We rode the Gibraltar current from Menorca to Alghero, Sardegna. I have to be honest, I did not even know that there was a Gibraltar current. Before I read about it, I was clapping myself on the back for the fantastic boatspeed that we were making. It soon became apparent that even though we have a good boat, we were getting some serious help from the current. The current comes in from Gibraltar and sweeps past the Balearics, bearing east at 2 knots or so. It gave us a couple of extra knots in sloppy seas and squally conditions and the 180 mile trip took just under a day. We were finally in Italy, although Sardegnians consider themselves as Sardegnian first and Italians second. They have their own cruising courtesy flag separate from the Italian flag. Christy started brushing up on her Italian but it came out garbled with Spanish since we had just spent so much time in Spain.

After arriving on the Northwest Coast of Sardegna, we looked for an anchorage in Porto Conte. We found a few nice secluded spots but decided that it made the most sense to take a slip in Alghero since we had guests on the way. Alghero is a beautiful old walled city that is still somewhat off the beaten tourist trail. According to a few locals that we spoke to, Alghero is in the midst of being "discovered". The low cost airlines and cruise lines in their search for new destinations are starting to carpet bomb the city with tourists. The local economy is getting a big boost, but the quality of life is taking a pretty radical change from a sleepy little village to a boutique-laden tourist destination. I suppose that I can understand the desire to make economic progress and I hope that they can manage the growth wisely and not turn into another overdeveloped resort area.

The marina in Alghero is nestled right under the old city gate and offers all the services that we needed, including WIFI. It is always a pleasure to wash down the boat with fresh water, and since we had not been in a marina since Barcelona, we cleaned the boat from top to bottom. As a bonus, it turned out that our neighbors in the marina had two young girls aboard. The Patterson family from England are sailing Sante, their Jeanneau 43, around the Med for the season. All four girls were as happy as pigs in slop. Let the water balloon fights commence!

We stayed in the marina for a few days until we discovered that the city quay is free to cruising boats for up to five days. It was an easy decision to move over and save the marina money to spend on pizza and pasta. We were fortunate that it was early in the season or we would not have found space at the quay. The ancient walled city of Alghero is crisscrossed with small winding streets and little nooks and crannies, and the pizza and pasta were a spicy change from months of Spanish food.

On the public quay in Alghero, Italy.

We sailed back around to Porto Conte, about 10 miles away, and toured Neptune's Grotto after finally managing to anchor in the deep and weedy bottom. The grotto was a huge cave, carved over the eons into the sheer wall of a cliff. It was about a mile walk to the steps and then 600 (the girls counted them) steps down to the cave entrance. Fortunately, some enterprising person had set up an ice cream stand nearby to help us recover from the arduous journey.

Nettuno's Grotto steps.

We sailed through the windy straits of Bonifacio, which funneled us out to the other side of Sardegna, and anchored off of the seawall in Porto Cervo. Porto Cervo is a swanky town populated with a wealthy and stylish crowd. We knew that a dreaded Mistral was on the way so we hunkered down for three days, weathering the storm at anchor. We were very well protected and we never saw winds much over 45 knots but it was still a huge relief when it finally blew itself out after about three days. Since we were so well anchored, we got off the boat to explore the town while the mistral was blowing. It was a wet and miserable dinghy ride but it was worth it to stroll around the Gucci, Fendi and D&G stores. Cassie and I looked at a nice Gucci purse that would cost more than her first year of college. We enjoyed rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous but we were pining to get to a good secluded anchorage with clear water and a beach. Next stop, the Maddelenas.

Porto Cervo after a squall

The Maddelenas are a small archipelago in the Straits of Bonafacio between Sardegna and Corsica. They are a protected marine park and are pristine and rugged. One of the main attractions in the guide books is Pink Beach, but recently it has been totally cordoned off. No anchoring, swimming, landing or of course sand-stealing allowed. Apparently too many tourists from the dayboats have been taking a scoop home with them and the beach has been losing sand. Just around the corner from Pink Beach we found our spot - the water was clear and we anchored in 20 feet over hard sand. There were occasional dayboats filled with tourists cruising past, but by and large, we had the place to ourselves, just the way we like it. We snorkeled, swam and kayaked and enjoyed the beauty of the place. We laid plans to sail north up the west coast of Corsica, a French island with an identity all its own. We have heard nothing but good things about the island and her people but we have also heard that the anchorages are deep and not well protected. Our plan is to leave when we have a settled weather pattern so that we can have time to explore this rugged coast without having to run for shelter.

Budelli Island in the Maddelenas.