Sailing SV Cordelia: Sailing Sardinia to Sicily

Sept/Oct 2020

Here we are in Italy, well Sardinia actually. We were finally in Italian waters having spent the last 12months in Spanish waters.

We have booked our winter berth in Ragusa Marina, so whichever way we sail now we will be heading that way.

Due to the long wait for the Covid test in Sardinia and then waiting for the results, we didn't stay too long in Sardinia. The weather is getting temperamental, one good day followed by a couple of strong windy days so we decide not to hang around and start to head for Sicily.

We had read on Navily of an easy to reach fuel pontoon in Cagliari so after a night in Malfatario Beach, where we had a great swim and a quiet night, we headed for the fuel berth. Upon entering the harbour in Cagliari we spotted what was a derelict, very run down fuel berth. Some guy turned up helped us fuel up and then charged us a staggering €1.89 per litre, our total bill came to over €430!!

We spent a lovely quiet night in Poetta Bay, in crystal clear waters with fish jumping out of the water. It was amazing and just what we needed as we had a 2 night sail to Sicily the following day. Winds were in our favour and we were looking forward to a great 2 day sail.

Don't ever bank on the weather forecast. Our 2 night, 3 day sail was on flat calm seas, no wind and we motored all the way and used up almost 1/2 of our very expensive fuel.

We arrived in San Vito Lo Capo, the northern tip of Sicily. We'd had to complete another set of 'entry forms' for Sicily as we'd had to do for Sardinia, but this time instead of waiting for approval we went ashore. Our negative Covid test results had come through a couple of days before so we were fine. The small holiday town was very pretty, restaurants and ice-cream shops along the sea front with one long street behind that housed lots of little shops and restaurants. There was a different feel here, very few people were wearing face masks, although we carried on wearing ours. Until we are told we can walk freely around without them, we have decided to wear them. We had the most stunning tuna meal, so big that neither of us could finish the steak, it was delicious.

On the third morning we awoke to slight rain with the wind picking up. Within 10minutes the wind had picked up so much that a catamaran in front of us starting to drag right in our path. At a speed of about 5knots he hit us, their beam smacked into our bow. Luckily for us we only sustained a 6cm scrape although our bow-roller ripped out their centre cleat and hull. The catamaran was on charter and after making sure everyone on board their boat and ours were okay, we went on our way.

We sailed to Arunella, next to Palermo as there was 4 day storm due, with estimated winds of up to 50knots. We needed to be tucked into an anchorage as soon as possible. We made the right decision, the storm did last 4 days but the anchorage was great with good holding. Steve had prepared the boat for the blow and we had no damage and didn't loose anything overboard.