From Costa Paradiso to Castelsardo

I feel that at any moment, I could run into Fred and Wilma Flinstone or Barney and Betty Rubble. It truly looks and feels like we're in Bedrock, the setting for one of my favourite television cartoons from childhood, "The Flinstones" here at Costa Paradiso.

We are debating our launch. High winds are predicted, yet the sea is fairly calm but the wind seems to be turning. But, conditions can change rapidly. Last night, the well secured Hilleberg Namatje GT3 flapped and snapped in the strong winds and then the wind died down and I fell asleep listening to waves smashing the coastline from a distance.

The intriguing smooth large grained granite rock is mesmerizing. Slabs, pinacles, fins, gouges, gouda cheese textures and sensuous lines shape the rock, even arches, bowls and complete circular holes. As a friend suggested, the Italian renaissance artists have sculpted these rocks.

Costa Paradiso is a tourist community built on a steep, rocky mountainside, where the coast is rimmed with rocks of innumerable shapes and sizes, creating a sculptured rock garden at the shoreline. Buildings all blend in with the nature, built from the rock they are built upon. It blends in well with the scenery and is not an eyesore like some tourist villages which cover entire mountainsides with apartments covering almost the entire mountainside, like at la Marmorata just east of Sainte Teresa Gallura in the Costa Smerelda where pink, orange and yellow buildings have completely obliterated the nature, all for a small spot on a typical beah.

Yesterday I went for a short walk through these rock valleys where I looked at the art found in Nature. I even found a boar drinking a bottle of beer. See for yourself.

We did launch, shortly before 1 p.m. in fairly calm waters today under grey skies. It was the first time I traded in my short sleeved Knappster Kokatat top for my long sleeved Wave drytop from Kokatat. We stopped after an hour's paddle in an idyllic sheltered cove near Isola Rossa. We then continued on towards Castelsardo, 15 kilometers distant. We headed directly towards the hilltop medieval town with a moderate west side wind, but as usual, we would not be privileged to an easy day's paddle. The wind picked up and threw 2 meter starboard beam waves at us. The sea was quite agitated as the kayak made jerky moves and was jostled about. We made it finally to Castelsardo feeling quite tuckered, with a moderate surf landing which threw a surprise at us. We zoomed about 0.2 meters above a stone ledge about twenty meters out from the fine pebble beach. The kayaks are secured to a stairway next to a very steep cliff which could see rocks tumbling from its walls.

But, we have just finished eating a full pizza each. That's how it's done here in Italy. Everyone orders their own pizza, about 35 centimeters in diameter. We're both tired but well fed.