When Ed eventually got up we had our breakfast and then tried a new lifting technique for the tender. We decided to lift her, complete with engine attached, from the fore deck using the geneka halyard and electric winch. She balanced well and was in the water in no time. So a new technique, which I’m sure Ed and Elaine can adopt when sailing together. We also checked out the bow thruster, as Ed seemed to think it was lacking in power. We did this by lowering the Go Pro, attached to a boat hook,
This confirmed that there was no damaged. If anything, it may be weakened batteries, as they are 10 years old and probably need replacing.
Jobs done, we took a ride to the beach in the tender. The beach is sandy and inviting, with crystal clear sea waters. There is some dry foliage, but I believe this gets cleared up before the start of every season, as I saw small bulldozers, pushing the sand and foliage into the sea. The walk up the hill proved uneventful, but there is obviously a holiday resort as the landscape is peppered with quite attractive villas for rental.
Our plan was to head south, but being men of Lesiure , or as our friend Massimo calls us ” NO WHERE MEN”, we decided to visit the island of “Tavolara”, some 6 nm away.
Tavoilara island is 5km long and 1km wide. In the 19th and 20th centuries, a tiny kingdom was set up on the island by the Bertoleoni family as the Kingdom of Tavolara, sanctioned by Charles Albert, King of Sardinia.
Nothing much of this island apart from a couple of restaurants, one of which is owned by a chap named Tonino Bertoleoni, who is apparently the current claimant to the island. There are, I’m informed guided tours up to the top, but I saw no evidence of that when visiting.
