{"id":514,"date":"2013-05-28T20:20:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T19:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/merrington.net\/?p=514"},"modified":"2013-05-28T20:20:38","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T19:20:38","slug":"the-sun-shines-in-costa-smeralda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/?p=514","title":{"rendered":"The sun shines in Costa Smeralda"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning, we left Bonifacio in the rain. \u00a0We had a walk to the Piazza, amidst all the building and paving works. Even in the drizzle, grey skies and cold morning, Bonifacio was picturesque. \u00a0As you sail past, you can see houses on limestone cliffs that seem fixed and solid but from the sea you see large rocks of limestone which have been undermined, the huge blocks resting at the bottom of the cliff.<\/p>\n

\"All<\/a>
All these houses have been undermined like yesterday’s photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The trip to Sardinia is cold, short and easy – as long as you have an autopilot that can dodge all the reefs, rocks and islands in the Straights of Bonifacio. \u00a0Even with a Coursemaster, you have to be diligent, because there is so much traffic. \u00a0In the straights, you will see large cruise ships, ferries, sailing boats, cargo ships and fishing boats and all the RIBs*, making it quite an exercise in concentration. \u00a0James likes the autopilot, he feels like the captain overseeing his ship and directing his helmsman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Strange<\/a>
Strange rock formations of Sardinia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Porto Cervo is overcast as we arrive and but then the sun comes out and we revel in the warmth and sunshine. James sailed here in 1980 and can see the changes.<\/p>\n

The harbour and marina are well laid out, if slightly empty. \u00a0The Costa Smeralda has such a reputation for being incredibly expensive, that several fellow cruisers have said they will bypass it. At this time of year, the tariff isn’t too expensive and the hot showers are worth it.**<\/p>\n

\"Superyachts<\/a>
Superyachts starting to assemble in Port Cervo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 1 must be the start of the season, because there are two regattas coming up and several super yachts have come in since we arrived. Kokomo is here but flying a Cayman Island flag. \u00a0There is not a varnished mast to be seen. \u00a0These masts are like church spires rising \u00a0200 feet in the air and maybe 8 feet across at the top. \u00a0We have a photo to share with you – raising the club burgee on a Super Yacht.<\/p>\n

\"Raising<\/a>
Raising the burgee on a superyacht (note the burgee is some 6 feet high)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"To<\/a>
To give some perspective the guy in the previous photo is at the top of the mast in the foreground (not as tall as the one behind)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We wish we could share the scents of the fresh bread baking wafting from the Boulangerie in the morning and the church bells ringing here in Porto Cervo and the jazz streaming from Swiss Jazz. \u00a0At the moment, we only have bandwidth for words and photos, so we hope you enjoy them.<\/p>\n

\"Expecting<\/a>
Expecting 35 yachts of just this size<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ciao Bella<\/p>\n

*RIB – Rubber inflatable boats
\n**Showers – we paid E2.5 for cold showers one day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, we left Bonifacio in the rain. \u00a0We had a walk to the Piazza, amidst all the building and paving works. Even in the drizzle, grey skies and cold morning, Bonifacio was picturesque. \u00a0As you sail past, you can see houses on limestone cliffs that seem fixed and solid but from the sea you … Continue reading The sun shines in Costa Smeralda<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VxXq-8i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":531,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}