Sardinia Summer 2015

[Hurricane]

Hurricane, any change of a bit of an update on the life in the sun?

Went to Spiaggia on the island of Sant Antioco yesterday.
As we left Carloforte, the wind seemed to strengthen from the south and this little bay seemed to be well protected.

After tucking in under the small headland with a couple of other boats a small rowboat of guys came out and said that we were all too close to the beach so we quickly moved about 100m and "bagged" the next best turquiose spot.

We stayed there all day - right up until sunset.
Not good pics but we had a nice BBQ on the flybridge.

The folded bimini "kind of" gave is a wind break even though it wasn't really necessary.

The water is now warm enough - Hurray!!
We swam ashore and snorkelled - also gave JW's water line a bit of a clean.
Had a good look at the props - all nice and clean - so far!!
On the way back she managed a short plane - 25knots without pushing hard.

During the afternoon, the foredeck became the place to be.

So this is a pic to go with the Bathing Platform Table shot.
Bow Chairs and Table - inspired by Jimmy when we were in the SoF a few years ago.

 

[BartW]

As we left Carloforte, the wind seemed to strengthen from the south and this little bay seemed to be well protected.

I believe this is on the north east corner of the Island,
the building in the background is the old Tuna factory,
its intersting to go there, and have a guyded tour in what used to be a little "village" for the workers in that factory,
and getting to know the history about the "Tonnare"

there is dive center near that chimney and they can give you all the info

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I believe this is on the north east corner of the Island,
the building in the background is the old Tuna factory,
its intersting to go there, and have a guyded tour in what used to be a little "village" for the workers in that factory,
and getting to know the history about the "Tonnare"

Not sure that is correct, Bart. The anchorage H has visited is across from Carloforte on the island of Sant Antioco. I think the tuna factory you are referring to is in a different place. Yes there is a tuna factory with a small marina that you can visit on a tiny island off the north east tip of San Pietro but I don't think that is the one shown in H's pics

PS I'm sure a proper Italian speaker will be along in a minute to confirm but spiaggia in Italian means beach so I guess where H was anchored was actually Spiaggia Grande

 

[MapisM]

I'm sure a proper Italian speaker will be along in a minute to confirm but spiaggia in Italian means beach so I guess where H was anchored was actually Spiaggia Grande

Spot on. And grande means large, for the records.
I guess that's just because it's the larger beach around Calasetta, the village in the NW tip of Sant'Antioco island.
In fact, there are a few even larger beaches in the SE side of the island.

Otoh, it's funny that B called the building in Hurricane pics a tonnara factory, because that's precisely what it was.
Afaik, it was dismissed well before the one that B mentioned - and which btw is exactly in the spot of San Pietro Island that he described, not in the Isola Piana, which I suppose is the tiny island you are referring to - but it's also a former tonnara building, anyway.
As I'm told, this traditional tuna fishing method was popular enough that the number of these "tonnaras" around Italy required 3 digits to be counted, while now one hand is plenty.
Incidentally, Hurricane already knows exactly where the tonnara and the diving center in San Pietro Island that B has in mind is located, because we went there together by bycicle.

Back to Hurricane post:
M, since you have by now explored that spot above and under the water, you might find this short video familiar - but don't show it to your guests, if they are afraid of eels!

I made it in Oct (as hinted by the somewhat fouled bottom) a couple of years ago, all around the rocky and shallow seabed in front of the southern cape of the bay visible in your first two pics.
In fact, the end of the video puts shallow water anchoring in perspective!
One thing I like of the season end, on top of the water normally still warm, is that there aren't folks around that have nothing better to do than ask boats to move further offshore. :ambivalence:
Btw, I think I already posted this after I made it, but I usually appreciate even better pics and clips of places where I've been, so maybe it's the same for you now...?

Very well done re. both the bow seating arrangement and the f/b BBQ, really inspiring! :encouragement:
I'm now counting the days left before our arrival....

 

[brainstorm]

It,s one for us......Only a night at Stansted to endure!

 

[John100156]

Hey - where do you get one of those hats with the anchor ball attachment another brilliant idea Mike?

 

[petem]

Hey - where do you get one of those hats with the anchor ball attachment another brilliant idea Mike?

He'll have an Ancam on the end of it soon as well!

 

[Hurricane]

So, it seems that I've learned a new Italian word.
Spiaggia - Beach

And, of course, yes - we were at Spiaggia Grande.

EDIT - here's a chartlet - you can see our recorded track - we returned to have a look at a bay (Guidi) on Sant Pietro but, by then, it was getting too dark to see much.
On this chartlet, you can also see the anchorages that MapisM sent me.
Big thanks to him - he sent them electronically as waypoints so all I have had to do is load them into my nav system and PC.

MapisM's video has (kind of) set my mind at rest.
After swimming round the boat, I saw just how shallow that bay can be.
I had a conversation with SWMBO - something along the lines of "would we have anchored over there without knowing how shallow it is".
We both agreed that our alternative (backup) anchoring place would have further out into the bay so we think that we would have been safe anyway.
Having said that, we had three different charts of the bay and if you look closely at all of them, most of the shallow areas and isolated rocks are on one or other of the charts.

That was Monday.
Today is Wednesday.
Yesterday we decided to be more adventurous.
So far, every time that we have left CF harbour, a wind (probably land/sea based and not gradient) has picked up from the south.
So yesterday, we decided to go north and stick to Sant Pietro island rather than cross to San Antioco.
I'll upload some pics and a short report later - for those who may be interested.

 

[Hurricane]

And so - on to yesterday's trip.
As I said above, we decided to be a bit more adventurous.
Usually, we anchor (in sand) in about 3 or 4 metres of water.
Expecting to anchor in much deeper water, I tried to remember what MapisM had told me about the north side of the island.
I distinctly remembered him telling me that there was a large sandy area where we could drop the hook and be safe away from the rocks whilst still being close enough for some snorkelling.
But we had decided to head north out of Carloforte and thus we were going round the island in the opposite direction that I did with MapisM.
So, thinking that I had the correct place, we anchored in about 20m of water about 500m south west of MapisM's waypoint called Stea.
See this chartlet - the purple line is our recorded track so you can see that by the end of the day, we had completely circumnavigated the island (anti clockwise)

Well anchoring there was wrong wrong wrong.
Nothing dangerous but it wasn't particularly comfortable and neither SWMBO or I likes dropping our anchor this deep - especially as there were lots of rocks.
We did, however, remember to set our anchor trip - just in case.

We stayed about an hour and a half so it wasn't that bad and I took a few pics - here they are:-

The water temperature is really quite nice now - even in the deep water.
SWMBO managed to see the anchor and said that she thought it would recover without any problem but we didn't really like it as an anchorage.

I guess that if we had the nerve to actually anchor in MapisM's Stea waypoint, things would have been more comfortable.
But we wanted to err on the side of safety so we decided to recover the anchor whilst we could and move on.

It was then that I realised my mistake - it was Cala Vinagra where MapisM had told me we could anchor in sand and be safe.
So we did - and what a fantastic place it is.
See the chartlet above.

When we arrived in Cala Vinagra the wind was blowing gently offshore so we set quite a long way out - anchor trip set again - just in case!!!
It was so nice, we stayed for lunch and swam/snorkelled several times - over to the rocks and caves.
By late afternoon, the wind had swung round to a light onshore breeze setting us much closer to the cliffs.
Not too close - in fact really nice and we enjoyed more snorkelling with the boat only a few metres away.

Then it was off to complete the circumnavigation - passing places that I'd been shown a couple of weeks ago.

I reckon that this has got to be another great spot to anchor - MapisM's waypoint "Capo Sandalo" - just under the lighthouse.

We took loads of photos and went close to most of MapisM's other waypoints - for future reference.
We will be back again to these places.

Several times that we have left the marina, we have thought that Guidi bay would be a nice place to drop the hook but it never "panned out" like that so, tomorrow we are thinking thats where we will go.
Maybe...............

 

[MrB]

Fantastic, totally enjoying this thread.......thanks for all the pics and write up. :encouragement:

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Thanks H, looking forward to all of this next week

 

[petem]

Thanks H, looking forward to all of this next week

+1!

 

[AndieMac]

Thanks for update Hurricane, we over-nighted with MM in Guidi Bay. There was a fairly reasonably active Mistral coming in from the west at the time. Seemed a popular anchorage for boats as well as a popular swimming beach.
One of MM's mates has a beautiful waterfront home in the bay also.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

Hey Mike Hurricane,

As always super post. I always want to press the Like button on both yours and Mapis pictures and videos.
Anyways have a good time, and remember down South to Sardinia you are always welcome.

 

[Hurricane]

Thanks H, looking forward to all of this next week

Good news
I think I've found a restaurant that serves good steaks - BEEF ones.
SWMBO's brother in law isn't a great fish eater.
The restaurant is actually a Pizzeria and they call it Argentinian Aberdeen Angus but it tasted good and was a decent size.

 

[MapisM]

Well done M, looks like a proper day of boating indeed.
Along the now established tradition of matching some of my previous videos with your recent pics, here's another couple of them:

Btw, now that you know the place, look where they are passing through with that boat, at the end of the video!
That's one of my favourite snorkeIing areas in that bay, so I know exactly how rocky/narrow/shallow it is, and I'm not sure I'd trust going there with the tender, go figure...

....Darn, I didn't remember that on top of the 20 pics limit there's also a 1 video/post limit!
Must split the reply, hang on a minute...

 

[MapisM]

This is instead, similarly to the one of Spiaggia Grande, a nice pairing with the u/w scenario of that spot under the lighthouse!

 

[MapisM]

Oh, and last but not least, the first place where you anchored was probably not far from the so called "Piscina di Nasca" (Nasca Pool).
I possibly mentioned it to you during our last cruise: it's a salt water natural swimming pool, connected to the sea but completely sheltered.
As you noticed, the coast in that area doesn't allow for a good anchorage, which is the reason why we usually go there from inland: it's a 30/40 minutes walk, most of which reasonably easy, except the last bit that demands some attention.
The video below (albeit a bit long and boring - sorry for that), shows the place very well.
Btw, it's a collage of different moments, and the bits at the beginning and at the end were taken during one NW blow that built up waves big enough to reach the pool - hence making it dangerous to go down for a swim.
That day, we weren't happy to return without a refrigerating bath, after the walk under the sun, aarumph...!

 

[MapisM]

As always super post. I always want to press the Like button on both yours and Mapis pictures and videos.
Anyways have a good time, and remember down South to Sardinia you are always welcome.

Glad that you appreciate, W.
And of course, you would also be welcome to join us in CF!
This summer is going to be particularly interesting, as an occasion for catching up with other forumites...

 

[scubaman]

Thank you Hurric and MapisM for the amazing pics and videos, please keep them coming!

So much looking forward to visiting the area in Oct!

The air hasn't quite reached the swimming temperature here yet, so it's nice to see some sunshine.