Alghero - Again

We stayed in Porto Conte a few more days. Ian and Jo went back to Alghero to book themselves in for a month while they returned to England for a few weeks and we didn't expect to see them again for some time. We ventured ashore to the little village of Maristella where we did a bit of essential shopping and also topped up on fuel for the outboard, which was running low since my rescue boat services and 12 mile return trip to Alghero. Shortly after our return to La Premiere, another British yacht ventured into the bay, a Contessa 32 called Annabel which we had seen but not really got to know way back in Almerimar. They anchored nearby and we called over to them to come aboard for a drink once they had settled.

Rod and Margaret popped over and the afternoon soon wore on into evening as we chatted away, comparing notes on places we've been and our experiences so far. I was most intrigued by the sailing they had done back in Britain, along the Bristol Channel and West coast of England with all its huge tides and tricky navigation. We got on well and the following two evenings were also spent together, eating, drinking and chatting. It's a hard life socialising so much! Supplies were running low, however, and so was our patience with the weather, strong winds still preventing us from heading north round to the top of Sardinia, so we decided to head to Alghero marina until things settled down a bit. 

As we left the anchorage the water was flat calm and there was a slight breeze. We weighed up our options; back to Alghero or on to Stintino on the north coast. We plumped for the latter and headed out of the bay towards the headland which we had so welcomed the sight of some nine days previously. It soon became clear, however that we had taken the wrong option! The waves outside the bay were enormous and we turned back round and headed for Alghero! Of course, the Zephs were there to help us moor which was just as well because the wind had really got up and it was not an easy task! A fleet of racing boats were due in from Mallorca so we were out on the locals' pontoons rather than along the usual visitors quay by the old town. This was good and bad. Good because it meant Giblet could get off without fear of cars or many people, bad because the walk into town for supplies was an extra 20 minutes!

Having spent so long on anchor we decided to treat ourselves to an evening out - someone else to do the cooking and washing up - and invited Ian and Jo to come along with us. We found a lovely restaurant in a back street of the old town and having confused the waiters by asking for Bellinis (a cocktail we once had in Venice) we were finally served with glasses of wonderful freshly pressed peach juice and "champagne"! Starters were equally impressive, Chris trying lobster and Jo and I shared a huge platter of mussels and clams! Of course some rather good wine washed it all down! We have got too used to drinking the cheap-boxed table wine! It was a lovely evening and we were surprised to find it was gone 11pm when we left the restaurant!

It would probably have been feasible to leave the next day but we hadn't done the shopping and we didn't really feel like it! As it turned out it was just as well we returned to Alghero because our new Italian phone chip had stopped working and so we returned to the shop. He had not faxed off the required information and promised to have it done that evening. Sure enough, it started to work again, and we managed to get our emails that evening. A second farewell to Ian and Jo over a game of Trivial Pursuit and finally the weather forecast was good enough to go.