After many months of cruising down the french canals from Holland, through Belgium and France, then cruising the Mediterranean for the summer, Sunday Island has reached Gibraltar!

Fuel in Gibraltar is tax free and much less expensive than Spain. This is a good thing as we’re are down to 5% in our tanks when we pulled into the fuel station in Gibraltar. Once we filled the tanks we crossed the boarder into the Spanish side of Gibraltar, checked into a marina, tied up the boat, and then walked to town.

Our walk took us across the runway, through two boarder crossings and back into Gibraltar on foot. We then explored the town of Gibraltar, and caught the cable car to the top of the rock to look at the view and enjoy watching the monkeys.

Close to our marina the kids enjoyed riding the skate park

We will spend the next few days waiting for a weather window to sail south to Lanzarotee.

Please excuse the recent test messages on the website, however we are configuring the email system on the boat that works via SSB radio so we can update you all on our progress.

Every day, weather and HF signal dependant, I will send an email with a brief summary of our day and update the position report. Unfortunately the onboard signal for sending and receiving emails is text only so we will only be able to add photo’s to the blog when we are in port.

Our position report can be viewed at:

http://cms.winlink.org:444/maps/positionreports.aspx?callsign=vk7hew

Positions can also be viewed on

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:7304925/zoom:10

Surrounded by sparkling super yachts, Sunday Island departed the well protected anchorage of Las Lllettas, Palma Mallorca and motored peacefully into the morning darkness at 0500 on Thursday 13th October. With light and variable winds we motored and sailed our way to the island of Ibiza.
Fishing has become an enthusiastic past time onboard during passages. Before spending €600 plus on a decent rig we decided to put our decathlon rod & reel special and a €5 lure to the test. I have been reading “the cruisers handbook of fishing” to give me some more education to land our dinner. No sooner had I finished the first page of the book and “ziiinnnggggg” we were on. There was no time to skim over the “getting a fish on deck a sailing boat” chapter. In no time at all we landed a nice Mahi Mahi. Now the kids continuously watch the rod and if you are sailing within 200nm of Sunday island you will hear the kids shout “Fiiisssshhhh oooonnnnnn!!!” Whenever we get a bite!

Ibiza is well known as a party island with some of the most famous clubs in the world residing in the south of the island. As a cruising destination Ibiza boats some beautiful coastline and anchorages. We dropped anchor in a northern bay called Portinax late in the afternoon and enjoyed a swim and dinghy ride to the beach before a nice bottle of white wine to accompany our Mahi Mahi dinner.

The next morning after finishing school with the kids we dinghies ashore and hiked to the Moscarter lighthouse – the tallest lighthouse in the Balearic Islands – for a picnic lunch. The view from the lighthouse and cliff tops was excellent.

The following day found Sunday Island surrounded by bouys for a marathon swim and watched the swimmers pass by through the morning while we completed schooling and s few jobs abound the boat. After lunch we motored to Cala Charraca and went snorkeling and spear fishing amongst the rocks.

While waiting for the wind to swing to the East we rigged up the Walker Bay sailing dinghy and Explored the bay under sail. We sailed past many natives sunning themselves on the rocks and observed that the natives in this bay were absent of cloth.

When we returned to Sunday Island Issy and Max asked if they could sail the walker bay by themselves, so I donned my fins so I could swim near them, then pushed them off for their first solo voyage. I was impressed how well they handled the dinghy by themselves and it was manic to watch their new found freedom of self reliant transport by sail.

The walker bay was strapped back on deck with mast, sails, rudder and centerboard packed below and we raised anchor and sailed Sunday Islsnd down the coastline.

Our original passage plan had us sailing from Ibiza to mainland spain and then day sailing our way towards Gibraltar. The weather forecast for the next two weeks would not allow this luxury, and we only had two days of Easterlies to get us as far west as possible before the weather turned. We decided to make a three hundred mile downwind dash for Motril where we could enjoy the southern coastline of spain by land while we waited for the next Easterly winds.

At midday on 17th October we crossed the Prime Meridian of longitude 0* passing from the Eastern Hemisphere to the Western Hemisphere.

En route I managed to send my first emails and position report with the ICOM 7300 SSB and also downloaded a GRIB weather file. With a few more tweaks of the antenna I’m confident that we will be able to send text emails and receive weather GRIB files and weather fax on our way across the Atlantic. I will research a way of displaying a map in our blog with our updated position.

We will arrive in Motril today and then hop our way along the last 100nm of Spanish coastline to Gibraltar when the weather allows. With the latest long range weather forecast we may be able to pass through the Gibraltar strait on Monday 24th October however this will be determined by a large low pressure system in the North Atlantic.

You know a place is special when friends and family meet you on the dock on arrival and have countless offers to lend a hand and loan their washing machine!

For the first week we hired a car for our grocery shopping and runs to and from our 2m2 storage block.

The last few months we have decided what we do and don’t need in the boat, and on a 45ft yacht you can’t take it all with you! A few sail changes were made onboard, more spare parts, and less toys.

Our Supermarket excursions can only be described as Megga! Emilie planned what we would need for the next six months and we bought a lot of items that are cheap in Spain but expensive in the Caribbean while I squirmed uncomfortably as I handed over the credit card for a €2000 grocery bill. And then there was more grocery shopping to do for other items we could not find at the super cheap place… for my sanity I decided to not go grocery shopping again.

One bit item to resolve in Palma was our new chest freezer (or lack of). After months of modifications the best we could get was -4*C which does not keep the food cold enough for long term freezing. Finally we bit the bullet and upgraded the compressor to a BD50F. Now we have a freezer keeping the food at a chilly -20*C and using less power than the smaller compressor. The freezer has been an ongoing 6 month learning experience and I think I could now gain my Tafe certificate In refrigeration engineering!

For much of our time in Palma we were anchored off Portxiol giving us good dinghy landing and car parking facilities. One night at anchor after an electrical storm our B&G instruments stopped working. This could have been a game changer for our voyage. No instrument’s = no autopilot= $$$= no go!

After two days of fault finding I narrowed it down to the wind wand and wind interface. Both turned out to be not working and have now been replaced. Whatever destroyed the new instruments did not affect the old analogue B&G gear from 1990’s. I guess it’s hard to rely on computer chips and modern technology!

Just prior to our arrival in Palma Max saw a video of his cousin Fred riding his bike through a big puddle. As soon as we arrived at the RCNP Marina, Auntie Amanda bought the kids bikes to the marina. Within a day Max was riding his bike by himself, and within a week he was practicing jumps and riding through big puddles! Even a big stack at the bottom of a hill did not wipe the smike from his face! Needless to say the bikes that were going to remain in storage are now coming with us as both Issy and Max are avid bike riders!

A big decision in Palma was to replace the oven as our recent bread and lasagna efforts have been unsuccessful. We finally took the plunge and ordered the Rolls Royce of four burner boat ovens, only to have it arrive slightly bent and twisted. Needless to say, after spending a substantial amount on the oven we returned it to where it came from and re installed the not so hot oven bit strait oven onboard.

Prior to departing Palma we gathered up a few great mates to celebrate Max’s 5th birthday. Max has now spent half his life in Europe, with 2 years in Palma and though we were partying a couple of weeks early it was special he could enjoy a party with his mates eating Pizza and playing on the beach. The day of the party coincided with our friend Phil completing his 3rd Marathon and it was amazing Phil was happy to walk to the party with his family from the finish.

With pockets almost empty we enjoyed a final sail and sea trial around Palma bay with friends and then departed for Ibiza. From now we will be heading west for the next two years, with perhaps a bit of north south in between.

Thanks to all our friends for an enjoyable stay in Palma and for helping us with our journey now and beyond.

Exploring the south can coast of Sardinia was magic. The crowds had left and we had a few nice anchorage’s all to ourselves.

The Weather in the Med had started to turn. This time of year Easterly winds between Sardinia and Mallorca become rare. We needed to get to Mallorca to prepare for our Atlantic crossing but for the foreseeable future only westerly winds were forecasted.

We decided to pick the best of the bad. Max headwinds of 15kts, but a bit of motoring. With two reefs in the mainsail we left our anchorage in La Cslleta and began to tack our way up the Sardinian coast.

Just before the most westerly point of Sandano storm clouds were brewing. Emilie and I were deciding to take shelter in the bay until the storm passed over head when we got a 25kt gust and the Yankee sheet snapped. Easy decision! Furl the Yankee, drop the main and missen sails and go to anchor for lunch and to make up some new jub sheets.

No sooner had we eaten, enjoyed a quick swim and set the new job sheets on the tanker but the storm passed over and we sailed on to Mallorca.

It was up wind or no wind for the entire passage. The day before our arrival, to our south we saw a number of mini Tornadoes. It was scary but magic to watch numerous water spouts forming. That evening came the thunder and lightening which remained until we arrived at anchor off the Palma cathedral at 0500.

Palma gave us the chance to have sails re enforced, new sails measured, installation of new SSB radio, and hopefully a new oven. Palma also gave us the opportunity to catch up with friends and family and as always we were made to feel at home.

We arrived in Favignana Sicily and anchored inside island of Preveto in time for a quick sail in the Walker bay dinghy before lunch.

I began to admire the cliffs of the nearby mountain and after lunch we decided to attempt to climb up.

Rowing ashore

We rowed ashore and looked for a path, but our first attempt would have been too steep and arduous for the kids, so we walked along the road towards town in search for the reccomend path.

Local donkeys

An hour later, passing small hotel resorts, donkeys and farmland we finally reached the town and sat down to enjoy some snacks.

Coastal walk

We decided to abort the climb and instead explore the village. Before tourism Favignana was famous for its tuna factory and jail. We passed the jail, old tuna factory, an array of huge old anchors, and a variety of tourist bars before exploring the quaint little town.

Row of anchors and tuna factory in backdrop

We returned to Sunday island at sunset for dinner and an early night as we were all tired from our voyage from Malta. I spent the evening studying our SSB radio and Winlink computer software trying to get emails and satellite pictures via HF.

Em and Rich with the rock in the background

The next morning after breakfast I decided to attempt the mountain solo while Em did school with the kids. The climb up the mountain was hard but fantastic. I decided to climb up the western face of the rock which ended up being a near vertical climb and a fun challenge. The view at the top was amazing with 360* views of the Mediterranean. After visiting the fort ruins at the top my decent was more conformed down the western path with streams of tourists puffing their way up the hill in the other direction.

View from top

I arrived back onboard as the kids were finishing their school work for the day and we climbed into the Walker Bay dinghy and rowed to Prevento island for some exploring.

After lunch the winds were blowing force 4 from the right direction and there were storm clouds in the distance. We had the choice of sitting in a rolling anchorage at anchor with variable strong winds generated from the localized storm or set sail and roll about at sea. Emilie and I agreed on the latter and after a quick sail in the dinghy around the bay with Issy and Max we secured the boat and set sail.

Storm clouds

An hour later passing Isle Marritimo the storm clouds were looking menacing and there was thunder and lightning within 10nm so we tucked in two reefs and waited for the storm. Not long after tucking the reefs we were shooting down wind at 8 kts with 30kt gusts.

While the forecast continued to announce forecasted winds NE Force 4, there were idiotic Al notes of localized storms that continued to suck our wind away resulting in variable force 2 winds at best.

Sailing walker bay dinghy with kids

The temptation to drop sails and drift for the vending were thwarted by our proximity to Tunisia so we slowly motored and rolled our way to Sardinia.

Throughout the night and morning the wind was variable changing from 6kts from the east to 20kts from the North east making watches busy altering sails between spouts of motoring. By early morning the wind had settled to a delightful NE 12kts and this remained with us until after midday when it swung back to the east as we continued to motor sail towards Sardinia.

In the early evening we anchored in Carbonara in the SE corner of Sicily and plan to enjoy the southern region until we have a good weather window to sail towards Mallorca.

Approaching Sardinia

After a fantastic few weeks visiting family and completing some big projects we have Departed Malta for Palma, sailing via Sicily and Sardinia.

The forecast is light headwinds so we expect to arrive in Favignana Sicily late Tuesday night.

Malta gave us the opportunity to complete the works on the radio station, get our radio certificate finalized, re build the freezer, build some shelving for the kids forward cabin, and numerous other improvements to Sunday Island.

While in Malta we also took delivery of a new 3.1m zodiac and Emilie’s family gifted us a Walker bay sailing and rowing dinghy. We also took onboard our new 6 man liferaft.

Whilst in Malta I became officially Maltese and now have a red and a blue passport.

We are now prepared for the Atlantic. And our journey is becoming very real. It is so nice to pick up the anchor knowing that for the next 3 months we will be sailing west!

You can follow our position with our AIS that transmits to other vessels and land base stations.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:7304925/mmsi:256002505/imo:0/vessel:SUNDAY_ISLAND

Sunday Island set sail from Greece on the 21st August with fair winds from the north north west of 12-15kts. We enjoyed a nice afternoon sail with two reefs in the mainsail and all other sails set

The first day was a bit bumpy due to a he shallow waters off Greece however once we sailed into the deeper waters of the Ionian Sea the short chop was replaced by a longer swell.

The first evening the wind picked up to 20kts and we dropped the mainsail and sailed on with missen, staysail, and a reefed Genoa.

By the next morning the wind had dropped to under 14kts and we hoisted the full mainsail again. By late afternoon the wind dropped out altogether and we motored on slowly towards Malta.

Early the next morning we were surrounded by huge storm clouds that sucked the wind away from us before the lightening began to strike. When my teeth started to tingle and my hair started to fill with static I knew lightening was close. I turned off all our instruments and helmed in the darkness, surrounded by lightening strikes and huge crashes of thunder. Amazingly Emilie and the kids slept through the intense electrical storm.

Once the clouds cleared We enjoyed light winds of 10kts and sailed on towards Malta. We began to see a lot more ships, many anchoring far off the Malta coast waiting for their assignments.

During the day we enjoyed a small school of Dolphins who played in our bow wave much to everybody’s delight.

Over the past few months my beard and hair had got well out of control until Emilie refused to kiss me until I cleaned up my facial hair. While Emilie enjoyed her afternoon nap I had Issy and Max assist me in trimming my hair. Emilie awoke to the sound of clippers and scissors and half my beard blowing around the cockpit.

Max decided to get in on the hair cutting action and allowed Emilie to cut his shoulder length blind hair. Max’s transformation into a small boy was incredible.

We sailed in towards Manoel Island and anchored off the Royal Malta Yacht Club in the early evening and enjoyed dinner at anchor with a splendid view of the bastions.

While we anchored off the RMYC we enrolled Issy and Max into sailing school for a few days and thy loved sailing around the bay with the other kids. With the kids “back at school” this gave Emilie and I some time to get some maintenance done.

Unfortunately while at anchor off the yacht club another yacht collided with us when the lone sailor was hauling up his anchor. The sailor was very apologetic, however we are now dealing with their insurance company Pantaenius who are not being very helpful in resolving the situation and refuse to pay us back for repairs until we have paid for them with our own money. This puts us in a difficult situation as repairs, though not major involve replacing a 4m section of teak and could cost €15,000 and three weeks of our schedule!

Malta was a good stopover to see family and get Sunday Island ready for the Atlantic. We ordered our liferaft and new Zodiac tender. We also completed our radio station and had radio survey to complete our Malta registry. Our location can be tracked occasionally through the marine traffic website MMSI 256002505.

The freezer I had built in our previous visit to Malta was only dropping to 6*C and so we consulted a refrigeration engineer and had a stainless steel freezer box made up. This will be fitted before we depart Malta and hopefully we will have a freezer for our Atlantic crossing.

For the past week we have enjoyed some time off the boat relaxing in a Gozo farmhouse by the pool with Emilie’s family. We will cruise Malta and Gozo for the next week while we wait for our ordered spain parts to arrive, have medical checkups, visit family and friends and enjoy Emilie’s grandmother Dora’s 90th birthday before we set sail to Sardinia and then to the Balearic Islands ready to step off into the Atlantic Ocean.

Sunday Island and her crew have now been cruising the Ionian Islands of Greece since mid July 2022. Our first main stop was Corfu (see previous blog) and then we began cruising our way south through the islands.

After crusing Corfu and Ithica we sailed south to Atokos Island. The wind dropped out during our passage to Atokos and we continued under motor. To cool off we put the surfboard in the water and took turns in scurfing behind Sunday Island. Both Issy and Max took turns in standing up on the Malibu surf board while I lay on the board and held onto the rope connecting us with Sunday Island as Emilie steered Sunday Island weaving through fleets of charter yachts sailing in the other direction. After Issy and Max had their fill of the scurfing it was time for me to show the kids how its done, and I had a great time scurfing behind the yacht.

We arrived at Atokos Island and moored stern to the rocks in Cliff Bay. Cliff bay is an amazing deep water bay at the base of the cliffs. When we arrived there was one other yacht anchored beneath the cliffs and we felt a bit rude asking the New Zealand couple if we could share their small bay. They informed us there was plenty of room and we had a good chat. They informed us that evenigns were calm and there was good holding. We spent the afternoon exploring the cliffs and the beach. The snorkling around the area was fantastic.

That afternoon the Kiwi’s left the bay, and before sunset we were accompanied by two more yachts, after dinner another rather large catamaran tried to squeeze into the bay, and was determined to be as close to us as possible. When we arrived in Greece we wondered why everybody put their fenders over the side when they were at anchor, now we were beginning to understand!

That evening we awoke at midnight with Katabatic winds funnelling down the cliffs into the bay. This was a local weather system that was not forecasted. Interestingly a local charter skipper informed us that if you see clouds in the sky in an August evening in the ionian you could expect lots of local weather.

The next day Issy learnt to cliff jump and by the end of the morning was jumping off 3m cliffs and loving it! We put the tender in the water and rowed about 2nm around the corner to explore the deep caves. Some of the caves had stalictites of about 1m hanging from the ceiling giving us an indication that they were very old.

We did a lot of swimming around the caves, Issy did another cliff jump, and on the way back Max decided to do some scurfing on the surfboard and stood up for the first time demonstrating a perfect surfing stance. Max scurfed the entire way back to Sunday Island.

The next day we sailed back to Vathy harbour Ithica so Emilie could find some Tarima fish row which a greek friend had advised was a must purchase while in Greece. Emilie was very impressed with the store being run as a family affair and the old lady advising her son how much Tarima was required so as not to waste. We find the Greeks of the Ionian islands take a lot of pride in their food and water and don’t want to see anything go to waste.

After leaving Vathy we continued to explore the various safe anchorages in Ithica. One of our favourite spots was Antri bay where we moored stern to the cliffs next to a cave that was home to a number of goats. The snorkelling around Antri was amazing and it was fun to watch the goats walking around the shoreline.

While anchored a large catamaran circled near our anchor looking to drop their anchor right on top. Emilie and I were on the bow informing the yacht if our anchor location and the 40m of chain when one of the ladies on the yacht shrieked “YOUR CHILD!!!!” We casually looked behind us to see Max climbing naked at the first spreaders. We shrugged our shoulders as if this was normal behavior then continued our warnings about their proposed anchorage

On our second night in Vathy we saw clouds in the sky and the wind begun to swing. We re positioned the boat in the early evening to be stern to the wind in preparation for some strong katabatics. At about 10pm the wind picked up to 30kts from our beam (side on). Rather than risking the anchor dragging and us being blown onto the rocks we let go our leeward stern line, and eased out the windward stern line until we were anchored facing the wind. I then went ashore and let go the second stern line as Sunday Island swung into the middle of the bay. We slept a lot more comfortably swinging at anchor without relying on our nylon stern lines.

The next morning after a good night sleep we hiked up a nearby mountain, checking out some old ruions of farmers houses and the ancient stone terracing. We did not make it to the top of the mountain but the view was fantastic.

The next day we enjoyed a nice sail across the straits of Kefalonia to Antisamao and anchored in Ormos. We found a quiet corner of the bay to anchor in and enjoyed our morning of swimming. Late in the morning a large 70m superyacht decided to anchor on top of us and put their stern lines to the shore. As the wind shifted through the day we swung closer to their shiny topsides. The captain refused to talk to us about our position and much to our disappointment we were forced to move anchorage as we would have collided if we maintained our anchorage. We anchored near some other cruising yachts and enjoyed an afternoon on the beach, while Emilie and I enjoyed drinking a couple of “Lesbian” cocktails at the bar. (note Lesbian is the name that the bartender had given to his latest creation and we do not want to offend any of our LGB friends).

The next morning we hiked up the nearby mountain for a fantastic view of the island and then returned to the boat before the sun go too hot, and Issy and Max finally were allowed to get into their harnesses and climb to our main mast. Both Issy and Max climbed all the way to the top. We also rigged the spinnaker pole and enjoyed some swinging and jumping into the water.

Later that day we motored around the corner to the town of Sami and anchored off the main port for some provisioning ashore and to buy some gas. We looked like the typical cruising family as we meandered through the town with our shopping trolly filled with two weeks of groceries and when we returned to our tender on the beach we found it surrounded by holiday makers vying for a spot on the now crowded beach.

After loading the shopping onboard, and a quick return into town to drop off the supermarket trolley and pick up the gas we sailed to Kamini in the north of Kefalonia where we found an anchorage all to ourselves. The pilot advised of “aggressive wasps” in the anchorage, but during the afternoon we found the wasps no more aggressive than previous anchorages. Then at dinner time the wasps got the memo about the new boat in town and we spent the evening shooing them out from inside the boat. The next morning we were forced to evacuate the bay at sunrise as the wasps had told more of their friends.

We had planned a nice walk to the cute village of Fiskardho but we arrived so early even the bakery was not open. I noticed a Taverna in Fiskardho and showed Emilie the sign with laughter “Rooms Toilet”. Emilie pointed out the sign actually said “Rooms To Let” and the joke was on me! We decided to sail around the top of Cephalonia and then west to Athera and enjoyed the rest of the day exploring the beach and caves.

We remained in Athera for a few days enjoying exploring caves, and swimming at the nice beach. We even treated ourselves for a seafood lunch at the local Taverna which was beautiful and fantastic value for money, even if we were accompanied by many of our wasp friends. The waiter at the Taverna offered us burning coffee to keep the wasps away and we greatly accepted. Within minutes of the burning coffee sitting on the table all the wasps had flown away. When we got back to the boat Emilie was very impressed when I replicated the formula using her expensive illy coffee!

The next morning we sailed 30nm down the coast of Cephalonia in a beautiful 12kt easterly wind. I took the opportunity to fly the large Code Zero sail as we headed for Akrotiri or Kounopetra where we are presently anchored 100m off the beach. We are amazed at the contrast of the low and dry south coast of Cephalonia compared to the hilly and green west coast. The beach to our north is famous as a breeding ground for the logger head turtle, and we are hoping to perhaps see a turtle while we are here.

Weather is looking good for us to depart Greece and passage to Malta on Sunday 21st August. We have made many improvements to Sunday Island while we have been cruising Greece and have perfected the storage of our many items onboard. I have also been working on the navigation systems onboard and have Expedition now working on the boat computer allowing us to do more extensive weather routing for future passages.

CRUISING NOTES FOR GREECE

1. Long and strong stern lines are needed for anchoring “Mediterranean” style to the shore. We used 170m of 14mm nylon line that was onboard when we bought the boat. These were strong and flexible enough to moor securely. We used some scraps of spectra with covering to tie the lines around the rocks ashore but some rigging strops would have been even better.
2. Anchorages are often crowded and the charter yacht skippers and super yacht captains are quite ruthless in squeezing into the perfect spot even if there was only a few metres to spare. This is why most yachts moor stern to with fenders and it appears the norm, but was too much for us and we normally moved to a less crowded position to be prudent.
3. If there are clouds in the sky in the evening, expect some strong localised winds and very strong Katabatic winds whistling down the hills. We found anchoring in the lee of a mountain for shelter normally resulted in getting blasted by Katabatic winds in the late evening until early morning.
4. Greek people on the Ionian islands are amazingly friendly, and the food is reasonably priced and good quality. Funnily the prices in the supermarkets on the smaller islands were cheaper than the bigger ports!
5. Buy food early morning, particularly on weekends because by the end of the day supermarket shelves have been emptied.
6. Waters around the Ionian are deep but poorly charted. We came close to a few bommies that we only noticed when snorking around the bay. It pays to have a person on the bow looking out for bommies when approaching anchorages.

After a few days cruising Corfu we moved the boat into a marina so I could go and assist with the sale and delivery of the yacht Provenance. The marina was well situated around the charter yacht industry so had everything we needed, including a pool were Max and Issy spent the majority of their time. Max’s swimming improved leaps and bounds with a week in the pool getting his confidence up and at the end of it he was swilling well without fins. Issy concentrated on her front flips and diving and this improved well. After a successful sale of Provenance and handover to the new crew I returned to Corfu on the 22nd of July and we departed the marina berth shortly after and went to anchor close by. As soon as the anchor touched the bottom everybody jumped in the water to show off their new swimming skills.

Max surprised us all with his new swimming skills when he lost a fin and without hesitation dived 4m to the bottom to fetch it. An amazing free dive for a four year old!

We are now doing a lot of snorkeling as a family and both Issy and Max are confident to dive down to look at sea creatures and to swim through under water tunnels and caves.

Snorkeling adventures

On the 27th July we enjoyed our morning swim beneath the Corfu fort, then heaved in the anchor and motored to the small island to the south Paxos, where we anchored in Lakka bay where we remained for the next three days allowing me to finish off a few jobs left over from the refit including completing the installation of the water maker and fridge, and also replacing the radio panel in the nav station to fit the SSB radio and new Garmin VHF.

The new Spectra Ventura 150 watermaker supplied by RLR in Malta was quite simple to install and operate. It is surprisingly a lot quieter than I expected and produces 17-20L per hour which is enough to top up our daily usage as a family.

The new fridge and freezer is not as successful as I hoped. Unfortunately I could not find the large compressor that I was looking for in Malta, apparently they are sold out throughout Europe and had 3 month wait time so I opted to the slightly smaller more common compressor. Despite installing loads of insulation and halving the size of the freezer to 80L, the compressor can not keep up and we ure unable to lower the temperature less than 5 degrees. Until I can source the larger compressor we can use the freezer as a second fridge, though I will need to try to resolve this before we sail out of the Mediterranean to more remote places.

Issy at the top of the mast

After a few days of working on the boat in beautiful locations, the wind picked up from the north and we hoisted the sails and sailed further south. The light wind from the west gave us a good opportunity to test out the new code zero sail which is perfect for light wind reaching. We continued the voyage with the Genoa, Staysail and Missen. Due to the heat of the day, in true cruising style we left the awing on the main boom for shade, but Sunday Island still sailed well in the 12-15kts of wind as we made 7kts to the south. During the sail Issy and Max were very excited to see a Loggerhead turtle which rolled over and waved as we sailed past.

Code 0 testing

Issy and Max are becoming very confident climbing around the rig and boom like monkeys. Issy now enjoys climbing to the top of the main mast 18m high (with harness on and safety lanyard manned by Dad) and max can climb to the top spreader. Issys favorite trick at the moment is to climb to the end of the missen boom and jump into the water. Sometimes we rig a swinging rope on the missen so they can swing off the side of the boat into the water.

On our way sailing south through the island chain I made contact with a mate from school David Harper and his beautiful family who now live back in Hobart but return to Greece regularly to visit family. Dave was staying on the island of Itika, so we altered course for the bay of Marmagkas Bay. We sailed into Marmagkas bay with 25kts of wind and lowered the sails before the shoals. The bay is very poorly charted so we wanted to approach with caution. On arrival into the bay we found our preferred anchorage in the NW corner of the bay was crowded so we were forced to anchor in the SW corner. We circled Sunday Island in our proposed anchorage location looking for bommies and surveying the anchorage and then let go the anchor. As soon as the anchor was made off it bit the bottom hard giving Sunday Island a bit of a jolt, there was no doubt the anchor was well secure on the bottom and most probably snagged on a rock.

Lunch with the Harper’s in Itika

The next morning me and the kids went for an early swim while Emilie stayed onboard for a bit of a sort out. I swam over to check the anchor and found the chain and anchor caught under a bommie (large rock under the water). I free dived down and free’d the anchor and chain and then we snorked our way along the shore line finding lots of bommies, underwater caves and a small “Pirates” cove. We then took the dinghy to the beach trailing surfboards and snorkling equipment so we could check out the small restaurant on the beach for our lunch with guests.

On our return from our reconosance expedition we passed by “Pirates Cove” where our dingy could just fit in, then returned to Sunday Island. On our return many of the yachts in the bay had cleared out so we checked the forecast and decided to move Sunday Island to the better anchorage in the NW corner of the bay, then rowed and snorkeld ashore to meet up with the Harpers for an enjoyable local Greek lunch, swim and a few beers at the beach until the early evening.

On the morning of the 1st of August we were anchored in Marmachas bay Itika. We have now completed our first “log book” since moving onboard. Looking back over the old log book have sailed and motored through 7 different countries and covered nearly 3000nm!

Rock formations throughout the islands are spectacular, with every handful of pebbles there are amazing layered rocks of all types- a geologists dream!

There was one more job remaining left over from the Malta refit which was to complete the sanding and re sealing of the teak decks. Emilie and I had both had enough looking at the half finished job and we found a lovely marina in the island of Lefkada, 10nm to the north. We enjoyed a lovely sail in the morning up to Sivota bay and checked into the marina. Sivota is a new town that has been built to service the charter fleet of the island. It is quiet and though quite new fits in well with traditional architecture, style and feel. We were on a small marina 2 with only 10 or so other yachts and just 20m from the local shop. The marina manager did not mind us sanding the decks and doing other works, and their was a beach only 50m from the boat and crystal clear water for the kids to swim in. Emilie and I spent the next three days sanding and re sealing the teak decks while the kids entertained themselves in this safe environment. Sanding decks is a very rewarding job and the decks now look amazing!

While in Sivota we went out for a traditional Greek meal (that turned out to be not so traditional) where Issy and Max were delighted to find a birds nest in the ceileing with some baby chicks inside.

We continue to cruise our way south enjoying the many beautiful anchorage, villages and crystal clear waters.

We sailed from Sicily on Monday 11th July for the island if Corfu Greece. Winds for the first day were light, with a great forecast of a shy reach at 12-18kts from the NW for the remainder of the 3 day 2 night 260nm voyage.

A few more days cruising Sicily would have been magic, however I was due to deliver another yacht the following Saturday and the forecast looked good to get to Corfu so I could fly direct to Marseille.

The first two days we had some beautiful sailing with a 12kt wind 70 degrees off the port bow, though it was a bit bumpy at times with the Mediterranean chop from the north.

The second night was proceeding as predicted, and at midnight at the winds increased to 14kts I put a reef in the mainsail and checked the deck. At 4am wind suddenly increased to 25 kts and I dropped the mainsail and furled the Genoa. We were copping some water over the deck, the seas increased and things became a bit uncomfortable as gusts exceeded 30 kts.

Finally at 1700 we sailed into the beautiful bay of Lakka on the island of Paxol. The bay was stunning, though a bit more crowded than the brochure.

“Greece includes 6,000 islands and islets scattered in the Greek Seas, of which only 227 islands are inhabited. The Greek coastline offers a diverse landscape: beaches stretching over many kilometres, sheltered bays and coves, sandy beaches, sand-dunes, pebble beaches, wetlands and deltas, caves formed by seawater and dark-coloured sand in volcanic areas. ”

We spent the next day swimming and relaxing in Lakka, and took a walk around the beautiful town in the late afternoon. In town every street looked like a postcard.

Everybody had a great sleep, and we kicked the next day off with a morning swim before sailing up to Corfu where we anchored in the Lee of the fort in crystal clear waters.

Corfu is a beautiful island and town. We were rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous as we strolled through the prettiest and cleanest streets I have seen in a very long time. It is as if the shopkeepers had polished each and every cobblestone and their was not one piece of rubbish in site!

On Saturday 16th July we motored around the corner to Govia Marina where I would be leaving the family for a week while I traveled to france for some work.

I can’t wait to explore Greece more. You could spend a lifetime exploring the 6000 islands in this beautiful country.