We are now sitting in a beautiful little anchorage nuzzled between 3 islands in the La Maddelena Archipelago (the islands off the northeast coast of Sardinia). We got our first glimpse of Corsica this morning as we sailed north from last night's anchorage - that's our next stop so encouraging that we already have it in sight. Our navigation skills are well-developed after our Dayskipper and Yachtmaster theory courses but nothing beats a bit of point-and-steer! Autumn seems to be well and truly setting in here which has its pros and cons: on the plus side the wind has been stronger and we've been flying along (we've had 2 reefs in most days to make the sails smaller - safety first!) but today we have the downside that, although it's not cold (still in shorts), it is quite overcast and drizzly which means the usually-emerald green sea is looking decidedly grey. On the subject of weather, we think we had our first taste of the Mistral. It's a well-known wind from the NW that can get very strong and really churns up the sea. We've been on the east side of Sardinia so far so pretty protected but we'll be bearing it in mind when we start up the west coast of Corsica! At least we've managed to decipher the weird accent of the lady who gives the weather report in the mornings so we have a bit of warning what to expect.

We had a really lovely stay in Porto Cervo, the headline marina of Costa Smerelda. Quite funny to see our little boat nestled in among those of the more affluent bunch who are wintering there - can only imagine what it's like in August! After making it all the way north so quickly we decided we could afford time out for a day trip and hired a car to go exploring inland. After a quick stop in Olbia, where we discovered Gerard has a homing instinct for chandleries (he found 3!), we drove west past a big lake and into the mountains where we had a wander around up top. The view was amazing, you can see for miles - and it was only slightly diminished by the abundance of massive radio masts. Can't complain, they've served us well on the internet connection front. After that we went to Tempio Pausania, which the Sardinian tourist board had described as "charming" - accurately as it turned out - and drove through a place called Luras (because apparently it used to be called Lauras) on our way back to Porto Cervo. So nice to see the island from a different perspective and get a chance to experience the less touristy areas - the coast here is beautiful but the proper living communities seem to be mostly inland.

So far everything's going very smoothly with all the sailing stuff although we had the most painful experience yesterday trying to get our anchor to stick - it took an hour and half and a bit of help from a friendly Swiss family on a catamaran nearby but we finally got it on the 5th attempt! After which I poured myself and Gerard a much-needed glass of wine and proceeded to polish both off while he went for a swim. The frequency of injuries also seems to have reduced a bit which is a relief, I think we're finally getting used to our compact surroundings. Gerard has 5 inches on me which means he's still bumping his head a fair bit but he gets an easier ride with the steering because I have to stand on tiptoes to see over the sprayhood - I'm going to have the calves of a rugby player by October 2014! Thankfully we've only had one injury that required medical attention (in the form of a plaster) so far but it did highlight an unexpected issue with our first aid kit… While we were preparing for the trip, Gerard was in charge of stocking up on all the mechanical spares, lubricants, charts, gadgets, etc and I was allocated the first aid kit - I assume because he recognised that this was a vital task and needed my expert attention. On that basis, I took it on board with such zeal that we ended up with 3 separate containers full of supplies to ensure that we're fully equipped to deal with almost any medical emergency that might crop up. What I hadn't considered was that it would then take me 10 minutes to find a plaster - maybe an inventory would have been a good idea?

On a general note, one of the things I was hoping to achieve this year is to become more open to meeting new people. For the last 8 years I've very much embraced the London approach to social interaction, i.e. no conversation or eye contact with strangers unless absolutely necessary (close physical contact is of course acceptable provided you're in a busy tube carriage). I'd realised what a shame it was because there's such a diversity of backgrounds, lifestyles and interests to find out about and actually the only thing that'd been holding me back was laziness. I decided that this year would be a good opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and make an effort - particularly since I can't really apply my usual excuses of having a demanding job and struggling to find the time to see my existing friends as much as I'd like. We're making progress and so far we've been rewarded with a discussion about nights out in Chelmsford with an Italian waiter who lived for 4 years in Essex and an evening with an American couple who own a restaurant dedicated entirely to rare sausages - brilliant.

So that's it for now, next stop Corsica!