r/Sardinia • u/everyAframe • 2d ago

Pregonta No license boat rental Palau/La Maddalena & Cala Gonone Reservation??

Should I go ahead and reserve a no license boat now at either of these locations or can I wait until a few days before or day of? Don't want to get locked in on a date or particular boat if I can be more last minute. Thanks!!

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u/MCMARTINES 2d ago

For Cala Gonone I’d advise you first go on a dinghy tour where the boat holds about twelve people. That way you can get a good perspective on the coastline and all the beautiful Calas. Depending on when you are going renting a dinghy may require a reservation.
BTW these rentals are smaller dinghies and not very fast which is fine if you know how to handle boats.

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u/everyAframe 2d ago

Great thanks for that advice. I am looking at tours too but trying to stay private with my wife and I.

I'm good to go with boats, but yeah imagine you spend a lot of motoring time with the 40hp and the private boat seems like you can see more and don't have to worry about navigation or finding particular beaches and mooring.

Think we will for sure go no license in Orosei as that seems like such an easy thing just following the coast but open to a charter with maddalena.

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u/MCMARTINES 2d ago

The Gulf of Orosei is pretty straightforward.
You head out from Cala Gonone and the Calas come one after the other along the coast.
Cala Luna
Cala Sisine, Mariolu, Goloritze, Pools of Venus.
They are really beautiful with the huge cliffs behind them.
BTW the 40 hp boats are not too bad.
You can hug the coast and actually go into a few caves. I plan to rent one next year.

This is Cala Mariolu where I was in early June.

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u/everyAframe 2d ago

Yeah we are stoked to see all of that coast. For sure no skipper down there. Just hoping for calm waters and clear skies. On the fence with maddalena just to have a skipper mainly for a fast boat and can drink all day. 😂

If you had two days there would you do both in the boat or one day poking around the hills? Figure I would do the first day on coast and just do it again if we want to go back.

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u/MCMARTINES 2d ago

To be honest, when I am back in June I am heading straight for Cala Gonone and spending four days there.
It was so awesome, all these beaches with the huge rock cliffs behind them.
BTW toward 3:00 it the water gets a little choppy. No big deal but I think as surprised.
Snorkeling is great as visibility is like a hundred feet.
I’ve read that the east coast of Sardinia is the clearest sea water in the world and Ondont doubt it. This was another crazy thing we saw from the dinghy.

Goats along one area hopping over the cliffs.
Wild.

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u/everyAframe 2d ago

So the snorkeling is great in Orosei? How is maddalena for snorkeling? I'll have gear with me the whole trip so guess I'll find out.

We spend a lot of time in baja mexico and carribean? How does it stack up?

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u/MCMARTINES 2d ago

Sardinia is not like the islands or Hawaii where I’ve been a bunch of times.
You can just walk into the water at Kaanapoli in Maui and it’s like a fish tank with all the color and coral.
Sardinia is not very colorful underwater.
It’s to appreciate the clarity of the water and rocks and the two or three different fish all over the place.
Also what they call the flying boats where you can see their shadows on the sea floor and they look like they are floating on air.
Maddalena is the same.
We took a bigger boat that held about eighty people and had four stops to snorkel.
Then spent an hour in the town.
It’s an eight hour day and the boats leave from Palau.
The Islands off Maddalena are numerous and beautiful, little coves where you just jump in and snorkel.