Where am I

[Hurricane]

Looks a bit small for Gibraltar.

No - this is Gibraltar - very different scale
(pics pulled from the depths of the archives!!!)

 

[Hurricane]

I Haven't a clue but the great photos are a very nice reminder that the new season isn't too far away. Keep them coming please.

Yep - some light relief during the horrible weather.
Just a bit of fun.

 

[peterandjeanette]

Looks more Corsican than Spanish ??

 

[Hurricane]

OK - back to the original "Where am I"

This was MYAG from this forum going into exactly the same place.
Photos courtesy of MAPISM



With all these hints, you should be getting closer now

 

[BartW]

near Sugar rock ?

 

[sharpness]

Yep - some light relief during the horrible weather.
Just a bit of fun.

I can see why a lot of you keep your boats in the med etc, these pics look fantastic, especially with the glorious UK weather at the moment. Great post, keep them coming if you have more to share please.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

A word of advice though - SWMBO needs to be in the front so she can't see if you are not paddling.

Very sound advice. Obviously you are speaking from experience!

Of course I remember where this was. Not far from Rio IIRC

 

[Montemar]

Costa Brava?
Roll on summer..

 

[MapisM]

near Sugar rock ?

Bingo.

I hope Hurricane doesn't mind if I spill the beans, but it's practically impossible that anyone can get closer than Bart - other than the few of us who have been there, that is.
The specific spot name is "Porto Canal Grande", which translates as Large Channel Harbour, sort of.
But don't ask me why, 'cause it's as far from both a channel and a harbour as it gets, and it's not a large place either, by any stretch of imagination...
It's exactly here, just in case anyone would want to go there for a swim!

Btw, Bart, the islet nearby is actually called Sugarloaf, because its shape reminds a bit the much more famous and bigger one in Rio.
We've been there together with you and E back in 2012, during the week that you spent in CF with your diving club.
But I'm afraid I didn't show you the specific "Where am I" spot, which is actually very close - less than 1NM further North along the coast, as Hurric said.
In fact, we usually go there mostly for overnighting, being it a bit more sheltered than the Sugarloaf surroundings.
Otoh, for swimming and snorkeling alone, the surroundings of the Sugarloaf are just as nice anyway - particularly under its two natural arches.

Many thanks Hurricane for posting this thread, definitely MUCH better than looking out of the window these days! :encouragement: :encouragement: :encouragement:
I'll try to put together some other contributes in a minute, hang on...

 

[MapisM]

these pics look fantastic ... keep them coming if you have more to share please.

LOL, just say how many hundreds you would you like to see...

The following shows the "Where am I" spot, with another beautiful forum vessel anchored in the very same place as JW in Hurricane pics, but seen from inland.

And these are some views of the Sugarloaf area, with the coastline along the northern side of the islet.
The "Porto Flavia" building is the entrance of an old coal mine, from where they used to load the transport vessels moored underneath, along the cliff.

Oh, and just in case the forumites who came last summer in this region were thinking to have seen it all, here are some other views of the surroundings, not much further north along the Western Sardinian coast.

This one, which I used for my avatar, was taken while drifting right in front of the spot in the following pic, i.e. "Piscinas" beach.
It's one of the largest beaches in the Med, but never very crowded, because it takes a long, narrow and winding road to reach it from inland.
Its dunes and clear water are indeed spectacular, though - in fact, the soft bright sand has a rather high specific weight, and it stays on the seabed without making the water sluggish.
Pretty much like in Gosport, as JTB pointed out!

And last but by no means least, this is "Cala Domestica" bay, about half way between the "Where am I" spot and the "Piscinas" beach.

 

[Hurricane]

Beaten me to it MAPISM
Thanks for keeping out of the conversation for as long as you did - I bet you were tearing your hair out wanting to comment.

Yes, Bart was the first to actually guess it but credit must also go to Deleted User - he clearly knew where it was as well.

@MAPISM - you've also beaten me to some extra photos of the place and I even looked up that link on Google Maps.

Not a problem - if there is still some interest, I do have a few more photos around the Sugarloaf area of southern Sardinia.
I believe that Sugarloaf is actually called Pan di Zucchero and the actuial "Where am I" is called Canal Grande
Maybe you will correct me if I'm wrong.
Of all the times that we have anchored, JW has only tied back to the rocks once - this was it.
We borrowed some spare floating rope from MYAG but now we have our own on board so maybe we will do some more of this fun way of anchoring.
We also only had 70m of 10mm chain so we couldn't "push the limits" like MYAG - we now have 150m of 12mm chain and a new Rocna anchor in the garage in Devon to go out to the boat in a couple of months.

I'll post some more pics if people are interested.

It was a fun little post for me.
I hope others enjoyed it as much as I did.

 

[Hurricane]

I had the extra pics virtually ready anyway so here they are

The Kids swam off to explore Sugaloaf

Guests did the same but in the tender
This pic shows the scale.

IIRC, the water depth at the foot of Sugarloaf is about 10m and it is sandy all over - perfect anchorage.

Rigging the shore line

The water round there is amongst the clearest that I've ever seen.

Peaceful

A goat track lead us up the hill

The view of the bay from half way up
We were the only boat in the bay.

On the way down we spotted a hole in the rocks leading to a huge cave so when we got back to the boat we too the dinghy to explore.
And this is what we found

Inside the rocks - just behind where we were anchored - those vertical slabs held a secret
The cave was a few hundred metres long and wide enough and deep enough to drive the dinghy right in, turn it round inside and drive out again.

Anyway, I will finish with the original pic
I hope you found it good escapism away from the awful UK weather that we are currently having.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Hurricane, in retrospect you had the best of the weather in CF during your stay. We motored up that coast to Pan de Zucchero and beyond a few times later in the year and were never able to drop the hook for more than a short while because of the swell from both the NW and S. Certainly the Canal Grande anchorage was untenable for most of the time we were in CF during August which was a shame. Goes to show you've got to take advantage of the weather when you get it, as you did, even in the Med

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Hurricane, in retrospect you had the best of the weather in CF during your stay. We motored up that coast to Pan de Zucchero and beyond a few times later in the year and were never able to drop the hook for more than a short while because of the swell from both the NW and S. Certainly the Canal Grande anchorage was untenable for most of the time we were in CF during August which was a shame. Goes to show you've got to take advantage of the weather when you get it, as you did, even in the Med

What you need, my friend, is a gyro! [/injoke]

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

What you need, my friend, is a gyro! [/injoke]

Maybe. I almost bought one recently

 

[BartW]

Oh, and just in case the forumites who came last summer in this region were thinking to have seen it all, here are some other views of the surroundings, not much further north along the Western Sardinian coast.

This one, which I used for my avatar, was taken while drifting right in front of the spot in the following pic, i.e. "Piscinas" beach.
It's one of the largest beaches in the Med, but never very crowded, because it takes a long, narrow and winding road to reach it from inland.
Its dunes and clear water are indeed spectacular, though - in fact, the soft bright sand has a rather high specific weight, and it stays on the seabed without making the water sluggish.
Pretty much like in Gosport, as JTB pointed out!

And last but by no means least, this is "Cala Domestica" bay, about half way between the "Where am I" spot and the "Piscinas" beach.

very nice !
at the moment it is summer holiday advertising season after all

 

[BartW]

Bingo.
the islet nearby is actually called Sugarloaf, because its shape reminds a bit the much more famous and bigger one in Rio.
We've been there together with you and E back in 2012, during the week that you spent in CF with your diving club.
But I'm afraid I didn't show you the specific "Where am I" spot, which is actually very close - less than 1NM further North along the coast, as Hurric said.
.

in the video I recognised the rock, but realised that the where am I spot whas not exactly there,
yes we did a dive behind that rock in 2012 , and dived in the cave ! (from a Rib from the Craleforte dive center)
after the dive we had a appetiser and drinks on a nice wooden boat ;-)
all very nice memory's !
that's what it is all about !!

 

[rich]

In the first picture,It looks like an interesting anchor arrangement.

 

[Hurricane]

In the first picture,It looks like an interesting anchor arrangement.

I think you are referring to my bridle connection to the chain.
Over the years its all we have really needed but after last season I've started to change things.
I am installing a chain lock this year - along with more chain will, hopefully, make life easier.

In this instance more chain would have meant we could have been much closer to the rocks.
The seabed is quite rocky there and I didn't want to reset an already well set anchor (our Delta wasn't working very well for us in other places)

In the 8th photo in post no 32 you can just see a white buoy off to starboard.
This is our anchor trip that we set on that occasion.
The reason it was offset to the boat is because our chain had snagged a rock whilst being deployed.
see here

The standard Princess anchoring arrangement that came with the boat has a few problems.
Over the years, most we have worked around.
There was no supplied method of securing the anchor under way (sorted buy making a strop and carabiner).
No method of locking the chain (thats why we made the bridle).
Although much bigger than most designs, the Delta anchor was on the light side (new Rocna 55kg this year).
10mm chain was supplied - 12mm is much more appropriate (already fitted).
All this leads to a significant load on the undersized windlass.
So, in the past, we have use that bridle every time we set the anchor.

 

[MapisM]

It was a fun little post for me.
I hope others enjoyed it as much as I did.

Well, I for one sure did! Thanks again for brightening my day. :encouragement:

In hindsight, it's a pity that you didn't have the quadcopter yet, because the whole area reported in this thread would provide a fantastic scenario for drone clips.
Another reason for coming back, maybe? You know that you would always be more than welcome, anytime!

Btw, for the records, Deleted User is right re. weather.
There's nothing granted of course, but generally speaking, during the season peak (mid of Jul-mid of Aug), not only the place becomes a bit more crowded, but also rather windy.
Otoh, days of glorious sunshine are gentle breeze are frequent not only at the beginning, but also towards the end of the summer, as Pinnacle and Scubaman (who came in Sep and Oct respectively) can confirm.

Oh, and re. the bridle, you might wish to continue using it, at least whenever you have guests in your bow cabin.
Getting rid of the grinding noise is the main reason why I always use one when overnighting (the main cabin is at the bow, in our boat).