Wednesday 24^th December – Cagliari (Christmas Eve)

39:12.064N 9:07.510E

It was Gary’s birthday today (Wild Oats) so we tried to blow up some balloons this morning to take round with his card.  We were not terribly successful and kept bursting them so we ended up taking around three balloons but we think it was more than his third birthday J

Later on he invited us up to the gazebo to taste the meat loaf that Julia had cooked him for his birthday – I didn’t try it but I hear it was good – instead I had second helpings of the chocolate pud that was also brought along as his birthday cake.

After dinner this evening we all went carol singing around the pontoon, gathering crew from the boats as we went along and having a great laugh.  Richard had prepared some song sheets for us so we could sing all the right words though not necessarily in tune – we even had a couple of German songs for when we reached the German boats.

Once finished we went back to Cape for some mulled wine and then moved the party to Pyxis so that the children could go to bed.  There were well over a dozen of us squeezed into the cockpit enjoying mulled wine, then wine, then some grappa supplied by Gary.

We were all watching out for the fly-by by one of the military planes which flies over Cagliari with all its lights on so that it looks like a sleigh.  We were told it was due to arrive at 12.30 so when a plane of that description went over at 11.30 we all thought it was simply a plane coming in to land at the airport, but just happened to have all its lights on – we weren’t really prepared for it to be early.  Anyway we did see it.