40 35.8 N 008 18.7 E Alghero, Sardinia Thurs 23 Sept

Left Menorca at 7.30am on Monday - big swell and lumpy sea leftover from a windy Sunday. Wind in the right direction but not quite enough of it. A long journey (195nm, mostly under engine, a brilliantly starry night and sunny Tuesday. All we saw in 32 hours were: 2 cargo ships, 1 diddy flappy bird (non-seagull), 2 sailing boats and 5 dolphins. And miles and miles of sea.

Engine faltered again as we reached Porto Conte. What an impressive approach to an island - steep vertical cliff topped by a lone lighthouse. Anchored in a lovely bay, just around the corner from Neptune's grotto and Hell's bay. Tired, but Richard changed fuel filter, still no go, tried everything, still no go, finally changed secondary filter as well, and all systems go again. So a very late dinner, but at least we would sleep.

Next day, Wednesday, we just went across the bay to Alghero. A RIB roared up offering to guide us to a berth and help us in. We had been forewarned by our friends on the Malo 37 and declined. He belonged to a very expensive marina St Elmo, we were advised to go to Ser Mar, who were half the price with the same facilities! A very nice proprietor, who gave me my first Italian lesson. We have continued since!

Alghero has an old walled centre, fortified in the 11th century, bounded by the sea on two sides and spreading out new town on the other two sides. The ramparts and towers are big, solid and of beautiful stone. The old town is touristy but still very nice. And everywhere are shops selling coral jewellery. Mallorca had its pearls, this part of Sardinia is called the Coral Riviera and the coral is everywhere. We liked Alghero so much we stayed 2 nights. Our first impression of Sardinia is that we like it very very much! But very different already to Spain, - very Italian, very expressive, a bit grubby with feral cats everywhere! Reminds me of going to Naples as a child. We found a fishmongers (open domani) and supermarket. We have had surprisingly little shellfish or fish, so were pleased to be able to buy some cozze and spigole. Had the cozze today, yum, will have the spigole domani. Que I hear you say?

It was also a useful practical stop - found a launderette and a marina diesel place to buy a new secondary filter - still have a couple of primaries in hand. Fellow cruising sailors will understand the excitement of finding a decent self-service launderette! Sad but true.

And our first Italian ice cream…