The journey to Mahon was an important one in that it took us to our penultimate destination before heading to La Ciotat in France where we will stop for several months over winter.

The journey was great in that the wind blew and we had the best sail of our trip so far. However, the sea was very lumpy and, during the second half of the journey, I was seasick again. Luckily, it was a quiet night when we only saw a couple of ships, so it was easy for me. One large tanker made a course change for us during the night. We were not on a collision course, but they obviously saw that it was going to be tight, so made life easier for us and changed course to go behind us rather than in front. Chris decided to call them up on the VHF radio to thank them. It turned out that it was an English tanker and they confirmed that they had changed course for us and wished us a good journey to Menorca.

Our arrival in Mahon couldn't have come sooner for me, but as soon as we were in the harbour and in calmer water, I felt immediately better and could appreciate the beauty of Mahon Harbour. It is a very large harbour, a prize that many nations have coveted. Nelson was here in 1799 (allegedly with Lady Hamilton) where he introduced gin production to the locals. We will be visiting the gin museum whilst we are here.

We are moored on one of Sunseeker's (large, expensive, British motor boats) moorings just outside their office here. They could not be more helpful and it is a great location right in front of the town steps taking us into the centre of the town which is on different levels above us.

Chris visited Menorca several times some 25 years ago as a guest of his friend, Mike Jackson, whose parents had a place here. Chris and Paula may remember a holiday here. He remembers it quite well, and it is nice to think of us having sailed here so many years later.

First impressions are very positive. Mahon is a real town, not dependant on tourism. It is out of season now but there is still a strong community feel about the place. The market looks great, the restaurants around the marina look very inviting and, checking out the weather today, it looks as though we are going to be here until the middle of next week at the earliest so there is plenty for us to see and do and we are very much looking forward to our time here.

Chris has just made a delicious smelling chicken curry, we've got ELO on the stereo and a glass of very good cava (2 euros/�1.42 a bottle) on the go, so life is good..............