Sat 21 Jul and Sun 22 Jul

Saturday was absolutely roasting hot and without a breeze the boat was pretty unbearable. It gave us the perfect excuse to walk into the village and find a restaurant for a nice long lunch. The place Cass found was totally perfect, and after feasting on fresh fish we got through a bottle of their finest local liqueur whilst listening to the life story of the wonderfully charismatic owner.

This morning we set off early for Stintino which is about 20 miles north of Porto Conte. If weather conditions allow you can pass through the shallow Fornelli Passage to reach it, otherwise it’s about another 20 miles around the top of Asinara (which is a nature reserve). Despite the ever present hefty swell we had a nice 6 hour trip north and managed to get safely through the passage, which was well worth the slightly nervous moments looking at the depth sensor for. There’s a very specific route you need to take through the 2 mile corridor which is marked out by transit lines. Basically there are two posts positioned on land and when they line up you know you’re on the correct path. Pretty cool!

On the other side the swell completely disappeared and we motored through gorgeously turquoise water into Stintino marina and moored up opposite some pretty impressive motor yachts. We walked into town, had a glass of wine and a pizza and went back to the boat for a nice early night.