So after my big tantrum about the wind in the previous post, we set off from Nettuno early thinking we'd see what bearing we could make and, based on that, decide between going direct to Ponza (preferred) or going via San Felice di Circeo on the mainland. We left the marina and hoisted the sails, only to discover that we could just about make the 150° bearing to Ponza! Naively we both started celebrating - our luck had surely turned! About 10 minutes later we ...

So it's been an incredibly busy week and that is my main excuse for both the delay in getting a new blog post up and the length of said post. Our last update was from Portoferraio in Elba which we departed on 19 October, heading towards the Italian mainland. We learned an important lesson in the subsequent days: the wind hates us. Wherever we're headed, the wind is guaranteed to be coming from that direction. If we decide to change our destination to put us on ...

After 10 days of fattening ourselves up with bread and pastries in Corsica, we're back in Italy which does neither of these things well. I'm pretty sure I've hinted at the high quality of their ice cream once or twice though?? We celebrated our arrival in Portoferraio on Elba with a triple cone (each) so I suppose it's swings and roundabouts. Good thing Gerard's already locked in - and I suspect he knows better than to comment on the growing waistline of the pe...

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! ...

One of the key requirements on the list to be able to call yourself a true sailor seems to be to get into fishing, both as a form of entertainment and a source of sustenance. Knowing this, we had already kitted ourselves out with a book on how it's done and bought some gear while gathering supplies in Cagliari. Behaving like a true married couple, Gerard and I had opted for competing setups (mine from a fishing shop, his from a supermarket) and we were eager to...