Back to a nice anchorage we know

Inspired by the Giro Tonno Festival and the tuna cooking competition we wanted to have a go at cooking our own version. It would have been helpful to have known more Italian so that we could have understood the explanations by the chefs as to what they had done when preparing their masterpieces for the judges to assess, however, our immediate problem was everyone else seemed to have had the same idea and all of the fishmongers had sold out of fresh tuna. Fortunately, we found a very good looking pecheria which promised to have some more in first thing on Saturday morning, which was when we had been expecting to make an early start for a long onward passage. Instead we made a new plan: to wait long enough in Carloforte to buy tuna steaks and then head off but aim to complete a shorter passage.

And so, on Saturday 24 June we arrived at the pecheria spot on 0800 – opening time. All did not look good as the lights of the fish shop were out, however, our friendly fishmonger waved at us from inside and beckoned us in. Power failure, he explained. He might not have had any electricity but he did have fresh tuna fillets on ice. He placed a huge fillet onto his filleting table as though it were the crown jewels [Ed: and it was probably worth about as much!] and proceeded to very carefully cut a suitably large slice for us.

Playing the ‘Guess the weight’ game at the pecheria   

The next issue was that neither his till nor his scales worked without electricity. We agreed that it seemed like about 600g and paid for that with a bit of rounding up to the nearest Euro to make a convenient bill to work with the change that he had.

Next stop was the bakery for fresh bread and then it was back to BV to slip our lines and head off. The big question was whether we would sail clockwise or anti-clockwise around Sardinia. Having got to Carloforte we had been expecting to continue clockwise but the weather forecast for the week ahead suggested that anti-clockwise would be more favourable. It would mean retracing our steps somewhat to the southeast of Sardinia but we know a very nice anchorage there!

And so it was that we sailed back east along the southern side of Sardinia. We’d sailed west with the MPS flying and the reversal of the wind allowed us to now sail with it heading the other way. Idyllic sailing conditions; just what we came to the Mediterranean to experience.

16th and 17th century watch towers   

We saw the network of 16th and 17th century stone watchtowers again. Retracing our steps meant that I actually took some photos of them this time. The wind got up to a very comfortable 13 knots and we bowled along nicely.

A couple of dolphins intercepted us a few times along our route to check on progress which added a nice touch to the day.

The large cruise ship passing miles away, whatever was the concern?    

The wind proceeded to rise and we eventually had 18 knots. As it got to 15 knots (our self-imposed wind limit for the sail as otherwise it is too difficult for just the 2 of us to lower it) we took down the MPS and switched to a poled-out genoa instead, taking the opportunity to gybe at the same time. However, the change of sailplan didn’t slow us down too much and so instead of stopping short of Cagliari, as we had expected, we decided to head on and cross the Cagliari Bay and spend the night at Porto Giunco. We passed close to several large ships heading into Cagliari, altering course for a couple, and were slightly concerned about a large cruise ship which seemed intent on running us down but, just 10 minutes from that eventuality, it turned south and actually passed us with bags of clearance. [Ed: Having said which, when you’re scooting along in 17 knots with a poled out genoa and the main held out with the preventer, having just 10 minutes in which to (possibly) make an orderly, very major course alteration is surprisingly tight.]

Arriving at Porto Giunco   

Our plan to sail all of the way to Porto Giunco was thwarted when the wind dropped as the sun started to set but switching to engine for the last hour or so meant that we would arrive at the anchorage just before sunset. We’d had the place almost to ourselves during our last visit but turning around the headland and entering the bay we saw that it was full of anchored yachts. They must have all read my blog and seen how pretty the anchorage is!……..Or, perhaps it was just because it was a Saturday night and people were out sailing for the weekend.

Over a glass or two of wine we hatched a plan for a soy sauce, garlic and ginger marinade for the tuna and set that to infuse for a bit whilst the barbeque got up to temperature. The tuna turned out to be 750g and so we had enough for 2 lovely steaks for dinner and a smaller one we’d slice thinly to go with Sunday lunch. We seared the outside of them on a very hot barbeque, rolled them in sesame seeds and reduced the marinade to make a glaze. They were fabulous tasting every bit as good as they looked. The perfect end to a 72 mile sail.

Anchor in 7 ½ metres   

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny and very, very still. It was so still, in fact, that we could see the anchor clearly on the bottom, including the slight furrow it had made as it had dug in and the dune-like ripple of the sand’s surface. It was hard to believe that the seabed was 7.5m below the surface. We both went for a swim and Nicky, having dived in, reported that mid-dive she had had difficulty telling where the surface of the water was, which made completing the dive a little more untidy than is normally the case.

Porto Giunco in the morning   

The water was lovely and it was a shame to get out but the barbecue needed a clean and the next leg was 55nm, up towards Arbatax. The forecast was for the wind to build from the southeast at about lunchtime and to continue from that direction, or the south, until late in the evening (after dark). The east coast of Sardinia has few anchorages protected from southerly winds, so we wanted to make progress north so that we would reach a suitable anchorage or harbour before sunset – and that meant getting going under engine power for a couple of hours before we could sail. I guess that we weren’t the only ones with the same thought because 3 other yachts weighed anchor at the same time as us and reluctantly headed away from the beautiful waters of this anchorage.

Porto Giunco, Sardinia, Italy