Sardinia

We left the beautiful island of Mahon, Menorca having thoroughly enjoyed Spain and all the subtleties and differences that go with exploring the variety of anchorages, marinas and swimming spots abundant in the Balearic Islands.  Mahón was a beautiful surprise package complete with the convenience of a floating dock for an economic overnight (or 2), docking, some lovely shopping and a good variety of places to eat.  It was here where we serendipitously bumped into fellow Nautitech 542 owners Pino and his wife Sylvania, whose boat we checked out in July last year on a whim and without really being serious about purchasing our own Nautitech…the difference a year and a sliding door moment makes!  

The pain of leaving beautiful Spain was well and truly made right with the return to our beloved Italy and also and more importantly it meant that we would be getting one significant step closer to meeting up with our eldest daughter, Hannah and her bestie, Alice scheduled toward the end of August.

We set off first thing, keen to get the anticipated 34 hour crossing done and dusted so we could bask in the glory of pasta, the Italian language (buried somewhere deep inside Liane from childhood conversations with her Tuscan grandparents) and copious amounts of gelato as soon as possible.  Baruch had other plans and surprised and delighted us with our first 200 nautical miles in 24 hours on our first attempt. We sat for most of the day on between 8-10 knots and then slowed down later in the evening when the wind died off over night. It was the absolute perfect run with great breeze and flat seas.

Arriving in Sardinia

That’s really been one of the most pleasant and surprising discoveries of our new boat – that we haven’t had to sacrifice performance for comfort during our crossing and even more so, that she’s shown quite a bit of poke when given the right conditions. 

We were duly rewarded once the crossing was complete when we pulled into anchor to relax and have a leg stretch at Isla del Lasinara for some swimming, snorkelling and paddling in the most amazingly turquoise blue water while listening to the dulcet tones of the boating Italians around us. It was so nice (and on some deeper level, quite sentimental and familiar), to be hearing the Italian language again.  

Isola Tavolara - just near Olbia

Cala Di Volpe - the bay we looked out on from our villa last year (thats Superyacht “A” in background.

The Sardinians are fiercely Sardinian first and foremost, and Italian second.  This has meant that over centuries of people trying to invade them, dominate them and steal their island from them, they have developed a really finely honed sense of self that even extends to a variation of dialect in their language accompanied by a slightly different tone.  Liane argues that that they speak a notch faster than their mainland counterparts which makes understanding them even more challenging (and makes her screw up her face in concentration when having a conversation that makes her face look somewhere between startled and slightly constipated).

Aside from the fact that we were super excited to be eating Sardinian gnocchi again (yes, they even have their own type of pasta called Gnocchetti), and gelato, we were more excited to be back in the bay, (but from the water side), of where we stayed last year when we rented a gorgeous villa for a couple of weeks and where this crazy idea of a new boat really took hold.  The bay is Cala di Volpe and at one count there were over 40 superyachts anchored along with us including the “Maltese Falcon” and “A” – which has got to be the ugliest superyacht on earth and apparently cost around $AUD800M & has a staff of 80!!

I guess money doesn’t buy you taste!

We took some time as a family to reflect on the last 12 plus months since we were last here – so much has occurred and it was a really special family moment as we took the opportunity to thank God for all He has done in our lives over the last year or so.

Golfe di Marinella

That said, what we were counting the sleeps down to was our impending rendezvous with Hannah our eldest daughter and Ali (her bestie) in Olbia later in the week where they would be jumping on board for 2 weeks exploring Sardinia, Corsica and the French Riviera in the lead up to the Cannes boat show where Baruch will be polished and cleaned back to brand new to be shown off by the amazing Nautitech team in their line up of boats being exhibited.  This is both a good and a bad thing for us as a family – it means we have to step off the boat a week earlier than we would otherwise like to but it also gives us a chance to return to Italy for another brief stint at a gorgeous villa before the children fly home.  

Eventually the afternoon arrived for meeting the girls and amid squeals of delight, vigorous hugs and popping the cork on the mandatory bottle of Moët , we welcomed Hannah and Ali aboard the good ship Baruch where they were greeted with a Taste of Spain dinner (to update their palettes on what they missed out on) including a boat-made Spanish Tortilla which Liane swears is the easiest and tastiest accompaniment to any meal that you could possibly throw together.  Get the recipe below. 

Girls arrive in Olbia

Porto Cervo

We spent just under two weeks in total cruising around the northern tip and north eastern coast of Sardinia. The topography of Sardinia is quite amazing, crystal clear turquoise waters with rugged rocky landscapes. For the Aussies, think the Whitsunday’s & Wilson’s Promontory had a love child – that would look something like Sardinia.

There is literally a beautiful anchorage around every corner and then in between these there are plenty of lovely towns to explore. It’s one of the fantastic things about sailing in the Med – there towns relied on sea ports for trade and transport and so when you pull up at a town you are right in the heart of the town  - we love the mix of quiet anchorages and vibrant new towns to explore.

One of the highlights was Porto Cervo, where we had heard there is a sneaky anchorage that only fits one boat but if you are lucky enough to be that boat you can enjoy all the glitz and glamour of Porto Cervo without the $2000 per night (yes that’s right!) charge to berth our boat there. We arrived to find that said anchorage was vacant and dropped the pick feeling very chuffed with ourselves only to find an hour later one of the marina staff coming over on their boat and telling us we must move as its forbidden to anchor where we are.

Amazingly though – he said we could follow him and stay free for two hours on another berth – so over we went to find the position he had for us was the perfect spot – right in the heart of Porto Cervo and surrounded by beautiful lush gardens. Upon visiting the Capitainerie (marina office) we asked the price of staying the night to find that it was quite reasonable by Porto Cervo standards. There was another skipper being served before us and his boat was similar dimensions and parked 25 metres from ours – he was charged 3 times the price we were!!Another example of God going before us - we have a hundred stories like this one on this trip – its been truly nuts!

In Porto Cervo the girls were able to enjoy the shops and given Liane had been in transit on her birthday, we had previously agreed before we came that the 26th August rather than 26th July would be her birthday. It wasn’t until we had arrived in Porto Cervo that someone realised the date and so we booked a lovely garden table at a restaurant overlooking the town and Baruch. At the end of our dinner, the nice waiter said he would get us a cake to celebrate “Mama’s” special day. We all thought he was so lovely to do this until we got the bill…. Said nice waiter had well and truly seen us coming and charged us $AUD200 for the cake! It was good but not that good!

Mandatory daily gelato

We all knew that having Hannah & Alice on board would be one of our favourite times of this trip and it didn’t disappoint. So good to be hanging out as a complete family on board enjoying this incredible gift of a boat and location. Very special times that I’m sure we will look back on forever as a family with great affection.

From Porto Cervo we enjoyed a couple of nights in La Maddalena archipelago – a beautiful group  of islands that are all classified as a National Park – the water is an incredible vibrant turquoise and there are plenty of nice protected anchorages to enjoy and so we lapped up the time together with lots of swimming, reading, playing cards & Aperol Spritz!

Morning run in La Madelenna

Spanish Tortilla Recipe

Peel and finely slice 400g of waxy potatoes and pat them dry with paper towel. Peek and finely slice an onion. Drizzle around 2tbs of oil into an oven proof fry pan, heat and then add the potatoes and the onion. Turn the heat down and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the onions have softened and turned golden and the potatoe slices are cooked. Try not to stir it too much and when you do, use an egg flip to gently flip them over and move them around to ensure they cook evenly.

Crack 6 large eggs into a mixing bowl, season lightly then whisk them. When the potatoes and onions are cooked, remove the pan from the heat and carefully tip the potatoes and onions into the egg mix. Transfer the mixture back into the frypan pouring evenly and slowly. Cook on low heat for around 20 minutes or until there’s almost no runny egg mix on top.

Use a spatula to gently go around the edges of the pan to loosen the tortilla. Transfer the tortilla to the oven and cook under the grill for around 10 minutes or until the top of the tortilla is a nice golden brown. Turn the tortilla onto a serving board, then cut into wedges and serve hot or at room temperature.