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Pizza Paddling; No Paddle in the Park

Paddling from one pizzeria to another is not a paddle in the park. We launched from Melisenda Sunday morning with the sea a shiny mirror. But as predicted, the calm morning would become a moderately strong headwind. We had slept camped on yet another beach which posted a "No camping" sign. Thankfully we did not need to post a "Do not disturb" sign on our fabulous Hilleberg tent. With our two recent encounters with the Italian police, camping on public beaches where it states clearly that it is forbidden always makes me nervous.

The morning was warm, with dramatic skies and towering mountains with rock eroded in whimsical formations. I heard bleating and found several goats very sure footedly scrambling over near vertical cliffs. Then, we met Francesco M. and his son Andrea kayaking Francesco showed us a few jewels along the shore, nooks and crannies and hidden coves. He also offered invaluable advice for paddling the shoreline north of us. He owns and operates Cardedu Kayak, Scuola e Turismo. As Rene surfed ashore to get Francesco's card, I waited beyond the breaking waves for 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes and I lost my patience. I turned my kayak which bobbed in increasingly bigger swells as the wind picked up. I was frustrated. We had made little distance with delays, and I realized that my pace of journeying by kayak is different from Rene's, who is not a morning person. But as Rene pointed out, Italians like to talk:-)

And then we had a slog into a moderate headwind which set flags fluttering perpendicular to their poles. I enjoyed the waves, many washing over my kayak and splashing me soaking wet, but they were tepid in temperature. Sometimes my kayak climbed steep faces and slid down from the crest, burying into the trough. In my best estimation, within half an hour of the wind starting, the waves had grown to 1.5 meters, with some 2 meters in height. But Rene seemed to paddle so slow. So, I decided to make the paddle in the waves a photo opportunity. Waves always seem to be bigger when one is kayaking in them.

Nevertheless, the best advice Francesco gave us was to paddle towards the tower in the distance where we would find a sheltered landing place along this very exposed shore to the northeasterly winds. These winds can bring a good punch and are known as grecale.

Here we found an old pirate watch tower, Torre di Bari. Most towns are located inland, away from the coast so the island's setttlements were not visible to marauding pirates and armies. This makes it more difficult as a kayaker to replenish our supplies as coastal communities are mainly tourist facilities and summer homes. And, we managed to have the sea steal our last fuel bottle a few days ago at Spaggia San Giovanni near Murevera. And thus, we have been paddling from one pizzeria to the next... but pizza paddling as Rene points out, is no paddle in the park with the headwinds we paddled against. Now we are at Bar Chiosco Su Zilleri at Torre di Barre, but this evening, there's a pizza place next door. So, who says that expedition paddling needs to be remote and food prepared on a campstove? Music plays comfortingly, Dire Straits. And ironically, as we landed on the pebble beach with a handful of sunbathers, a deluge of rain poured from the sky accompanied by rumbles of thunder.

And now it is Monday and we ventured inland to Bari Sardo. Ironically the sea again beckoned us with a gentle mood but we needed to replenish our food supply and obtain fuel because pizzerias are not located on all beaches. Rene also ruthlessly eliminated surplus gear which was sent to ur host, Giacomo Della Gatta, in Palermo. I had to laugh. Before arriving at the post office wicket, we played "The Price is Right". We were certain that the full banana box would cost a mere fortune, but the clerk announced 7 Euros. I keep telling myself, "This is Italy."

We are blogging in a gelateria, icecream bar. Gelato in Italy is another culinary adventure not to be missed.

The weather forecast looks very good. We'll continue heading northwards towards Santa Maria Navarrese.

Pizza to Pizza Paddling

We had a nice day on the water today. We started in great style with an hours break after an hours paddling, but after that we paddled for five and a half hours almost without break.

Initially we had it easy. Tailing swells of 1-2m and a pleasant tailwind gave us good speed, but in the middle of the Cala de Murtas the wind changed suddenly from S to W, probably funneled by the mountains. We then had swells from SE and waves from W which was new to me. It caused some interesting wave patterns. Just as we came across the bay for a cherished break, the wind turned to N and the rest of the day was double work at half speed.

We didn't get as far as we wanted before it got close to sunset and we had to search for a landing spot. We ended up in Melisenda, some 30 km south of Arbatax.

As we started to set up camp and preparing some serious camping cooking, we discovered that our cooking alcohol wasn't there. I had taken it out of the hatch the evening before and left it beside my kayak, but during the night the sea had eaten away at the brink, and the bottle was gone. The kayaks almost went the same way, as the sea had dug away under them too.

In any case, we were sitting on a beach with food but no gas or alcohol for camping stove. Hunger can drive even the sanest person to extremes, and we walked out into the darkness, dressed only in headlamps (almost) in search of a place to eat. After having scared an elderly lady in a house out of her wits, we got some instructions on how to find the local pizzeria.

Apparently destiny will have it that we paddle from pizza to pizza. It is somewhat of consolation that the pizzas here are very good. One in our little group uses stronger words, though.

We're here:

Spiaggia San Giovanni

Right now we're sitting in a bar at the harbour of Porto Corallo near the village of Villaputzu.

We spend the night on a beach called Spiaggia San Giovanni, just behind a fishfarm. We had a brillian dinner in a local restaurant where we ate pizza. According to Wendy her seafood pizza was "orgasmic" :-)

There's quite a bit of surf on the beaches here so landing and launching is a bit tricky, but we usually do manage to find good spots.

Yesterday was a quiet paddle from Cala Pira. We had wind and waves in our favour, so we could enjoy the coastline and the sea.

Our plan for today is to get about halfways to Arbatax, if possible to Marina di Gàiro.

Our campsite:

Capo Carbonara

We have arrived in Sardinia and have been paddling for 2.5 days with relentless headwinds. We have been fortunate to receive weather reports from Karel Vissel who emails us daily. We have camped for two nights now, the first on a microscopic sliver of sand next to a yacht club where we met Roberto, a local dentist, who paddled with us for a short while.

Last night, we landed on a cobble beach and had a soft camping spot on dead sea grass. It's been warm enough to paddle in a t-shirt. I even snorkelled briefly near Solanas and purchased 9 more litres of water from the Van Gogh Restaurant.

Today, we rounded Capo Carbonara, and lunched at the Delphino Club Restaurant near Villasimius. THIS is Italy! Now, if only the headwinds would die down.

Paddling in Sardinia

So, we're finally on the water in Sardinia. We started at 16 o'clock and paddled for two hours. We're still quite close to Cagliari, but we've started and it feels almost like an achievement after all the problems we've had in the last weeks.

We're camping on a small beach just besides Cagliari Yacht Club.

Change of plans

Any adventure involves coping with the unexpected and the unforeseen. Unfortunately, I have had a solid dose of unexpected and unforeseen even before the start of our journey, as I lost all my personal and vehicle documents on the way to Italy two weeks ago.

I left Denmark early to guide a group of Danish kayakers on a week long trip to Venice and the lagoon, but became stuck in Venice afterwards waiting for temporary identification documents and new credit cards without which it would be difficult to proceed. This situation should be solved by Monday September 24 when I will get a temporary passport at the consulate.

Due to these delays I haven't been able to join up with Wendy in Palermo as planned. Instead Wendy will join me in Venice on Monday, and after a day's paddle in the city and the lagoon, we will proceed to Civitavecchia near Rome, where we will take the ferry to Cagliari. Our journey will therefore commence with a few days delay, on the morning of Thursday September 27 when the ferry arrives in Cagliari.

Needless to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed my prolonged stay in Venice, and I hope Wendy will enjoy her short stay here too, but we are both itching to get started on a journey we've been planning for months.