Island under pressure After Jean left us in Mitilini on Lesbos, we stayed there for a few days to load up on provisions and fill the tanks with diesel. The kids enjoyed the local playground. We enjoyed the bustling old streets lined with shops and restaurants. But there was something in the air that made […]
Sailing with Aunties – Limnos to Lesbos
Can I invite myself? A couple of weeks ago Max received a message from his auntie Jean. She had been following our journey and was wondering whether she could tag along with us for a few days, or a week, or whatever. She would be flexible and would meet us wherever was convenient. We thought […]
Sailing with friends – Alonissos to Limnos
Reunion We had been on Alonissos island for a while, waiting for Max’s hand to heal and then waiting for some packages to be delivered – with parts for boat repairs. Then on one glorious day, the packages arrived, and our friends Oliver, Sinem and their son Henry on sailing vessel High Flight dropped by […]
Recovery in Alonissos
Accidents do happen We have been on the beautiful island Alonissos in the northern Sporades just over a week now. Although it is a lovely place, we were not planning on staying here this long. Unfortunately Max had an accident and hurt his hand. While we were taking up the anchor to leave the town […]
The Kids This Month – June 2017
Things the kids were into in June 2017 Swimming. I guess that this is going to be a thing each month until winter. Beau has been obsessed with the Faraway Tree book series by Enid Blyton – a birthday present from Grandma and Granddad from New Zealand. It was a big hit so we finished […]
To the Sporades
Heading for the Sporades islands from the Corinth Canal, we made a couple of short stops. We enjoyed being anchored in the bay under Cape Sounion for a couple of nights. It is a beautiful place, with an ancient temple to Poseidon on the top of the cape. Temple raiders We met up with Stella […]
Going Through the Corinth Canal
We have gone through the Corinth Canal; and are now sailing the Aegean! Going through the canal was very exciting. It is a very impressive structure, with high walls on either side and a couple of bridges going over it. Some facts Wikipedia says about the canal: “The Corinth Canal is a canal that connects […]
On the way to Corinth Canal – part 2
Our journey towards Corinth continues. We stayed in the bay just outside Galaxidi for a couple of days to relax and celebrate my birthday! Birthday celebrations I always miss my family and friends on special occasions, but I have to admit that this year I had so much fun on my birthday it made up […]
On the way to Corinth Canal – part 1
We are heading east through the Gulf of Patras and then the Gulf of Corinth, to cross from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea by way of the Corinth Canal. Messalongion We stayed in Messalongion for one night, “famous” because Lord Byron died there. It’s a funny little place at the end of a […]
Ithaca – Bards and Birthdays
Visiting another beautiful island We arrived in Ithaca, famed home of Odysseus, two days before Beau’s sixth birthday. The grammar school geek in me was quite excited about being on the island that Homer’s hero was from (although there are convincing theories supporting that Odysseus was not from present-day Ithaca, but one of the neighbouring […]
The Kids this Month – May 2017
Things the kids were into in May 2017 Swimming. They are in the water all day! Lego – especially Beau Home-made play dough. We don’t really like having play dough around as it gets into everything and we worry about it blocking the bilge… which would prevent water from being pumped out of the boat. […]
Vlikho Bay
We are now in Vlikho bay on Lefkada (I thought it was called Lefkas – maybe that’s a Dutch thing). The bay is very large but calm, with lots of anchored boats quietly bobbing along. More Friends’ Reunions The minute we arrived we started looking around for the blue hull of our friend Peter’s boat. […]
Snippets from daily life
Our dinghy was slowly turning into a submarine… It clearly leaked. It also looked battered, lacked oarlocks, missed lines along the handles, and had no bench. Max spent a couple hours on it yesterday and it has made such a difference! It looks great now and most importantly, it looks like it will stay dry! […]
Chilling in Fiskardo
Friends’ reunion We met up with our friends Dave and Shirley to hang out in Fiskardo together for a couple of days. It is great seeing them again after having all wintered in Sicily. We were also moored in the same marina in Spain, so Greece is the third country we met in! Pancake Breakfast Max cooked […]
Goat Bay
Today we managed to back Spacegrazer into a small bay with steep hills on each side. We dropped the anchor and tied two stern lines to trees on the beach. Chilling out after that exercise, we were enjoying the peace and quiet when we were suddenly surrounded by the sound of bleating goats and bells! Such […]
Argostoli – New Friends and Lots of Turtles
After our long journey, we were happy to tie Spacegrazer up to the town quay at Argostoli. Fast Friends We headed straight for the café opposite us (what luck!) for a beer, and found out that the guy who runs the place has a 5-year old son who speaks English (more luck!). Our kids became instant friends […]
Crossing from Sicily to Greece
We are on the ‘road’ again! We left our winter berth at Marina di Ragusa in Sicily and headed for Argostoli on Cephalonia in Greece. A trip of just under 300 miles straight across (so no land along the way to stop) and we made good time, getting there in 48 hours. Long, overnight passages always make […]
Winter in Marina di Ragusa
How do you summarise a whole winter of living aboard in Marina di Ragusa? I don’t think I can, so instead I will share some snippets from our life over the past months… We caught up with our friends Ned and Barbara. We made new friends! We did a lot of walking and biking along […]
Saluti da Italia!
We are in Italy! We had a beautiful night sail from Mahon to Sardinia in the full moon – with dolphins jumping on our wake… magic! And a great way to erase the memory of the horrible crossing we had from Mallorca to Menorca. We spent a couple days in Villasimius on Sardinia. It was […]