Sailing again

It has been one month since the kids and I are back in Sardinia on the boat. Four relaxed weeks in Porto Rotondo filled with more boat repairs, maintenance chores, learning activities, dinners and aperitivi with friends in the Marina while watching the little town wake up more and more for the season. Over the Easter weekend the place was buzzing with families strolling the port and bringing life to the cafes, bars and plazas. It culminated in a loud all day party Easter Monday with food, live band and DJ at our favorite bar. In the end even our son was dancing!

The last five days or so the boat has actually been ready to sail, but the weather has not been steady long enough for us to head South. We were also waiting for company from Canada: Jennifer and Campbell, two experienced cruisers who sailed from Victoria to the South Pacific and back with their kids, arrived in the evening of April 26^th. They joined us aboard in La Calletta, a marina seven sailing hours (we had great wind and saw two dolphins!) South of Porto Rotondo. At least we had one day sailing and docking practice to get back into the swing of things before having guests.

Taking advantage of another day of decent weather we decided to leave bright and early the next morning to make the 40 sea miles  to Santa Maria di Navarrese. This friendly town grew organically around an olive grove with supposedly one of the oldest olive trees in Europe – estimated to be about 2000 years old. A great spot for waiting for good passage weather.

Yes, we can hardly believe it after all this waiting, but we are all prepared to do the 34-hour-crossing to Sicily. You can maybe imagine how excited we are! It feels so good to be on the water and moving again and then Sicily….THE Italian island bursting with life and cultural sights.

Sardinia is more known for its natural beauty, which we got another glimpse of on our train ride south to Cagliari: high plateaus, meandering creeks, green meadows dotted with old cork oak trees and white sheep.  At this time of the year everything is very green with lots of wild flowers blooming.

Yesterday we got to see more of the island’s inland beauty on a three-hour-hike from the mountain village Baunai (which we reached by public bus) back to our Marina in Navarrese.  On the way down the view was breathtaking: It reached far across the patchwork of fields to rocky hills in the distance and the large crescent of the bay with its turquoise and blue water rimmed by a line of white beach. With the Mistral blowing the air is crystal clear as if a giant’s hand has polished it diligently during the night.

The kids are looking forward to our first night sail. Sol wants to stay up all night. The rest of us will do rotating shifts of two-hour watches in pairs of two throughout the night. Tomorrow is the day, the alarm is set for 5.30. Wish us fair winds and following sees. We will keep you posted how it went!