Buongiorno from our Winter location Cagliari / Sardinia

Since our last blog we continued our journey South, along the East coast of Sardinia.

We stopped in Santa Maria Navarrese, a nice coastal village. We were keen to check out the Marina, as our initial plan was to spend the Winter there. It was a lovely place to visit, however, it would not have been the right choice for our winter location (only 2 open restaurants, no good grocery stores etc).

We did a hike from Santa Maria and came across many friendly goats.

We crossed this lovely path along our way,

Our goal for the day was the rock on the water where we were hoping to find something to eat. Unfortunately everything was closed.

The colours of the rocks we passed were sensational

Caroline has always loved minerals / gems / semiprecious uncut stones. She was delighted to come across big rocks in the wild covered with wonderful crystal/quartz on them. They were just lying there sparkling in the sun! Nature is so amazing,

Marina of Santa Maria Navarrese: as mentioned we are glad that it was already booked out for the winter period. You can just see our boat above the trees. It is the left of the 2 Catamarans

We spent another night alone in a lovely bay called Cala Sa Figu before heading to our Winter destination Cagliari. This time it was a very wet sail and our clothes were dripping wet in our "winter garden". Sven tells me that walking around in the gumboots used to be fashionable...

So how is Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia

Cagliari is known for the hilltop Castello, a medieval walled quarter situated high over the rest of the town. Architectural highlights include the 13th-century Cagliari Cathedral. The climate is still pleasant during the day (currently around 18 degrees, 9 degrees at night)

We both were a bit nervous, as this will be the longest time we have stayed in just one place and as we are not really city people. We were also unsure how many people would live on board like us.

When we entered the marina we were pleasantly surprised - we will be happy here.

After arriving we explored the city to find out where the restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores are.

There are also many markets and we are enjoying the food choices here.

Being in a big city has the advantage of lots of other foods in addition to the typical Italian meals. There are many Thai, Chinese, Indian and Japanese restaurants very close from us.

Our favourite food is Japanese and surprisingly there are so many of them. They are offering "all you can eat" for a very reasonable price (cheaper than the local food) - not good for our waistline but good for our wallet. One of the Japanese restaurants is just opposite us and we only have to cross the street!!!

Where we buy the wine is something very unique too. You get a plastic container which you bring back and refill when empty. It is like a fuel station but just for wine. The one we like costs Euro 2.- per litre! We return with empty 3 litre bottles... (there is also a 5 litre option).

We signed up for car sharing. We have never done this before and is so practical. You can pick up the car anywhere (there is an app showing where they are) but you need to bring them back to the same space. The app opens and closes the car. We have 2 spots for car sharing across the road from us. It costs only Euro 3,50 per hour plus 0.50 cents per kilometre.

We used car sharing for the first time when trying to get our Covid 19 - Green pass. We are very pleased to announce, that we have finally, FINALLY been successful in getting it and are celebrating.

Some impressions of Cagliari

There are many beautiful churches in town and many places we still want to visit.

Being back in the city we also see a few poor people early in the mornings. The man on the picture found half full coke and alcohol bottles and some food scraps in the bins. How fortunate are we not having to do this!

And how is living on a boat in a Marina during winter

Well, this is a new experience for us. Most people do not live on the boat but those who do, we get to know well.

On our floating platform (jetty) there are 24 boats, Christian and his wife are living on their boat opposite us. They are Austrians, in their 80-ies, always look glamourous and have been doing this since they have retired. He is our News channel and keeps us up-to-date with everything and everybody e.g. one of the Luxury boats does not pay their crew (apart from giving them food and free accommodation on the boat). They are on hold until the owner returns in Spring.

Another boat is occupied by a crew member while the boat has been impounded by the police (we assume for not paying taxes after having stayed too long in Europe).

There is also a South African guy living on a catamaran who is bored out of his mind whilst his girlfriend is visiting family in Brazil until February next year.

Sometimes new boats come in and out (short stays) this is a highlight between the permanent residents (like us) where we can spread funny rumours and speculations😊.

There also boat owners who live nearby and come to check their boats every now and then.

Everybody is very friendly and we feel very safe here.

Sailing off season and our outings

Sailing in the off season is of course still possible and enjoyable. Even during the so called “Winter” in Cagliari we are still able to experience sunny and warm days, with light wind and sparkling waves. So, we are still able to enjoy a fabulous sail that takes the edge off the winter.

We also want to ensure that we move our boat regularly to ensure all works.

It did rain a lot since we have arrived but there have also been many nice sunny days in between. We went for a 3 days excursion by boat to Golf di Quartu, in the next bay which is only 5 NM away from our marina. It has a sandy bay which looked perfect for anchoring (except for us, see picture with anchor chain around a pole). To ensure our dinghy is still working we took it into a harbour from where we were able to do a great hike.

This is the "Torre del Poetto"

Some of the locals still swim in the water without a wet suit and on a sunny weekend people are doing all sorts of water activities which we enjoy watching from the boat. During the week it seems deserted.

Lucky for us we got asked by nice Coast guards (in the yellow boat) to move 200m away from the beach (we were only 150m away). This made us move earlier than planned and was to our benefit as we were stuck!!!

Our anchor chain was stuck on a metal pole underground. We just did not think that it would take a little longer to get it freed again. Anchor chain was looped 3 times around the pole. Lucky for us it was nice weather, only 3 metres deep, calm and clear water. This way Sven managed to get chain off without getting wet.

And finally the flamingos. We were told that we would be able to see them from our boat around sunset but so far no luck. So we decided to go and visit them on some lakes and national parks close to us. We hired a bike (another app) but I don't think we do this so again soon. It was not that enjoyable to ride a bike through the city traffic.

Do you know why the flamingos are PINK and stand on one leg?

Flamingos get their pink colour from their food.

Carotenoids give carrots their orange colour or turn ripe tomatoes red. They are also found in the microscopic algae that brine shrimp eat. As a flamingo dines on algae and brine shrimp, its body metabolizes the pigments — turning its feathers pink. The colouration of flamingos can vary because carotenoid levels in algae and crustaceans also vary across the world. Flamingo species found in the Caribbean are often bright red or orange, while those in drier areas tend to be paler pink in colour.

Birds lose a lot of heat through their legs and feet, holding one leg closer to the body could conceivably help them stay warm. ... When the weather is warmer, more flamingos stand in the water on two feet. They more commonly assume the one-legged stance when temperatures are cooler.

Here a short video clip taken from the Ferris Wheel. You can see the city and our boat in the Marina at the end of the clip.

❤️ Sending our love to you our families and friends ❤️

❤️ Thanks for being part of our adventure ❤️

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