June 15^th and next stop Trizonia. As usual the wind in the Gulf freshened steadily and we flew along under the jib doing 7 knots. Our arrival in the harbour at Trizonia coincided with an increase in the wind speed and we found the harbour as busy as we have ever seen it.  We had one option to tie up on the quay which required some clever parallel parking! We made it with a lot of help from other sailors already there and were lucky to suffer only a minor scratch on our approach when the wind took the bow a little sharply towards the quay. It was here that we discovered we did indeed have a major battery issue. Nigel had been nursing suspicions for some time, but as the service batteries were less than two years old, he had been seeking other reasons for malfunction. However it was clear that the batteries were shot and would need to be replaced. Instead of a couple of days relaxing in Trizonia, we took the first opportunity the next day to return to Messolonghi  with the wind behind us.

Our arrival back in Messolonghi coincided with a heatwave. Batteries were ordered, warranty battles began and we roasted. Replacement batteries arrived swiftly and were delivered to the boat in 40 degrees C.  We rigged up a pulley system to get the old ones out of the boat, and with a little help from our musical Sardininan neighbour, managed to lower the new ones into position. Nigel rewired everything, arranged to leave the old batteries at the marina chandlery with Dimitri and we were at last good to go. 

Annoyingly the company that supplied the batteries is refusing to accept that they were faulty and are hiding behind some very unreasonable and in the UK, illegal warranty terms.  Beware Mastervolt, they are now part of the Navico conglomerate who apparently have no customer service ethos.  So sad as they used to be a great company.  Another example of a takeover that destroyed good.

On a positive note we received confirmation finally of our Irish Registration for Déjà vu. We duly lowered the Red ensign for the last time and mounted the orange, green and white tricolor of the Irish flag. Déjà vu of Dublin is now officially part of the EU again!

We left Messolonghi with more than we bargained for as we discovered evidence of a stowaway. Rat droppings in our food stores indicated the critter was well and truly on the boat and hiding below floor level. We set traps immediately.

It was essential to escape the heat of the marina and we travelled about 30 miles to the anchorage opposite the north end of Oxia. Here we hung around in the water, swam and chilled as best we could for 3 days as temperatures stayed well into the 40s, but no sign of Ratty.

We were awaiting the arrival of friend Peter from Farnham, into Kefalonia, so we headed across the port of Poros, a first time visit!
Welcomed to the quay by harbour master Spiros, we tied up with less than a metre of water under us and were glad to have arrived early as it got very crowded. Great to explore a new place, we found a bar set into the cliff to the north and a superb restaurant on a hilltop to the south. Both mentioned on the CA Captains Mate and both worthy of a visit. Traps still down, still no sign of ratty.

Eufemia next day, although the gentlemanly beat north was thwarted by 25knot headwinds, most annoying as we motored through a chunky sea. It all died down when we got close, so we anchored for a swim off Sami before heading into the harbour at Eufemia, where trusty Makis was there to take our lines.  Temperatures had if anything risen a bit more.
A couple of days cleaning up and restocking and adding water, we sweated and  awaited Peter’s arrival.   Still no sign of ratty but research has taught us to be patient, so we continue with nightly traps and it may take a few more days before we catch him.
Life on board will carry on, we head north on Thursday 27^th June, seeking shelter from very strong winds forecast for Friday.

The week we spent in Greece in April doing work on the boat paid dividends, as we(the royal kind) had previously  polished Déjà Vu, done a host of maintenance jobs, changed a lot of the running rigging and generally cleaned her up.
We arrived late on 1^st June with high expectations for a straightforward launch on Monday 3^rd June. She had been ready antifouled by the yard; a chore we are very happy to unload in the future! However there were some engine bits on the chart table that really should have been installed on the engine, so at 830am on Monday morning there were hasty phone calls to the service engineers to get this anomaly resolved! It transpired that they had needed to order a new part that had not arrived in time, so within the hour and engineer was on board to put it all back together with a temporary repair on the broken filter glass.

We launched and went over to Preveza quay, now swamped with charter boats which reside there. Much harder to find a space, but we did, reverse anchored as usual and for the first time in several years that we have visited here, there was no one to take lines, so Mo had to leap ashore to enable the mooring process. Progress for the Quay authorities is not progress for the cruising fraternity and a major facility has been significantly reduced.

We love Preveza and  soaked up the holiday mood, met up with friendly restaurateurs we have befriended, shopped and filled with water ready for the off.

We had been invited to be guests at the Ocean Cruising Club rally dinner in Vliho Bay on the morrow, so we slipped lines, motored down to Lefkas pontoons for a stopover to collect our recently serviced life raft and fire extinguishers. All going well, until we noticed the anchor somewhat askew in the foredeck cradle. Alas we had lost the very important bow roller and spindle and Lefkas chandlers had no suitable bits for Nigel to make a temporary repair!
We got down to the OCC evening event and had a delightful evening meeting other cruisers who feted  Nigel as a hero having had some considerable successes at resolving some of the bureaucracy anomalies that Brexit has put in our way.  New friends made over dinner and beer and then back to the anchor problem!

Nidri to the rescue, where the IBA, International Boat Assistance, organization resides and they offered a proper solution via their colleague, English born Phil, the local welder and problem solver! Within a couple of days the anchor was fixed (blue circle above) and better than new, the toilet was also repaired and we were ready to get on with our trip and the important activity of enjoying ourselves! We visited the new Marina to be in Nidri next to the ferry quay, pictured above, top left. A huge expansion of their infrastructure, it will be very popular when completed and running.

A couple of nights at anchor in Varko provided much needed swimming therapy for Mo’s mending wrist and shoulder, an overnight in Sivota, and a run down to Eufemia on Kefalonia.
We had arranged a rendezvous with Farnham friends Anne and Christopher who were holidaying in the south of the island. We had a marvellous day together when they drove up to find us and we shared a very pleasant lunch and early evening supper before the time came for them to depart.

Our next stop, Messalongi, where we got the last place in the Marina, gosh it was full! Becoming ever more popular for boats to rest over for UK returns, we will have to do some forward planning next time!  The new marina owners have big plans for the place to expand and modernize.  It will become an excellent facility.

With a couple of strong wind days ahead, we rented a car and set off for the mountain rack railway on the north coast of the Pelopponese, east of Patras. We had a wonderful day where sadly the photos do not do justice to the magnificent mountain scenery, ravines and gorges we travelled though to get to the mountain town of Kalavryta.

The train climbs over 750m with the steeper gradients on rack mode.  The track is poised most of the time on the edge of precipitous drops down to the river below.  Sadly the design of the carriages does not make photography easy.  It was also very crowded.   We spent an enjoyable day in Kalavryta before returning on the train. 

The town’s main claim to infamy was graphically portrayed in the town museum, where we had quite a harrowing experience. During the German occupation, specifically on December 13^th 1943, all the men and boys over 13 in the town were executed by the Nazis in reparation for partisans having killed some German soldiers. Britain had refused help that had been requested as fierce retaliation had been anticipated and, in the event, over 460 men of the town lost their lives.
There were 13 survivors for whom oak trees have been planted in the street beside the museum to remember them.  It is a very sobering and depressing reminder of the horrors of war brought home with the terrible goings on in Ukraine and Gaza, will be ever learn?  As a tourist attraction it was uncompromising and harsh.

Our return drive to Messalonghi would normally have been by the Rion Bridge but Nigel, not having been on a boat that day, elected to use the ferry crossing. We saved 8 euros over the toll bridge fee. Four ferries run back to back and it is hard to see how this is an economic enterprise these days! We enjoyed the trip enormously though and were glad not to be sailing as the winds were very fresh, the sea bouncy such that the ferries were crabbing across the canal.

It is now Saturday 15^th June, (Happy Birthday Dick) and tomorrow we plan to depart for Trizonia, a pretty island in the gulf of Corinth as that is the way the wind is blowing.

It has been raining for most of the month of May in the UK, so quite a disappointment as we have been home-based entertaining Mo’s brother Roger, his wife Vicki and daughter Bridget, all from New Zealand. Notwithstanding the weather, it has been great to see them for a couple of days and show them some old and characterful corners of Hampshire. Bridget enjoyed it all, her first ever trip to the UK, but they are now heading off to continue their Northern Hemisphere adventures in Sicily and Italy.

We head off to Preveza on June 1st, a few weeks later that usual, but we had bones to mend after Mo fractured her left wrist scaphoid and Nigel had to recover from a cortisone injection in his knee. Slightly below our normal fitness levels, we are planning a gentle start in the Ionian, launching on 3rd and heading off to join the Offshore Cruising Club summer get together in Vliho Bay on 5th & 6th. This should break us in gently!

The wind was definitely having a rest and the next few days were disappointingly windless, so the engine was put to work to take us from Galaxidi to Trizonia and on again under the Rion Bridge to Messolonghi.  Trizonia holds a special place for us; so often it has been the haven from storms; but this time we enjoyed mooring up inside the great concrete ‘marina in waiting’ in tranquil and calm conditions. There was plenty of evidence of tidying up work being done all around. Old boats had been removed, old junk had been taken away, the bins had been rationalized, a superb new children’s play area had been built alongside the quay, and the paving was clearly being repaired. Our stop over was brief, but we met some other Brits who have made Trizonia their boat’s home location by setting up their own mooring inside the harbour.  No-one apparently needed to be consulted, give permission, or seem interested in the initiative, so DIY prevails!

We had had our fill of Messolonghi on previous trips, so as it was to be another brief stopover we dropped anchor at the head of the approach channel. For the very first time we saw and passed a cargo carrying ship leaving the quay and heading out down the narrow channel, their load likely to have been salt.

We did do some gentle sailing under a full Greek sun from Messolonghi to the island of Oxia where we decided to pick up a buoy off a taverna, in the middle of nowhere. It was utterly beautiful, we were surrounded by uninterrupted landscape with the dramatic island of Oxia to the south. It transpired that an entrepreneurial fish farm owner was developing a new business opportunity, charging boats 20 euros to stay on the buoys and also offering excellent fish meals ashore. There was a good proportion of landside visitors too so they were quite busy. We had no qualms about buoy integrity, they were robust and well spaced, as they had been laid by professionals! It was altogether a super stopover.

Next stop Efemia on Kefalonia for two nights where we were warmly greeted by Makis who is the face of the busy harbour. I don’t think we had ever seen it so busy with boats hanging off the breakwater as well as filling the small anchorage. Fortunately the weather was settled so everyone was seemingly accommodated. 

In Vathi on Ithaca we anchored off the small island in the west side of the harbour which afforded a bit more shelter from the late afternoon sea breezes. It was excellent holding ground with serious mud keeping us in one place.

We began to see a change in the weather ahead so decided to head up into the Inland sea area and enjoy some beach anchorages before the forecast storms arrived. Our stop in Vliho bay was not as good as usual after both of us felt unwell after our supper in the middle of the restaurants on the east side of the bay. Most unusual, but we did not linger there either and had a brilliant sail across to Varko Bay, our favourite beach anchorage in this area. We stayed two nights and caught up on swimming and reading, cooking on board, we even barbecued our remaining fish and generally enjoyed some normal sailing weather.

It was not to last and our next port of call was Preveza where we planned to dig in for the storms to come 25^th-27^th September.  We did find an excellent spot on Preveza Quay behind the commercial dock. A large ship was docked there seemingly unloading a large cargo of grain and we enjoyed watching endless lines of trucks passing under hoppers to receive their loads. The ship also afforded some protection from the north easterly winds.

The storm did come on Nigel’s birthday. There was lots of thunder and lightning and deluges of rain, this pattern has followed us all year. We did manage to escape to find some sardines which were especially delicious. After many years of lobbying, Mo finally capitulated and gave into Nigel’s suggestion of an electric scooter for his birthday present. It is fun and fully operational now, saving loads of time buzzing around running errands.

We have started on the clean up and tidy up operations before lifting out in a few days. Nigel was hoisted part way up the mast to clean salt from the rigging and we managed to get the outboard motor serviced in the local chandlery.  We plan to hop round to Vonitsa for a couple of days at anchor as normal weather promises to resume from tomorrow. Mo plans to Boracol the teak decks, clean and organize everything down below as Nigel concentrates on the other deck work.

Once on dry land we plan to empty the port fuel tank and do the deep clean we did on the starboard tank back in July. Messy and unpleasant work ahead but it needs to be done and we hope to rid ourselves of the dreaded diesel bug for once and for all. The tanks will be left with minimal fuel and additives with the recommended filters in the breather pipes to prevent any moisture providing the right environment for the bugs. Wish us luck.

This year we have travelled just shy of 1000 miles; a record! The conditions have been challenging, especially in May and September, and I think it is fair to say we are both looking forward to a winter break this year. We fly home on October 6th.

What we now know is that the bad weather was due to Storm Daniel which tracked across central Greece with storms and rain of huge proportion. In Alimos marina we experienced rain of biblical proportions and a lightning display to outdo any firework extravaganza.

On Thursday 7^th September we finally had a weather window to strike out towards the Corinth Canal, some 30 miles to the west. We sailed most of the way negotiating a ‘car park’ of anchored container ships waiting to access Piraeus.

The wind was increasing as we approached the eastern end of the canal and as it was late afternoon, we anchored to transit the next morning. Our efforts to pay online failed so Nigel took to the dinghy and motored a mile or so to the office to secure our booking for 7.30am on the 8^th. Strong winds all evening and the added effect of katabatic gusts off the mountains all night was not conducive to sleep, so it was a wakeful night for everyone. As Friday dawned grey, we were called to transit the canal, cameras to the ready. An exciting first for Peter; it is a magnificent feat of engineering and it was most interesting to see all the remedial work being done to repair the eroding sides. The canal is due to close for the season at the end of September for the work to be completed ready for reopening fully in 2024.

Nigel foresaw what was to come and in the shelter of the canal we took down our bimini. As we approached the end of the canal we could see a wall of white in the Gulf of Corinth, so life jackets were put on. Indeed it was a blast. 35 knot winds greeted us and we motored through tumultuous waves. We immediately decided to head for the commercial harbour of Corinth, just a mile or so to the south and although very bumpy inside the breakwater, we were glad to drop anchor.  Fortunately it was known to be excellent holding, which was just as well as it was to be home for the next 3 days!

Our plans to head to ports further west were thwarted, we were grateful to have some refuge. We were joined by several other boats who had made the same decision! As we took stock of the situation we were in we realized that the effects of Storm Daniel were not over.

High pressure over northern Europe was bringing hot weather to the UK and the low countries. A deep low had established itself over Libya and was stationary, blocked by the jet stream, and a high pressure over the Balkans was providing a corridor for very strong winds. Most Greek waters from Corinth and all parts east were sporting gale warnings for the forseeable future, and there were we, stuck in a washing machine of an anchorage!

It was certainly uncomfortable as the winds were consistently stronger that forecast by some 5-10kt.   At high wind speeds this difference means a lot.. Our only opportunity to move on came and went before we realized it wasn’t to be repeated for a while. Peter then decided it was time to go home so he booked flights for Sunday. We bounced around all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with Nigel only just managing to get a wet Peter ashore in the dinghy with his slightly soggy luggage. Not the trip ending we or he had hoped for.

The Sunday forecast did promise lighter winds, so we decided to make a dash for the west. Less than 3 miles out we had to decide to turn around. Gale force winds had greeted us with a big sea so we returned to the anchorage leaving us with no choice but to wait for the low pressure system to move east and fill, which it is expected to do by Tuesday.  Another boat that tried the same trick after us also returned but sadly with a broken boom, snapped by the force of the wind.  He will not be sailing for a while.

There is a small boat harbour in Corinth, but our previous experience here reminded us that there is a bar at the entrance little more than our boat draft. With the incoming high seas, we deemed it untenable to attempt. However, during Sunday evening, there was an unexpected lull in the wind and the sea become flatter. We made a split second decision, up anchored and ran for the small boat harbour, just scraping in and in the nick of time before the wind and sea reestablished itself and night fell. We were blessed to find 2 charming Greeks on the quay who took our lines and helped us moor up; Mo decided they were angels and we were mightily relieved to have the chance of a more secure night and, importantly, some sleep and then the chance to walk ashore next day!

Tied up in the small boat harbour looking back out; the anchorage we had left to the left behind the breakwater, the boat at a jaunty angle getting soaked with salt.

Today is Monday, the wind is still mighty strong. The boat is tied onto concrete parallel to the harbour wall and spray crashing over the harbour wall is drenching the boat as well as us when we go ashore. Nigel purchased some lovely seabass from the fishing boat that came into port overnight, so much preparation was required to get them into the freezer.  

After cleaning the fish and then the galley, we struck out into town for the inevitable chore of checking in with our transit log at the Port police. This is a real bore and unless change comes soon, we and many other UK flag yachts will just leave Greece.  The CA continues its campaign to remove this illegal document.

After 4 days of bouncing around at anchor it is such a treat to be able to walk ashore and a walk around the town of Corinth.    The town close to the harbour is quite pleasant with a good range of shops, cafes and restaurants.  Much of the area is pedestrianised which is rare in Greece.  After checking in we decided that we were due a treat and so went out to lunch.  Grilled sardines and salad washed down with Rose.  Things are looking up!

Tomorrow is Tuesday and we are hopeful for a weather change overnight. We shall see!

After the formalities of visiting the Poros Port Police to check in as we are bound to do with current legislation, we amused ourselves by locating a local beach for a swim. That evening Peter produced a very nice bottle of champagne and shared the good news of the safe arrival of a new grandson, Camillo Hornsby, born on 31^st August to Flora and Chris in San Francisco. The Hornsby dynasty is looking safe with two grandsons now on the scene; well worth celebrating! 

Glad we had Peter’s good news before planning the next stage of our onward journey.  What is going on must have something to do with our boat name. We are once again feeling as we did in May; disbelieving of the weather forecasts ahead, hoping to wake up from a bad dream.

Most forecasts allow us to look about a week ahead and we are looking at unrelenting strong head winds, storms and heavy rain both east and west of the Corinth canal.

 It was a tough call on Monday morning to strike north east to Athens and hole up in Alimos Marina just south of the city.  It was a miserable motor through bumpy seas fetched up by a strong headwind which averaged about 25 knots, but we eventually tied up in the Marina.  Alimos is vast; it took 17 minutes to walk to the administration building to check in and as Nigel needed to return to visit the police office the next day, a bike was commissioned!  The Admin office is only halfway around.  The marina itself is quite rundown, but has been recently privatized and there is hope that new management and some investment things will improve.  One problem remains that they insist on booking ahead which defies the fundamental rule of sailing, that things change and you need a safe harbour.  One hopes that in time they will become more flexible.

Our 3 night stay provided an opportunity to visit the Acropolis and Parthenon, which Peter had never seen before.

Unfortunately Nigel is suffering a knee problem which limits his walking distance, so Peter and Mo set off to explore the Acropolis. In vain however, as the long queues were untenable, so we switched to Plan B and spent a superb afternoon in the Acropolis Museum. A good choice as it rained hard all afternoon!

It is a brilliantly designed building over, but revealing, archaeological excavations, on a scale of the Parthenon itself. Set on 3 floors the exhibits were stunning and the stories engaging. The friezes of the Parthenon were on display in ‘in situ’ positions. Many of the missing parts, a lot of which had been plundered over history, were replicated in white plaster next to original exhibits. Plaques below showed where the originals were indeed housed today: the Louvre, the Vatican and of course the British Museum courtesy of Lord Elgin in the early 1800s.

We all certainly learned a lot about Ancient Greece and it did strike us all that the destruction of great treasures in this civilization was part of a pattern all too often seen across the world in other cultures. 

More pictures below give a taste of the richness of the exhibits we were privileged to see.

We had left Deja Vu in a boat yard on the Peleponnese having travelled 660 miles in May and June, nearly a record distance for us. We spent July and August at home ostensibly to enjoy the English summer, but we found it generally cool and wet so were looking forward to returning to the boat for September.

We tried to leave Gatwick on Bank Holiday Monday 28th August, but UK air traffic control had other ideas and we ended up back at home! We finally got away on Tuesday and arrived at the boat on Wednesday having overnighted in Athens as we arrived so very late. We had an unpleasant ride from the airport on the metro. It was late, it was crowded and we had been warned it was fertile ground for pickpockets and thieves. We witnessed their craft in our carriage which was quite frightening and feeling relieved to have escaped the train we mounted the escalator to the relative safety of the streets. However, we were immediately aware we were being targeted on the escalator with a thief positioned in front of and behind Nigel. Fortunately they melted away empty handed into the crowd. Clearly the Greek police have work to do!

Deja Vu was launched on Thursday and we journeyed on Friday from Kilhada to Poros, covering 40 miles in just over 7 hours. Sadly with only 3 hours sailing as there was little wind, but the engine had a good work out! We have just met up with Peter, a friend from Farnham, who is joining us to transit the Corinth Canal. The outlook is not good with strong headwinds for the next few days, so we are waiting patiently for a weather window to make some distance north.

Amazingly we seemed to be heading for some settled weather again, as the pressure was rising.

Leaving Poros on June 19th we had a 20 mile broad reach in glorious sunshine, making 6 knots in 10 knots of wind, couldn’t be better.
We headed for the island of Dhokus which had eluded us a few weeks earlier as it is open to the north and was then untenable. However this time with southerly winds it offered perfect shelter. We anchored mid way round the bay and spent two nights relaxing and enjoying swimming in beautiful clear water.

Next stop was Spetses, a first visit for us, and once again we chose a sheltered anchorage on the west end of the island called Ormomoryia Bay. There were quite a few large motor boats around, a few yachts, but nothing spoiled the peace and we felt richly blessed to be in such lovely surroundings with gorgeous blue water.

We continued west to the Eastern flank of the Peleponnese to Leonidihon, a favourite port that we had last visited in 2018 on our previous circumnavigation of the Peloponnese.  We were pleased to see that little had changed. Once tied up we received a charming welcome from Margaret, proprietor of the Michael and Margaret taverna, and were served a very tasty plate of grilled sardines and greek salad for lunch. We had the pleasure of the company of a young German couple, full of conversation and tales of their 3 month adventure in a camper van around southern mainland Greece. It turned out they were on holiday from their day jobs of being Christian missionaries and, in the short time we had, we enjoyed some lively debate. Was this serendipitous? We said our pleasant goodbyes with plenty to think about!

As we sailed north, deeper into the Argolic Gulf, we identified with the very predictable weather pattern; light northerly winds in the morning and a brisk southerly in the afternoon, locally known as the Bouka Doura. 
We chose to tack north to Astrous, a port favoured by Heikel, author of our pilot guide, and we spent a couple of nights tied up to a harbour wall in this busy town. It was hot and quiet during the day, lively and engaging during the evening but unfortunately the party music did interfere with our beauty sleep, so, although we enjoyed the visit, we were not sorry to depart on Sunday 25th June.  Images of Astrous below.

That morning we discovered a half eaten peach in the fruit basket and tell tale droppings on the decks and inside the cabin.  A worst case scenario manifested itself in our minds of a rat on board, now hiding in the bilges.

We anchored in a bay off Tolo, sheltered from the regular strong southerly afternoon breeze and addressed the possibility of a resident rat. We moved all our packets of food to sealed cupboards, searched as many hiding places as we could reach and simply failed to find any trace nor routes ‘Ratty’ as he was now called, could have taken.
Clearly there was a need for a rat trap, so we carried on north on Monday 26th June to the large port of Navplion in search of a hardware store.

Our stopover in Navplion was interesting and it turned out to present more problems than Ratty, of whom we found no further trace despite leaving food out. The problems we encountered were with the Greek authorities and the controversial, unclear bureaucracy that has arisen for British flagged boats since Brexit. Unfortunately we had to spend the best part of a day in police and customs offices until there was a resolution to suit them.  We now have to carry a document that has to be stamped in and out of every port we visit.  A royal pain in the whatsit.  At the same time Nigel has been closely engaged with the Cruising Association attempting to navigate a coherent and consistent path through this bureaucracy as all British flagged boats are affected and the arcane laws are being unreasonably and inconsistently enforced resulting in many skippers being faced with unreasonable fines. I am sure our first hand experiences in Navplion have illuminated many of the issues we, and others, are grappling with.  A formal complaint has been lodged with the EU commission and Greek government as it is appearing that some of the Greek regulations breach EU laws.

Navplion itself is an old historic town with castles, ruins, fabulous old streets full of shops, bars and restaurants. We tried to rediscover places we had visited here some 30 years ago, but either much has changed or our memories don’t serve us well! We enjoyed the holiday ambience in spite of the other issues! Images below of the old, the history and some dereliction.

We’re back in the anchorage opposite Tolo, too nice to leave!  We had a lovely meal ashore which reminded us of Caribbean shorelines.  No sign of Ratty we are pleased to say but we are the proud owners of a trap now and will be ready if evidence reappears. In this case we think Ratty must have obligingly got off the boat after gorging on the peach and leaving his trail of poo!

Our final anchorage is Khaidhari, a fjord-like inlet east of Tolo, sheltered from most winds, although we are being buffeted by the southerly swell from the afternoon force 5 breeze.

Tomorrow we head down to Koiladha where the boat is to be lifted out on Monday 3^rd July. The next couple of days will be busy cleaning and packing up before we fly home on Wednesday 5^th July. It is promising to be very hot here next week, so this is perhaps a timely exit, as we understand the UK is cooling down!   Back again end of August for a return trip to Preveza, hopefully via the Corinth Canal.

After Tom had  left,  it was our turn to get back to the UK.  We had booked to leave the boat in Lavrio in a marina there, so we waited one more day in Perdika for a favourable wind direction to head east.

We then set off first to Sounion bay which is at the extreme end of the peninsular which marks the beginning of the Evia channel and just around the corner from Lavrio.  It is a popular anchorage which is overlooked by the temple of Poseidon.  It blew hard all of the afternoon and most of the night, testing the holding of Mr Manson, our anchor. 

The next morning the wind revved up even more and we decided that it was not worth trying to sail against the strong winds to the marina,so we motored 5 miles round the coast. With the boat safely tucked up in the marina we flew home for just a couple of days to satisfy our travel insurance and home insurance.

We returned to much better weather with about 5 days of fine weather forecast.  This gave us the opportunity to visit some of the nearer Cyclades islands.  This group of attractive islands sits right in the path of the strong Meltemi wind and from about Mid June to the end of September it is a risky area to visit in a yacht for fear of getting stranded by strong winds.  Climate change has made the Meltemi blow harder and for longer than before.  Once we cleared the island of Makronisos we had a clear run to the first island in the chain, Kea.  We headed for Pisses, a sheltered bay in the west coast of the island.  It was a delightful anchorage, quiet and good holding. Scenes of Kea and Pisses Bay below.

In settled weather we moved on the next day to the next island, Kythnos, heading again for an anchorage, Apokriosis.  This was again a pleasant bay but we struggled at first to get the anchor to take.  The bay sported two tavernas both of which we visited in the course of our two day stay.  The northerly one was very rustic and Greek, the southern one was pretentious although welcoming, expensive and not very Greek.  The beach was great, with soft sand. Pictures of Apokriosis below, taken when calm, it was very windy most of the time!

Our next stop was Merikhas, the main town on Kythnos.  It turned out to be a delightful place with plenty of mooring space for yachts with excellent amenities.  The typically island Greece town sported many restaurants and one of the highlights of our visit was eating sardines and drinking Rose wine on the beach in one of them.  Another great advantage of the place was its shelter from the persistent strong northeast wind, a blessing after being blown around in Apokriosis bay. Few shots of Merikhas below.

Sadly the forecasts showed a change in the weather with strong westerly winds due , so we reluctantly decided that we needed to head back, with the nearest destination being back to Poros.

It is now June 18^th and we have stayed on Poros a couple of days waiting for the weekend storm to blow itself out.

Our target next is to sail west to explore a bit more of the Argolikos Gulf before heading to Kilhada where the boat will be lifted out for the Summer.