Boat life - Sardinia to Balearic Islands

"Kwilena" in Cala Domestica, Sardinia (Italy)

Sailed up to Cap Bon / Tunisia from where we crossed over to Sardinia / Italy.

We were followed by a Tunisian Patrol boat. They turned back after we answered some questions over the radio,

It is not just a sunset, it is a moonrise too!

We had a full moon and cloud free journey.

Day and night view of our plotter. It shows boats with AIS. Most of these were tankers and around 300 metres in length (huge compared to our 12 metres....). There were also many fishing boats without an AIS and not visible on our screen.

We circled our boat in red. We had to cross this channel during the night and it took 7 hours to pass many tanker ships.

Grateful for the steady wind and to be able to enjoy full sails all the way. The full moon was a bonus.

The trip from Tunisia to Sardinia took 40 hours.

We anchored in 2 Sardinian bays before sailing to Carloforte/San Piedro island (small Island next to Sardinia/Italy)

It was great to be back in Carloforte. We decided to get our antifouling done here again (even though it was considerably cheaper in Tunisia).

The perfection of female balcony breasts.... but so much weight to carry on these ladies shoulders!

Carlaforte has a Tuna processing plant, but at Euro 21.- to Euro 42.- for a small tin? Wow these must be very exclusive... We saw these in the supermarkets.

We went to Sardinia/Cagliari for 2 days to visit Heinz and Karin. We spent the last winter with them and it was really great to see them. again

We hired a car and took the Ferry to Sardinia. We were keen to explore the nature.

Even though our hiking app showed us a path, there was none left towards the top of the mountains. The bushes were thick and being an ex mining area, we did not want to end up in an old mining shaft and turned around.. There was no phone coverage.

We walked towards the Grotto San Giovanni. The cave has a 860 meters long internal road. The construction of the road begun in 1866 and was built to allow a way of communication/mineral transport between the villages. It was open to car traffic until 1999.

These days you can just walk along the closed off road and admire this beautiful cave.

Our hike the following day had everything, the grass full of flowers, the cliffs, the forest, bush and steep mountains.

Sven pushed ahead including our off-line hiking app (no reception in these remote areas) and whilst leaving a sign for me on one occasion (see picture below), I was kept guessing on others, I followed a dead end goat track and got lost ! It felt at least good knowing, that I had our Emergency Bacon (Garmin In Reach) with me. I decided to shout into the wilderness "S.V.E.N.....I am lost" and lucky for me, my rescue party (Sven and hiking app) followed my voice!

The climb down was steep, with one ladder and some ropes to assist... We passed many crazy mountain climbers going up these walls.

An Aperol Spritz made Caroline forget her sore knee and getting lost.

We have previously anchored in front of Port Flavia but due to big waves were unable to go on land. This time we were nearby and keen to visit Porto Flavia. It was built in 1923 (mine activities ceased in 1963), it served as a mineral production hub

Always a bit strange to see the boat coming out of the water (for antifouling and some other minor maintenance work).

We checked into a hotel for 2 nights.

Flamingos a few minutes away from the marina.

Beautiful Cacti/cactuses everywhere.

Attended a Zoom session in regards to the increasing Orca interactions with sailing boats near Gibraltar, the Spanish and Portugal Atlantic coast.. We will have to go through this area again at the end of this year. However, there is some good info available. If anybody is keen to listen to the presentation, please copy and past below link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwi_O9m2394

Sven collected some beautiful flowers for me on a walk !

What a beautiful spot. Its out of tourist season and we had the Cala Domestica in Sardinia to ourselves. We loved it so much that we spent 3 nights there and went for hikes and lunches.

A red and white walking path marker.

A small bar at the beach selling all sorts of drinks and snacks including various Italian sparkling wines in colourful bottles

We continued sailing North, on the west coast of Sardinia.

We anchored in Buggerru. We were keen to visit the mining centre Galleria Henry, which has a 1km-long tunnel that was dug in 1865. The small steam train transported minerals via the tunnel to the washing plants. Galleria Henry was the most important structure of the zinc and lead Planu Sartu mine. The Planu Sartu plateau is characterised by a large open-pit mine, which can still be seen from Google earth.

We first walked through the tunnel, then admired the views. Heading back we boarded the former steam train (now converted to electric) which passed through very dark tunnels. The 2 hour tour was free, so was the entry into the museum in the village.

Reflection/gratitude/reminder. Wow we were told that woman were only given 3 days off after giving birth, kids started working at 5 years of age (sorting stones) and workers got paid enough to buy 1 bred and 1 litre of milk per day. The French people managing the mine lived in modern houses nearby called "little Paris" . The first demonstration started, when the miners break was cut from 2 hours to 1 hour and subsequently 4 miners got shot.

Sven finished his hike (Caroline missed out due to "hikers toes"/bruised toe nails) and brought some take away food back to the boat on the paddle board.

Next stop was Cala Usai / area theologica di Tharros..

Cute little Souvenir shop and an artist doing leather masks in the street.

The next anchorage was in a bay near Bosa. We took the dinghy up the river.

Colourful alleys and "horse shoe" decoration turned into Tulips.

It was just after 8 pm when we went back down the River towards our floating home.

Looking back from the River onto Bosa village and the Castle

Our anchor place was surrounded by green rock and a green rock beach.

Continued our journey and passed impressive big mountain peaks.

We anchored in clear water in Torre Negra.

It is warm enough again to use our SUP to go on land.

We enjoyed stretching our legs on a leisurely walk in this beautiful Sardinian landscape

Continued further North and anchored in Pas della Pelosa.

We had a nice walk along empty (and not so empty beaches) and ate our last Italian meal in Italy. Given the country and location we felt Pizza was the perfect choice!

Back on the boat, enjoyed the sun, a good book on my Kindle and an Aperol Spritz

We crossed from Italy (North of Sardinia) back to the Balearic Islands (Spain).

What is that? Well, the water was calm and we were treated with a private light show in the middle of the ocean. Bioluminescent Planktons were disturbed by our boat and glowed behind us for hours. That, topped with some shooting stars, made it a magnificent night of sailing.

A visitor in the middle of the ocean. The bird enjoyed the ride with us for a while then decided to check out the inside of the boat and needed to be rescued.

Menorca was our first stop after 36 hours of sailing. We arrived in Cala Teulera before it got dark. It is a protected bay with a maximum stay of 3 days. We anchored in front of the fortress as we did nearly 2 years ago.

Sven couldn't resist to touch the Menorca ladys' breasts. Lady Mo did not complain nor did she take legal action for sexual harassment or request financial settlement.

We welcomed Sven's sister Sylvia and her husband Lothar on board. They sailed with us in Menorca and Mallorca. We also hired a car to visit the island with them.

We moored for 1 day at the small floating island of Marina Menorca to get water and electricity.

We returned to Cala Teulera to show our visitors the fort.

Someone is waiting to be beamed up into a spaceship!

Sangria and tapas (hmmmm ceviche = raw fish ) one one night and Paella the next.

The Birthday boy had to endure the happy birthday song in the restaurant. He looks a bit embarrassed.

Our visitors got a taste of a local lightning storm storm, wind, hail and rain... that is when it gets a little hectic on board. It passed quickly and we continued in the opposite direction.

We visited the port of Ciutadella. This was was indeed unusual... we just climbed out of our dinghy (check out the nice spot we had) when a beautiful 2.5m blue shark (tintoera) came to greet us, then continued to swim around in the port ! It even got a mention in the local papers the next day.

The sun sets around 9.45 pm. We are loving these long days.

Ciutadella de Menorca - we were delighted that nobody else took this spot. We climbed up on top of the cliff, then walked to a resort for lunch.

With Sven's Sister Sylvia and her husband Lothar.

We were not the only ones waiting for a sunset (check out the people on the cliff)

A small boat pulled up next to us. A few young musicians played the guitar and sang lovely songs.

We sailed from Menorca to Mallorca .

We stayed in many nice bays (this one is Platja de Torrent de Pareis). You can just make out "Kwilena" on the water.

Sven and his sister Sylvia enjoying a beer and a cigarette on the sub next to the boat There is a no smoking policy onboard Kwilena..

The walk through these cliffs was stunning.

There is a small, long pedestrian tunnel which leads to the next bay. You can just see it on the right.

We dropped off Sven's sister and brother in law in Port Soller, then did various additional hikes over the following days.

A nice time of the day. A few more more boats hurrying into Port Soller to get a spot before sunset!

After our visitors left, we started our walk from Port Sollar and headed for the mountains.

The next day we hired a scooter for another "expert level" hike = scratched legs!

We met a cute baby donkey on the way down.

Another day another great hike, this time in the Tramuntana mountains.

We started our walk in a beautiful village called Biniaraix.

A stunning old and steep stone path, which was used before the tunnel was built, lead us 3 hours and 850 metres steep uphill. It must have been torture for people needing to carry items up but some households still do it to this day!.

We started our hike early to avoid the heat.

The stone path got smaller and less maintained the higher we went and disappeared all together towards the end.

Coming back seems always easier and we decided to walk to the next village called Fornalutx. An amazing lunch with a nice view from the restaurant balcony.

A public bus took us back to Port Sollar. Sven checking out the mountains.

After a long hot day (early start and long hike), Sven is still finding some energy to clean the outside of the boat!

We did not want to make water in the bay of port Sollar (it did not look that clean) and therefore decided to motor sail to Punta de Sa Foradada and make water on the way.

We paddled to the cove and walked up a steep hill to a restaurant we noticed on the way. Seems you have to book at least 3 weeks in advance... Lucky us.... somehow we ended up getting a table.

We ate seafood paella which was made over an open fire...

... and drank too much Sangria (no breathalyser for paddle boards!)

The restaurant was overlooking the "elephant rock". We stayed in this bay for a couple of nights.

Enjoying a quiet night and a sensational sunset.

Quick visit to Palma de Mallorca from our next bay.

The Cathedral

The royal Palace and on the right one of the 3 Gaudi houses in Palma

huge charcoal BBQ ready to get started

Early rise and start from our bay in Mallorca (which we had all to ourselves). We sailed from Mallorca to Ibiza and had perfect Wind all the way (8.5 hours)

Bye for now. We are sending you Greetings from Ibiza.

Below is our live position of our boat

https://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/vessels/KWILENA/CURRENT-POSITION/1/503113040

Below also an interactive map of all our anchorages and marina stops to date (road trips are not shown on the map).

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1j2hVU8cenT9-aasLyDWIAIpBTASPo44&usp=sharing

Sun rays.