A peaceful night at anchor we had a wonderful omelette in the peaceful and tranquil anchorage. This is ,in my opinion, what sailing is all about. A beautiful spot, far from the madding crowd, watching the sky and clouds whilst listening to the soft sound of the waves as they touch the shore after their long journey from distant shores. It’s amazing that waters touches all places of our planet at the same time. The surface was quite still and as I peered down, I could now see the sanding bottom with the suns rays making patterns a few metres below the surface and all that accompanied by birdsong in the distance upon the land.

I could have stayed here days, but the weather is changing and high winds are predicted, and we have to seek the shelter of the harbour. That and we have to be in Olbia by the 21st of May to pick up Elaine, Ed’s wife, whose’s joining us for a few days.

So we weighed anchor and set a course for Solenzara, 30 odd miles south.

The wind was light and so we motored for the fist couple of hours, heading out to sea to avoid a military firing range. Once past this the wind picked up and we set our sails, turned the engine off and sailed for the remaining passage to the entrance of Solenzara.

About 7 miles from our destination we had a bite, with the fishing rod exploding into life with its rapid clicking of a strike. We furled away the Genoa, to reduce speed, and reeled in a magnificent Tuna. A lovely dinner or two to look forward to. The Tuna was some 35cms long. We should have weighed it, but that was an afterthought, perhaps next time?

Just before the entrance I made a call to the harbour master on channel 09 and had a very kindly response that some one would greet us and take us to our berth. Not only that, but take our lines, which is unheard of in France.

Solenzara, from what it seems is a purpose built town around the marina. There is everything you want within walking distance, Launderette, Supermarket, resutrants, Bolangeries and off course for Ed patisseries.

After a brief walk, and a visit to the local patisserie, we returned to Arctura, at which point it started to pour with rain. So we stayed on board and prepared our Tuna and had our dinner sent from God.