There are always stretches of open blue water on a Mediterranean cruise that require a proper passage rather than a day’s coastal sailing. The crossing from mainland Italy towards Sardinia was one of them.

Waiting for the weather

Denny and I used Ponza as a staging point, an island and anchorage we already knew from 2007. GRIB files were downloaded and studied carefully so we could choose a weather window that would give us a manageable overnight passage and a daylight arrival.

The crossing was another reminder that even in the Mediterranean the longer open-water legs needed the same attention to weather and timing as passages elsewhere.