Rada della Reale

The Rada della Reale anchorage is located in the eastern part of the island Asinara in the municipality of Porto Torres in the province of Sassari in Sardinia. The island is in the northern part of Sardinia and has an area of about 51 km².

The hinterland is mostly hilly and the coastline is 110 km long, mostly high and rocky, but with some beaches. The island is part of the Asinara National Park, which includes a marine protected area subject to certain restrictions.

Asinara is constantly monitored by the Sardinian Regional Forestry and Environmental Surveillance Corps, which patrols the waters with boats. At Cala Reale, in the former bacteriological laboratory of the Maritime Health Station is the Sea Center, where the various ecosystems in the marine protected area are illustrated.

The only way to gain boat access to Asinara National Park, and therefore also to Rada della Reale, is to moor at the buoy fields, which are also at Fornelli and Cala d’Oliva. In total there are 63 buoys, so the maximum number of boats that can moor there is 63, of which 24 are at Rada della Reale.

The management of the buoy fields is entrusted to the Cormorant Marina company, and full regulations can be found on the website in downloadable and printable PDF format. In general, sailboats can sail anywhere, while motorboats are required to follow a precise course to access the buoy fields.

To gain access, reservations must be made, places are limited, and the coast guard controls entry, which is strictly forbidden to unauthorized boats. It is also forbidden to give bottom with an anchor and you can only moor at the buoys. There is a fee for mooring and it costs about three euros per linear meter for sailboats and four euros per linear meter for motor boats in high season.

One can go ashore only by rowing tender and dock at a pier. There are some rocks about 700 meters from the dock that are marked by a light. The access corridor to the buoy fields in Cala Reale is marked by a few buoys in the western area and is about 100 meters wide.

The maximum speed allowed around Asinara Island is 3 knots and you cannot approach within 400 meters of the coast. It is forbidden to dump anything into the sea including water and to remove objects from the island, even stones and sand. On land, Asinara offers many tourist services, such as guided excursions on horseback or in all-terrain jeeps.