July 7 We spent our last evening with Julie and Mick at Cala Conticcio, arriving there from Bonafacio at 2100 hours. I had prepared a curry on the way so be had that with a couple wines in the spectacular Cala, locally known as Hawaiian Bay.

July 8 we sailed back to Olbia, dropped Mick and Julie off at the airport and that evening Jude and I had dinner in old Olbia. It was great to catch up with Mick and Julie together, after many years. Mick did a sterling job on the helm and Julie quickly got up to speed with the ropes so by the end of their time on board we had the teamwork well sorted.

July 9 Jude and I spent the day organising the boat, getting supplies and so on. That evening we had a drink at the marina bar, caught up with Agata, Luca, Vanessa and Myra. Jude and I had dinner in old Olbia.

July 10 Jude and set off from Olbia by ourselves and sailed up to La Maddelena where we moored at Porto Massimo. We had a swim and organised a booking at the Cala restaurant, Scogliera. We had a good run up from Olbia, initially motor sail, then a good reach under sail at 7-8.5kns in 12 to 15kn winds up to Porto Massimo. The restaurant is quite unique with the sommelier explaining the various wines of Sardinia, one of which we selected to complement a superb fish dinner for Jude’s birthday.

July 11 Jude and I sailed back to Olbia and managed to get Westralia berthed in winds of 15 knots, with assistance from the marina staff. Jude departed Olbia at 8pm for Greece.

July 12 I spent the day preparing and cleaning the yacht before picking up Helen and Tony Palmer from the airport at 1700hrs. After organising ourselves we went for a drink and dinner in old Olbia town centre.

July 13 We departed Olbia at 1400 hours, arriving at Porto Rotondo at 1700 hours where we set anchor after a good run under sail for a reasonable distance. Helen was at the helm for most of the way whilst Tony and I set the sails, including poling the genoa for a downwind west to Porto Rotondo. We had a swim and then took the dinghy into to the Porto marina and had dinner at Bambusa restaurant.