Bay-hopping!

We left Cagliari with a view to bay hopping up the East Coast, stopping at Villasimius on the most south east tip of Sardegna, where we ended up staying for 4 nights, 2 on anchor and 2 in the Marina, waiting for the winds to turn to the supposedly prevailing westerly’s, to ensure safe anchorage.

On the 3^rd day we decided to hire a small car to go visit some of the island, but when the marina office told us the nearest car hire place was a way away but the shop downstairs rented scooters, we thought that sounded like far more fun! Ha ha ha, I haven’t been on a scooter for 20 years and even then only for a day in the Greek Islands, and David for 30 years. And then it wasn’t a scooter but a motor bike. However after all the stories he’s told me over the years of his exploits on a bike, I had no concerns about his capability, after all, what is the expression, “it’s like riding a bike!”

30 minutes later we had a 125cc scooter and 2 helmets in our possession!

David went off on his own for a trial run, trying to regain his knowledge and his balance, much to my amusement! 10 minutes later he came back and said I am ready, so I hopped on the back! Ooh did that change the dynamics and we weaved all over the place for another 10 minutes, and anyone watching would have laughed their heads off, particularly at our attempt to get out of the marina, which meant weaving around bollards and barriers.

We finally got out on the open road and after a few wobbly moments, decided to pop into town for a few provisions. Me thinks we should have got a few more miles of practice under our belt before attempting that! The hills, the traffic, me on the back not knowing which way to lean, all proved too much for David’s poor nerves and so we parked up and walked around the very cute town for a bit. After a coffee, which perhaps should have had a brandy in it, we ventured back to the marina and the boat, to drop our provisions off, grab my camera, and then hit the road again, exploring the countryside around us. It didn’t really take long before David got the hang of it and we were zooming along at 70km, taking the coast road, and various bumpy tracks out to some gorgeous beaches.

Views from the Coast Road

Villasimius

Cala Pira

After an adventurous day, we returned the scooter and miraculously got our deposit back, we headed back to our boat and got chatting to an Aussie couple, Cam and Anne on the boat next door. Both were retired fire fighters/investigators and had lots of stories to tell, so a few drinks ensued on their boat. They also introduced us to another Aussie couple, Frank and Viv, who were moored out in the bay on their 44ft catamaran, which resulted in another night of Aussie stories and drinks aboard their boat, when a storm rolled in with 38 knots of wind at times. Whilst we hardly felt it in the cat, we were glad we were moored in the marina! Cam & Anne, and Frank & Viv both had picked up boats in Croatia and were on their way back via Spain, Gib, the Atlantic etc., to take their boats home!

We finally left Villasimius 2 days ago, and headed round the corner to the bay we wanted to go (Cala Pira), but on arrival decided the swell would have meant a rough night, at least we had visited it on the scooter! We continued on to find another bay, Cala Sinzia where we dropped anchor and spent the night.

Yesterday we headed off to Arbatax,

Arbatax is about half way up the east coast, we had a lovely meal out and a restful night in the marina, taking full opportunity of June’s dirt cheap mooring rates. All will change no doubt in 3 days’ time!