2019 Sailing Season - Approximately 3800 nm cruising Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, Italy Greece and Albania.
As always at the end of the sailing season we like to look back on where we have been, what we have experienced and in particular pick out a few memorable highlights.
The 2019 season didn’t start out as planned with a delay of one month to our original set date for cruising. This in hindsight turned out to be a blessing as it forced us to throw out the window any preset ideas of where we were going to be and when. Thankfully our intended visitors were equally flexible and so set the stage for an every changing itinerary dictated by the wind or the enjoyment found in a place.
I would say we really took this season to a new relaxed cruising level.
A few highlights along the way:
Having the opportunity to cruise from Cartagena to Valencia was an unexpected bonus particularly as we discovered a few new anchorages along the way including the pretty Isle of Tabarca.
Riding bikes along the river way in Valencia to the Old Town is always a great day out
White sand anchorages Sardinia
Never say Never.
After visiting the East Coast of Sicily in 2017 we declared we would never spend anytime cruising in Sardinia again. Well that of course was until we landed in Porto Pino on the west coast in July and discovered beautiful, quiet white sand beaches and coves. We were so impressed we had our second set of guests, Paul and Kirsty of Darwin join us for a very relaxed few days meandering amongst the stunning waters.
The remains of a city gate from 1570 provides views out to harbour Cefalu
The Charming town of Cefalu.
When we left Sardinia the plan was set to sail to Italy but the wind was to dictate if we went along the top of Sicily or around the bottom. As luck would have it the winds landed us in the beautiful township of Cefalu. A beautiful backdrop for our anchorage and city to wonder around. A real highlight and one we would love to return to.
Probably the prettiest element of our berth in Taranto was this bridge at night
Exploring a little of of Puglia
The township of Matera officially in the region of Basilicata had been on my radar for well over a year so it was a highlight that we could find a berth in the harbour of Taranto to explore both Matera and Alberobello the Trulli Capital located in the region of Puglia.
For Jim and Cathy it was a hot but very beautiful introduction to southern Italy. .
Matera
Looking out from Brutint National Park Albania
Albania.
This was definitely the most surprising of all places. We thought we would stay perhaps one or two days before returning to the Ionian islands to explore. We loved the people and the place so much we stayed for three weeks and never made it to Montenegro as previously planned.
Another great season completed.
2020 promises to be a mix of some amazing land travel and sailing.
Looking forward as always to being back on the water.