Street Market, Palermo

Palermo is fantastic and full of contradictions. We went sight-seeing for one day, the next day temperatures rose to well over 100 °F (42°C in the shade!) and red desert sand  covered everything. Tom walked around town in the heat, Klaus and I stayed on the boat and tried not to move.

At anchor after crossing from Sicily to Sardinia

The next day, we left Sicily and headed Northwest to Sardinia. We had a crossing of 38 hours with decent winds that brought us most of the way to a lovely anchorage called Porto Brandinchi. After two nights in the bay with water temperatures of 72°F (21°C) and not much swimming for Miss Alabama, but more for the men, we went to Olbia, where Tom had to leave. Auf Wiedersehen, lieber Tom!

Anchorage at Isola Budelli with a hungry bird

After stocking up in Olbia we went to some of the meautiful anchorages in the Maddalena Islands in the North of Sardinia. We prefer the ones that are avoided by the superyachts that are often seen around Sardinia – Porto Cervo. The largest one so far was Quantum Blue, owned by a Russian oligarch, 384 feet in length. Sardinian architecture is modest – see below – and adapted to nature; the megayachts are not, they spoil the scenery!

Marina Maddalena