Birthdays and Guardian Angels

June 20 - We had a beautiful sail north from Carloforte, sliding along the west coast of Sardinia to Oristano.  Along with SY Rob Roy we anchored just of the 8th century BC ruin of the Phoenician city of Tharros.   The anchorage was a bit rolly overnight but getting to explore the ancient city ashore the following morning made it more than worth it.  From Oristano, Rob Roy and Ostinato sailed on to Porto Conte.  I had hoped to anchor near enough that we could take the dinghy to shore and do a walk to Grotta di Nettuno, an underground cave full of stalactites and stalagmites.  The cave is reached via a staircase, Escala del Cabirol (or Mountain goat's staircase if that paints a better picture), carved into the mountainside. Only 656 steps! However, after at least a gazillion attempts to get the anchor to hold and only one mooring ball between us, we abandoned the plan and followed Rob Roy further into the bay where we found some lovely sand in 5 meters of clear blue water.  Trish and Dave swam over, checking our anchor on the way, to invited us to dinner the next night on Rob Roy to celebrate my Birthday!  I do love a party!

I awoke to flat water (my fav) in the anchorage and found that the birthday fairy had decorated the boat with Happy Bday signs.  Later in the day, King put on his once a year chef hat and baked a pineapple upside down cake to take along to dinner (also my fav).  I dug out some pink champagne we had stashed away for a special occasion.  We proclaimed the occasion was indeed special enough!  Celebrating summer birthdays when you cruise is a roll of the dice so it's always special when you get to celebrate it with friends.

Enjoyed a wonderful birthday dinner aboard Rob Roy with Trish, Dave and Kingsley

A perfect downwind sail

From Porto Conte, we continued our trek north, a 10 1/2 hour day to Castelsardo.  At €37 a night, the price was just right!  Not to mention that it had a laundry and a big grocery store that you could fall into from the docks.  Did I mention the 12th century castle?  You did have to hike to the top of the steep, craggy cliff.....or you could cheat and take the bus like we did.....aha but no matter how you arrived, once you got up there, you were magically transported to an ancient village with twisting lanes, tiny shops, monasteries and, of course, the castle! They say, on a clear day, you can see Corsica.  We roamed the tiny streets, explored  the castle,  which is now a museum,

Castelsardo from the marina

 poked our noses in ancient churches (where I was admonished not to open doors.That lady had hearing like a bat!), admired baskets made by local ladies who sold them from their doorsteps and then, went in search of food.  One of the basket ladies directed us to a small restaurant a few turns from her home.  This was done while holding up a 2x3 ft. sign with the restaurant's name.  We were told in a mixture of Italian and English, "it was not the first one.....oh no, not that one, but the 2nd one we would come to."  So, we went there.  The food was quite good and the staff worked hard to make the experience fun.  Ohoooo, the complimentary Grappa burned all the way down.

Inside the walls of the Castle

View from the Castle.  Can't quite see Corsica today.

We walked the steep winding road back to the marina.  King used Mr. Google's secret setting to make sure we stayed maximum distance from any shopping areas.  This resulted in us going down back alleys and dead end roads. (Editors note: there were no dead end roads - fake news.)  We arrived at Ostinato with immediate thoughts of crawling into bed but just as I pulled on my jams there was a knock on the boat.

King went out to see who it could be and then didn't return.  What could the boy be into?  Back the clothes went on and then out the door where I found King, along with a group of Sardinians, trying to coax a poor kitten who had fallen into the water and found refuge on a ledge underneath the edge of the dock.  Kitten cries were attracting a sympathetic crowd.  One of the onlookers had asked King if he had ropes that could be used.  King attached lines onto a board and they attempted to maneuver it under the dock.  Apparently, the thought was the kitten would see it, jump onto the wobbly board without getting dumped into the water and the guys would pull him out.  Voila! ......the kitten had other thoughts.  He simply screamed louder now that he had everyone's attention.  This upset the crowd.  We talked one young Brit out of jumping into the water to save the kitten.  She then convinced her Italian date something had to be done.  He enlisted a local restaurant whose waiter brought sardines to lay on the board to make it a bit more enticing.  The kitten wasn't buying it.

Finally, someone convinced the fire department to intervene.  They arrived, red lights swirling but no sirens.  A quick assessment of the situation and the guys pulled up concrete blocks on the dock to see the kitten hanging on the rope that King had left in the water for him.  Within an instant they grab the kitten and he was on the dock.  Once his little grey paws hit the pavement, he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him with waiters and firemen in hot pursuit.  The plan had been to take him to a vet.......the kitten, again, had other ideas.  And yes, he was seen within a day scampering about the marina.

We were touched with how people came together to save the kitten in Castlesardo

The following day, Trish and I returned to the castle on the top of the cliff......this time we walked up. Besides nosing about tourist shops along the way and finding tiny street side restaurants to quiche our thirsts, we stopped by the "basket ladies" house so Trish could purchase baskets.  We also let her know we had gone to the restaurant she had recommended......this did not get any % off but she was very pleased and admitted that her sons worked there......as if the sign leaning against her chair wasn't a clue.

 Well, it's a BIRTHDAY bonanza kinda month.  Rob Roy's, Dave, big day was only 3 days after mine so it was time to celebrate again!  This time on Ostinato.  King strung the birthday decorations up again and we fired up the grill.

David blew the candles out and the palm trees down on his BD cake

The weather has turned blustery requiring us to stay longer than planned in Castelsardo.  We

Won't be leaving today

entertained ourselves with a few games of Joker and a road trip to visit several 18th-15th century BC Nuraghe sites, including one of the largest, Santu Antine.  Oh....and we also stopped by a Lidel!  You never know what bargains you might find.

Nuraghe ruins  Santu Antine

Inside the ruins are multiple halls 

June 30 - Although it was not picture perfect conditions to leave, we were beginning to feel pressured for time to get Ostinato over to the west coast.  Our flights to Sicily were only 4 days away.  It was a late morning decision but once made we flew into action and had Ostinato off the docks before noon.  The predicted winds were a bit more gusty than we liked but there were behind us.  We put in a single reef in the main and headed west.  Rob Roy would be heading to Corsica so Ostinato sailed alone.   As we moved along, the seas calmed a bit and we actually had a great wing on wing sail through the straights between Corsica and Sardinia which is known for its high winds that tunnel between them.  Our anchorage for the night was in Liseia, a large bay located on its NW coast.   We anchored in 20 feet over sand in calm waters for the night.   The next morning the winds picked up from the west and we got a bit of roll from the fetch, it was time to nose around to the next bay for a bit more protection.  As kite surfers began to soar, we realized we had anchored in Sardinia's wind and kite surfing capital.  Let's just say the wind was perfect for that.....not so for anchoring....... Our marina was only a few hours away so it was decided to sit tight another day.

July 2  - We arrived at Calla dei Sardo Marina at 1300 giving us just enough time to get Ostinato and us ready for our quick trip to Ragusa.  The marina appears to be seasonal.  There is no protection from the surge of passing boats or winds, however, its location in a deep narrow bay provided protection by land on 3 sides .  It serves as a base for a charter boat fleet out of Oblia.  King gave Ostinato a fresh water rinse and secured additional lines while I put the inside back to some semblance of order, cleaned out the fridge of things that grow ugly in our absence and packed our backpacks for the trip.  There wasn't a minute to spare!  The taxi to the airport would arrive in the morning at 6:45!

The van was right on time and so was our arrival at the Oblia Airport.  If only we could say the same about our flight.  For the trip we had purchased tickets on Volotea Air.  Never heard of it, well neither had I but the price was right and it was going to where we needed to go without changing planes. How bad could it be?

As we walked into the airport the first thing we noticed was the words CANCELED next to the flight to Palermo Sicily.  Crap!  We quickly got in line and a nice gate agent told us that, yes, the flight had been canceled and they were waiting to hear from the airline what arrangements would be made to get people to their destination.  Apparently, these were contracted gate staff not actual Volotea staff.  They had no authority to do much of anything except sympathize.  "Go have breakfast and come back in an hour" she said.  We moved on but thankfully not too far,

King camps out in the airline manager's office

within 20 minutes we saw the line forming at the Volotea desk again.  We jumped in and soon learned that there were 12 seats to Palermo today.  The rest would be flown to Naples or Milan later in the day and then put on flights to Palermo the next day.  None of that would not do.  Our appointment with the Questura for our Permesso di Soggiorno, permission to stay or "Residence Permit" was tomorrow at 8:45!  King went to work on his computer and found a flight that would get us from Naples to Catania tonight.  From there, we could drive.  We spent the next 8 hours waiting to learn if we would get on the flight.

While King was in the Volotea manager's office trying to convince him that once we got to Catania we would not need transportation to Palermo,  I began chatting to a man who ended up being the head of security for Oblia Airport.  He had worked in the State's and planned to retire to Tampa in a couple of years.  His English was excellent.....unlike my Italian.  I'm figuring he thought I looked like a basket case cause he soon became our advocate and we have little doubt without his assistance we would never of gotten on that plane.   Our original flight was for 8:30 a.m., we finally got tickets to Naples in our hands at 4 p.m. with instructions to get tickets to Catania once we arrived in Naples.  This required a truckload of trust but on the plane we went.  We finally arrived at our hotel in Ragusa at 11:30 p.m.  Its was a long, long day.

 Our Guardian Angel in Sardina, Gian Franco Pes took us under his wing in Oblia and saved the day!

We were up bright and early.  King decided we would at least be able to ask if we would get 2 years this time so I practice all through breakfast what I wanted to say.  I then tried it out on the hotel desk clerk before we left.  Yes! she could understand me!  That's a first.  We then jumped in the car and headed to the Questura.  The usual crowd of immigrants was gathered around the from gate waiting

for their names to be called.  We are not typical of the group but have done this so many times now it feels routine.   Our names were called in the first group and we pushed our way to the front of the crowd and were given a number that would be used to call us up for the review of our papers.  We were number 2.  As I sat I continued to practice my lines "will this be for 2 years?" ....in Italian, of course.   When we got to the desk, they split us up.
Oh no!  King hadn't practice!  Of course, that didn't stop him. As I was doing my finger prints....which there is not much left so it takes forever, I'm hearing him haltingly ask the question. The Immigration Agent laughed, as did the rest of the staff behind the glass wall and King, and then said "si, si".  Not to be outdone, I also asked about mine and was told "si, due anni!" YIPPEEEEE

After quick visits to the marina in Marina di Ragusa, have some gelato and stop by for dinner at our favourite pizza place (yes, in that order) we prepared to head north to Palermo where we would catch our flight back to Sardinia.  After 5 hours on the road with crazy Italian drivers we felt blessed to arrive in Palermo.  Yes, I admit I required a bit of retail therapy along the way.  In any case, we were very, very happy to arrive in one piece.  King and Google directed me into town and down multiple alleyways to get as close to the B&B as we could get.  Once we left the car we twisted and turned down so many tiny roads I feared we would never find the car again.

That was not, however, to be our problem.  There was no one to let us in at our B&B.  We waited, we called, we spoke to neighbors.  Nada.  It was siesta time so we decided to find a restaurant, get something to drink and wait a bit.  Of the thousands of restaurants in Palermo, we stumbled into A'nica Ristorante & Pizza Gourmet and found our 2nd Guardian Angles of the trip.  Yes, we apparently need a lot of  tending to......  In any case, while enjoying some lovely cold water, King asked the owners if they knew of the B&B and explained our plight.  They didn't know them personally but offered to try to make contact for us.  He got right through. (Hmm - the B&B answered when an Italian phone called.)  It went down hill from there.  We were told our rooms were given away and there are no additional rooms available.  We were both too tired to work up the energy to get outraged.

The restaurant's owners jumped to our rescue.  Within minutes they were leading us to a B&B next to the restaurant that had 1 room left.  Tonight was Dolce & Gabbana big international fashion show in Palermo, which is Dolce's home town.  The place was packed, we felt lucky to get a room.  This one was great!  And did I mention both of them and a customer/friend even stood in a parking spot in front of A'nica Ristorante to help me hold a place for King to bring the car around?  Beyond the fact that the owners of the  A'nica Ristorante are wonderful people, they also have a fantastic restaurant!  We enjoyed the best gourmet meal we have had in Sicily.  I had no idea you could do what they did to ravioli and King's tuna was apparently wonderful.  I wouldn't know because he would not share even one bite!

Half of our Guardian Angels dynamic duo in Palermo.  Fantastic dinner and people!

If in Palermo a must visit.

July 7 - Back to Sardinia!  No damage to rental car, the plane was on time and Ostinato was waiting.....close to where we had left her.

Ziggy Cafe was just down from our B&B and the A'nica Ristorante in Palermo.
We visited in honor of our sweet kitty Ziggy.  It's still closed.  Would buy the sign if I knew who to ask.  

Trish at the helm on Rob Roy

You seriously want me to go all the way up there?!!

The inside court of the Nuragic Palace.  Each door led to a hallway that took you to another part of the structure.

Wash day thankfully comes with instructions in multiple languages.  6€ wash, 6€ dry.

This is Iris.  My birthday present!!!!  
We borrowed her from our niece and nephew when we were in Portland last Dec and I feel in love with her.  

Now we just need to figure out how to get it home!