Sailing in Southern Sardinia and Passage to Favignana
The plan was to sail around the southern side of Sardinia for a couple of weeks, then make the passage to the biggest of the Aegadian Islands in Sicily, Favignana.
I also had to park Ellidah in Cagliari for a few weeks to fly off from work.
SAILING AROUND SOUTHERN SARDINIA
Sardinia, the Italian Island of the Sards and the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. There is a lot of history here due to its many rulers throughout time and it is a great place to go exploring.
All over Sardinia, you can also find these little nuraghies which are stone buildings that look like beehives. They are supposedly from the Bronze age and to this day still a bit mysterious.
We enjoyed a sweet passage from Menorca to Sardinia and ended up anchoring up in La Caletta in Carloforte.
You can read more about the passage here.
Our next destination was Porto Pino which is a 4km long white sand beach with crystal clear turquoise water. A perfect stop as we were running low on food and beer and had to get some more provisions onboard.
TIME TO EXPLORE SAND DUNES IN PORTO PINO AND DO SOME HIKING IN TUEREDDA
The anchorage in Porto Pino is quite popular and busy. It can also get pretty rock and roll with big swells, but if you can get tucked in close to the canal that connects to the little town, you are pretty well protected from most directions.
We got our provisions from a tiny grocery shop in town and also managed to stock up on the local beer. There really isn’t a whole lot to see in town other than the cool little canal where all the fishing boats moor up. The crystal-clear water, the sand dunes, and the beach are what make this place pretty sweet.
After a couple of days of relaxing, and swimming, we continued along the coast to Spiaggia di Tueredda. Not much to see here either, but we managed to stretch our feet and went for a hike up the hills like mountain goats.
Our legs looked like they had been run over by a lawn mover by the time we came back to the boat from all those spiky bushes!
ANCIENT RUINS IN NORA
We heard of this ancient archeological site called Nora. It used to be a pre-Roman city and was supposedly the first city in Sardinia and dates back to the 8th century BC. It is possible to get a guided tour, but we decided to just park Ellie at the beach and go check it out for ourselves.
The southern side of Sardinia is disappearing into the sea, and part of Nora is actually underwater! Sadly, we didn’t look for any ruins while snorkeling, but the anchorage was pretty nice and the nearby city of Pula is pleasant to have a walk-in.
Besides, we were almost out of propane and had to go on a mission to find a shop that could swap or refill the bottle. We got a hike from a local into town and managed to sort the propane in the end after a bit of fuzz back and forth.
I was running out of time and after two days in Nora, we set sail towards Cagliari.
PARKING ELLIDAH IN CAGLIARI AND FLYING OFF TO WORK
We got a wet trip from Nora up to Cagliari. The wind was straight on our nose and the swells were pretty choppy. The waters outside Cagliari is a labyrinth of markers so the sails went down and the trusty old Penta was put in action to get us into Marina del Sole – Cagliari.
I only have one positive thing to say about this Marina, and that is cheap. Other than that, it is pretty shitty. The pontoons were old and the connected pathways were old wooden planks. The office was a tent, and they didn’t even have a computer.
Everything was done the old way, on paper. However, the staff was friendly which was nice. It is a bit of a walk between the Marina and the center of Cagliari, which sadly goes through a rather shady area.
I would say that the place offers good value if you need to park the boat for some time for cheap. For everything else, find another marina.
Filly hadn’t had enough sailing yet and wanted to stay on the boat for two weeks until I came back from work and join the next passage to Sicily. I was pleased to have someone watch the boat while I was away.
We had a little celebration on board before it was time for me to once again leave the Mediterranean on the 25th of August.
BACK IN BLACK AND READY FOR NEW ADVENTURES AND MORE CREW
Friday, 11th September
My job was done in Norway, and I was finally back on board and reunited with Filly and Ellidah. She had kept excellent care of the boat while I was gone and I was welcomed back to a super clean and shiny ship.
What a bliss!
I had made arrangements with another crew to join us the following day, and we were both excited to meet Romina. She is an Italian girl from Calabria living in Edinburgh.
As soon as we had welcomed her onboard and showed her around, we set off to get out of the Marina and get ready for our passage.
We dropped the anchor southwest of Villasimius for the night and set off towards Favignana the following morning.
PASSAGE FROM SARDINIA TO FAVIGNANA
10:00 – Sunday, 13th September
On the western side of Sicily lies the Aegadian Islands, also called the three sisters. These islands are called Marettimo, Levanzo and the biggest of them, Favignana, was where we had our course pointed to.
The incredible feeling of being one with the ocean came back to me as soon as the sight of land disappeared behind our stern. Not long after, nature gave us a gorgeous sunset, good sailing wind, and generally pretty freaking awesome conditions.
Sadly, Romina had gotten seasick so I and Filly decided to do the night watches and let her rest and get better. Being seasick is no joke, but she still loved the sailing and the vibe onboard was really good.
That night we got a thunderstorm. A true disco of blitzing light which lightened up the sky like daylight. It was forecasted well in advance and showed up pretty clear on the radar.
It was moving away from us so we had the luxury of watching it from a distance with crystal clear sky above us with bright stars and good wind.
A truly magnificent show!
GETTING SOME SHITTY WEATHER AS WE APPROACH FAVIGNANA
We played Yahtzee, cooked, trimmed sails, motored for a bit, trimmed some more sails, and before we knew it, we were approaching the Aegadian Islands. Time really flies on passages. It is like being in a vacuum where time doesn’t matter. And when you stop thinking about it, it just runs away from you.
The wind blew up. It got cloudy and it started to rain. We took a reef in the main and rolled in the jib a touch. The sea got pretty choppy and I wanted to find a sheltered place to anchor and get some rest.
As we approached Favignana, I decided on sailing up the northern side and over to a protected anchorage called Cala Rossa on the northeastern tip.
By the time we got there, we were sheltered from the shitty weather and at 17:00 the anchor was dropped. Once again, we were welcomed with an amazing view.
This passage was 154 NM long and had taken us 31 hours in total, mostly by sail, but also with periods motoring and including anchoring up.
The three of us were tired and went to bed early that night. We were excited to explore this new cool island after getting some proper rest!
EXPLORING THE BIGGEST OF THE EGADI ISLANDS, FAVIGNANA
The following morning, I woke up with new energy. Ellidah smelled lovely of fresh coffee, and I got served a big mug as soon as I came up in the cockpit. After having a lovely breakfast, we decided to pick up the anchor and move a bit further south to Bue Marino.
Bue Marino is an old stone quarry and a popular spot on the island. We were the only boat anchored, but lots of people were there to relax in the sun, go for a swim and enjoy this cool old place.
There are tunnels carved into the mountain and inside you find chambers high up on the wall reached by small carved steps. A little shop up the hill sells cold beverages and ice cream and from here, we were able to hitch a ride into town.
There weren’t a lot of people due to the covid situation, but this little sleepy town definitely deserves a visit with its little marked in the harbor and narrow streets.
We spent two days here before it was time to set sail towards Trapani in Sicily. Filly’s trip was over for this time and we were going to do a crew change before heading off to explore Sicily and the Aeolian Islands!
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