sailing – Hereandthereclaire.com

Wednesday 21st May – Thursday 29th May 2025

We arrived in Cetraro, and we moored stern to, I did fenders and helped with ropes, it went OK, but I get so anxious it makes my legs shake! 🫨 I get so worried about messing up, then causing damage to the boat, also moving around the boat doing fenders when we are still moving makes me nervous 😬 sailing is definitely not my forte!

Having moored safely, we hosed down the boat, the front lines need a good hose as they are filthy and always leave a mess. Then we did a little recce of the area, finding bins, looking for supermarkets, bars, restaurants etc. Apparently there is a Lidl somewhere but it’s too far away. The marina was a little way out of the town, so we decided to eat at the Marina restaurant later, as we’d had a long sail.

The setting was lovely and we all opted for Pizzas. I ordered one with local sausage, which looked like pepperoni but wasn’t spicy, it was really good. 😊 To be fair we didn’t see much of Cetraro, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

Thursday morning we set off for Maratea. Maratea was a pretty short trip, which meant we arrived with plenty of time to explore. We moored alongside, with lots of help! 😊👍

The marina is in a great spot, with plenty of houses, shops, restaurants and bars nearby. It also had a huge Christ statue up on the hill looking down on the harbour.

We decided to go and have a walk, possibly to the old town, which was supposed to be very quaint and not that far away.

We set off climbing some steps up from the harbour, through the houses. The steps just kept going, up & up, then up some more. Signs saying the town was 300 meters, after 300, then 600 meters it was still saying the same! It was a steep but very pretty walk, with great views. We decided to take a left turn and found ourselves on a main road, which we didn’t want to walk along, luckily we found some lovely steps down through the houses! We kept trying to find the “old town” with no luck! After an hour or so we came back to the harbour! 😃 We didn’t find the old town, but it was a great walk, albeit very steep, which my knees didn’t love. We stopped at a cute bar by the harbour for a well deserved aperitif, Aperol Spritz for Tracey and I and a local beer for Jacques. I love the Italian custom of bringing you nibbles with your drinks, in this case, pizza slices, crisps and nuts!

On the Friday we decided to order a cab to take us up to the ‘Old Town’ I’m so glad we did because it was bloody miles up the hill! Certainly a lot further than 300 meters!😂

The town was fabulous, lots of windy little streets, gorgeous old buildings, fantastic views and just a lovely place to explore. The only down side was that it was very quiet, with very few shops or cafès open.

We explored then stopped in the main square at one of the few places open and had some lunch and some yummy Gelato!

Sitting waiting for our taxi back, we were joined by a guy on a bicycle, he was either, drunk, stoned or both. He stopped in front of me, held up his phone and played me some music, I was trying my best not to engage so he moved across to where Jacques was sitting and started talking 19 to the dozen in heavily accented Italian! Poor Jacques was trying to explain he wasn’t Italian, without much success, he was saved when the guy got distracted by a stray cat 🐈‍⬛😂 Then luckily our Taxi appeared!

Jacques was tired, so Tracey and I went out for dinner on our own to one of the restaurants on the harbour. It was a beautiful place, great views, great staff, wonderful service but I was a little disappointed with the food. I think part of the problem is the majority of the menu is fish or seafood. The waiter explained that they could do some dishes without. I had the risotto, which was nice, but very salty. Our vegetable starters, one with turnip tops, one with white beans were tasty but a little mushy. They did make up brownie points with the wine and having Fever Tree Tonic water! 😍

Saturday & Sunday we spent in another lovely place called, Camerota. Our never ending quest for decent supermarkets finally hit pay dirt and we found a largeish one not far from the marina. The Italian couple on the boat next to us saw us leaving with the very fancy old lady shopping trolley 😃 and informed us that the shop was shut till 4.30, it was approximately 3pm. I had googled it and it said it was open so we risked it and hey voila! It was open! Happy Days. We stocked up on essentials, wine, fonzies, etc! 😂 we also bought some fresh polpette (meat balls)

After our little excusrsion we were all a bit tired, another longish day, so we eat on the boat.

We walked back into town on Sunday for some lunch, thinking that everywhere would be open, it wasn’t! We luckily found a cute restaurant in the Piazza. The restaurant was great, but again the men was very fish oriented, and the vegetable options were not the best, ok, just not anything special. Jacques had a a prawn pasta dish which he said was fabulous and the wine was delicious so not all bad. The setting was gorgeous.

That evening I began to think about packing!! 😬 I have been out of the UK for just over a year, it feels weird, exciting and a little scary going back. I have been organising things with regard to buying a place and have a few viewings lined up. I still need to decide what I’m doing work wise!

After spending time thinking about all this and getting a bit anxious I decided to watch something on my iPad and got into the BBCs Series, Mr Loverman. The very first few seconds in the first episode features Susan Cardigan singing ‘Hurt so Good’ which was mine & Clint’s wedding song!! It was a fabulous series and Lenny James & Ariyon Bakare fully deserved their BAFTAs for best actor & best supporting actor.

The journey to our next stop, Agripoli was quite bumpy and Jacques was doing things with the sails, which I always find scary. 😦

We moored stern to, which was stressful, especially as we literally ran out of fuel as we were backing in. The spare fuel was deployed and we were able to moor successfully. It was definitely one of the more tricky moorings I’ve had.

Everyone was a bit knackered so we grabbed a pizza and an early night!

Our next stop, Torre Annunziata, is a 6 hour trip, but we are going to add an hour or so to allow us to go along the coast of Positano & Amalfi!

This was lots of fun, we had good weather and seeing these stunning places was amazing. There were so many small boats whipping past us ferrying people between the two places, not to mention the huge big super yacht’s anchored in the bays, with all the fancy toys out! We googled a couple of them and you can rent them for around 350,000 – 450,000 a week!!!! 😳😳 Madness.

Torre Annunziata is not a fancy marina, more working harbour. Mooring Stern to, was OK, especially as a couple of young guys jumped on and did most of it for us! Thank God! 😂

The harbour is directly below Mount Vesuvius, amazing! and only a 6 minute train ride from Pompeii!! This is the reason for being here from Tuesday so that Tracey, Jacques and I get to visit Pompeii before we leave on Thursday. Jacques will then stay in this marina until Tracey gets back in a week.

Our first night I made us some delicious Meatball pasta! 🍝 We were then up earlyish to head to Pompeii.

Pompeii was absolutely incredible! It’s huge! In my head I thought it was a small place, but it’s not. To see so much detail, down to the ruts in the stone roads, caused by the wheels of carts, the frescos in some of the villas, all the amazing buildings, the forum, temples, theatres, even the brothel! Was fantastic.

We were lucky with the weather, sunny, warm but not roasting. It was busy but not manic. I am so thrilled to have been able to visit this incredible place, the first proper tourist thing I’ve done in Italy!

I’d mentioned to my friend Jenna that I was here, she loves volcanos and she told me about Pliny the Youngers letters, which offer a good account of the eruption 🌋. Thanks Jenna.

The trains here are brilliant! Modern, clean, on time and cheap. In fact our trip was better than cheap, as we couldn’t find a ticket kiosk on the way there, or a guard on the train, so it was free! On the way back we were just buying a ticket as the train pulled in and the seller told us to run and buy them in the train, again we couldn’t find anyone. So both ways were free! TBF, this amounts to approx €6 for all 3 of us.😂

We did lots of steps around Pompeii and our feet are aching but we decided head out again, for a last meal in Italy, well for me at least.

We found a lovely restaurant nearby, so not far to walk, thank god!

Had a delicious Pizza a nice glass of wine then back to the boat for an early night.

The chap from the Marina that organised the taxi for us had said the journey to the airport would take approximately 90 mins, so we needed to leave at 6.50am. It’s fair to say that Tracey is not a morning person, so this was not ideal 😂 The frustration came when we arrived at the Naples airport, in busy traffic precisely 30 mins later, at a ridiculous cost of €100! Crazy.

It feels very strange to be boarding a flight back to the UK and finishing my fantastic year of adventures.

I’m excited to be going home to see all my family and friends, desperate to give my beautiful baby girl, Georgia, a massive hug and squeeze her gorgeous face.

It’s been an amazing, wonderful eye opening year, but I feel there are more adventures ahead!

I am very late posting this blog, so I’m now back in the UK! 😍❤️🩵💙💚🩷

Books read.

Demon Copperhead. Barbara Kingsolver. Recommended by Natalie.

Fabulous book.

Saturday 17th May – Wednesday 21st May 2025

Martyn & Natalie left us on Saturday morning, to get a taxi to the Airport, it was sad to see them go, but not much time for long goodbyes as we were also leaving early in an attempt to stay in front of the weather.

We are on our way to Porto Bolaro, an 8 hour trip, which is approximately 55 nautical miles.

The weather was actually fine and we had a good journey getting our first glimpse of Sicily and Mount Etna! Unfortunately on this trip we won’t have time to stop in Sicily, but it was wonderful to see it in the distance.

As we came closer to our marina there were loads of windsurfers. It’s obviously a great little spot and these guys were flying across the water. A few of them came pretty close to the boat, waving and showing off their skills! Impressive.

The marina we are staying in is tiny, room for no more than 5 boats and less if the boats are big, like Mossy Joe.

We moored alongside, which is often easier, if there is no wind and people to help, which there was. However, the jetty’s look a little cobbled together and it took some time to secure the boat, using what appeared to be 500 ropes! The distance between the boat and the jetty, was large and involved clambering over said ropes, stepping on bits of barrels and generally looked like a bloody nightmare! 😬 Luckily for me Tracey is a mad football fan and the FA Cup Final was on so no urgency to go out to eat (Hallelujah!) 😂⚽️🏆 Well done to Crystal Palace.

We were told that another boat in the Marina wanted to leave at 8am, so this meant we would also need to be up and off early.

We eat on board after Tracey & Jacques braved the obstacle course to get off, TBF, they are experienced sailors, with no fear of falling and drowning! They returned from their excursion very happy to have found a major supermarket, with lots of wonderful things, including Sicilian red wine, mozzarella and a new favourite of Jacques and now mine ‘Fonzies’ they are like Italian cheesy Nik Naks! Yum.

Tracey put together a lovely platter of Italian yumminess, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and pancetta! A perfect supper, after eating our own body weight in Fonzies! 😂😂

The sky at sunset in Porto Bolero was beyond incredible, great billowing clouds lit by the setting sun, absolutely glorious.

We could also see Mount Etna in the distance, with her plume of smoke.

We were all up and raring to go by 8am. And after releasing all the ropes, which took a while! We were off.

Fabulous views of Etna in the morning light.

Today we are traveling through the Messina Straights. It’s a very busy bit of sea, with lots of ferries, cargo ships and other boats. It has designated lanes and even a designated roundabout (marked on your electronic charts)

We really were having to dodge the various ferries going between the mainland and Sicily. We also spotted these weird boats, with tall masts, that had men sat in crows nests at the top! They also had a huge passerelle protruding from the bow! Jacques, Tracey or I had never seen boats like this. It seems that they are unique to this area and are for catching Swordfish. The guys in the crows nest are spotters, when they spot a Swordfish, someone runs out along the passerelle and spears the fish. It was incredible to see these boats, I only hope the guys up the mast get paid appropriately for the risks they take. 😳

As we came out of the Messina Straights you start to be able to see the Aeolian Islands, which includes Stromboli, an active volcano, these are in the Tyrrhenian Sea. We could see Stromboli smoking!

Tracey and I thought we spotted a small island ahead of us, turns out it was a Cargo Ship. This cargo ship, the MscSimona, is so huge that we could see it from 12 miles away! 😳 It is 360 meters long, only 30 meters short of the largest one in the world. It was astounding to see something this big. By far the largest vessel I’ve ever seen. Mind boggling. I took pictures, but not sure the scale will translate.

Today’s route has been fascinating, so much to see and absorb.

We arrived at our next stop pretty early, it was a short 3 hour trip. We are in an other small marina in a place called Palmi. It’s small but not tiny. After mooring up, Stern too, unfortunately I messed up a bit on the lines again, not taking it under the stern rail, 😕 But I did manage to do fenders well, it’s all a learning curve.

I went off for a little wander, it’s not a big place, or a very pretty one but it’s interesting nonetheless. I was looking for an ATM and also a supermarket to try and get some more Rosè, somehow we have run out! 😩

I did find a small little shop, no rosè and no ATM! But I had a good stroll. The few restaurants that I passed all seemed to be very busy, it’s Sunday, so I guess that’s not surprising.

We went out to eat a little earlier than usual as we were all hungry, everyone fancied some pasta. 🍝

We tried several places, the first, Sunset Beach Club, looked fabulous, trendy and upscale, but sadly they had no tables outside, they also weren’t serving food, other than nibbles and snacks. We stayed for an aperitif, Aperol Spritz, yum. Then had a walk in the opposite direction, looking for another restaurant, most of them were not opening until 8. This meant we got to sit by the beach and watch a glorious sunset. 🌅

We then walked back to a place we’d seen near the marina, it was lovely but only served seafood, which Tracey & I are not huge fans of.

We then walked back where we’d just been and eventually found a place that was open, but it only did Pizza by now I was starving and could have eaten anything, so we stayed. The place itself looked like a 1980s wedding venue, odd, but their pizzas were flipping amazing! I had a margarita with extra basil on the side and it was so, so good! It also only cost €5.50, crazy. You can’t be an authentic Italian Pizza. 🍕

Our next stop is Vibo. This particular coast doesn’t seem to have a lot of marinas, or anchorage’s so sometimes the distance between each is longer, there is also not much choice. Luckily it’s still out of season so marinas are not too busy.

The journey along the coast was great, not much wind, so no sails, but pleasant.

The marina at Vibo was brilliant, large and well equipped. 3 guys helped us to moor up alongside, I got my rope throwing and securing on point. (Huge relief!) the sun was shining and then shortly after arriving the marina guys bought us all a little chocolate ice cream treat! Cute.

There are quite a few big fancy motor boats in this marina. Very ‘Below Deck’! 😳

Tracey and I went on our usual reconnaissance mission, scoping out restaurants and as always, finding a supermarket.

The town is nice, quiet but lovely.We found a Coop supermarket, which unfortunately didn’t have any Lemoncello! 😩 But did have most of the other things we wanted. We stopped for a water and I had my first Italian Gelato, Amarena Cherry! 🍒 😋

The Marina had a lovely little houseboat looking bar, with a rooftop terrace. So we thought we’d go there for an aperitif. Sadly they weren’t serving, but said we were welcome to use it and bring our own stuff! This was music to Jacques ears as it meant he could bring his Ricard (a French aniseed aperitif, which is Jacques absolute favourite) we could also bring our own nibbles, a large bag of Fonzies! 😂

The sunset was beautiful and cast a gorgeous golden glow over everything. We enjoyed our drinks and then eat back on the boat, our usual delicious Greek Salad.

Tracey had to work the next day, so I went for a wander into town. I needed to find an ATM. In Greece they were everywhere, here in Italy not so much! I found the bank behind a lovely little church and got some cash. Then had a look around. Before enjoying a Coffee Crème, this is a fabulous Italian thing of churned, soft serve, coffee ice cream. It’s bloody lovely! I sat and enjoyed it watching and listening to all the comings and going’s!

In the afternoon I did a video viewing of a potential property purchase in Newquay, thanks to my friend Stretch for organising! It was a great little house, but possibly not quite right for me. It did mean I also got to see Grantley briefly. 😍

We had thought about going into town for dinner, but Jacques offered to cook, he’s a fabulous cook, so this was a no brainier! He made the most delicious pasta carbonara and a gorgeous salad, it was fabulous. 😋The weather had been pretty nice most of the day. However just as we were finishing dinner the wind suddenly picked up, going from 4 knots right up to 30 it also bought heavy rain. We ran around lowering the rain tent at the stern, checking and securing the lines, tying up a random little boat that suddenly appeared next to us, by the time we had done this the wind dropped off again, but not for long, we had a night of sudden high winds, which meant everyone had a disturbed night, especially Jacques.

We left Vibo the next morning slightly later than planned as Jacques needed to catch up on a little bit of sleep.

It was another long trip to the next place, Cetraro. 8 hours. Not a bad run, a little bouncy, but no problems. It’s surprising how quickly the time goes.

I have just over a week before I am coming home, which is very exciting. I’ve been busy trying to organise seeing everyone, this is more tricky than it sounds!

I will be in Hertfordshire from 29th May until 6th June, then heading down to Newquay. Where I have to try and sort my life out, find somewhere to stay, buy a house, get a job, get a car, figure out what I want to do for the next few years. I was supposed to have got this last bit decided over the last year, I’ve thought about it a great deal, I just haven’t come to any conclusions. 😳😬Ideas on a postcard please! 😂

That’s it’s for now lovely people.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your bank holiday shenanigans. 🎉🍾☀️🧡❤️💙🩵💚

Books read.

None! I’ve started a new one. More on that next time.

Sunday 11th May – Saturday 17th May 2025.

Amendment:

In my last blog I said that Lord Byron died and was buried on Missolonghi, he died there but his body was returned home to the UK and is in the family vault in Nottingham. Thank you Bob for the correction. 😘❤️

We arrived into Lefkas town marina around 3pm. We moored stern to, which means from the back of the boat. I was tasked with throwing the stern line and then grabbing the ‘lazy line’ which secures the bow of the boat instead of an anchor. Unfortunately I didn’t perform at my best and then I misheard an instruction from Jacques, nothing untoward happened I just felt very frustrated and annoyed with myself, then I got a bit upset. The mooring is always a bit tense and stressful, especially if there is wind and if some of the crew are a bit pants! 😬 However the drama is soon forgotten. We did a bit of boat cleaning then it was time to meet our new guests, Martin & Natalie. Martin is going to be one of the crew on Mossy Joe for the Atlantic crossing, Natalie is his partner, she has sailed but at this point isn’t t going to be doing the crossing. (This may change! )

It was so lovely to meet them, they seem lovely.

We had a wonderful evening on board eating an eclectic mix of food and drinking copious amounts of Rosè!! 🎉😍🩷

We did all get a relatively early night as we have a big crossing to do on Monday.

We are sailing across from Lefkas in Greece to Crotona in Italy! A journey that will take approximately 24 – 28hrs. 😬😳

To be honest I was a little apprehensive, just because we will be in the middle of the ocean. I have every faith in Jacques, Tracey and the boat, I also trust Martin, who is an experienced sailor. But I’m not an experienced sailor so it’s a big deal.

We left Lefkas on schedule and the start of the journey was OK. We were sailing against the wind which meant it was very choppy and bouncy. Moving around the boat was a challenge. I had initially said that I would cook dinner, meatballs and rice. This plan was abandoned due to the conditions and also because some people felt a little sick. Luckily Jacques & Tracey had called into a bakery in the morning and we had lots of great savoury pastry’s and fresh bread to snack on, as well as 2 cupboards full of snacks!

For the crossing we set 4 hour watches. 2 – 6, 6 – 10, 10 – 2 then repeat. As there were 5 of us and I have the least (read zero) experience, I also have no wet weather gear, I opted to be the Galley Bitch and keep everyone supplied with hot drinks, food and snacks. Luckily for me I didn’t have any sickness.

We spotted a couple of little birds behind the boat at one point, which is unusual this far out at sea, then a little later one of them flew onto the boat and sat behind a cupboard at the bow. After a little while it flew off again, but then came back and sat in the same spot, we decided to leave it to rest. Sadly by the morning it was dead, possibly just too exhausted. 😥 We were all a little sad that It didn’t make it.

The conditions were less than ideal, but not really terrible. But once the sun sets and it gets dark, it all seems a bit more ominous. The noise of the waves hitting the hulls seems louder, the bouncing seems worse, especially if you’re down in the cabins. I went to bed around 1am. But wasn’t able to sleep, I had to work really hard not to become panicked by thinking about ‘what ifs!’ Or trying not to think about how thin the hull that’s protecting me from the vast, cold ocean is! 😨 You become tuned into every little sound or change in sound. Sleep eluded me, so I popped back up to see if Tracey & Jacques needed anything, this was around 3.30am They were fine. I went back to bed and finally dozed off around 4.30 then was awake again at 6.30. I got up and made Martin & Natalie some tea & toast, the sun was up and everything seemed much less scary. We were now only 6 hours away from Italy! Yippee. 🥳

We spotted land with a few hours to go.

We were about 2 miles from Crotone and the Italian Coast, I was sitting up at the helm with Jacques and I spotted a large boat behind us, going a some speed. It seemed to be coming straight for us.

This in fact was exactly what it was doing.

It was a large Vessel belonging to the Guardia Di Finanza. They are Italian military law enforcement agency tasked with patrolling and searching vessels to prevent smuggling, financial violations and any other illegal activity.

Their big boat came very close to us and used a megaphone to tell us to stop, they then came alongside, quite quickly tbh. At one point it looked and sounded like they had bashed into Mossy Joe on the port bow, because they hadn’t fendered it properly, Jacques was not happy!

They tied alongside and informed us that they would be coming on board. I expected all of them to get on but it was only 2 people. They needed to examine all the boat papers, the crew list and all our passports. They then filled out some paperwork. They made a cursory search of the cabins, didn’t bother to check the engine room or any of the large lockers, storage areas, so I guess we must all have innocent faces!

While this was going on the other guys on the boat we’re examining the area that had been damaged, luckily for us it was their boat that had sustained a dink, not Mossy Joe! 😀👌

The whole process took around an hour and was an exciting welcome to Italy!! 🇮🇹

We moored in the marina, which had some good, hot, powerful showers which we all used! Just to save the water & power onboard. We all then had a well deserved drink, delicious Negronis.

Later we wandered into the town, I expected to feel a lot more wobbly than I actually did!

The town was pretty nice and we found a great place serving yummy traditional Italian Pizzas! Perfect. 😍

The coast that we are on doesn’t have lots of marinas or anchorages, there was some bad weather coming in so we left early the next day for an 8hr sail to the next stop, Roccella Ionica, to try and be in the marina before the weather hit.

It was another very pleasant journey and topped off by a welcome committee of dolphins just before the harbour! 😍🩵🐬 Fabulous.

We were due to stay in the marina for 1 night, then move to our next stop Reggio Calabria, where Martin & Natalie were flying home from. Unfortunately the weather turned and we ended up staying for 3 nights.

The weather was very wet, not cold but damp and miserable. The first night we were all knackered so I made dinner onboard, yummy meatballs and pasta.

Then the next two nights we went into town to a lovely, small family run restaurant.

Martin & Natalie were great company, easy going and very funny! So spending downtime with them onboard was a pleasure, quizzes, reading, chatting, laughing and making a significant dent in the booze supplies 😂🍾

So far we haven’t seen as much of Italy and it’s sunshine as we’d like, but it’s been an adventure!!

I’m looking forward to more fun times in Italy 🇮🇹

Books read.

The Daughters of Madurai. By Rajasree Variyar. An excellent book, her debut novel. Highly recommend.

Tuesday 6th May – Sunday 11th May 2025

After a little bit of a bumpy but not unpleasant journey, we arrived in Nafpaktos. The town looks amazing, a big castle up on a hill and a really great small walled harbour. We tried to go into the harbour but it was very small and was having work done, it was really only big enough for small boats and dinghy’s. We decided to anchor just outside the harbour walls. The wind had dropped considerably and we decided to go into town by dinghy to do some shopping and have a look around.

Once again I mastered the dinghy! 🥰 To be fair it was really calm and not very far!

We did the shopping and had a mooch about, it’s a very pretty place. Tracey & Jacques opted to take the shopping back to the boat while I waited in a little bar! Handy. This plan seemed great until the wind picked up a lot just as they set off and meant they couldn’t come back for 2 hours! 😂 I managed to pass the time sipping my Mastika and Wine and eating the nibbles, it was hard but I survived! 😂

It was getting on for 8.30pm by the time they got back and we were all hungry and made the great decision to visit the best local Gyros shop, I even tried a pork Gyros, very tasty.

Unfortunately the money we saved on a cheap supper was soon spent in a very nice wine shop we passed on the way back to the boat!

We set off on a bright sunny morning to make our way to Missolonghi. Lord Byron died and is buried on Missolonghi.

In order to get there we had to pass under a huge suspension bridge, The Rio-Antirrio Bridge. This required us to radio the bridge with our mast height then wait to be told which section to pass under, initially he misheard the height, luckily Tracey double checked and we went under the tallest section. Even then it’s a little nerve wracking!

The way into the quay at Missolonghi was strange, we followed a dredged channel past some flat marshlands which didn’t look very Greek, apparently there are a lot of salt flats here.

We went alongside the quay which with no wind was relatively stress free!

Tracey and I then went for an epic walk through the town, at the hottest part of the day, in search of Lidl! Honestly, we’ll do anything for a decent supermarket! 😂

It was actually a rather pleasant walk through the town despite pulling an old lady shopping trolley with us!

Lidl was fun, although we opted for a taxi back with our hoard.

We were moored opposite a busy, buzzing restaurant where we had a very nice dinner and watched the sunset.

Our next stop is the lovely island of Ithaka, which is just off the coast of Kefalonia. The architecture is lovely and relatively modern, after most properties were damaged during an earthquake in 1953. We moored along the town quay, which was great, I love a Town Quay!

The little town looks so pretty and also looks a little bit Italian.

We had a wander around the town and then had food onboard. Another epic Greek Salad 🥗😍

There is a beautiful poem called ‘Ithaka’ by the Greek poet P Cavafy. It is based on Odysseus journey home in Homer’s Odyssey. The poem conveys the meaning of life and to always remember that when attempting to achieve our goals we must never lose sight of the journey as it’s is this journey that provides us with wisdom, knowledge and experience. Thank you Grantley for telling me about the poem.

We were hoping to make a stop on Kefalonia at a place called Fiskardo.

Unfortunately the small quay was completely full, so instead we popped across to a place called Syvota on the island of Lefkas.

There are lots of pontoons in Syvota each one owned by a restaurant. The idea is that you moor on their pontoon for free but then eat at their restaurant.

We had been given a recommendation of a place called ‘Stavros’ Tracey called them as we arrived in the bay and they said they had a spot for us, he said he would come out and wave to us.

We saw a guy waving, so duly moored alongside, chatted a bit he told us there was water and electricity. It was only after about 10 minutes we realised the place was not ‘Stavros’ at all but a completely different restaurant called ‘Vibes’ 😂 we had been poached!

Our first job on arrival was to give the boat a really good clean. I bloody loved this! Mops, improvised brushes, hoses and lots of fun! We actually ended up doing some of the cleaning in the rain! 😂😂 It was such a hugely satisfying task, seeing the boat all shiny and clean. Bliss.

Once we finished we had a celebratory shower and a drink and watched the beautiful huge dog, Gustav, on the boat next door trying to get to the cats on the quay!

As expected we went to the restaurant for dinner. The food at the restaurant was delicious, a little bit more upscale than the usual Taverna but with Greek flavours. We also decided to get a little bit dressed up!
We had a really fabulous meal with lovely staff. Altogether a great day. 👌😍

I was woken in the morning to the sound of Jacques hoovering, which was odd as I’d hoovered the day before. It seems that some very cheeky cats had got on board during the night, jumped up on the side, dragged the remaining banana loaf down and had a good old munch! 😂😂

We stayed another night in Syvota, doing jobs, shopping and having a lovely lazy lunch.

It really is a great little spot, very popular with charter boats.

We left on Sunday morning to make our way to Lefkas town marina where we are picking up some new people!

Friday 2nd May -Monday 5th May 2025

Having said our goodbyes to Grantley and shed a few to tears. It was time for us to leave Athens and move towards the Ionian Islands.

We left Alimos Marina and our first task was to navigate our way through lots of tankers and cargo vessels. There were lots of these huge ships waiting to go into Piraeus Port. Some were anchored and some were moving. They are bloody huge!

Having got through them safely we were free to motor onwards.

Our next big challenge is the Corinth Canal, which we are booked to go through on Saturday morning.

With this in mind Jacques took us to a lovely little sheltered bay where we could anchor for the night and be close enough for our time slot in the canal the following day.

The bay was lovely, empty, quiet and very peaceful. We were joined later in the late afternoon by a fishing boat laying some nets, they said Hi, and let us know where their nets were.

The sunset in this bay was gorgeous and to make it even more fabulous a couple of dolphins appeared. 🧡😍

I was woken in the morning by the gentle sound of the fishing boat returning to collect its catch. Beautiful.

We left the bay and headed towards the Corinth Canal.

The first attempt to build a canal here was in 67 AD, the final attempt was in 1881 and it opened on 25th July 1893. The canal is 3.94 miles long and 24.6 meters wide with very steep sides.

Its construction is the reason for the Port of Piraeus in Athens becoming the most important trading post in the Mediterranean.

We had been given a time slot of 12pm and Tracey radioed in when we were 4 miles out, they then give you instructions and you make your way towards the entrance and wait until the traffic coming the other way has exited then you can go. We waited around 20 minutes. Then it was a Go!

It was an amazing experience to sail through such a narrow, steep canal. There are bridges across it and one of them is used as a bungee jumping site, someone jumped just after we passed!

I thought the whole experience was fantastic. What I hadn’t really considered was how difficult it is to steer Mossy Joe through the canal, there is wind and currents not to mention the potential damage if you hit the sides! Although it only took approx 30 minutes it was a stressful and hard 30 minutes for Jacques. He did an awesome job. 💙

You exit the canal into the Gulf of Patras. The wind died down and we traveled on exceptionally calm water.

With the calm sea, the haze, the snow capped mountains and the blue sky it was otherworldly and completely magical.

We all sat up on deck and Tracey opened a delicious bottle of Whispering Angel 😍🩷

We had just taken a sip when we spotted something shimmering in water a little way ahead, we couldn’t quite make out what it was, possibly fish? 🐟 but as we got closer we realised that it was a pod of around 20 dolphins!! 🐬🐬 OMG! They all began to play in our bow wave! It was so fantastic to watch them and because the sea was calm you could see them really clearly. They played around the boat for 10 minutes then suddenly they were gone. It was a truly wonderful.

As if that wasn’t enough we then spotted a large turtle in the water 😍again the calm sea offered great visibility. We also saw a couple more dolphins as we neared our next stop, Galaxidi.

We anchored out in the bay, as the town quay was full. The town looks beautiful.

We opted to go into town for a look around and some dinner which is great but this meant going in the dinghy!! This will be my first dinghy ride on this trip. I don’t have the best track record of getting in and out of small boats! Just to add some extra anxiety, last year when Hayley and I visited Tracey & Jacques our only dinghy trip ended with Hayley & Jacques in the water! 😬

I got in OK, good start, I also got out in town OK without embarrassing myself in front of the people watching! 👌

We enjoyed a delicious meal in a cute little Taverna by the quay. I finally managed to have some Pastitsio, a yummy Greek baked pasta dish. It was fab.

Then it was back in the dinghy, in the dark! I’m pleased to say I got in and out without incident! Happy Days. 😀

I have got to be honest and say that this day has been one of the highlights of my entire trip. Magical and exciting, everything just came together perfectly. A complete Joy. 💙

We were due to leave Galaxidi on Sunday and we did in fact try to leave.

Jacques said it was going to be windy but might be OK. So we left, but as soon as you come around the headland and were going up wind, it was bonkers! Blowing around 20 knots but with big bouncy waves 🌊!

This would have meant a 5 hour motor in unpleasant and unpredictable conditions, so the decision was made to go back to the safety of the bay. We are not in a hurry, so it made perfect sense to wait out the weather.

We stayed in Galaxidi for the next 2 nights due to the wind conditions. The choppy nature of the sea meant no more dinghy rides (shame 😉)

We left on Tuesday morning, the forecast said light winds. This was the case initially, but then the wind picked up and at some points it was up to 27 knots, windy but not too bouncy so a lot more comfortable. I sat up at the helm with Jacques, learning lots about wind, weather and sailing which is brilliant. 🤩

It’s been a fantastic few days, new experiences, new places and magical landscapes.

That’s all for now.

Have a great week.

Books Read.

Deceived by the Light. Damien Boyd. A crime novel. Good fun.

I also managed to watch the end of lasts years race across the world. It was so funny seeing them visit the places that I’ve visited, walking along the same streets! I’m also very happy that Alfie & Owen won. 🥇

Thursday 12th to Friday 27th December 2024. Part 2!

Part 2!

The weather for our week away hadn’t been perfect, some cloud and rain, a fair amount of wind but Wednesday was supposed to be bright and sunny so this is the day we chose to go to Cape Le Grande National Park and explore the beaches there. Some of which have been voted the most beautiful beaches in the world! 🌎

Well I can completely understand why! Totally gorgeous.

We visited Hellfire Bay first, which I thought was very pretty, small but lovely.

Then onto Lucky Bay. Lucky Bay was much bigger and again vehicles can drive onto the beach. It is fantastic and so pretty. Quite often Kangaroos come on the beach! Cory & Charlotte, my friends saw them when they visited. You can see this on their travel blog: ‘CJ explores’.

Sadly we didn’t see any, but it was a busy day, quite a few people and vehicles and it wasn’t dawn or dusk.

We set up our little awning, chairs, Eski and preceded to have a fabulous beach day, we swam in the gorgeous water, saw fish. 🐠 No Sharks despite the signs!

It was glorious. ❤️

I took lots of photos of all the beaches but I don’t think they do them justice.

I would have to say that my favourite beach in Esperence was Wharton Beach.

We had a lovely relaxed final day on Thursday despite the drizzle and wind!

Then it was time to start packing up for our return home on Friday.

You can simply run out of superlatives to describe the beaches in this part of the world. Suffice to say they are the cleanest most pristine beaches I have ever seen in my life. 🤍🩵💙🌎 simply breathtaking.

Esperence will always have a special place in my heart.

The drive home is always less fun than the drive to your holiday.

I offered to do the first couple of hours, get it out of the way.

Everything was going great guns, the roads were virtually empty, no road trains. We were about 15 mins away from our first stop when we drove past a large truck, we heard a bang, but we all assumed it was something to do with the lorry. I continued to drive, then the battery Light came on on the dashboard and just as we came into the little town the Ute started to lose power. I pulled into the first garage I came to in the small town of Ravensthorpe.

Chris had a look and it looked like the coolant had all gone, so possibly a leak 🤔🤷‍♀️

Chris asked in the garage and they said there was a mechanics place just further up the road. We managed to drive the Ute there. The mechanics looked at it and declared it a little bit fucked! 😳

It seems that the bang we heard was the alternator breaking, this then took out the fan, disconnecting stuff and causing overheating. The vehicle was no longer drivable.

This was Friday @10am the last weekend before Christmas, the garage and mechanics were just about to close for their Christmas trip to Perth.

Chris called to RAC, paid to have roadside assistance. They said they would try to organise a tow.

They called back and said that as there were 4 people the earliest they could get a tow with a large enough cab would be Tuesday, 4 days away! WTAF! 😱

As we were in the middle of nowhere we ended up having to organise a tow truck from Bunbury, a 6 hour drive away, to come and get us. They couldn’t get to us till the following day and it wasn’t cheap!

At this point we were all being pretty calm and philosophical about the whole thing. We managed to find rooms at the local Motel. We walked there then the very nice owner, Rama, drove us back to the vehicle to collect all of our stuff.

Now to entertain ourselves in the tiny little town of Ravensthorpe.

A few of the cafés were closed, or just a bit weird!

But as luck would have it the local Tavern was open for business at Midday! Hooray 🎉

So that’s where we settled for the afternoon, we had some food, played pool. Then we played darts, which I was absolutely shocking at! 😂😜 Although after a few hours I did actually win 1 game….more luck than anything else.

Then in the evening as we were sitting outside of our motel rooms we spotted Kangaroos over the road! 🦘 Result. ❤️

The next morning reality hit a little, costs, the inconvenience of not having the Ute, a 7 hour drive home in the back of a tow truck!! Everyone was a little subdued.

‘Wingers’ the tow truck driver arrived like a knight in Shining Armour at 10.30, which was a lot earlier than I’d anticipated. He was so helpful and friendly. He made the journey back much more pleasant than I thought it would be, bumpy in the back but again, he made great time and it took us under 7 hours to get back, helped by the lack of vehicles and road trains.

The Ute is now in the garage, we are hoping it’s fixable and that the head gasket hasn’t gone 🙏🙏

it’s fair to say the Esperence Holiday was one we won’t forget for a while for lots of reasons!

We made it back with enough time to organise for Christmas.

It still feels very strange celebrating Christmas in the sun! Not getting wrapped up and drinking mulled wine.

On Monday evening Chris asked if we wanted to go for a drive to look at the Christmas lights. Anita and I said, absolutely 💯. We had no idea what we were in for!

There were some stunning displays around the streets nearby, but this was nothing compared to the spectacle that is Dunstan Street! A whole long curved street with every single house lit up in the most fabulous way. It was so mad! They even had traffic management in place. We walked the whole thing and it was incredible. Apparently if you buy a house on this street you have to agree to do Christmas lights! Bonkers, but amazing and really got us in the Christmas mood. 🎄🎉

On Christmas Eve friends of Rebecca & Chris, Mick & Debs, came over. Mick had very kindly looked after Curly while we were away.

We had a lovely evening, BBQ, nice food, some Aperol Spritz, sitting outside and playing board games!

Christmas Day was very Australian 🇦🇺. We started with breakfast on the beach 🏖️ Making use of the public BBQs by the bay, with some Mimosas, a little stroll, then back to the house for presents and relaxing by the pool! Bloody lush.

I will admit to feeling homesick and certainly missing seeing my beautiful Twinkles, Georgia & Grantley. We face timed which was wonderful, but not the same as seeing them in the flesh. But it is the first Christmas I’ve spent with my Rebecca in 11 years, so that is wonderful. 😍

We had a lovely walk around the inlet on Boxing Day and then Chris managed to find a way for us to watch Gavin & Stacy on the outside TV, so we sat outside eating cheese and watched the end of an era, a fantastic end to a great series. We cried. 😭😭❤️

One of the most exciting and amazing things that has happened since my last blog post is that I’m now going to have some company when I visit Sri Lanka.

The bloody fabulous and amazing Tracey Whelan is going to come over and we’ll get to spend 10 days together! I’m so thrilled and happy! ❤️😍🎉

Apologies in advance for the number of stunning beach pictures that will accompany this post! 💙🩵

Enjoy the weekend, it’s that strange time between Christmas & New year when nobody really knows what day of the week it is, everyone is living on leftovers, cheese and chocolate and wondering if not fitting into your clothes is a legitimate reason to call in sick to work! 😂😂😂

That’s all for now you fabulous bunch.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, it’s not always the easiest of times. I know it’s been a particularly difficult one for some of my wonderful friends. Please know that I’m thinking of you and sending all my love. ❤️❤️

Books Read.

The Echo of Old Books. Barbara Davis.

Really enjoyable.

Tall Oaks. Chris Whitaker.

I loved this book, it managed to be thrilling, sad, poignant and very funny. The author is British and I shall be reading more of his stuff.

Wild. Kristin Hannah.

Another sensational book by this author. I really loved this one. If you haven’t read any of her books, start now!

36 Hours. Angela Marsons. Book 21 in the DI Stone Series.

Very good.