Cala Portese on Isola Caprera

The land around Cala Portese was much lower than at Cala Cotticcio so the wind was more constant and, consequently, we had a much more sheltered night.

Interestingly, the pilot book is quite dismissive of this anchorage but we thought that it was lovely. It has good holding for the anchor, beautiful turquoise water, a great beach with interesting rocks and loads of fish to look at when snorkelling.

Whilst we were in the Maddelena Archipelago, we were mobbed by flies in a number of the anchorages. We already had flyscreens for the opening hatches in the coachroof but we had nothing, other than the washboards and the sliding hatch cover, to stop the flies entering BV through the companionway hatch. Putting in the washboards makes BV very hot in this climate so we spent some of our time at anchor making a companionway flyscreen from a net curtain, a bamboo pole and some lead weights that we had bought in Gibraltar (very Blue Peter).

It’s not the prettiest flyscreen in the world and, at times, it’s not the easiest to use but it sure beats sharing a cabin (and our lunch?) with 30 flies! I’m getting a very good aim with a rolled up magazine but a proper fly-swat is now on the shopping list. One of the minor negative aspects of anchoring closer to nature I guess.