Sardinia ..... July 2010

Cruising info for Sardinia - Porto Brandinghi and Olbia:-
Anchorages -
Porto Brandinghi - 40 50.087N 09 41.704E 5.5m find a sandy spot. Large big bay affording shelter from almost all winds, would get swell from southeast. Worth making landfall here before Olbia if coming from Italy as lovely area from here north and shouldn't be missed.
Olbia Town Quay - 40 55.349N 09 30.407 5m If busy expect rafting. There were prohibited areas but it filled up while we were there and people were tying everywhere, no one official came around. Can anchor off good protection close to dock but town quay free so enjoy it,
Communications - Italian Dongle still working. WIND shop up main street on left if needed (somehow we needed to put more money on ours - no surprise there!) TIM and Vodafone both good signal on phones
Money - ATM at beginning of main street on left. All ATM's we tried (Alghero, Olbia, Porto Cervo, Canigione) only would allow 250Euro per transaction
Provisions - An excellent Super U Supermarket is a short walk (around 5 minutes)from dock. Cross the road by harbour and carpark and head left towards then parallel to the flyover. You will see a curbside fuel station, Super U is just past it on the right (the anchorage is on the left, and if you were at anchor you could posibly bring dinghy right there). Take your trolley - you will buy heaps. There was a 'fromaggio man' who came around every evening in a white van selling cheeses
Fuel - There is the fuel station mentioned directly above which was definitely cheaper, or there is a tie-up fuel dock in the harbour. Diesel from the fuel dock was 1.33Euro per litre, from memory the regular fuel station was 1.25Euro per litre
Sightseeing - We hired our Fiat Panda from Pal@Rent in via Regina Elena (same street also had Hertz which was more expensive and no cars available). It was 60Euro a day with unlimited km's, but because we wanted it on Sunday it cost 100Euro as they are not open. We collected it 6pm Sat night and returned it 9am Monday. Our two Bronze Age excursions cost 3Euro per person entry

Cruising info for Isla Porri, Golfo de Marinella, Porto Cervo and Golfo Pevero:-
Anchorages -
Isla Polli - 40 57.499N 09 35.123E 6m sand, can tuck in further in shallower water, nice spot if late leaving Olbia as just an hour north
Golfo de Marinella - 41 01.20N 09 35.54E 8m sand, we had a little beach to ourselves for big happy hour and no others boats at anchor, magic
Porto Cervo - didn't get lat/long but sharp right as you come in the entrance room for maybe 4 yachts in shallow but clear water, a couple of yachts were anchored past the mooring buoys but it looked very shallow
Golfo Pevero - 41 07.01N 09 32.85E 8.5m sand big bay, tuck up inside all the Big Boys
Communications - WIND Dongle, Vodafone and TIM phones all good
Money - Porto Cervo only place with anything. ATM machine 250Euro max
Provisions - Good supermarket at Porto Cervo, and only a tad more expensive
Eating Out - Lord Nelson Pub in Porto Cervo excellent hamburger and chips (how bad is that!!!)

Cruising info for Cannigione and Porto Liscia:-
Anchorages -
Cannigione - 41 06.485N 09 26.83E 4.5m sandy patches amongst weed. We heard you could tie up for free on the inside wall of the outer breakwater for the marina which is unfinished and there were some boats there. Not many bollards to tie to though.
Porto Liscia - 41 11.875N 09 18.931E 6.5m sandy patches amongst weed. Its a big long bay and we were in the eastern end
Communications - WIND dongle, TIM and Vodafone phones all working ok
Money and Provisions - Cannigione has everything you would expect from a small town. Fuel dock on outside wall of marina. Nothing at Porto Liscia except small bar and windsurf school

Italian Islands ..... June & July 2010

Cruising Info for Procida:-
Anchorages - Corricella 40 45.322N 14 01.460E 9.5m sand and weed
Communications - WIND dongle ok, TIM and Vodafone on phone ok
Money - ATM's over in northern town
Provisions - small minimarket and bakery up hill by church, better provisions over in northern bay
Formalities - of course not!

Cruising Info for Ischia and Ventotene:-
Anchorages -
Castello d'Ishia (Southern Bay): Deleted lat/long in error, whoops. 9.6m weed and sand, zoom chart right in to see the non anchoring area. We paid €2.50 each, each way for the water taxi. Other boats did manage to find places to leave dinghy but its not very easy
Ventotene: lat/long deleted as incorrect sorry. 9m sand, weed and rock. We couldn't tuck in any closer as it was all buoyed off for swimming areas. There were about 20 yachts in the Roman harbour, bit lively coming out into the nor'easter as its a tiny entrance. Good half way point to Ponza but wouldn't stop there again, maybe further down around the island a little would have been better.
Communications - No WIND signal for dongle in either, poor Vodafone and no TIM on phones Money - ATM's on Ischia
Provisions - Good supermarket on left side on main road in Ischia towards main town
Formalities - no, no,no!

Cruising info for Ponza:-
Anchorages - Ponza 40 54.274N 12 57.907E 9m sand with weedy patches
Communications - Vodafone and TIM signal ok but we couldn't get WIND for dongle. Could get it further out in anchorage (better line around headland to aerial) and ashore so took laptop and dongle in and sat and had a coffee
Money - ATM on main waterfront ****Can't remember limit here but limit in Sardinia is only €250 per transaction, some machines worse at €200****
Provisions - Lots of minimarkets, fruit/veg shops, 3 butchers. Conad supermarket on waterfront round to right, through the tunnel and along a little. Also deli along there with best bread so far in Italy and yummy ricotta tarts
Formalities - Coastguard buzzed around but never stopped by

OFF TO SARDINIA FROM HERE, SEE SEPARATE POSTING UNDER SARDINIA

Cruising info for Marina di Campo and Porto Azzurro on Elba:-
Anchorages -
Marina di Campo 42 44.699N 10 14.504E 8.5m sand, just a little roll sometimes
Porto Azzurro 42 45.602N 10 23.648E 9.5m sand. (Sundancer II were slightly in front of us and got their chain wrapped around a huge piece of machinery on the bottom. We had had changeable winds and had moved direction frequently. They eventually cleared it, with Mark in the water directing them around the obstruction.)
Communications - yippee, back in dongle land!! but .... it didn't work. Topped up just 5Euro in WIND shop in Portoferraio which got it back into action. Phone signals good.
Ashore - Dinghies can be left on beaches in both or tie to wall in harbour/marina. Both towns had everything you need. Good supermarkets in both (Marina di Campo best one by bus station/tourist office). Got diesel from marina in Porto Azzurro, didn't note price.
Sightseeing - Our bus to Portoferraio was 4.50Euro each return, slightly more if you buy ticket from driver. There is also a one day pass valid for all the island. The tourist office is right by the bus station in Marina di Campo. They gave us a list of car hire places. Our car (small and only 2 door) was only 45Euro from 9am to 7pm and we put in 15Euro fuel. We collected it from Centro Noleggio, on the main road out of town about 10mins walk, the office is a wooden shed with a postage stamp sized sign, in a carpark with several pushbikes and motorbikes parked in front.

Sicily and Aeolian Islands ..... June 2010

View Anchorages on Sicilys East Coast and Aeolian Islands in a larger map

Cruising info for Siracusa, Sicily - from our visit in 2009:-
Anchorages - We ended up anchoring in 4 different spots, 2 in the southern bay and 2 in the north. The 2nd spot in the north was closer to town to get out of the swell but when the winds eased the coastguard asked us all to move back out so I have only given the one they were happy with. The one given in the south is good for night arrival if a southerly is blowing.
Siracusa South ... 37 02.427N 15 17.509E dropped 8m settled 13m, totally sheltered in southerly
Siracusa North ... 37 03.556N 15 17.316E 9m mud good holding. We took our dinghy into the marina and locked it right by the Marina office, they didn't mind
Internet - Dongle now working, We bought it in Brindisi, it is an unlocked one (should be able to use any country with any providers sim card) Dongle cost 89E, 100hours access 15E using WIND, (can get smaller amount but I had paid for 100hours when arriving in Brindisi thinking I would be using it for all the time in Italy) Vodafone offer one month or 3GB's for 25E we thought the 100hours was better for us. Then paid another 15E for connection or something that we couldn't understand THEN another 2 lots of 5E in Brindisi trying to get it to go, then another 5E in Siracusa when I was told to wait 24hours before using it, and now it goes!!! Not sure how long unused credit will last.
Money - Several ATM's in town
Provisions - The morning market is excellent, fresh produce, fish and seafood (snails if it rains!!) also olives, cheeses, breads and butcher. Head straight ahead from the marina exit towards sea on the other side. Go past big ruins on your right, turn right and then left. Supermarket, small but adequate - turn right before/at ruins (same ruins as in previous directions!) and go up the main street. Think it's first lane (maybe 2nd) on left, about 2nd shop in on left, no sign outside. You can see the Carrefour sign lit up at night from the anchorage but its hard to get to without a car.
Formalities - Coastguard came around every couple of days. The first time they asked where we had come from and where our next port would be. No paperwork needed . Still not completed any in Italy.
Sightseeing - Rented our car from Hollywood Rentals, cheap and cheerful. Turn left out of marina entrance, then 1st right and they are on the first corner on the right. The Fiat Panda was 70E for 2days weekend rate including only 200kms (all companys same limited mileage and yes, this was the cheapest around by far) Our so extra miles cost 52E and fuel 22E, not so bad between 2 couples. Certainly not a cheap way to see Mt Etna but cheaper than staying in the marina in Riposte. Visiting Mt Etna - the cable car and bus combo was 51E per person (eek!) Only cable car 30E. It's a huge walk from the carpark - you would want all day, and it's still a big walk from the top of the cable car. Charge for a halfday in the carpark was a couple of euros.

Additional info from our return in 2010 below:
Internet...the continuing saga - There are NO unlocked wifi signals in Italy. Our Simcard from last year was still active so another 15Euros was paid to allow 100 hours access for a month, plus 5Euros to get credit back on the Sim (still have no idea why this is needed!). We waited until the next morning before using it and all was well. What we have since learnt is that it did not activate 30 days from this new date, it was from our "anniversary" date of when we first topped up last year so we only ended up getting about 8 days for our 15Euro, oh well. The other thing that is a good idea to do to speed the activation up is once you have paid your 15Euro, put your Sim in a phone and text 100 SI to 4033 or if you have bought the 50 hours for 9Euro text ORE SI to 4033. You will receive a confirmation back immediately advising it is being processed and will take up to 48 hours. Do not use it until you receive the next text which reads Gentile cliente, La informiamo che la promozione è già attiva. Per maggiori informazioni visiti il sito www.155.it then you can dongle away to your hearts content. WIND does not have great coverage but it seems the best plan for your money. We have been told that the cheaper Vodafone plan allows a maximum of one hours internet access per day, if you go over this it uses up your balance very quickly, but the more expensive plan allows 5 hours per day. I am not sure if they have other plan options. 

Cruising info for Naxos:-

Anchorage:- 37 49.657N 15 16.415E 8.5m sand

Internet:- Dongle working, WIND signal

Money and Provisions:- ATM, Bank and Conad Supermarket on seafront in Naxos

Sightseeing:- The main road runs parallel to the seafront a couple of blocks back, next to the railway line. Morning buses to Taormina 0920 0950 1020 1050 1150. From Taormina to Castelmolo 1145 1245 1415. 5.60Euro return per trip (cheaper to buy return). There are also day trips available to Mt Etna from Naxos.

Cruising Info for the Aeolian Islands:-
Anchorages - The Italian Waters Pilot recommends the Aeolian Group as fair weather anchorages only. We felt they were as good as any, and there are choices to move if the wind changes direction. They are really worth the stopover.
Porto Levante, Vulcano: 38 25.040N 14 57.658E 4m sand
Valle Muria, Lipari: 38 27.550N 14 55.944E 9.5m sand
Communications - We had Vodafone and TIM coverage on our phones at both anchorages but no WIND for our dongle at either. But could get WIND at Vulcano East anchorage apparantely and probably ashore.
Sightseeing - €3 entry fee per person to climb Vulcano and €2 per person for the mud bath

Money - Don't remember seeing an ATM but I'm sure there would have been one
Provisions/Fuel - A couple of reasonable supermarkets, excellent butcher and good fruit and veg shops all ashore in Vulcano, small place all easy enough to find. Fuel Dock over in Lipari town at location in Cruising Guide which White Rose used. €1.32 per litre
Formalities - still none in Italy

To view a map of our anchorages in Sicily and the Aeolians in a new page click HERE