Life On Sail

 This morning, we took Matt to the bus station in Palau as he was having an early plane to Berlin.  We took advantage of waking up in the wee hours to do the laundry and go to the market while the rest of the boys were sleeping.  We went island hopping again to have one last memorable water fun before everyone is off this afternoon.  We had lunch and another bday cake for Caro this time! Yesterday was H centric because I didn't explain properly it was 2 birthdays... they understood it was 2 candles...  After we dropped off Enzo and Caro, we headed back with our son to a creek for a peaceful mooring. 

 In the morning, while the kids were sleeping, we went out and about the tiny city of Maddalena. In the 19th century it was called the little Paris so much it was animated and cosmopolitan.  Maddalena is also where Napoleon Bonapart, as a lieutenant-colonel, experienced his first defeat when France tried to get this island from the Italians.  We didn't stay long, here is a little video montage of our stop over: 11 am is when you are asked to leave the harbor. Maddalena is the most expensive marina we've stayed at so far.  The facilities are minimal. Electricity and water. It was 86 euros for a 12m sailboat (40ft).  The shower and toilets close at 8:30 pm! And you have to pay extra.  We went island hopping in the afternoon, trying to find the perfect creek.  It's Matt's last night with us, the boys took over the navigation on the way back to Palau.  We took advantage of everyone being gathered to celebrate ahead of time, Caroline and our son's bday...

 We were supposed to pick up everyone, son and friends, at Palau on the evening 8 July.  However, we were stuck for 2 days in the same creek because of the strong wind gusts.  So on the morning of 9 July, we woke up early and took a 2h30 ride to head to Palau.  The Palau harbor master didn't let us touch and go to pick up everyone.  I had to row to the dock to get everyone and their luggage.  But all went fine and we headed straight away to our creek hopping adventures.   We stayed at the main island of Maddalena this evening, and had our first Sardinian meal there.  We tried the local Fregola del mare specialty, little tiny pasta that looks like miniature gnocchis.  And the seada, which is a cheese and honey pastry. 

 We have few days to kill before we can pick up our son and our friends in Sardinia.  We have bought a week permit to access the Maddalena infamous archipelago.  The permit is 40% cheaper for sailboat! And it's 5% cheaper if you book online.  However we were never checked during our stay by the coastal guards, even if they passed by several times.  We did go island hopping, trying the check the Spiaggia Rosa on our way. This beach is supposed to be pink but it's not anymore.  You cannot access it anymore, you can only see it from afar.  We also tried to go see the Tahiti of Sardinia. But there were too many people.  We saw it from afar and it was a bit tiny and disappointing in my opinion.  We ended up mooring at Caprera, an island connecte to the main island of Maddalena. 

In the morning, we had a little dip before we were off to Sardinia!  Sardinia is so close, after 2 hours were were already in Italian water. It ewas just 12 nautical miles apart.