We arrived back in Olbia on the 21 April in lovely sunshine. Vaila was fine with no damage from a winter spent in the water. We enjoyed good weather in the first week with temperatures in the 20s during the day and cooler at night.

Vaila at the Marina next to the yellow boat

Birds eye view from the top of the mast! 
We are just getting back into the swing of life on board and doing everything on foot, bike or public transport. We had sent out a number of parcels with boat bits and it was a bit like Christmas opening them all up! Andy has fitted a new fridge and electric actor winch. Our old fridge was struggling and we found out that the compressor was 15 old and showing signs of imminent collapse when we took it out. The new electric anchor winch will save Andy’s back. Last year he often had to lift the anchor several times a day and I was not able to raise it all myself.
We had another one of those pleasant coincidences 2 Saturdays ago. We took the bus into Olbia to get some bits from one of the chandlers. Little did we know that it was a public holiday until we got into town and found most of the shops shut! The upside was that an amazing flower festival was being held in the town’s main streets with 100 year old olive trees and many colourful pot plants and elaborate displays. It was a beautiful day and the town was busy with locals enjoying themselves. So we had a lovely day and we would never have known about it had we not gone into town.

Real grass armchairs

Petunias for sale and lots more 

Flowerpot man

Not a flowerpot man!!

Flower festival, Olbia 

The olive trees and palms being removed after the festival
We have had quite a lot of wind and cool conditions but summer seems to have arrived now, even the locals are wearing shorts! The house martins are skimming over the water, the flamingoes are on the lagoon and the ice machine (trade name “Scotsman”) is ready to go. €1 will get a Kg of ice.

The “Scotman” ice machine

We actually have the luxury of ice from the new fridge now so a distinct improvement on last year.

The makings of a yummy tea

Andy is flying off to Malta on Saturday to join the crew of Weonghi for a trip to Scicily. He is doing an Atlantic crossing with them in November as part of the ARC ( Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) and this is his opportunity to get to know the boat. He has met the skipper and crew before.
So I will have Vaila to myself for a week but plenty of friends we made last year are around the marina, so I won’t be lonely. We are also looking forward to my friend Sandra coming out to join us on the 15 May.

Beautiful flowers by the waters edge