Sardinia Squad

[Kenomac]

Just outside of the Portisco harbor entrance, there is a pontoon and restaurant which sits mostly empty Sunday through Thursday. The manager is very nice and I'm sure he can accomodate you at a very reasonable price while the charter boats are out. When they come back in over the weekend, just anchor 200-300 meters off the pontoon.

All sevices including car rental available at Portisco.

[olddream]

Hi Sardinia-sailors: I'll go from Alghero to Carloforte and Cagliari next Sunday/Monday (from 27th may). In case someone is in the area, send me a message and we could arrange a meeting. Best Cornelius

[Sacrebleu]

Hi we will be there possibly next year so watching for top tips .... really looking forward to doing Sardinia Corsica and the surrounds Elba etc ... perhaps some of the west Italian coast around bay of Naples ..... happy sailing we are currently in Greece Ionian .

[Flyingriki]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Just outside of the Portisco harbor entrance, there is a pontoon and restaurant which sits mostly empty Sunday through Thursday. The manager is very nice and I'm sure he can accomodate you at a very reasonable price while the charter boats are out. When they come back in over the weekend, just anchor 200-300 meters off the pontoon.

All sevices including car rental available at Portisco.

That area is SO beautiful! Scootered along that coast from Olbia a couple years ago and swore I'd be back by water.

[merylkatz]

Hello All,

We are a family of 5 (2 adults, a 14 year old daughter and 10 year old boy/girl twins) chartering a Bavaria 44 out of Cagliari (returning to Olbia) for a month beginning 15 July.

We have been reading the cruising and piloting books and are beginning to have a ton of questions.
- what is a good month long itinerary including Sardinia and Corsica?
- Things look crowded, do people try and reserve marina space ahead of time? Or just anchor?
- Or does that depend on where you stop?

We live in San Francisco and sail a lot here. We've chartered in the Caribbean a few times but the Med is new to us for sailing.

Advice is appreciated!

Thank you,
Meryl

[xjussix]

So my windlass seems to have given up after 15 years. Where do I get one asap in the Olivia region? Or is that even possible? The boat is a First 40.7.

[Goodall_M1]

Originally Posted by merylkatz

Hello All,

We are a family of 5 (2 adults, a 14 year old daughter and 10 year old boy/girl twins) chartering a Bavaria 44 out of Cagliari (returning to Olbia) for a month beginning 15 July.

We have been reading the cruising and piloting books and are beginning to have a ton of questions.
- what is a good month long itinerary including Sardinia and Corsica?
- Things look crowded, do people try and reserve marina space ahead of time? Or just anchor?
- Or does that depend on where you stop?

I have only done 7 weeks in Sardina / Corsica and other members of the squad have a lot more experience of the area, but I will give you some of my thoughts if only to see if it gets the others to respond.

July / August is high season so yes there will be a lot of boats around in the north of Sardinia and around Corsica (not so crowded in the South of Sardinia).

When it comes to using the marinas high season means HIGH prices on many of them, but not all of them. In July last year with a Bavaria 46 we paid between 40 and 125 euros a night and were trying to do two nights at anchor and then one marina to re-water.

We did book some of the marinas in advance, particularly those where we really wanted to ensure we found a space but the problem can then be that you have to get there regardless of what the weather is doing or lose what you have paid. So booking too far ahead has its pitfalls.

I won't even try to plan an itinerary for you, it will depend on what you like to do but I will make a few points.

1) Avoid Villasimius marina, it is over priced for the area and there is a nice anchorage nearby (or one on the other side of the peninsular if the weather is up and coming from the south or south west).

2) Porto Corallo marina has very few local facilities but is cheap and OK.
It also has a fuel quay but you shouldn't need it as it is too close to Cagliaria.

3) Santa Maria Navarrese is very popular and has a lot of resident boats so call ahead if going there. Nice scenic harbour and shops etc close by.

4) La Colletta harbour had free parking on the hammerhead part of the quay when we stopped there last year.

5) There are anchorages and some cheap spots around Portisco (I can't comment on the marina prices as it was our boat's base so we didn;t have to pay.

6) Avoid Porto Cervo unless you have very deep pockets! But there are some nice anchorages south of it.

7) You could easily lose a week or more in the Maddellena islands and the surounding bays. Plenty of anchorages but ring ahead to reserve a marina stop if you need one. Watch out for the need to get a permit for the national park.

8) Put up a French courtesy flag and head over to see Bonifacio before it falls into the sea!

9) I stopped in Porto Vecchio last year but would be tempted to find an anchorage if I went there again.

10) The east coast of Corsica is sparse as regards marinas but we stopped in Solenzara and anchored just north of Macinaggio.

11) Isola Capraia was our most expensive stop last year at 125 euros.
If I went that way again I would go straight to Elba

12) Elba is only 30 miles from Corsica and has some great bays and harbours. I expected Portoferraio to be expensive but coming after Capraia it seemed cheap. I would book that one ahead if only to get the scenic spot among the superyachts, but there are alternatives close by.

Well that is my three-happence in now lets see who else come in with ideas.

[robbinsfamily]

Hi there everyone we are a family of 5 from NZ aboard SV Nikau, arrived Cagliari to pick up our boat on 20 May this year, so far have explored the south and west coast of Sardinia and currently in Bonifacio, having issues with our Italian TIM SIM cards not recharging even though we put money on them and free roaming not working past 4G here in Corsica. Is there a phone shop in Bonifacio where we could get a french sim? Also what's the recommendations for travelling around Corsica? Clockwise or anti clockwise? I know west coast is more interesting but with the sea breezes is it best to be coming down the coast rather than up it? We have one month left before we need to be in Rome to pick up friends, suggested itineraries? Thanks! Jaz follow us on FB under sailing Nikau or message me Jasmine ROBBINS or my husband Joshua Robbins on FB if you are nearby!

[Twhitt]

Hi everyone. Nearly time (Saturday) for us to fly back out to Sardina to sail our Bavaria 38 Sea Drifter for a couple of weeks.

The boat is now in Porto Torres, not the most scenic marina I know, but its only a base to moor the boat!

We plan to sail east to Bonifacio, and around the Maddalena Islands, maybe down to Olbia. Not sure how busy it will be, by all accounts busy, lol.

Anyway, if you see us give us a wave, and any further tips greatly appreciated

Trevor & Carol
Sea Drifter
Bavaria 38 Holiday

[Mareda]

Hello again Sardina Squad from Fornells Menorca,

We are starting to look at the weather and routes to head over to Sardinia next week. Can anyone tell me about anchoring in the Porto Conte bay? I see lots of information about restrictions. Also, if we don't manage to average 5 knots for the crossing, we may arrive after sunset. Is it easy to anchor in Porto Conte if we come in after sunset ? I see that it is also possible to anchor just north of the Alghero harbor. Would that be a better night arrival option?

As for our winter-over decisions from the last thread, we got a great price in Taverna Corsica so we will head there in late October, but will spend next season sailing around Sardinia.

Thanks for any advice and maybe we'll see some of you soon !

[jmorrison146]

We are chartering 40' catamaran in Olbia for a week in May. Any suggestions?

[janicew13]

Hello - we are new to the Med. as we came through the French canals this season and are now over-wintering in Gaeta, Italy. Now our dilemna is deciding where we should cruise this coming season as well as decide on a place for next winter for the boat. Note we are on a 40' monohull that is non-EU flagged(USA). We are thinking of exploring Sardinia and Sicily and eastern Italy this season,with making a trip to Tunisia to get out of the EU for VAT purposes. The other thought would be to head over to Montenegro & Albania and east coast of Italy. We are still trying to figure out the weather patterns here in the Med. We also keep getting warnings of how crowded anchorages are in July & Aug and the costs of marinas in the summer. Any and all suggestions are welcome with the thought that we are US citizens and have to deal with Schengen as well.

[Kenomac]

Croatia, Montenegro and Albania are not part of Schengen, you can stay in any of these three countries for up to three months. Montenegro and Albania aren't in the EU. We paid less than €200 total for all moorings over the entire summer, and can't remember a single crowded anchorage.

[janicew13]

thanks for the info on the amount you paid for the moorings for the season -was that in 2017? Yes, we thought of these countries as knew they would be helpful with us being legal with the Schengen regulations but wondered about over-wintering there. I just got a price from a marina in Montenegro and it seemed very high compared to other places we have over-wintered since being in Europe. If we decide to cruise in that area, do you have suggestions for over-wintering?

Definitely encouraged by your comment that places weren't crowded - what months did you cruise in that area? Any insights into the weather patterns in that area?

thanks in advance!

[Xlantic]

Originally Posted by janicew13

I just got a price from a marina in Montenegro and it seemed very high compared to other places we have over-wintered since being in Europe. If we decide to cruise in that area, do you have suggestions for over-wintering?

The quote was probably from Porto Montenegro which is world-class marina catering primarily to mega yachts.

Marinas in Croatia are not cheap either.

The cheapest in the area would probably be Greece: there are three in Preveza where you can leave the boat on the hard.