JACQUES' TRACKS: 2014 - Kayaking archipelago della Maddalena, Sardinia

For my birthday betsy offered to go kayaking with me for a few days, my only work was to select the destination.

Looking at maps I saw two possibilities:

- islands in northern croatia close to Italy

- the maddalena archipelago north of sardinia.

Considering travel time, availability of shelters and beaches we decided on la maddalena.

Sunday night we stayed in camping "baia saraceno" just off Palau, which offered a good place to leave the car and to launch the kayaks since there was a kayak school on site. One of the instructors looked familiar and it turned out to be emmanuele an old friend from my italian kayaking days!

Went for a stroll in Palau and tried restaurant "portichione" which was fine and not too touristy. Walked around the harbor where there was an artists market, betsy made some pictures of funny rugs sticking out of the back of a truck.

Monday morning, grey skies, wind blowing at 15 knots and forcing and sea still reasonnably quiet.

We loaded as fast as possible, and after a few hesitations due to weather and betsy having a cold and not feeling too well, decided to take off.

We did the short crossing from palau to punta vela marina on isola san stefano under strong wind and enjoyed kayaking in rada di santo stefano.

The crossing from san stefano to the bridge between the islands of maddalena and caprera required some attention because of sea and wind funneling in the narrow passage. Things quieted down nicely once under the bridge and in the lee of the maddalena island. Navigated past the abandonned club med village and its thatch roofed paillottes, along their beautiful beach which was quasi deserted. Landed on a beach near "testa di polpo" which to us looked more like "le lion de denfert" in Paris, for rest and lunch.

Decided to keep going towards porto massimo but with wind and waves dead in the nose stopped on a small beach on isola giardinelli, where we had nap, dinner with a nice bottle of rosso di montefalco (perticaia probably offered by Lars) to celebrate bastille day and my birthday, and to spend the nite

Tuesday
Less wind, quieter sea and sunny, shouldbe a good day on a kayak.

We played among the rocks along the north east coast of maddalena until punta marginetto and crossed over to santa maria island thru passo di barretitnelli and passo di santa maria; the wind had picked up somewhat and with the waves straight on the nose it took a long time for this 4 km crossing. We arrived at cala santa maria a crowded beach with hundred of motorboats at anchor and decided to keep going until we found a nice empty beach near punta missoggio that we appropriated immediately.

A few minutes later a motorboat tried to come but seeing us went to a side beach, then another motorboat with a french family hesitated between "our " beach and another one next to it before opting for the "other" beach. Heat was intense and we could not do anything until 15:00 but sit in the shade of a tree. A leasurely ride along the coast and thru the passo degli asinelli until we found a nice empty beach on the western side of santa maria island.

Wednesday

Sunny and windy morning.

Betsy still not feeling too well with her cold, we decided we would go back to base and sleep at the camping grounds tonite and go back home on thursday, a day earlier than anticipated which would give more time to get o rganised in Torraccia before the arrival of guests on saturday.

We went back to cala santa maria beach to drop our garbage but not recipients, I asked people on a commercila boat loading industrial garbage, like roofing material etc, where one could drop garbage and they said nowhere. I kept asking what people do on the island for their garbage and they finally offfered to take it and dump it with the one they were loading. Nice guys.

A quick stop to see spiaggia rosa, which is forbidden to boat, pedestrians, animals, in short "keep out". A clean beach (how could it be otherwise with nobody allowed!) of white sand and transparent water, with some stripes of pink sand but not a pink beach really.

We crossed to spargi island, with waves and wind on the side, a bit unconfortable and had a rest in cala bonifazzinca, crowded with motor boats. Lunch on a small beach only accessible by kayaks near cala soraia and then crossed over to punta nido d'aquila. a nice ride with wind and waves in the back, not too many motorboat since it was lunchtime (14:00).

We found a bar on the beach of punta nido d'aquila where we had a most delicious beer and octopus salad. being so close to the campsite and the wind and sea conditions being favorable we crossed straight to isolotto romano and to palau.

Loading the kayak was fast and putting all the gear in the car even faster followed by a fresh water shower before dinner in the restaurant of the campsite. the next morning ferry to civitavecchia and drive home: it was nice to sleep in a real bed....