The idea was to stay at anchor one night on Corsica before crossing the Strait of Bonifacio to Sardinia.

But the conditions were good, partially sailing with genakker for the first time in a while, so we decided to continue. And it was a smooth crossing, only the swell was little higher than Alla had imagined (about 1.8 m).

As we knew there was some heavy winds forecasted from the west, we were heading for an anchorage in a bay behind the small island, Isla Spargi. But..., it was terribly crowded and a lot of traffic from tourist cruise ships was creating swell and disturbance.

So, we continued towards the larger island, La Maddalena. Growing a little tired and discouraged, we tried to contact a small marina that had good reviews on Navily - no answer. But as we were passing, we approached the marina to see, anyway. They received us in a dinghy, and kindly promised to find us a berth.

It showed to be a completely unprotected berth at a floating pontoon. From Navily, we had seen the price for Sakura should be 84 € per night. But the very friendly businessman of a harbour master now said the price was 120 - 140 €, and referred to high season etc. etc.

After some negotiations, I got him down to 100 € but still excessive for an unprotected berth, in a marina with no shower rooms. They promised that the swell would disappear during the evening, and they were actually right. We had a drink in the cosy marina restaurant and slept well during the night. Happy ending, after all :-)

And, by the way, Sardinia also have an odd flag in the same style as Corsica...

The pattern for the following days is more or less, two days anchorage followed by one or two days in marina.

The marina fees are exorbitant here in August (150-200 €/day), so anchorages are a free and highly appreciated alternative.

We were a little anxious that there would be crowded all over, but it has actually not been the case. We managed to spot good locations where we were almost alone. Blessed by good weather we really enjoyed the swimming and relaxing at some paradise-like anchorages.

We are taking our time approaching Olbia, which is the final destination this year.

Our fishy friends that have followed us all over the Med. They are easy to spot in the crystal clear water, we experience at most anchorages.

They are called saddled seabream and they seem to like the shadow under the boat. They are not scared of us when swimming but almost eating from the hand.