“Tourists, remember you are not in Italy” – a “friendly” graffiti message in a tunnel in the town of Santa Teresa on Sardinia. Message received.
The Arcipelago di La Maddalena is a national park with seven principal islands – three in the northern group: Isola Budelli, Razzoli, and Santa Maria, and four in the southern group: La Maddalena, Caprera, Spargi, and Santo Stefano.
Our base for the week was my dad’s “new” house on the eastern side of La Maddalena, near the causeway to Caprera. The house had recently been remodeled and was purchased from their local banker. Even though the 1-bedroom/1-bathroom two-story residence is small by American standards, it is very efficient in terms of maximizing all of the available space with built-in cabinets and storage in every room. We certainly appreciated the good A/C, internet, and washing machine during our week-long stay. We had the entire place to ourselves too while my dad stayed at their original studio nearby (where we stayed during our first visit in May 2017).
The town of La Maddalena is characterized by the pastel-colored 18th-century style buildings that line the promenade. The hub of the island lies along the main road, Via Garibaldi, across from the harbor for the ferry dock and marina for small boats and tour operators. During “the season,” La Maddalena is a prime destination for European tourists escaping the mainland for their summer holiday. “The season” brings high temperatures and lots of traffic to this small island.
We eased into the day on Monday morning with a delivery by my dad of fresh cornettos (the Italian version of a French croissant) from Benatti, a local cafe near the house. Then, we stopped by the dive center on the island to set up a plan for Kurt and picked up some groceries for the week. With those tasks completed, we had lunch at Belvedere, a small outdoor restaurant located atop the western hills with beautiful views of the western islands. Interestingly, this restaurant and others like it are in a protected park reserve and must be disassembled at the end of the summer and reassembled the next year before the crowds return.
While Kurt did his first scuba dive in the afternoon, my dad dropped me off at Capocchia du Purpu/Testa di Polpo Beach. Both names translate to “Octopus Head Beach,” and once you’re there, it’s easy to see why. There’s one particular formation that really does look like the head of a giant octopus! Located on the island of Giardinelli, connected to La Maddalena via a bridge, this beach has fine sand, shallow waters, and brilliantly blue seas. I enjoyed some time snorkeling then simply walked back to the house when I was done for the afternoon.
Dad delivered dinner to us at the house from Speedy Pizza because Kurt is working remotely from 4pm to 12am due to the time difference back to Austin. Our plan is to play during the day and for him to work during the evening. While unsure how this arrangement would work in practice, Kurt was willing to give it a try this week as a means of extending our vacation time here.
Since my dad’s boat was at the boatyard for a repair (estimated completion date unknown because nothing ever happens quickly in Italy), he rented a Gommoni for the day on Tuesday so that we could tour the beaches around the eastern island of Caprera and then make our way around La Maddalena back to the port. Kurt enjoyed taking over on the controls once we left the dock.
In between Kurt’s work meetings later that evening, we squeezed in a quick trip to meet dad’s Italian friends for drinks and appetizers at Piera’s house up on the hill with a view of Caprera.
On Wednesday, we upgraded our boat for the day for a group tour of the Archipelago aboard the Marinella IV, owned by friends of my dad (an American woman who was teaching here married an Italian man and the rest is history).
Our first stop on the island of Santa Maria was to a beach packed with tourists. Docking and disembarking required careful maneuvering by the captains among the various tour boats. Once on the island, we had plenty of time to swim, snorkel, and sunbathe.
After reboarding the Marinella, we enjoyed fresh pasta for lunch and learned that it pays to know the captain who offered us drinks and personalized service.
We had two more opportunities to swim in the clear, emerald-green waters of the Archipelago in the afternoon: a quick stop at the “swimming pools” where we could jump in the water from the boat and a longer stop at Cala Granara on the island of Spargi. In between, we passed by the famous Pink Beach on the island of Budelli (unfortunately, access to the beach is restricted to allow for the rejuvenation of the colorful sand).
On Thursday, Kurt went scuba diving again in the morning, even making a return trip to Corsica for his first dive of the day. The diving was similar to Greece and Croatia, which are the other Med dive locations that we have visited. The water tends to be cooler than the tropical locales, and there is not as much coral but instead there are underwater rock formations often with swim-thru sections. Some fish can be found and though not as abundant and diverse, there were grouper and these harmless-looking jellyfish that stood out. This dive setup was a bit different in that it was all done via rubber speedboat (gommoni) with the dive “platform” being two larger gommoni tied together to give divers some space to gear up.
After we picked up Kurt from his morning dives, we stopped in town to enjoy a nice lunch along the main promenade.
I used the opportunity of having a low-key day to do laundry that afternoon.
With the news that dad’s boat repair was complete, we were happy to be able to go out on his boat on Friday before leaving the next day. Kurt commandeered the controls again at points of the day. We ventured over to explore some of the bays along the northern side of Sardinia.
We enjoyed our week on the water here and the opportunity to spend time with my dad in his home away from home. He had cautioned us about visiting at this time of year due to the heat and crowds of “the season.” And, while he was certainly right on both counts, it was definitely a week well spent.
Until next time, La Maddalena. Ciao.
