37 12.1 N 009 07.5 E Cagliari Thursday 7th Oct

Well, so far Cagliari has evaded us. We arrived in Marina del Sole (where we hope to leave the boat) and were helped in by ormeggiatore Max. We have filled in no forms and no one has asked us how long we're here for, nor for any money. The place is ramshackle, but good natured, with many foreign boats - some liveaboards, who obviously take advantage of the fact that this is one of the most reasonable marinas on the island. We had previously had a quote from Massimilius (also Max) the head man for staying afloat. Going ashore may be a better idea, but getting hold of anyone is difficult. Big Max's father (nice but shambling old boy) handles the crane and boatyard, he speaks no English (we can do French), quotes higher than his son, and is usually under the influence of his lunchtime wine in the afternoon! So we ask young Max to get hold of big Max for us. In the meantime, I have discovered the marina's washing machine (in a shed with a rusty roof) and a little supermarket and a huge Auchan hypermarket about 3 miles away. But no sightseeing yet!

And found one of the best chandleries since Alcudia and Gibraltar. If the boat gets left in the water we need to buy steel springs for the warps to deal with surges. We were meant to talk to Max yesterday, but he didn't come after all, so young Max gave us a quote for hauling out and storage ashore that was a bit more than we wanted. But he has no negotiating power. So we still haven't decided. We have sent an email to big Max and in the meantime are going to go out for a few days' sailabout, as the weather is nice now, but forecasting heavy rain (rain?? What's that?) for the weekend. On the way here we went past a little peninsula (and village and bay) called Pula. On the peninsula stand the ruins of a town called Nora, that is more impressive apparently even than Tharros. It has an amphitheatre and remarkable mosaics and much else, so we want to see if we can get there by boat.

Then we'll come back to Cagliari, to do this amazing looking town justice, and get the boat's winter home sorted and start packing the poor boat up to be left and abandoned once more!