Northern Sardinia to Provence Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer, Camargue Rhone Delta, Provence, France May 27, 2005 Hi Folks, We are just getting ready to leave this delightful capital of the Camargue to go to our next port and take down the mast in preparation to entering the Canal du Midi in a few days time. This will end our four years of travels here in the Med. The weather is warm and sunny. Summer is here! I hope to send this when over town today. All is well Enjoy this log which gets us up to the Cote d’Azur. All the best, Aubrey ************************************************************************** Log #34m Northern Sardinia to Provence Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer, Camargue Rhone Delta, Provence, France May 25, 2005 The marina in Santa Teresa Di Gallura is at the end of a cala, with a nice resort development at the inner end and ferry docks on the seaward end. The marina has water and electricity at all the slips, a co-operative and friendly staff, and good washrooms and showers (a jeton for the showers is only 2 Euros). There is a long 15 minute hike up (300 metres up!) around the resort development into town, a modern, clean (no graffiti) community, with spectacular vistas over the coastline and a few lovely sandy swimming beaches below the headlands. The town has all the amenities of a couple of supermarkets, butcher shops, internet café, tourist shops, several plazas, good restaurants, library, chandleries, car rentals, and a good tourist information centre. One of the industries there is the production of cork from cork oak trees. We saw slabs of cork, wine bottle corks, as well as bottles, cups, and bowls insulated with cork sheathing. An enjoyable (for me) local specialty was a drink called Mirto, an herbal liquor with myrtle. I also picked up a Sardinian flag which we flew beneath our Italian courtesy flag. The Sardinian flag is a white background bearing the red cross of St. George. In each of the four quadrants is a black Moor’s head with a white headband. Until recently the headband had been over the eyes, symbolizing the conquest and beheading on the marauding Moors over a 500 year history. However, now the white headband is on the foreheads, as it is on the Corsican flag, representing a more politically correct, enlightened sense of history. I don’t think there is as strong an independence sentiment in Sardinia as there is in Corsica. We had three solid days of force 6 to 8 west and northwest winds, and did not want to go to Porto Conte (westwards, what else!) near Alghero to rendezvous with Jacques and Andree. As the marina was so economical (5 Euros a day) we stayed at Santa Teresa and rented a car to drive the 140 km to pick them up. The car rental was an economical 50 euros a day, but gas at 1.25 Euros a litre was expensive. A car is picked up with minimal gas in it and the first destination is a gas station. The implication is to bring it back as near empty as possible. I miscalculated and filled up with 50.00 Euros of gas (40 litres) of which I used only two thirds, returning the car with far more gas than I had received it. It was a bright sunny day and we had a lovely trip down to Alghero to pick up Jacques and Andree, going down the coast route, two-lane blacktop in good condition. On our way back we took an inland route going through several dramatic mountain valleys, and stopping in an old walled town for lunch. We also stopped to explore a nuraghe, a prehistoric piled stone fortification/communal residence/sanctuary. These circular stone structures, some with four or five rooms, and small internal terraces, were built by the Middle Bronze Age Nuragi Civilization which lasted from about 1600 to 600 BC. I am always impressed by the ability of these primitive peoples to build such structures of massive stones with their limited technology. At the same site (The Nurahe Majori) was a small horse farm with several cork oak trees, giving us an opportunity to see how the cork bark is stripped off the lower trunks, and then shipped to a local processing plant to be made into a variety of cork products, an important part of the local economy. We were told the tree regrows a thick enough layer to be reharvested in ten years. On returning to Santa Teresa we shopped for a few groceries before returning the car. The four of us had a lovely meal up in town before returning to Veleda to get organized for an early morning departure for the 170 miles up to the Cote d’Azur on the south coast of France. Jacques and Andree wanted to experience an overnight passage. This 36 hour sail provided them a gentle opportunity, albeit a motor trip all the way in light force 2 or 3 winds, except for 45 minutes when we were able to fly our spinnaker. Then, Murphy’s Law, as we were enjoying the only sailing and spinnaker run of the whole passage, and with only a couple of hours to our anticipated anchorage, we were hailed on VHF by the French Navy, and instructed to “immediately” head due north, 90 degrees off our course line, for 9 miles to clear an active military exercise area. This added another three hours to get to our anchorage at Baie de Briande (43˚ 10.29’N, 006˚ 38.33’E) at 1916 after a long 36 hour passage. There was no standing military exclusion zone indicated in our pilot, except around Ile du Levant. No military exercise was announced on the Navtex, but we were aware that the easternmost island of the Iles d’Hyeres, Ile du Levant, is a French naval base. These islands, which we were to visit a day later, were strategic to the eastern approach to Toulon, the major French naval base in the Med. Oh well, the joys of the cruising life! At least we were now on the Cote d’Azur. We did not want to go to San Tropez, Nice, Cannes, or Monaco as they are just big expensive cities. We prefer the smaller communities and isolated anchorages, exploring the coastlines and countrysides, and any interesting archeological, historical or marine museums. For us there was greater interest in Toulon and Marseilles, the Iles d’Hyeres leading to Toulon, and the Isles de Frioul and Ile d’If outside of Marseilles. More about these locations in my next log. Next Log