Greece - what a lovely view

😊 more about this chiseled "Greek God" later 😊

We set sail at first light and headed from

Croatia - Lastava island back across the Adria to Italy. We did not want to sail overnight and did also not feel like doing another formal check-in in Montenegro or Albania.

Italy - Baia di Mattinatella The water colour was so strange! We are not sure why it was like this.

Italy - Trani has a Communal Port and we were lucky to be given a spot on the "emergency dock" for 2 nights . Arriving from Croatia, we needed to do another "Form run" to the local Police authorities Few impressions from Trani:

Another early morning start to make most of the wind. We were able to leave our Code O Sail up for the entire day. We rarely get SOG (Speed over Ground) over 9 knots but as you can see on picture we had favourable conditions all day.

We have been in Monopoli before but not by boat. We decided to stay a night at the no fee port wall. After checking in with the Guarda Costiera we were told, that one of us had to stay on the boat at all times. No problem for us, we took turns going into town. A concert was also taking place right in front of us. The band was playing on a boat and the Italian TV was there. Seems some famous Italian singers were performing. but for a selected crowd only (it was by personal invitation only).

It was lovely to listen to the live music, doing some administrative work and watch fishing boats come in

On our way to Brindisi we had a curious shark circling us for over 2 hours. This was exciting as we have not seen one since we bought the boat. I cut my finger in the kitchen and let the blood down the sink (goes directly into the ocean). But apparently they can also smell urine (which also goes directly into the water when we are in the open sea). Or maybe the shark liked my orange shirt as it kept swimming right up to the side of the boat where I was staying checking me out. Or was he just lonely/curious and needed company? We have also seen large turtles which is always lovely to spot.

Being familiar with Brindisi we decided to anchor 1 night in front of the fort and toleave again at first light.

Otranto and another overnight in the same bay as we did over 2 months ago. Wow what a change! The city has woken up with the arrival of tourists. Boat tuckering around with a Brass Band playing dixieland jazz and at night a beautiful setting and free 4 day Jazz festival within the Otranto Castle walls.

So many souvenir shops.

We passed a floating tanker before the Greek Boarder (it was not under engine). To be on the safe side we called him on the marine radio asking him, if we could pass him on his bow side. Just felt better this way looking at the size of him and us being under sail.

We were happy to finally arrive in Greece.

Greece - Othonoi Island (North West of Corfu)

One of the many other names of Othonoi island is Fidonisi (snake island) because of the many snakes that are said to have invaded it. We, sorry... I.... did see a snake 10 minutes after starting our first island walk (it was well over 1 metre long) and stretched across our path. Sven being ahead insisted that there was no snake. On the way back it was still there but the poor snake was definitely dead (Sven turned it with a stick...). Should have gone to Specsavers Sven - it was not a stick 😃!

We ended up staying 2 nights alone at this lovely anchorage. You can see our boat alone in the bay. Sailing into the bay, we had to watch out for the many rocks and of course when throwing the anchor. You may recall that our anchor got stuck once before...

The next stop was

Corfu Island

Our first night on anchor was in Kalami / Corfu Island, followed by 6 nights at an amazing Sailing Club/Marina right within the old fortress of Corfu and a short walk to the old town.

If you have read our previous blogs you will know that a bulk shop takes a bit of time. It was no different with this shop at Lidl Corfu (it was on our way to the old fortress of Corfu). We first anchored the big boat, lowered the dinghy and made our way through a river. We checked out options to leave our dinghy along the river banks and found a wobbly wooden platform. We walked from there, crossing a main road to Lidl. Walked back with a full shopping trolley, rushed the "cold items" load into the dinghy and motored back to the boat and unpacked. Then did the same again, headed with dinghy down the river, attach dinghy, walked to Lidl, walked trolley back then drive back again to main boat. The only task we were unable to complete was doing the check in at the port authority as there were too many cruise ships at that time (we did not want to stay in the queue for hours). The process to register and pay the online Greek cruising tax 'TEPAI' was time consuming and much more complicated than it had to be....

When we arrived at the Sailing Club I (Caroline) had this hunk asking me with his lovely Greek accent to throw him the ropes. It was very distracting when he was flexing his packs whilst pulling in the ropes. I like Greece!

Sven told him with a smile, to please put his shirt back on, as the women are all far too distracted.

The sailing club we stayed at in the old Corfu fortress

After cleaning the boat and many loads of washing, we waited for Caroline's sister Jacqueline to arrive. We went to a local Greek Taverna for the first of many delicious Corfu meals. The street musicians played in front of the taverna. A Drink at a local bar with views of the old fort completed our day. Kumquat and Limoncello liqueur displays in the shops.

Sven went for 4 days to Germany to visit his mum and attending a school reunion.. My sister and I explored Corfu in the meantime, starting with the hop on and hopp off bus.

During our sister time we also went for a Pedicure and Caroline got a much needed haircut.

We walked around the pretty old town of Corfu. Grocery shopping is a bit of a challenge - we cannot read any labels or signs in Greek.

We headed NW of Corfu island to spend the night at Cap Drastis. The white cliff walls are very impressive and we had the place to ourselves at night. This was probably as it was hard to anchor. We needed to try several times and move spot. Our anchor got finally stuck on a "stone plate"..... and we needed to dive to inspect how to best free it. Lucky for us, Sven got it out straight away

Next stop was visiting Porto Timoni beach and anchoring in Agios Georgios bay. We hired a scooter for a day.

5.30 am paddle to the beach and early hike.

This was quite amusing! Influencers? Instagram?

We were the first ones to the spot below. Walking back we crossed some small groups of young people (females with lots of makeup and colourful lipsticks/nails). They showed us an Instagram picture with that exact spot, asking us, if they are on the right track. Seems these young people are instagram followers of someone, who has taken a picture at that exact spot. They wanted to do the same. How the world has changed!

Fresh squeezed Orange juice and coffee followed our early hike (restaurant was technically still closed but the owner opened earlier for us). Check out the butterfly on 2nd picture, which just happened to fly into the picture.

Our last night with Caroline's sister. Jacqueline invited us to this nice restaurant and took some pictures of us. It was a lovely 45 Minute walk along the beach and through an olive tree forest. The restaurant served fish only (check out the fish heads on the tree).The Greek Taverna had no internet and accepted cash payments only. It had a sign up stating: Dear Customer, If you are in a hurry or nervous we will serve you tomorrow!

Caroline and Sven 💖

We had a few too many Ouzos / beers! The walk and paddling back to the boat felt much longer.

Special treat, a firework in the same bay and nice weather forecast for every day. We were not able to do an airport transport drop off by dinghy. Instead we paddled with the small suitcase (protected by a garbage bag) and handbag in a water proof bag. Where there is a will, there's a way.

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