Starting to get itchy feet to continue our adventure

Port Flavio. See comments further below.

Life on the Pier

We have spent our 1st Winter on our floating home. Sven still finds things to improve and added many useful features to the boat. The jetty served again as his workbench.

Life on the jetty has been pretty good during our Winter in Sardinia. We have now met the owners of all the other boats, which come and go to check up on them. Fabrizio being the exception. Our Italian neighbour uses his boat regularly for a few hours of pleasure, bringing his various new conquests onto and into his boat. He makes no secret out of it and it gives us a bit of entertainment. There are only 3 other boats being lived on permanently on our pier. The crew from one of the luxury yachts (they are from Croatia and Ukraine) were, however, just told they would no longer be paid due to current sanctions. The boat is owned by a Russian. They are looking for new jobs.

We invited the Finance department onto our boat. They regularly make their rounds in the marina. We just wanted to ensure that our papers are okay for when we continue our journey and that our stay in Gibraltar (for tax reasons) has been properly recorded. They confirmed that our papers and boat licenses are still good.

It is said that as we grow older, it can often feel like time goes by faster and faster. According to google the reason for this is: “more actual time passes between the perception of each new mental image. This is what leads to time passing more rapidly". This seems so true for us. When we are travelling to so many new locations the time seems to pass slower. Now in the Marina in Cagliari the days pass so quickly and we often wonder what we have done all day, week, month.... We are never bored but start to get itchy feet to continue our adventure....Our current plan (depending on weather) is to depart end of this month. We are planning to head towards Sicily than up the Adria.

Lets hope Putin behaves and that the war in the Ukraine stops soon... Our hearts go out to all those affected.

What have we been up to since our last update?

We both have visited family in Switzerland and Germany.

In Sardinia we hired a car and explored the South West coast of Sardinia. Here a couple of highlights.

Fordongiamus, Roman Baths of Forum Traiani

We arrived at 12.00 am and were told that they close the Roman Baths at 12.30 am. Since it is a very small area we had more than enough time to see it. The ruins of this roman thermal bath are 4000 years old. The spring with the hot water is still flowing.

Il Parco della Giara / Wild horses

We drove up a windy road before arriving at the Giara plateau. The views over the valley was really nice. We wandered around looking for fresh horse poo to find some wild horses. It was very muddy but we did a good hike past small lakes, several Nuraghes and through some cork forests. We were lucky and saw 2 groups of wild horses.

Small horses were widespread in the wild throughout Sardinia at least until the Late Middle Ages. These days they can only be found in the Giara plateau.

The Giara horses were used until the 1950s for threshing wheat in Sardinia before they were replaced by mechanical threshing machines. Today there are between 450-600 wild horses.

Cork trees are the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the cores of cricket balls. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa

Su Nuraxi di Barumini

It was mandatory to take a guide but lucky for us we had the place all to ourselves.

This settlement consists of a seventeenth century BC Nuraghe, a bastion of four corner towers plus a central one, and a village inhabited from the thirteenth to the sixth century BC was developed around the Nuraghe. They are considered to be the most impressive expression of the Nuragic civilisation and were included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.

The real function of this nuraghe is still debated. The archaeologist who discovered and excavated the site between 1950-1957, confirmed it to be a fortress-site. Other archaeologists believe that the oldest part of the complex was destined for a religious purpose, refuge, civil or even parliament or village chief, while the towers added where perhaps intended for military purposes and stock.

A hike near Cagliari. We worked out that it is impossible to do these hikes without downloading maps. There are no hiking paths marked anywhere!

Italy has a Covid vaccination rate of nearly 80% which is fantastic. Over 50's (employed or not) must be vaccinated or will be fined. Unvaccinated workers who are 50+ years not only risk the fine but after five days, lose their salary. A Super Green Pass is obligatory to access work places.

Marketplace Italy - we bought a foldable bike which we use a lot. Not sure if we will bring it with us.

Sven also bought a kite on Marketplace Italy which is drying in our "wintergarden" .

In Cagliari, the capital City of Sardinia there are obviously many shopping opportunities. Not that we have space on our boat... but loved the dog which waited so patiently for his owner to finish their purchase.

From our Marina in Cagliari we can watch the big boats coming in and out every day

or watch a game in the next marina (I have not watched this sport previously)

Still plenty of good food and Aperol Spritz....

We needed to take the boat out of the water to put new antifouling on. This is a process to protect the hull of the boat from marine growth. We had to sail to Carloforte which is a fishing and resort town located on Isola di San Pietro and is about 72 nm way from Cagliari/Sardinia.

We did an overnight stop in a lovely bay. This was the first time in 2 months that we dropped the anchor again.

Great 360 Degree view.

Sven manoeuvred the boat into a small drop off area (we just fitted into it) then the boat was lifted out and once antifouling was completed back in (pic below is after the job has been completed)

The bottom of the boat looked really good. However the sail drive and prop had a lot of marine growth on it even though it was regularly cleaned. It just grows so fast.

We stayed in a B& B in Carloforte during our 3 nights stay. We were the only guests and had the small building to ourselves.

Carloforte on the Isola di San Pietro is cute and the colourful houses very pretty.

On the right is the piazza we can see from our B&B

We hired push bikes to explore the island.

and cycled around a salt lake where we could admire the flamingos.

Once the boat work was finished we decided to sail 12 nm further to see the the Pan di Zucchero and Port Flavia. We were the only boat there. Privilege of winter sailing!

Port Flavia was a mining operation in the Sulcis area which is rich in coal, sulphur, zinc, lead, silver and other metals.

Previous to port Flavia mine being built (see picture below) and up to 1924, sailors had to carry the processed ore in wicker baskets placed on their shoulders and load it onto a boat. Later the perfect spot was found to build Port Flavia. In front of the Pan di Zucchero where the sea was deep enough and well-protected from wind and waves to allow a safe mooring. This way the ore could be loaded from the cliffs by gravity. In the upper tunnel of the mine was an electric train used to bring the load to the reservoirs. In the lower tunnels a conveyor belt carried the ore. Today Port Flavia is a UNESCO protected site.

(above picture is from the internet)

On the way back to Cagliari we anchored 2 more nights.

An advantage of being in a Catamaran is that we can go close to the beach. Disadvantage is that we sometimes have a drone from the beach goers hovering above us to check us out.

On the wood box it states: la vita continua.... meaning..... life goes on. This cat was so incredibly patient and did not move when all the mice run under and over it. The cat and the mice just stayed on the red mat and did not try to escape.

❤️ Sending our love to you our families and friends ❤️

❤️ Thanks for being part of our adventure ❤️