Time to explore further south so we once more headed down through the Lefkas canal where last years’ dredging has hugely improved the depth and brand new, brightly coloured buoys clearly mark the channel. We spent a couple of days in Vliho Bay from where we were able to visit the excellent chandlers in Nidri and the unaltered, uncared for, cluttered quayside in Vliho itself, complete with sunken boats still attached to quay. We also enjoyed the excellent tavernas on the east side of the bay, all only a short dinghy ride away. The all round shelter afforded in Vliho Bay lulls one into a false sense of the weather, and for a while, it is very relaxing, but we were ready with newly purchased sea shoes and a useful reeled long line, to set off for Kefalonia.

Some 20 miles to go, we found a good wind just south of the Nidri channel. Needless to say it was on the nose, so we beat all the way to Fiscardo, having to put a reef in the main and the headsail. The sun was shining and the sea ahead was an amazing azure blue with a clear demarcation between that and the usual dark blue sea. One would normally associate this with shallow sand ahead, but the charts were clear to show deep water, so on we went, quite bemused as to what was causing the lovely colour.

As we were approaching the north coast of Kefalonia, still reefed and sailing well at over 6 knots, and with the tall dark steep sides of Ithaca framing us, we were photographed by the very enterprising and talented Kevin from Fiscardo, who was performing great feats with his rib and cameras! Unfortunately it was all over before we realised it had begun, so not much in the way of waving and smiles from us crew, but the boat looks splendid carving her way through the beautiful blue seas. Needless to say we visited Kevin’s studio on board his wee boat in the harbour to purchase this lovely record and we are thrilled with the results, some of which you can see below.

Once in the harbour we anchored and long-lined back to the north shore, creating a swimming triangle behind the boat. We were both struck by how small Fiscardo was, having heard so much hype about it, we had expected a expected a much larger bay. The quay was full, but has very little space in the base case. Ferries came and went with monotonous regularity and the north shore was the only viable place to stop. The town has put some rings into the rocks to which you can tie back long lines. After we had moored, in the process clobbering (not very hard) the French boat that was alongside us we observed a German couple come in and do a textbook moor, her off attaching shorelines whilst he casually waited in the boat. When she was ready he backed gently up to the line she was holding out from the dinghy. No drama, very cool. We live and learn!

The town was picture book pretty with a raft of restaurants all touting for business. Kevin pointed us in the direction of one good Greek tavern and we enjoyed a nice meal ashore on our first night.

It was perhaps a bad decision to stay another day as although the weather forecasts posed no contra indications, we endured a lively and unexpected 16knot headwind and a large incoming sea, all the ingredients for not wanting to be on the north shore! With night falling, there was nowhere to go other than out to sea, so we made full preparations to leave should the mooring become completely untenable, and kept full watch to ride it out. Thankfully our 50m of chain and anchor kept us moored safely and by 1am the worst was over. We are told this is not an uncommon occurrence and almost certainly a feature of all the high ground of both Kefalonia and Ithaca and the narrow channel between the two.

It was here that we finally found out we needed to go back to Corfu by 20^th June to meet the Sunbeam team. Instead of going further south, we needed to begin a trip north once again.

A great stopover in Sivota on Stavros’ pontoon enabled us to recharge and fill with water.

We then sailed north east to Kalamos for a night in the main town. Kalamos is a practically deserted island, with visiting yachts providing the mainstay of the economy for the surviving residents. We arrived at 3pm and only just in time to get the last mooring space on the quay and the inimitable ‘George’ guided us in and saw us safely tied up. Thereafter vast numbers of boats arrived seeking safe places for the night. George shoe horned in as many as possible, the charter boats looked after themselves and for a while in the strong katabatic afternoon winds, it was chaos and manic in the small harbour. Peace eventually reigned supreme, with the latecomers anchored outside of the entrance, and almost everyone converged on George’s tavern for supper. George has the place sewn up and has put paid to any likely competition, as the other establishments were bars only. The village above the harbour was like a ghost town, so sad to see such dereliction.  An interesting stopover, but not one we will rush back to!

By contrast we stopped on our last night in the inland sea on the north coast of Meganissi in the bay of Abelike. We found a sheltered spot and long lined back. Typically Mo swims ashore with the ropes after anchoring to secure them to shore. We are improving the technique each time.

A night in Preveza was followed by a long 50mile day sail to Platarias, on the Greek mainland opposite the middle of Corfu, where we have visited a few times before. With a moderate wind on the beam we averaged 6.5knots for the first two hours  and again a fast sprint for the last three hours, unfortunately a beat which was quite lively,  We arrived around 4pm on Friday 16^th June and were amazed and delighted to get a place on the quay, where we had chosen to be for the bad weather forecast for Sunday. On Saturday the harbour filled up with charter boats and others seeking refuge. Sunday dawned benignly, but by 2pm the northwest winds increased to 25 -30knots and the harbour was lashed by a relentless sea. The harbour wall design left much to be desired as, instead of providing a safe barrier, the tunnels through it allowed the sea to penetrate the harbour and roll the boats in a very uncomfortable and dangerous way!

We made a few new friends whilst fending off the boats and watched many unlucky boats arrive and depart in the ugly sea.  The next day calm was restored and we continued our journey up to Gouvia. We decided on arrival to anchor outside of the marina for the night as it was so hot we would be able to swim off the boat. The Sunbeam team were expected the next morning so we up anchored and headed in mid morning of the 20^th. What happened next is another chapter!

On Saturday evening, 27^th May, Bill and Cheryl, our American friends from Montana and California, (their two homes they share their time between) surprised us by arriving early to Gouvia Marina in Corfu and we had to bid a hasty retreat from our neighbour’s boat, AirWaves, where we had been ensconced with Chris and Eileen putting the world to right over a beer or two, having spent the day preparing Deja Vu to receive our visitors.

Bill and Cheryl were on a multi destination trip in Europe, with us the penultimate stopover and their luggage did present an immediate challenge, which, we are pleased to say, Gouvia Marina solved by storing two suitcases of unwanted gear for their week sailing. They had joined us before on our older boat, have sailed off the Californian coast and learned the ropes, and we were looking forward to spending a week together.

After boat familiarisation and a trip into Corfu town, we set off from the Marina and enjoyed some great sailing heading always for the blue skies which took us away from mainland Greece, besieged with dark stormy clouds and rain, to the southern tip of Corfu and the anchorage at Petriti. Our planned BBQ did not materialise as the rolling sea and stiff breeze put paid to it, but Bill worked wonders on the beef, with a red wine marinade and with seasoning from many of Mo’s store cupboard herbs and spices.

Our week sailing of good fair winds took us to Paxos, where we spent a night at Gaios and then an overnight stay in Lakka Bay, which turned out to be a firm favourite. Fortunately the main charter fleet seemed to have left the anchorage to return boats to Corfu, and it was unusually empty and civilised in the Bay.

A week is not long on a boat and their time was quickly running out. Our return trip took us to the anchorage off the town of Platarius on the mainland, then swathed in sunshine, before a windless motor on our last day back to Gouvia Marina.

We enjoyed a great week with Bill and Cheryl, chewed the fat on many a subject, political and other. I am not sure if we are any the wiser about Donald Trump other than the alternative was deemed to be unacceptable. The news we receive and absorb from the States is, apparently, very different from reality and the truth, if anyone knows what that is!

Time to re-vital, fill up with water, bid farewell to Bill and Cheryl and for us to head back south, which we did via Petriti again and Paxos. We went ashore in Petriti for a sundowner in a nice bar on the waterfront. In the shallow water off the bar a small octopus was sighted moving around with wonderful grace. However it has sadly tempted fate too much and one of the locals grabbed a fishing spear and put an end to its short life.   The reality behind the seafood we enjoy was all too apparent.

We tried a new bay at the bottom of the island of Paxos, Mongonissi, a delightful inlet where we were proud of ourselves to long line successfully in a very pretty spot in the bay which sported both a bar and restaurant. We went ashore for a recce and will have to save the restaurant for another time. We left Mongonissi late morning to wait for the afternoon wind to sail down to Preveza, a 30 mile trip. After 3 hours of motoring, we were well rewarded with a fast broad reach in 14knots of wind, feeling very pleased that we were not going the other way.

Our night on Preveza quay was very disappointing when we found the motor boat adjacent to us, Queen of Hearts, insisted on running its generator all night despite the fact it was directly opposite a power supply. Nigel was incensed and did not spare his tongue when venting his fury at the boat’s owner who apparently could not survive the night without his air conditioning and television. We were pleased we interrupted their film viewing but we did have to decamp to our forward cabin to get away from the noise and the diesel fumes of his generator. Enough said. We were pleased to depart the quay. You just never know who you are going to meet or moor beside. The world is full of very strange and some very selfish people.

We have just heard the election results and are marvelling at the idiocy of our politicians. Tom sent us an hilarious email: ‘Did no-one see the enormous elephant jumping in the room? The Europeans must be bemused (amused?) as we fall from grace, repeatedly shooting ourselves in the foot, which also happens to be the national mouth.’ Pleased to say we are relaxing in Vliho Bay for 2 or 3 days and getting ahead with our reading, which for the benefit of our sanity, is all fiction.

We landed in Preveza on Wednesday May 10^th and on Saturday May 13^th we launched Deja Vu from Cleopatra Marina’s boatyard. Those three days were really hard work, firstly removing the winter cover, then preparing the bottom of the boat for antifouling, actually painting on the antifouling and finally polishing the hull. Although exhausted we were pleased with our combined efforts as Deja Vu was gleaming!

We tied up for a few days in Preveza Marina whilst we got ourselves ready for sailing and waited for a storm or two to pass through. The topsides thoroughly cleaned (the amount of accumulated dust and dirt was incredible), the jib was hoisted and furled and the shopping was done. It was great to have a car to carry water, beer and other of life’s essentials from the out of town supermarkets to Deja Vu’s store lockers.

Our maiden sail of the year was Friday 19^th May and we headed down the Lefkas canal and decided to overnight in Spartakahori, on the north side of Meganissi at Porto Spilla, the dominion of the much feared proprietor Babis. We definitely did the right thing to call ahead and ask if we could moor up and we hope we made a good impression as it seems that Babis only extends the hand of welcome to those he likes!

From there we had a great sail across to mainland Greece and back, a 15 mile round trip just for the joy of sailing as it was a beam reach.

A couple of nights in Vathi followed whilst some bad weather went through and then a calm night at anchor in Vliho Bay.

Nigel went to the assistance of a lovely couple aboard a Halberg Rassy, who in their efforts to up anchor and depart, pulled up a heaving mass of tackle from the seabed and they were well and truly in a fix. Nigel and David battled all afternoon and finally got free of the mess. The joyful outcome was that we spent a very pleasant evening in the company of Liz and David, who entertained us with tales of their many years sailing in the area and their imminent plans to move to Queenstown in New Zealand. One nice much loved old boat is now for sale!

Time to go north again so we headed back through the Lefkas Canal and sailed north to the island of Paxos where we planned to brave the “chaos in Gaios”. It was pretty busy with other yachts and annoyingly we did find small fishing boats occupying large swathes of deep water quayside. This coupled with the recently established tripper boat quayside areas is reducing space for yachts, but it does free up after 5pm when the tripper boats leave and is fine as long as you are away by 10am the next morning!

A steady sail averaging 5 knots over 7 hours took us from Paxos to Corfu where we arrived on Thursday 25^th May and anchored just outside Gouvia Marina.

We are now in the Marina awaiting the arrival of our American friends Bill and Cheryl Sanderson who arrive tonight to spend a week with us. We are hoping for fair winds and a bit more settled warm sunshine so that we can enjoy good sailing, good anchorages and hear all about the joys or otherwise of their new president.

We had a taste of hot weather in February this year, with a very pleasant sailing trip in the BVI’s aboard yacht Pipistrelle with our good friends Bob and Elaine. We caught up with them for a week prior to their trans Atlantic trip planned for May. Now back in the cold UK we have started to look forward to warmer Mediterranean climes aboard Deja Vu. We have just started to pack all the boat bits we need to take down to Greece in about 3 weeks time. The cover will come off, the  anti fouling will be done, and, if time, a little polishing too, before we launch on May 13th. We will then set about provisioning her whilst we still have the use of a car to carry all the supplies!

 

Settled weather at last! We are slowly finding out how things work down here by talking to fellow sailors we are meeting.

There are a lot of elderly sailors, many of whom are Brits, who spend long times in each place, often blocking quays and berths for the sailors on a journey and just passing through. There are also lots of abandoned and neglected boats littering quaysides. We even saw a couple that had sunk at the quayside. The locals tell us Greek law prevents their removal as it is the owner’s responsibility. Often the said owner has long since passed away, and there seems no way can such property be ‘moved on’. Consequently some quays, notably the west side of Vlikho Bay and parts of Lefkas Town Quay are spoilt, rendered unusable and the investment made in developing a nice promenade, wasted through neglect. Oh for a harbour master to sort it all out!

In spite of the fact we had a week of benign weather with precious little wind, we heard many horror tales of sailing in these waters. The most famous perhaps, that is well documented, was the Vlikho storm of September 2011. An extreme weather event that is quite rare in the Med, hit Vlikho Bay in the early evening and sent a hurricane force squall to cause chaos both on land and water. Boats were flattened, one capsized and a great deal of damage was done in the ten minute carnage. It had been a combination of weather runes aligning to trigger this very local effect; preceding strong southerly winds, abnormally high sea temperatures providing hot moist air to feed the thunderstorm, cold torrential rain typical of a downdraught from a thunderstorm cell; the whole event gave rise to a new weather term of ‘microburst’. Horrific and terrifying at the time of course, but many people will not go to Vlikho Bay now, even though paradoxically is had earned a reputation of being a ‘hurricane hole’ providing all round shelter!

We heard other tales of crowds in certain ports, nowhere to moor up unless you arrived by 11am, poor shelter, bad anchoring. Perhaps we were being warned off to leave the space for themselves!

This makes life very difficult if you want to sail, as the breeze doesn’t normally get going until after lunch!

On the other hand we met enough optimistic sailors who painted quite a different picture to restore our faith in sailing here. They were enthusiastic with refreshingly reassuring and inspirational tales of their own.

We enjoyed a couple of days in Sivota on the south eastern side of Lefkas where we tied up on Stavros’ pontoon. The deal was that Stavros provided the berth, water and power, and showers, we only had to eat in his taverna. Food was good and very reasonable, so that was no hardship.

Vlikho Bay was a must on our itinerary to bury the myth and we had a very peaceful couple of days exploring here. Big downside of the Bay though was the proliferation of jellyfish which rather curtailed ambitious swimming activity. Instead we did jobs on the boat, polishing the rails and cleaning up down below.

Nigel celebrated a birthday on September 26^th, waking up on anchor in Atheni Bay on Meganissi and having a very pleasant time snorkelling. We then sailed back over to Lefkas and tied up on the IBA pontoon in Nidri and spent a very pleasant evening in the busy tourist town. We discovered the delights of Nik the Greek’s tavern and retired that night very happily sated!

As we headed north again, we stopped off in Varko Bay which was featured in our last blog, with Nigel walking along the shore beside the sunshades, beds and bar. Here is a shot of the same shore, with all trace of the ‘pop up’ bar and facilities gone!

We renegotiated the Lefkas canal stopping off for one night in Lefkas Marina before going past the swing bridge at 11am and back out into open water to the north. It was quite a shock to get 20knots of wind but we had a fast sail back up to Preveza, and a pleasant anchorage behind the town marina.

Countdown to the lift out which proved to be a well organised operation and now Deja Vu is safely ashore. There has been plenty of work to do to winterise her, not least wrestling with her winter cover, but she is now buttoned up and battened down for any weather the winter may present.

It is crazily busy here at Cleopatra Marina, we have never seen so many boats ashore. Apparently the most in one place in Europe.

We have met up with friends we have made in the islands and will share a farewell supper tonight at Panos Taverna with Dave and Dee from Australia, Mandy and Bob from Hampshire. We have also met up with Ian and Glynis from Saddleworth, north of Manchester,  who kindly offered us a lift to the airport in their hire car. We are hoping to keep in touch with everyone and meet again next year.

One of the excursions we made from Preveza was in the free boat taxi across to Cleopatra Marina where we checked out their facilities and confirmed our lift out arrangements with them. What we saw was quite impressive; well organised marina and boat yard with clean buildings, a well equipped chandlery, a pleasant cafe and plenty of room around.

We really enjoyed the town of Preveza with its long clean promenade, winding back streets, plenty of tavernas filling the passages, designer clothes shops and a reasonable supermarket. We found a delightful art cafe in the evening which played the best music; we were after their playlist! We will definitely return next time we visit.

We loosed our lines and motored off through the narrow channel and sailed down to the top of the Lefkas canal. This journey needs to be timed to the minute as the swing bridge opens on the hour every hour and waits for no man.

A fascinating motor through the 3km long canal afforded interesting views of the islands ahead, Lefkas town and marina and evidence of the constant dredging operation which keeps the canal navigable at about 5m depths.

The next couple of days continued to be settled and we started to discover a few bays and anchorages, having a go a long lining in Abelike bay on the north coast of Meganissi. We witnessed our first, and I am sure not our last, spectacle of two other boats getting anchors crossed. It did take about an hour of discussion and agreed maneuvering to disentangle them before all was well.

The watch on the weather ahead revealed storms on the radar (oh no not again!) for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, so we played safe and booked into a small marina in the tiny port of Vathi on the north coast of Meganissi which looked to be well sheltered from the southerlies to come.

It turned out that this was an astute move, because as the storm duly arrived with considerable ferocity; massive lightning strikes, ear splitting thunder bolts and monsoon rain, many boats were entering the harbour seeking a sheltered mooring, all of which were taken. It is crowded in these waters with enough space when the weather is fine, but not enough safe moorings when not. Planning ahead is essential for peace of mind. Everyone was wandering about in wet gear, almost like fish out of water, but we found plenty to do, including the laundry!

We met some really interesting people, some of whom come from parts of the UK we know well, some had shared the same Marina as us in Croatia, others lifting out in the same Marina here and getting a same day flight back to UK. It is a small world and sharing adventure stories passed the time we spent under grey and black skies most enjoyably.

We decided to dust off the bikes and explore the northern end of the island, cycling firstly around the coast to the next harbour of Spartakhori where we stopped at the Taverna Spilia for a beer and to investigate mooring options which were good. We then climbed to the hilltop village of Spartakhori itself to enjoy the fabulous views of the inland sea. The road then led up and down along a ridge to the main village of Katameri before a pleasant descent back into Vathi. It had been intermittently cloudy most of the day, ideal for the unfamiliar burst of aerobic exercise on the bike!  Photos below taken en route.

Now are back on board, perhaps fitter, I am not sure, preparing to set sail again tomorrow Wednesday 21^st September.

Sunday September 4^th we returned to Gouvia on Corfu very late at night to find Deja Vu just as we had left her. Joining us for a week were John and Ada Roberts, friends from Farnham, who were looking forward to the plan of sailing with us to Kefalonia.

However we had known before we left home that storms forecast would prevent us getting away in the early part of the week and it transpired we were very fortunate to have extra days on our booking in the Marina to enable us to stay on there.

We had arranged to hire a car until Wednesday and explored the island by land as gales and torrential rain swept over Corfu. The scenery on the west coast close to Paleokastritsa was mountainous and impressive, the beaches sandy, unfortunately deserted in the inclement weather!

We had a nail biting journey through the middle of the island as the roads through villages got narrow, cars were parked everywhere and sightseeing tourist coaches were trying to drive through against a steady stream of traffic going the other way. We reached many an impasse with some heroic manoeuvres being executed to free up some space. We were grateful to have a small car and as we escaped the worst of it in driving rain, it was clear there were major problems behind us.

Our foray north took us to Kassiopi, a pleasant resort, but we were not impressed with the northernmost towns of Acharavi and Sidari, which had an air of abandoned US outback to them.

So what about the sailing? Beyond Wednesday the outlook remained grim, so on Thursday John and Ada admitted defeat and rescheduled their flights from Corfu instead of Kefalonia, a trip we were never going to manage in the time with the persistent strong southerly winds and storms. It was immensely disappointing for them especially and expensive, as it turned out, but we could find no alternative solution to get them home.

We did manage a couple of sails locally including a visit to Platarius where we enjoyed a lovely fish supper.

On Sunday 11^th September we dropped John and Ada off by dingy on the shores of Garitsa Bay where they would be well placed to get a taxi to the airport. As they left, another thundery squall came in to the bay and we endured a very uncomfortable night .

Monday 12^th September still had the risk of storms in the forecast, but there was a new optimism now for an improving spell of weather. We set off south, firstly 30 miles to Paxos and then 40miles the following day to Preveza, sadly mostly done by motor as the wind had decided to abandon us temporarily..

Here we are in Preveza today Wednesday 14^th September, on the town wall. We have a whole new area to explore to the south and plan to set off tomorrow when we have filled up with water and food!

I am writing this entry in September in retrospect as somehow events overtook my regular updates and it would be quite an omission to leave out 3 sailing weeks in July.

Since we arrived in Corfu, it was clear that rubbish collection was an urgent and mounting problem. Piles of unsavoury rubbish sacks were accumulating at every corner, due, we discovered, to an age old problem on the island of the landfill site being full. It seems the authorities have hitherto been unable to come up with a good alternative, and residents local to the landfill site had had enough and blockaded access! Fortunately within a couple of weeks, it seemed to disappear, but we have no idea where to.

Right at the beginning of the month we sailed across to Paxos and anchored up in Lakka Bay, still as lovely as we remembered with azure blue water on soft sand. This of course made it a honeypot for all boats, so it was rather crowded. As new boats came and anchored ever closer late the second afternoon, we took one look at the sky threatening north easterly winds and decided the anchorage could end up in chaos should a squall ensue. We up-anchored ourselves and sailed back to the mainland. It was a cracking sail and we fetched up in Platarius later in the evening where we met up, unexpectedly, with fellow Sunbeam owners Walter and Elizabeth on their Sunbeam 42, Fortuna. It was a delightful coincidence and we enjoyed exchanging stories of boats and travels with them.

On 8^th July we sailed further round the mainland to Parga, a charming seaside town set high on a hill and tumbling down to the shore via narrow pathways. The beachfront anchorage was bumpy until the joy riders finally stopped charging around with rubber crocodiles and paragliders, but otherwise we had a lovely stay and enjoyed the climb to the town. The views from the castle were magnificent and we found the very best of restaurants tucked away in one of the side streets overlooking the bay. Quite memorable.

We cruised around discovering Petitri and the best Moussaka so far in Greece, and finally returned to Gouvia to welcome Brian and Michele for our final week.

Unfortunately the week ahead was forecast to be grim, and so it was. The marina was full, so we had to leave to find shelter from the storm elsewhere. We chose Valtou Bay and survived unscathed before returning to a reserved space in the Marina whilst the gales blew through two days later. Buses into Corfu town, meals out and trips to the Marina pool kept us busy followed by the clean up before leaving for a six week return to the UK.  Our thanks to Brian and Michele for their help in packing up and sorry not to have had good sailing this time.

Gouvia eventually found us a satisfactory berth, well away from charter boats and on July 21^st we locked up Deja Vu and returned home.

We endured two uncomfortable days of battering from gale force southerlies whilst tied up in the Marina at Brindisi and the long range forecast was still for strong winds. We needed a moderate wind to leave for Corfu, a 115 mile trip that we planned to do in two parts. Firstly 85 miles to the island of Erikoussa, one of the Diapondan isles just north of Corfu and then 30 miles down to Corfu town on the eastern side of the island.

 

As the two days of gales abated late on Friday 17^th June, an immediate window of opportunity presented itself with light north easterlies forecast for the next 24-hours before the next wave of strong winds. We left Brindisi at 6am on Saturday 18^th June and motored out into a glassy sea, setting a south easterly course for Erikoussa. During the 14 hour trip we motored for 7 hours and sailed for 7 hours on a fast broad reach, where the boat was making hull speed and more as she surfed down waves. We arrived in the bay to drop our anchor as the last vestiges of light were receding. A long trip behind us, we enjoyed a quick convenience supper (camping ready meal suggested by Tom!) and bed although the rolling sea did not afford much sleep! Up early on Sunday 19^th June, we set off in dark threatening skies, but once inside the narrow strait between Corfu and Albania, the weather brightened and calmed. We ended up with a gentle sail into Gouvia Marina and tied up ready to check into Greece.

This formality had to wait until the Port Police arrived on Monday morning, and even then was only partly completed because the authorities had run out of cruising permits. We had to make do with a letter from the Corfu Police to vouch for our arrival and fee having been paid!

Noticeably hotter and more crowded in Corfu, we spent our time boat cleaning, refilling the water tanks, shopping and making use of the very welcome swimming pool at the Marina. We took the bus into Corfu town to get a data SIM card for our ipad. We queued for ages in the Cosmote store only to be told that they had run out of them but there would be arriving tomorrow. The mobile phone shops here are chaos with every assistant doing everything. Some customers take an age buying a new phone whilst other just want to pay a €5 bill and get very angry. We did lots of sightseeing in Corfu when we last visited in 2012, so check our blog here for more photos and maybe a bit of history.

We made our departure on Wednesday and sailed to an anchorage just south of the castle in Corfu town. Our intention was to return to the phone shop the next morning and get the SIM card. This we did after another very rolly night only to find unsurprisingly that the promised cards had not arrived. We defaulted to Vodaphone who at least had some. Greece is going to be a very different experience to Croatia!

It soon became clear that there are not very many deep sheltered places to go around Corfu and there is hot competition for the best anchorage positions and harbour spaces, especially if there is adverse weather forecast which is what we were soon to discover.

We set off south for a few days and visited Garista Bay, off Corfu town, Platarias town on the mainland coast and Mourtos village, again on the mainland coast with the small Sivoti islands offshore and the quiet anchorage of Valtou just north of the busy port of Igoumenitsa. The anchorage here beyond a raft of fish farms was very remote and beautiful, spoilt only by its proximity to a mosquito breeding swamp! We went ashore here and walked over the hill to see a wide beach looking across to the busy port of Igounimista. One calm night was followed by strong winds that made the anchorage very uncomfortable and our anchor dragged. We quickly re anchored with lots more chain out.

Our hopes of getting to Paxos on this excursion were thwarted by strong southerlies followed by strong north westerlies, making Paxos a bad choice of destination as there is limited shelter there, so it will wait for a week and we will try again. The promise of calm Ionian sailing seems like a myth at the moment and we have joined the throngs of sailors jockeying for shelter! Returning north for a couple of days to meet up with friends Colin and Sandra Baxter who are holidaying on the island. Thursday 30^th June we are in Gouvia Marina having the rigging checked, revitalling, having high hopes of the laundry getting done in spite of frequent power cuts!

For those of you non sailors who follow our blog, apologies for constant references to the weather, but sailors will understand that this drives our days, our thinking and our plans. The forces of nature are huge and need to be treated with great respect. Life on the boat is very simple and subsistent. We depend on the elements, worry about where the wind is coming from and how much of it there is, where we can get water (and wine) and the next loaf of bread. After the sailing, reprovisioning and doing the laundry are major tasks in our day. We read kindles in daylight and sleep in the dark. We are truly distanced from manmade troubles of the world as our exposure to the media is limited to quick fire bursts of internet time on our ipads in cafes sporting wifi, and the priority is always weather forecasts and emails from family and friends. The news takes second place in our sea faring world.

Since leaving in early May, we have had very unstable weather conditions and not more than 2 days of settled weather in a row in which to make carefree passages. Writing this from Brindisi on June 17^th we are rolling around in the Marina with gale force winds relentlessly buffeting us and they are not forecast to abate any time soon. We may be holed up here for a while, so time to tell the story of our time in Italy so far.

Given the unsettled nature of the weather we chose our departure from Lastovo carefully to try and miss the frequent storms and southerly winds that had featured through the whole of May. The 4^th June appeared to be our best bet as light winds were forecast from the Northwest.

We checked out early morning with the Police and were on our way heading to Vieste in Italy some 58 miles away. We motored for three hours and then some wind arrived, giving us a broad reach. We sailed slowly and then put up the dreaded cruising chute which gave another knot. The wind lasted only a couple of hours and then we had dead calm. Motoring on we arrived in Vieste at 6pm to moor up on Caterina’s pier in the harbour.

Vieste is a busy holiday resort with a large well populated beach and both new and old towns. The old town occupies the limestone cliff area to the south of the new town and is very attractive. By contrast the harbour area is quite messy and has many tripper boats coming and going to take tourists to the Tremeti Islands some 10 miles away. There is a new marina in the harbour built with EU money but never finished (the money ran away apparently) so most boats moor on the old piers on the opposite side.

This was our second trip to Vieste with our first visit to the old town well documented in our blog for 2013. This time instead of taking the camera we took shopping bags to reprovision before our friends Sharon and Peter Matthews joined us for 6 days with the hope of a ride to Bari! Vieste has an excellent street market where we bought 2 litres of very drinkable wine for 5 euros and the best olives we have ever tasted in addition to lovely fresh fruit and vegetables.

This week ahead was plagued with thunderstorms. We had to choose our passages carefully and dodge the worst of the storms that were all around.

We did the 60 miles to Bari in two hops.

Our first port of call, 40 miles south of Vieste, was the delightful harbour of Trani. The marina sits inside the harbour which is flanked on all sides by the old town with its many fine and interesting buildings. Towering above all is the magnificent cathedral with a simple pious atmosphere and mosaics and frescoes to see in the crypt. After our sightseeing we decided to dress smart and go to a recommended restaurant, that of Corteinfiore, where we enjoyed a superb meal and wine in the most delightful surroundings. www.conteinfiore.it

Perfect sailing with a 20 mile beam reach from Trani got us to Bari just in front of a thunderstorm and we did well to tie up at Marina Ranieri just before the deluge. Needless to say the afternoon saw a long lunch and a siesta! From Bari we planned a few days to explore inland.

It should have been a clue when we discovered the excess on the car insurance policy doubles for driving around Southern Italy. Cars drove at us from all directions, junctions were random and chaotic and parking was haphazard. Apart from having to drive on one’s mettle, it was a significant challenge to find any form of signposting and directions from the scant tourist information we had were woefully misleading! Southern Italy has some unique and beautiful historic sites that are kept well hidden and a secret from tourists!

Our first destination out of Bari was to Castel del Monte, a massive octagonal castle with Gothic corner towers and noted for its harmony of proportions, which crowned an isolated peak in the low plain south of Barletta. Our eagerness to explore the castle built in 1240 was thwarted by a local power cut, so it was not open the public.

We drove on the Matera further south, just in time to have a quick lunch and explore the fringe of this lovely old town before a massive storm hit overhead and we were forced to shelter in shop doorways before finally making a break for the car. Yes we did get soaked and disappointed the local traders trying very hard to sell us all umbrellas.

Alberobello is a beautiful village and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. We found a huge concentration of Trulli houses in a village that could have passed for Hobbiton and saved Peter Jackson a fortune in creating a film set in New Zealand!

The story goes that these small strange circular buildings of whitewashed dry stones with cone shaped roofs boasting pinnacles of various shapes and sizes, were built to avoid a building tax back in the 15^th century. The King of Naples at the time levied a tax on mortar buildings, so the then count of Alberobello gave the order to build trulli ‘a secco’or ‘without mortar’, so that they could be easily dismantled in case of royal inspection. Once Alberobello obtained independence in 1797, trulli and subsequent houses were built using mortar becoming the dwellings we saw.

Finally time in Bari to explore the old town, the centrepiece of which is the famous Basilica of Saint Nicholas, which again is documented in our 2013 blog. Whilst enjoying a cool drink in a cafe here we literally bumped into friends from Farnham, who were on a one week South Italy sightseeing holiday! We have constant reminders how very small the world sometimes seems.

We said farewell to Peter and Sharon on Sunday 12^th June having had a good week with them.

We continued our journey south to the new and very plush Casa Ponte Marina on the outskirts of the charming cliff top village of Polignano. By courtesy of a tuc tuc style taxi into the village we explored the narrow streets, bought pistachio nuts in the street market and enjoyed a beer as we watched the festival festivities get underway with brass bands regaled in different colours assembling in the main square. A purple capped cleric arrived at the cathedral to great rejoicing and later he was to hold a ceremony at sea accompanied apparently by a sacred statue of St Vito, the patron saint of Polignano, to bless the boats! We were amused by the female police presence, very cool! A wonderful firework display rounded off a fun visit.

The next days with wind on the beam we had a chance to get to Brindisi before the gales arrived during the following night. It turned out to be the fastest sail we have ever done as we averaged 7.5 knots on the 42 mile trip. We were helped by a south going current of around 0.5 knots so at times our speed over the ground exceeded 9 knots. A mental note was made not to use this coast for a northbound passage! We were fortunate to have wind off the land so there was no fetch on the sea to make it uncomfortable, although the gusty wind meant we couldn’t relax. As soon as we got tied up in the Marina in Brinidisi soon after lunch, the winds increased to near gale force and two days later they are still raging.

Mo feels particularly poignant to be here as some 72 or 73 years ago her father was here during the war as Brindisi was a place he talked about often. There is an attractive old town, a lovely cathedral and newly redeveloped main shopping streets and quayside. All in all it is very welcoming, there are contrasts of dirty streets and poor areas beside the cleaner and more affluent ones. Very typical of Southern Italy, and probably everywhere. There is a noticeable population of north African street sellers trying to make some sort of a living, and many of the locals are offering hospitality to the tourists they would like to see more of. Sights in Brindisi below include the beautiful cathedral, one of the many monuments, the quay and finishing with the famous roman Appian steps, marking the end of the Appian Way.