day 9 - aug 13th

though it was in the bay and the water didn't look particularly inviting, we swam down around the corner and saw some of the coolest things on the trip! tons of sea cucumbers, giant clams, abalone shells, a little freshwater river coming in with hermit crabs and baby flounder.

we made our way in to olbia, passing the giant ferries and cruise boats we'd seen last night.

how our fish are farmed, right along with boat repair shops:

there's more in this older post, including the largest sloop in the world.

i really like this picture
and this old man was fishing right there for these little tiny fish. when he caught his first one he took out a plastic grocery store bag, headed down the steps to the water, filled it up and put the fish in. then he brought the bag back up and hung it inside this little hole in the cement dock, and proceeded to fill his bag with fish.



we went into town, a touristy place but not as fancy as the last one, and had great gelato and a late night, and realized i'd lost my wallet. last used for postcards it ottiolu ...

day 8 - aug 12th

we had a fantastic day of fast sailing around a point, with the wind at 20-35, and sailing up to almost 8 knots. we anchored behind a little island, which was beautiful and let us watch the windsurfers, but was ultimately too rough.


we moved out and around another point into the outer bits of the olbia bay, the only natural port on the island. got in late and watched the kite surfers for hours - very cool!
and then another crummy sunset.

day 7 - aug 11th

we got to swim again, and i soothed my new burn with hydrocortisone. v & b before we left:

we had excellent sailing at 7 knots all the way up to the port at ottiolu, which was jawdroppingly expensive and a fancy tourist area. it felt like epcot. we had a great dinner and gelato, and wandered through a tourist market where i bought some nice and only slightly overpriced bracelets. lots of big islands around, with this one we could see from miles and miles:

day 6 - aug 10th

we motored/sailed out and up along the Golfo de Orosei, a neat half-crescent bay. in case you're wondering what the map looks like:



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lots of boats were on their way out with us:
and one was on its way in. get out of the way!


the sailing life ...
we still had little wind so we tried to put the spinnaker up.



but it was twisted and wouldn't go ...

but it was still pretty.
another pic of the happy couple!



we had a very bizarre swim that started out with a shock:
and also included spearhunters, more jellyfish, an octopus, lava rock and lots of sulfur bubbles, and dead fish on the bottom. but the sunset was worth it:

day 5 - aug 9th - my birthday!

we spent the day in port, while vince cleaned the boat and worked on the engine and barbie and i toured the town. i bought them a nice red runner rug for downstairs, and some clear goggles for me (which are fantastic - wish i could find this brand here!). i did my post card duties, and we had my birthday dinner at the marina restaurant, with only ok dessert pastries from a local shop.

my first real look at a pretty italian town:


the road begins (and ends?!) here:

my view at dinner.

[in medias res] in sardegna!

flew in tuesday morning where b & v piced me up at the airport. spent the day napping on the boat while they grocerey shopped, then out to good sushi dinner and the night in the cagliari port. weds sailed out and anchored in a beautiful bay by a port with fancy houses on shore and good swimming. thursday up the coast to a pretty little beach where we anchored for the night. friday sailed again, no wind, motored up the coast to and ended up in arbatax for fri and sat night. tomorrow we're off north again. having lots of fun, here are some pics! sorry if they're sideways.

my bag at the newark airport.



the boat.

my berth - very comnfy bed.

sunset from the water.

day 4 - aug 8th

today we sailed up to arbatax, a nice little port, after doing a LONG tack out to sea and back. while out there we found dolphins (or they found us, rather) twice! no pics cause they swim too fast. here's barbie checking out the sailor's guide/map:
we didn't do much motoring because vince tried to make an ad hoc oil cooler, and the gauges said we then lost all oil pressure. we got in late at night, but there were nice dock people to guide us in. and they had showers!

and here's arbatax, with its very distinctive mountain ridge


and the town itself.