It's hot again! We're on our way to Minorca, Espana on our last overnight. We're rocking and rolling along between 7.5-8 knots with he wind almost directly behind us now. (150+ apparent for the sailors among you.) We have only the jenny up. We hope to arrive Mahon, Minorca mid morning tomorrow. Michel is baking bread that smells wonderful. Lunch will be soon. Midge and I are on watch at 6p again at 6a for the last watch. :)

Arrived here after a 26 hour sail, and we did sail. :) Sardinia is rocky but not jagged like Sicily; they are older or at least more weather-worn looking. Dotted along the southwest corner were their ancient wireless communication systems aka smoke towers used during daylight. Arrival at the marina in the middle of almost nowhere was trickier than the others have been due to the wind and dock location. Larger boats like ours--24m or 82'--are limited or relegated...

All is well as we're motor sailing along at about 9 knots (almost 10 knots speed over ground--SOG). Tweaking of the sails is important to our speed. Dave and Carol are "on watch" now. Midge and I follow at 1800--6p--and will hope to keep the speed up as we sail further from Sicily and closer to Sardinia. (We hope our ETA is about 1000 in the morning.) the jagged peaks of Sicily have disappeared now. The temp is so much more pleasant now at 84-85. The wind helps ...

We're on our way to Cagliari outside of Palermo, Sicily. (It's about 10 hours from point to point.) Although we left at 0700, I don't think we'll see any of Palermo. :( (One of the odd things about this blog is that my location choice does not include Sicily. Since a location is required, I've had to incorrectly choose Italy. The Sicilians would definitely not like that! It will be interesting to see if Sardinia is listed separately.) Had a safe landing in the...

We arrived Marina Villa Igiea along with another Oyster. Port authorities squeezed us in first, moving other boats to make room for the Oyster 72. I took pictures of the bumper collection when the boats were tucked in safely. When all deck work was finished--particularly our neighbors, we sang Happy BD to Lindsay while she drank champagne. After our cocktails, we headed to dinner. Fortunately, we had a change in plans from a hotel restaurant to Ristorante La St...