Our next destination was set to be Santa Maria Navarrese and we weighed anchor at 1041 and set a southerly course in reasonable winds and, as usual on this trip, we managed to sail all the way to the entrance of our destination.

We were welcomed by to marina staff members, who took our lines, and were extremely friendly, as were the staff in the office. €50 per night and a discount for Cruising Association Members of 10%.

We were here two years ago, and neither Ed nor I can remember much about it. Looking at our logs of two years ago, we reminded ourselves that we arrived here quite late in the evening and left early the next day. So that’s probably why we don’t remember much about this town and not for the fact that we overindulged. Phew a relief.

We settled into our new home, and then took a walk into town, up a slight incline and a distance of a kilometre. We never ventured this far on our last visit. The town is delightful. Full of hotels, restaurants, shops and delightful properties. We ventured further up the hill, past ever more beautiful houses, overlooking the marina and bay. We were tempted to eat out, but Ed and I made a pact to eat on board and so we descended back to the marina and to Arctura. Our neighbours, were a delightful Swiss family, who invited us for a drink on their, slightly smaller Dufour, and we struck up a good rapour. back to Arctura, and down to the special business of watching Liverpool beat Tottenham, in the UEFA league final 2-0, Alex will be happy as his team became the champions.

The next day we decided to get to tourist boats and visit the caves, some 12 miles north the the marina. At €46, plus the additional €8 to enter the caves, it seemed quite expensive, but we decided to go for it. We just about managed to catch the 0930 boat, but were a little rushed and forgot a few things, such as Edwards iPhone, swimming trunks and towels. Anyway, we made our way out of the marina and along the coast, which we had said the previous day, but this time a lot closer, at times literally 4 metres from the steep cliff face. I think the biggest danger being so close is falling rocks rather than depth.

The coast is stunning, the cliffs simply rise virtically out of the sea. Occasionally, there are incredible beaches along the 12 miles of coast the we visited. You have the option of stopping at beaches or going to caves, we choose the caves. There is however a compulsory beach stop for lunch, with a pleasant restaurant located some 300 metres from the shore. We stopped here and had a couple of basic pasta dishes at reasonable prices.

We visited two caves, Grotta del Fico and Grotte del Beau Marino. Both are amazing and worth the visit. The cost of entry was €8 and €10 respectively.

The boat tour, with stops, lasts the whole day and covers approximately 15 miles. We left at 0930 and didn’t get back until 1800. We’ll worth the money and in my opinion should not be missed.

We invited our Swiss friends for a drink at the marina bar and exchanged sailing stories. A really pleasant family and hopefully we’ll stay in touch and may meet again.

This is an amazing quite and yet very sociable town, with many bars, restaurants and activities, one of which includes diving, which is probably fabulous in the crystal clear turquoise waters in this region.

The next day we walked into town to pick up some basic food supplies and walked down towards the beach and back to the marina. The beach looks fantastic, clean and with inviting waters. I dare say this town is awfully busy in the height of summer.

We slipped lines at noon and engined up the coast again and onto the anchorage of Cala Goloritze, which we had passed by ferry the prior day. Lovely scenery, and we were going to stay overnight, but it was rather folly, with passing pleasure boats and northerly swell. So we moved onto an anchorage south of Arbatax, Cala Frailis.