Steve's take on Greece

We arrived in Corfu a bit light headed after our first ever all night leg, celebrating our first view of the famous Greek Islands in the manner appropriate for big fans of "Mamma Mia" - a rousing Abba singalong.


Skipping Albania appears to have been a great option: the drama of the overnight leg, all of us in harnesses and lifejackets, sleeping on deck, carefully watching the radar and the horizon, plotting trajectories of other boats and ships, and finally the dawn. Cathe kept watch until 2am before finally taking a break: the complete mariner. Finbar was particularly keen and kept watches with both Mum and Dad and barely sleeping. Sholto somehow slept through in the front cabin despite the up and down bash. Next time we will keep the windows shut though - the benign conditions earlier on changed somewhat over the night as the waves built up and started to splash over the deck: RIP laptop.

For the most part Greece so far has been postcard beautiful although there are always a few industrial scenes as well. Gouvia marina was in the latter category so we have subsequently been making the most of the anchor to find the more poignantly beautiful locales (like spending the night anchoring under the lee of the old fortress on Corfu).

Paxos was in the outrageously beautiful category: even the presence of kids could not extinguish the whiff of honeymoon engendered by the beautiful little bay and low key tavernas lining the town quay. Following this we snuck a look at neighbouring Andipaxos which boasts a couple of those outrageous limestone beaches you will have seen from tourist brochures, the azure water competing with the white pebbles to create a blinding intensity of colour.

We followed this up with a night anchored in a hidden cove with only a tiny church for company. We were jerked back to reality on the morning though when a 35kt gust broke out the bow anchor, only our smaller stern anchor preventing a major catastrophe - literally dangling off it 2 m from the razor rocks on the shore while we fumbled for the keys to get the motor going. Minimum 5:1 anchoring scope from now on, no cutting corners with 3:1!

We are currently being further disabused of the fantasy - those gusts heralded 3 days of rain with more to come: didn't see any of that in Mamma Mia. Thunder, lightning and torrential rain bracket Familia as I write this, tied to the quay in Sivota town. The crew are getting mutinous and suddenly 12.6m of yacht seems very small indeed. I must sign off to take them all out for a punishment march as soon as this rain eases. Indeed, we may need to break out the lash to maintain discipline: one doesnt want to follow Bligh into the ship's dinghy.