SAILING TRIP FOR ONE WEEK
Our sailing cruise will bring us across North Eastern part of Sardinia, starting and returning in Porto Rotondo, going North West into the archipelago di La Maddalena, further West to S.Teresa di Gallura, and then back South East.

1° day - Porto Rotondo / Caprera or Cannigione: 15 sea-miles
We loose our moorings in the morning from Porto Rotondo harbour, heading to Cala di Volpe, 3 sea-miles sailing North, just to break the beginning of our cruise and enjoy the 3 kilometres beach of Liscia Ruja; here our first swim will take place and the free mooring on our Bruce anchor will be very sure on the sandy ground. Keep going, we can head to the islands of Soffi and Mortorio, other 2 sea-miles sailing, leaving on our left the reefs and rocks of I Poveri, very dangerous for the sailors. Here very blue crystal waters sorrounds these two beautiful natural parks. No people live on them, and the sound of sea-birds together with silence make this stop very special.
From Mortorio we now will put our prow on North West, heading to Li Nibani (small rocks and islands before the harbour of Porto Cervo), turning the cape of Punta Capaccia, the northern corner of the Gulf of Cugnana. Until now, if we had Mistral (north westerly wind - the most frequent), we sailed protected from the cost, if sout-easterly (wich is a sea-breeze most of times) we sailed upwind the coast with small waves. Porto Cervo is the most famous harbour of this area, where the Costa Smeralda was born with its international tourism, big events such as worlds championships, sailing regattas and other races.
Is a big place, and you will enjoy to spend the night here if you like international glamour, night life and top class people around you. The distance from Porto Rotondo sailing for the shorter way is 8 sea miles.
A short step north of Porto Cervo is Cape Ferro, the entrance of the Archipelago della Maddalena, with the island of Le Biscie on its north, leaving a passage 1000 metres wide aproximately. Passing through here gives the impression to enter in a lake, on our left the mainland of Sardinia, in front the islands of S.Stefano and La Maddalena, on our right the island of Caprera. From now our cruise could stop every 500 metres to watch and enjoy beautiful and nice bays, small beaches, clear and shallow waters, so we will plough our anchor only in the most known and representative places.

Porto Cervo

Once passed the small channel between Cape Ferro and Le Biscie, if Mistral is blowing we can sail taking, if south-easterly we will run downwind along Caprera coast or along the Gulf of Arzachena, where in the bottom on the right is the harbour of Cannigione; in this real life village restaurants and all services are provided, but sea water is not very clear because of the sea-grass; this place is very sheltered from Mistral; Cannigione is 7 sea-miles away from Porto Cervo. If we will keep going on the right, along Caprera coast we can enter the very deep bay of Porto Palma, the best sheltered free mooring in the area; (here there is the possibility to stay at night) with almost every wind. Distance from Porto Cervo is 7 sea-miles.

2° day - Caprera or Cannigione / Palau or La Maddalena: 6 sea-miles
After the first night, from Caprera or Cannigione, keep going north west, we will approach the narrow passage between Cape d’Orso in the mainland, and the island of S.Stefano; the saling here is very nice, very closed to the coast (have to take care!). We can spend the rest of the day visiting a couple small bays in S.Stefano and in the mainland, then choose if stay at night in the harbour of Palau (mainland) or in La Maddalena, harbour of the main island of the Archipelago. In both harbours we are 6 sea-mile away from Porto Cervo, both of them are serviced with fresh-water, and a 20 minutes trip by Ferry connects the two main harbours of the Archipelago.
La Maddalena is the most interesting one as a nice fishermen sea-village, with typichal restaurants and lascapes, but sometimes in peak season the small harbour is very crowded, so having the boat place in Palau and reaching the island by Ferry may be necessary. Both harbours are 9 sea miles away from Porto Cervo.

3° day - Palau or La Maddalena / S.Teresa di Gallura: 15 sea-miles
Going out from Palau or La Maddalena, in the mainland before Punta Sardegna we can have the first swim of the day at the Sciumara beach, or under the very nice and picturesque Porto Raphael (wich got a small harbour too); then, heading North-West for 1 sea mile will be enough to plough our anchor in one of the best and clear blue water anchorage of the Archipelago, Cala Corsara in the south of the island of Spargi (no inhabitants). From there, a 1 sea-mile sailing out of the islands heading South, to Isola dei Gabbiani, very famous for windsurfing, is not to be missed, mostly for its very long beach with sandy dunes. Following the coast to North-West we can enter into the deep Porto Pozzo, a 1 and a half sea-mile deep natural fiord, with an harbour inside. But the best end of the cruise of today is S.Teresa di Gallura, 13 sea-miles away from Palau, the last western point of our sailing trip. Very nice fishermen village, divided in low and high part, the city lays on high cliffs on the open sea; from here you can watch the Mistral storms and waves, very often blowing in this area. The atmosphere is very relaxed and the plenty of nice restaurants and bars makes you feel really well after a day of sailing.

4° day - S.Teresa di Gallura / Lavezzi or Bonifacio: max 15 sea miles
Less than 7 sea-miles divide S.Teresa from an authentic paradise: the island of Lavezzi (no inhabitants); heading North we can reach this magic island in the middle of the Mouths of Bonifacio, where winds and currents are so constant to make the sea water absolutely clear and transparent. Lavezzi is a Natural Fish Park, nobody is aloud to fish here from more than 25 years now, and you can see the result! Inside the bay, when you’re on the anchor having your lunch, if some bread falls into the water, so many and huge fish will try to catch it! And aproximately 1000 metres away East from the island there is the best paradise for divers in the whole Mediterranean: in a 20 metres deep water you will be able to dive (with dive-bottles of course) with 1 metre long fish, touch them and swim with them too! The main bay is surrounded by the beach and a lot of small and rounded pink rocks, a blue lagon is inside between the back of the beach and other rocks....whatís more ? Words are really not enough to describe it properly. If weather conditions are predicted well and stable, you can overnight in this paradise, otherwise you can reach Bonifacio, absolutely nice and special village of South Corsica, just 6 sea-miles away. The island of Cavallo lays in the northern side of Lavezzi, got a big harbour, and though the landscape is very nice, buildings and very dangerous surrounding reefs makes this place not attractive for sailors.

5° day: - Lavezzi or Bonifacio / Porto Massimo: max 16 sea-miles
Now itís time to go back, so our next stop will be the islands of Budelli, Razzoli and S.Maria (first two with no inhabitants, S.Maria just few houses in the bush), the northest group of islands of the Archipelago, 5 sea-miles away from Lavezzi; in the mouths of Bonifacio most times we will have westerly wind and a certain swell, so while we had to reach upwind left Lavezzi and Bonifacio, now we are going with the wind; with south-easterly breeze will be the opposite. We approach the southern coast of Budelli and turning on this cape, on our left we will find the famous and best potographed Pink Beach, a white and red coral beach; keep going North East between the islands, we will have to stop after few hundreds meters, because the area is very shallow; what is the best here, is to use the dinghy to go around and have a look to the big lagoon between the 3 islands. Then mooving the boat to the south-eastern bay of S.Maria (watching out to the very dangerous reef in the middle of the entrance) will aloud us to have a nice walk into this islands, magic for its parfumes and atmosphere. Place is very nice, but not often safe enough for the night, that is why we will head South-East for a couple sea-miles to the northern coast of La Maddalena, where on the eastern side there is Porto Massimo, a nice and small fully equipped harbour.

6° day - Porto Massimo / Porto Rotondo: 18 sea-miles
Our first swim today will take place 1000 metres south of the harbour: a beautiful lagoon is sorrounded by rocks and sand, and the boats will have to wait away from this place because of the shallow water...dinghy again! Just in front, on the Caprera coast, Cala Garibaldi is very nice to be visited. Sailing around Caprera clockwise we will watch the coast as a rocky and strangely moon shaped surface. Cala Coticcio will found us ploughing our anchor in a deep (10 metres) blue bottom. Here a stop of some couple hours is a must, because together with Cala Corsara, Lavezzi and the Pink Beach, this is one of the best famous places in Costa Smeralda. From here, the sailing heading South-East will cross our route of the 1° day near the island of Le Biscie, from where, keeping going South on the same way, we will reach Porto Rotondo.

SEASONS AND WEATHER
January - February : average temperature during the day 10° /14° C dry; windy (15 /30 knots), most times from North-West (Mistral)

March - May : average temperature during the day 15° / 25° C dry; windy (10 / 30 knots) when it's North-Westerly wind (50%) damp,softer (5 / 15 knots) when is South-Easterly wind (50%) see breezes

June - September : average temperature during the day 25° / 30° C dry; windy (10 / 30 knots) when it's North-Westerly wind (20%) damp, softer (0 / 10 knots) when it's South-Easterly wind (80%)

October - December : average temperature during the day 14° / 24° C dry; windy (5 / 25 knots) when North-Westerly wind (30%) damp, windy (5 / 35 knots) when it's Easterly or South Easterly wind (70%)