do need a good dinghy and outboard, can be a long haul with the oars, l know l've done it!

Further up the coast you can tuck into the entrance to Cantania, bewteen two breakwaters, very happy wait there, even visited by police who said no problem but beware of shallows, also Acitrezza moor stern to amongst the fishing boats, or Naxos, very good sandy bottom and good view of Etna. It is worth exploring as we did, we have a 12m boat and sat very happily to anchor most nights.

Sardinia, the south east corner at Villasimius, good holding just outside the marina. Fabulous nature reserve there. Also on the south tip at Malafanto, great little bay and no-one there!
 
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Another vote for Siracuse, and also the place just north of Porto pollo with a great Graeca Magna church (name forgotten.) We anchored off Marina ragusa and wished we'd anchored off Marsala than gone in (rip off harbour and boring town!), plus often mentioned anchorages in the islands.

Sardinia: In Cagliari no good anchorage but Marine del Sole is good value for visiting a great town. You can anchor in a few places up the east coast but it's not that welcoming (except in very settled and still weather) till you get to Olbia where you can tie to the Town Quay for free. Don't bother with Costa Smeralda but tons of wonderful anchorages/bouys in the Maddalenas (free once you have a cruising permit, buy in advance on line for 50% of the daily on-site price). There are a couple of bays across the top of Sardinia to anchor in if you don't want to visit Bonifaccio, but once west of there you either pay for buoys in the Asinara parc, or use the Corsica side for anchorages, and so it depends where you're going.

I'm sure there's more on the west side but we didn't go there!
 
North coast Sicily:
Trapani, inside the outer harbour, a bit far from the town but holding good. You MUST radio in and ask permission. People have been fined recently.

Capo san Vito, anchor north of the beach, no good if there's anything from N or E.

Castellmare del Golfo, you can anchor inside the harbour near N mole, east of the pontoons, holding/shelter good. Nice little town too and 30 euro/day car hire, visit Selinute and Seguesta, stunning hellinic temples, if you have time.

Balestrate is an unfinished marina/harbour, tie up to the wall, stern/bows to, holding suspect.

South of Villa Fassini, holding/shelter good except with NW-W wind, Loud disco 'till late/early from hotel.

Terrasini, anchor to the north of the harbour, Beware a thick steel cable approx 300m from the beach, It's not too hard to get off if you have a good windlass to bring it up but you might struggle by hand. The coast guard do not like you anchoring inside with a line ashore as in the pilot.

Cefalu, the pilot shows an anchorage to the W of the town outside the old harbour, forget it. Go to the east side, the bay is roomy with good holding and well sheltered. We dropped a kedge to face us into the swell here, for one reason and another we were here for a month! Cefalu is a nice stop with a great walk up the hill to the castle, train to Palermo available.

Strombloi, Anchor south of San Vincenzo, holding not great and you'll be dropping in 25 meters, and still be just a few meters from the shore. Well worth a visit in settled weather though to watch the volcano erupt (every 20-40 mins)

Vulcano, just north of the mole outside Vulcano town, again a very worthwhile walk up to the crater.

Lipari, south of the town at P.to Del Genti, anchor in 10m, holding good, shelter from N through to W.

Forget the anchorage listed at Scilla, it's a no go, Buoy for the night 25 euros. Water taxi inc.

Taormina, E coast, good holding in the bay south of the point, also Naxos in fair weather, beware shoals rapidly toward the pontoons in the S of the bay. Fuel is available at petrol station on the front, approx middle of the bay, near consp' blue building. None available at Reggio Calabria, it's shut down.

We did this route over the last 2 months.

That's all I know......

Hope that helps.

C.

http://www.sy-revolution.com/blog/blog1.php?paged=2
 
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We went along the N coast of Sicily which has been covered already and then the W and N of Sardinia. We were in Sardinia from 2003 to 2005 so this list will be somewhat out of date but may be of some use. We never paid all summer unless we wanted to go into a marina when we had visitors. We did have to pay if we wanted to visit the Maddelana's as it was necessary to pick up one of the official mooring buoys.

By the way, not much Camping Gaz available in Sardinia if that is what you use. I will have a note in our logbooks of stockists if you would like further info.

We anchored of the harbour at Calvi on Corsica but that was it as Corsica was so expensive that we decided not to linger for long. Magnificant views though.

Here is a list of anchorages we used some for overnights and some for weeks on end. They must be good anchorages because we used a 35lb CQR which, according to them in the know, are worse than useless so if you have a spiffing new type of anchor you would be laughing.:rolleyes:

Porto Pollo (Puddu) We anchored for 4 or 5 days at a time in various blows. Great shelter.

Pelosa Passage. Overnight in settled weather. Like the Caribbean! SWMBO loved this place.

Stintino. Anchored between head of breakwater and marina entrance.

Cappo Testa. Cala Spinosa, good holding.

Porto Conte near Alghero. Various anchorages, take your pick subjest to wind direction. Watch out for weed beds.

Carloforte. Good bolt hole, spent 10 days holed up there anchored near yacht club. Take you dinghy up the river to the superkmaket, very handy.

Porto Teulada. Anchored off breakwater in settled weather.

Golfo Di Arzachena. Somewhere to go in most conditions including:
Caniggione. Anchored off marina but I believe there has been some harbour development which may have restricted anchoring but it is a large area and there are other options.
Zui Paulu.Handy for campsite shop.
Tre Monti. Supermarket on other side of road from beach.

Enjoy your trip.
 
Hi we are a boat in transit to Greece, we have just come across to Sicily from Sardinia (2/7). We stopped off at Castellmare del Golfo last night hoping to anchor. The appears to be a lot of new works taking place in the harbour perhaps in preparation to add more pontoons, this means that we were unable to anchor in the harbour and there are no nearby suitable anchorages so we had to pontoon moor for the night and take the dingy to the town beach to swim.

We thought that as it was July we could expect difficulties in finding berths but there doesn't seem to be many boats moving about especially south of Oblia Sardinia and here in Sicily iso we have found berths easy to get, where no anchorages available. We are in Palermo tonight no problems finding a berth and at a cash negotiated rate.

PM me if you have any questions. Ali
 
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