After hearing back from Doug and Sandra, a walk around Nora was planned to check out the stage for the concert and see what food and beverage options would be available from the stalls that had been constructed. They were heading to shore to deposit rubbish and I could see them deploy the dinghy. There wasn’t a designated craft landing area here, and they had been advised to pull ashore south east of the beach and swim area. They arrived a few minutes later and pulled the dinghy up and tied it off to a rock, and off we went. It turned out that the beverage tent would not be open until 6 pm (although by then the bartender’s might be too drunk to serve at the rate they were enjoying the wares!), and the same was true of the food. It hadn’t cooled off any and plan B was discussed. I had a large (small 4 door ) car, and offered a respite from the heat and a drive back to the village of Pula so we could have a wander through the town center. (Actually we were going to go to San Pietro but Google failed us and we took the path of least confusion).
Frank and Joanne (Doug and Sandra’s friends), were needing to get a few gifts for family, and there was talk of a cold beer and gelato, in that order. There were quite a few little tourist shops open with the local crafts on display..mostly woven mats and tea towels, red coral jewelry, the Sardinian flag (which is a red cross on white background with 4 Moor’s head’s), and some items made of local cork. There was also a candy store that looked like a cross between the sets of Alice in Wonderland and Charley and the Chocolate Factory. We wandered past the Gelateria and into the square where we found a seat, and Frank (who was born in Italy and speaks Italian), ordered a round of beer and a pizza for nibbles. We weren’t given knives and forks here, so felt free to pick it up and eat with our hands like most of the other patrons. We strolled back and selected our gelato before walking back to the car, and the short (but cool) drive back to the beach at Nora. By the time we got back to the boat everyone was eager for a swim and in short order we were in the water, and what a relief it was! The “old guys float toy” which was an inflatable Barcalounger for two, was soon supporting Frank and Joanne and looked to be very comfortable. I hadn’t been for a swim in a week so was happy to stay submerged.
It was 7 pm in no time and other than some DJ playing Hip Hop and club techno, nothing was really happening at the concert venue. With the concert a wash, I wanted to get back to the boat before dark and before the thunder storm struck, which had darkened the sky considerably in the last half hour. Doug and Sandy buzzed me to the beach and walked me back to the car. They would be anchoring around the various bays for the next few weeks, and we would keep in touch for another possible catch up when Todd was back, if they were still in the area. Southern Sardinia was a good place to spend August (Mid July to early September was high season in the Med), as there were many good anchorages and you could usually get marina space for a few days when you needed, at a better rate than most of the northern or main land marina’s.
I got going and the rain began 20 minutes later. It was like a scene from “Storm Chasers”, and I was driving into the black clouds with bright lightning, claps of thunder, and squalls of heavy rain and wind. The road was flooded in parts and was hard to see during the worst of the rain. Fortunately there wasn’t much traffic about so when I accidentally started down the wrong way of a roundabout, I was able to reverse and get to the little side street I needed. Minimal signage, no lighting, and lousy visibility from the rain were to blame, but it gave me a shot of adrenaline!
I made it back to the marina as the storm fizzled, and my neighbor was out in his cockpit having a cigarette. The boat seemed fine (clean!), and I asked him how things were. He didn’t speak any English really, but did respond “OK” to my query. It was still fairly breezy but the storm clouds had moved out so I had some bread and cheese and went to bed.
The next morning I noticed that the dinghy had a large amount of water in it which took 10 minutes to drain, but other than that the boat seemed to have weathered the storm well. (In general it’s better to be onboard in case lines need retying or fenders moved, so I felt I was remiss for being absent…at the same time though I was kinda relieved I had missed it!)