Menorca > Sardinia

Adiós España.

After several months in Spain, it was time to move on. Originally, we didn't plan to stay here for so long but engine troubles disrupted our timeline so many times. Initially intending to sail this route with Raphi, we soon realized it wouldn't align with his schedule. Instead, we aimed to make the crossing with our friend Nussi but once again, engine issues thwarted the plan. So, it was the three of us again: Lukas, Jana, & Captain B.

August 18th - 20th: Menorca > Isola di San Pietro At 2 PM, we embarked on our longest passage yet – heading to Italy. After numerous motor problems, relief sets in as we finally set sail. Leaving not only the Balearic Islands but also Spain after so many months felt strange. Do you know the saying that one eye laughs while the other one cries? That's exactly how it was for us; on one hand, the excitement for the upcoming adventures was immense, on the other, we found a second home in Spain and we knew that we will miss this country a a lot.

 

Shortly after departing Menorca, the sea became calm, allowing us a proper farewell. However, a few hours later, a peculiar noise catched our attention. It took us some time to identify the cause – our relatively new DanBuoy, an inflatable marker buoy, has inflated itself partially within its case. We just hoped that we wouldn’t need it for the next 2.5 days (Spoiler: We didn’t).

 

Anticipating low winds from Saturday onwards, we knew we'd encounter many engine hours. As we have regular jobs, we can't always take time off and are therefore often scheduling longer sailing trips for the weekends. Unfortunately, the wind died down significantly on the first night, prompting us to sail with the mainsail under engine until 6 AM.

 

The next sailing day was relatively uneventful, with less wind than forecasted. Thanks to Starlink, we could regularly update the weather report and knew we'd be switching between sail and engine frequently. Regardless, the priority was to arrive ahead of an approaching storm. We used the little wind available to fly our new drone under sail for the first time – an exciting experience. Otherwise, we spent the day calmly, reading and gazing into the sea. During the second night, we were fortunate to have a clear sky once again. During our shifts, we could marvel at the Perseids' meteor showers and even spot Starlink satellites.

On the third day, the moment finally arrived and we hoisted the Italian flag – a process not as easy as expected due to the Spanish flag's entanglement after three-quarters of a year. But with time and creativity, we managed to replace the flag. At 2 PM, exactly 48 hours after departure, we could already glimpse land. Two hours later, we cruised along Isola di San Pietro. At 5 PM, we reached the originally planned anchorage and were initially shocked by its crowdedness. With few bays offering protection from the west and wanting to shield ourselves from the impending Mistral, a dry wind from the north or northwest, we decided to spend the night in the harbor of Carloforte, which we reached at 6:50 PM after 211 NM.

 

Despite our fatigue, we set foot on Italian soil on the first evening. The first Aperol was delightful – we would have loved more, but we restrained ourselves as we planned to head to the next bay the next day.Anyhow, we were really happy about being in theis picturesque fishing village. We understood quite fast, why Carloforte is known for its charming atmosphere and Mediterranean beauty. We loved it & especially enjoyed the colorful architecture as well as the fantastic atmosphere.