It’s tempting to stop at all these lovely beaches and anchorages on our northward journey, especially in the fine settled weather we are having, with minimal swell. But today, we set our objective as Santa Maria Navarrese, for few reason.

One. We need to dispose of Rubish

Two. We need to refill our water tanks

Three. Provision

Four. We need to make some headway north and stop being distracted by beautiful anchorages along the way.

Five. Take advantage of the last day of the month and reduced rates of €50 per night, reduced to €45 for C A Members.

So we weighed anchor at 12 and headed north in a 7 to 10 kts south easterly. Even though we had our sights set for the marina, we were drawn like magnets to a couple of anchorages for a swim. The final one was the small rocky Isola dell’Ogliastra only 1 nm south east of Santa Maria Navarrese marina..

We anchorages some 100 metres from the rocky shore, not because of any restriction, but because it was quite busy with yachts and other pleasure craft. So we snorkels up and swan ashore. It was Alex’s first time, with mask and snorkel and he was a natural. He beat us all to the rocky outcrop and immediately started exploring. This boy has not fear of water, its amazing how he just goes of and swims endlessly. Alex was lucky enough to see an Moray eel, unfortunately, he didn’t have the Go Pro to hand to film it, but by all accounts it was a large beast, hiding in the rocks.

After a few hours on the rocky outcrop, we headed for the marina. After a quick splash down, crew not yacht, I met my Swiss friends from the last visit. Roman, Rachel and their children Louis and Morris. They were happy and surprised to see me and we chatted and caught up on adventures.

A pizza beckoned, and we soon made our way to a fantastic restaurant by the beach, some 1.5 kms from the marina, “Ristorante e Pizzeria Tancau”. Delicious pizzas, deserts and views.