I
think I mentioned in the last blog that sailing plans are written in
sand at low tide. Even though the tides are very small in the Med,
it didn’t take much for us to wipe out our winter plans. It
was probably that full moon last night that did the trick.
Instead
of wintering over in Sardinia, we’ve decided to head up the east
coast of Corsica for the winter. For reasons
I can’t remember, I assumed
that Corsica would be more expensive than Sardinia and
I didn’t even bother looking at possible winter spots.
 |
| Patrick snorkeling in the Lavezzi Islands in southern Corsica a few years ago. Sardinia is in the background only 10 nautical miles away. |
I
recently realized that we will have 2 full months of sailing time
once we reach the Sardinian coast and that this was more than enough
to enjoy the north coast and still head over to Corsica. After
studying the pilot books and scouring blogs and forums, the port of
Taverna / Campoloro jumped out at us as a possibility for
on-ground winter storage. It’s cheaper
than the port we were eyeing in Sardinia (Nautica Pinna in Bosa), has
slightly easier travel connections to get back home, and, if ever we
have problems, we’d rather fight our battles in French than in
Italian (I know, not very sporting of us...)
The
east coast of Corsica is much less exposed to winter winds than the
west coast of Sardinia, and as an added bonus, Taverna lines us up
nicely for a 2018 cruise across to Elbe island and down the Italian
coast on our way to Greece.
We
generally avoid making
fixed plans, but finding a spot to leave
your boat for the winter deserves a bit of forethought and planning,
especially if you’re far away from home. Although having plans may
kill the romance of long-distance cruising, I’m happy to not have
to spend our last month on board stressed-out with trying to find a
suitable and affordable wintering option. I don’t know about you, but I don’t
do romance under stress very well. My inner sea turtle is at peace with this option.
4 comments:
You might want to check out Calasetta, Carloforte or Porto Teulada in the south of Sardegna. They are a lot cheaper than the East coast. You can fly in Cagliary and have one of the locals pick you up.
Thanks Popsi. We've now committed (gulp !) to Taverna / Campoloro in Corsica. It's very reasonable and easy for us to get home. But we'll be passing back through Sardinia on the way home and will definitely check out the southern Sardinia ports.
I love the reference to your inner sea turtle being at peace :-) Good that you've got things organized and buttoned down for the winter.
Thanks Ellen. I'm scared to take another one of those on-line tests to determine my spirit animal because I'm likely to get a different answer ! I'll definitely check multiple sources before getting too close to the tattoo needle, though.
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