WINTERING IN SARDINIA
Well we are still having a great time wintering here in Olbia, we thought we may have trouble filling our days but it has been completely the opposite. We have a list of various winter jobs to do but there does not seem to be enough hours in the day to fit in all the things we want to do, how we ever found time to go to work we will never know. Also here in Sardinia everything takes four times as long to do, this is mainly due to the laid back lifestyle which we are still trying to adjust to. The local shops think nothing of just closing for an hour or so for a coffee break, and the timekeeping is non existent.

We decided to have a trip back in the UK, this was a bit earlier than planned due to the fact that the flights from our local airport which is only a 20 minute walk away, stop flying directly to the UK on 1st November, so we took full advantage of this. It was great to catch up with all our family and friends, as this is one of the main things that we do miss, we had a very hectic time and it was also very tiring, trying to see all our family and friends in such a short space of time and spend a bit of time with everyone, mind you it was well worth the visit and next time we will definitely have to stay for longer.

Life at the marina is pretty good, we have met some really nice people here and there is always plenty to do. The weather has been better than we thought, although it can be very windy. We are still getting out sailing when possible and it's lovely to be able to go to some of these secluded beaches and be the only people there. We had a trip up to the north of the island, which was absolutely stunning and we managed to see Croatia although it was from a bit of a distance. The local people are very friendly and helpful; they really do go out of their way to help you if they can and they expect nothing in return for this. The language barrier can still be a problem, but we are managing quite well now as we are now picking up a few key words, so overall things are good at the moment.

We had our concerns regarding Christmas as a lot of the other cruisers had returned home for the Christmas period, we thought their was going to be just one other cruiser remaining here , but it worked out quite well as a few others returned and on New Years Eve there was 9 of us to party the night away. What did surprise us on New Years Eve was the amount of flares we saw; even the large ferries were letting their flares off and this was going on for a good half hour. (We are pleased we never had an emergency that night).

Well 2010 is now upon us and we are now really looking forward to the forth coming year, we have got lots to do but we will be doing this the Italian way and taking our time. As yet we have not made no plans for leaving Olbia marina but we will be making a blog entry before our departure.