|
Relaxing in Cala Spalmatore |
12th June Our next destination is the La Maddalena
Archipelago, a group of islands off the north east tip of Sardinia known for
its wild beauty, unspoilt beaches and clear waters. It’s a national park and
marine reserve, and anchoring is forbidden in many places to preserve the
Posidonia sea grass beds. We are looking forward to spending a few days
cruising the islands, and our first stop is Dead Man’s
Reef Passage, an anchorage on Budelli island.
The anchorage has lovely turquoise water and is surrounded on two sides by low
lying rocky outcrops flanked by beautiful white sand. But it isn't quite the peaceful spot we had imagined - there are at least 20 other boats at anchor and noisy tripper boats come and go. By the time we've had lunch the wind is blowing hard
and our anchor is beginning to drag, so we decide to try and find somewhere
quieter for the night.
We
eventually tie up to a buoy in Cala Spalmatore on La Maddalena island. This is a deep bay surrounded by cliffs
and a rocky bluff, with two lovely beaches and crystal clear water. However the night isn’t
exactly quiet, a flotilla of German yachts arrives late in the afternoon and they
are obviously in party mood. At sunset someone comes on deck and plays the
trumpet, then they all dinghy ashore, have several drinks in the little bar,
and head back to one of the boats to play loud music until the early
hours.
|
Cliff enjoying the water |
|
Liz in the dinghy
|
13th June This morning all the boats have gone and we have
the bay to ourselves. It’s very hot so we swim off the boat, go snorkelling by
the rocks and sunbathe on deck. In the afternoon we dinghy ashore and take a
walk round the bay. Liz cooks up a delicious
seven-veg sauce with fresh pasta for dinner and we eat on deck watching the
sun go down.
|
La Maddalena town |
15th June Liz flies back to London today, so we have sailed
round to the little port of La Maddalena, where she can get a ferry back to the
mainland. It’s a lovely old town but very busy, with car ferries coming and going every 15 minutes – we can’t believe how many cars
there are on such a small island. We’ll be very sad to see Liz go, she’s been
great company and a very easy guest to have on board.
|
La Maddalena ferry |
No comments:
Post a Comment