Gouvia

With a longer multi-day crossing coming up we hired a car and headed into Ragusa Ibla to pick up some additional crew, in the form of Sam's dad Steve and our friends Sally and Peter. Although we were all itching to get going there were winds forecast to hit storm force at 50 knots, so we were very grateful to be safely tucked up in a marina for a few days and it was good to catch up with Bill and Nancy, and of course stock up on Sicily's best canoli!

With only two double beds and 5 people on board we had to convert one of the seats in the saloon area into a bed for Steve, which involved moving the backrest to the other side to create a contained sleeping area. We felt a little guilty not to be able to offer Steve a proper bed but were quickly relieved when with levels of positivity that only Steve can achieve he exclaimed "This is fantastic, it's just like a coffin!"

Finally the winds dropped down enough that we felt ready to leave the marina and on Monday the 22nd we set off. Unfortunately, strong winds are often followed by rather large swell and despite taking sea sickness tablets I was rendered fairly useless for the day. I was incredibly grateful that our crew were much more sea-worthy and were able to give Sam help and company whilst I sat feeling rather queasy in the cockpit or lay below deck questioning my life choices again.

Thankfully by day two the swell had completely dropped, leaving a glassy, smooth sea and to make it even better we were joined by a pod of dolphins who came to play in our bow wave. It turns out dolphins are complete show-offs and love to put on a show, and between jumps, dives and turns will roll slightly onto their side to peer up at you to check you're still watching (and cheering). It's the most amazing thing to watch and something that I don't think will ever get old!

We also came across hundreds of solitary turtles just bobbing in the sea enjoying the sun. They were also incredibly cute but not very bright, leading me to dub them the "pheasants of the sea". They'd be bobbing along perfectly safely off to one side of the boat completely oblivious to us and then almost without fail as the boat reached within about 2m of them (sometimes rather noisily with the engine running) they'd wake up with a panicked start and swim directly into the path of the boat. Somehow we managed to avoid hitting any with our propeller but it was a close call almost every time!

Having found my sea legs I joined Sally for a much more enjoyable 12-4am shift on the second night. With the boat on autopilot and calm flat seas we settled in to what essentially amounted to a sleepover with blankets, snacks and chatting all round. We also discovered that we were surrounded by tiny phosphorescent jellyfish which glowed like a million little stars in the water if you shone a headtorch onto them. The boys took over at 4am for the sunset shift and we returned at 8am. Unfortunately for Sam (who was sleeping in the cabin in the bow) at about 8.20 we spotted another pod of dolphins about 100 foot from the boat. Having been told that banging on the hull of the boat attracts them over I entered full dolphin tunnel-vision and promptly did this. Poor Sam was not only rudely awoken with banging on the side of the boat right next to his head but when he then came up to check everything was OK he was greeted to the sight of no-one at the helm!

By the end of our second day we sailed into Crotone on the ball of the foot on the mainland of Italy for some much needed showers, a chance to restock our lunch supplies and a full night's sleep for all. On the recommendation of another couple in the marina we went for dinner in a very quirky restaurant with a chef who was a real character and a Christmas (or as he called it an "all four seasons") tree in pride of place. As we walked back to the boat we passed through the fish market and were rather amused to find a local stray cat acting as night watchman over one of the stalls.

The following morning, after officially checking out of Italy, we set off across the bay to pass under the heel of the boot. After a fairly uneventful day Sally and I came back on shift at midnight to a handover that the winds were starting to pick up a bit and that we had a stowaway in the form of Simon the swift who had decided to hitch a ride back to the mainland by roosting on our boom up against the mainsail. As we neared land again the winds built even more and we had to put in a reef. This involves lowering the sail slightly to reduce the surface area and folding the spare fabric over the boom, exactly where Simon was sleeping, so it was with great relief that we found he was no longer there when we removed the reef and had clearly made it back to land.

After a final day's sail in strong winds we finally made it into Greek waters in record time and even with two reefs in Sam hit a new top speed of 8.2 knots (much to previous record holder Steve's annoyance)! We anchored up in a lovely, protected bay on an island called Ereikoussa just north of Corfu and due to a little user error with the outboard engine we ended up rowing to shore for dinner and drinks at a taverna but it was worth it for the entertainment of the journey back to the boat. Sally and I were not particularly coordinated with each other but stuck with our story that we just wanted to give everyone 360 degree views of the gorgeous sunset.

We set off the next morning for our final stretch from Ereikoussa to Gouvia Marina just north of Corfu Town where we were due to pick up Helen and drop off Sally and Peter. Passing some beautiful villas on the coastline we arrived at the fanciest marina we've ever come across with a swimming pool, cricket field and croquet lawn all on site! We headed back out to dinner and had some brilliant entertainment in the form of live bouzouki music and a multi-generational group of locals all up and dancing!Read more