SARDINIA
From the volcanic island of Stromboli we headed across to Scario on the west coast of Italy, just south of Naples. Here we said our farewells to Jenny and Dave (Alexes) as they had guests arriving from the UK and were planning to spend the next month exploring the west coast of Italy. Unfortunately we were running out of time as we have to be in Lanzarote by the 10th September to meet up with Em and Jack, and so we sailed the 300 miles across the Tyrrhenian Sea to Olbia in Sardinia. The trip was uneventful with little wind and so we motored most of the way. It did enable us to get the rods out and for the first time this year we caught a fish – An 18 kilo yellow fin tuna.
During the month of August all of Italy is on holiday, so when we arrived in Sardinia it was wall to wall power boats. In the marina in Porto Cervo it was at full to capacity with 100ft plus super yachts moored stern too along the main Quay. This is the place where all the celebs and the royals come for their holidays and it is priced accordingly. Needless to say, we didn’t go there. Every bay was packed with boats and it became quite difficult to find any where to anchor. The moral of the story is don’t go there in August! It seems that the local government is also out to discourage you as they have put a tax on all boats greater than 14metres in length who come to Sardinia between July and September. The cost for a 15 metre boat is 1000 euros and the larger super yachts pay 1000’s of euros; the only good thing is that sail boats are half price!! Fortunately we are not in that category. This fee is on top of the incredibly expensive marina fees you have to pay.
Due to our time straights we pushed on quickly around Sardinia stopping at a couple of good anchorages on route, but unfortunately, we had little time to explore the inland area of the island – oh well a trip for the future!
Next stop Menorca
