26^th May   SIVOTA  GREECE

38 36.9 N  20 41.5 E

Well, finally we berthed in Greece, at a pontoon run by the Yacht Bar in Sivota, at about 14.30 0n the 26^th.

We sat and waited for the weather to improve at Ragusa. Paul ended up leaving by bus to Catania on 21^st, to get the flight that was bringing in Kieran, for whom I arranged a local taxi pick up, he got to the pontoon about 22.30 on 21^st. The weather5 continued unsettled with 6-7 forecasts each day, but we finally got what looked like a weather window on 24^th, so went for it, aiming for a 315 mile passage across the Ionian to a spot between Lefkas and Kefallinia, from whence we’d play it by ear.

Having had robust discussions about what food when was necessary for the trip, (I have already made my views plain on this, but they were not shared by Tim and Frances, who clearly have somewhat larger appetites than mine) we set off at 06.15 on 24^th. Winds were light, variable and offered us little, but the sea state was calm, so it was engine on and a lot of patience. We had dolphin escorts, came across long fishing nets/lines (2-3 miles) of buoys I thought it safer not to cross, which was irritating, and were intrigued by radio conversations between “Spider 638” and “Raven”, on VHF channel 16, who were obviously up to something nefarious, without, it would appear, any luck that particular evening. If you’re reading, “Spider”, try a less commonly used channel next time…….and you may avoid the fate that presumably overtook the other 637 “Spiders”

Fortunately it was a pretty uneventful crossing, clear nights, not particularly cold, not too much dew, lots of stars to look at and the silver shapes of dolphins around the boat at times. Saw very few ships once clear of Sicily, and no yachts.

We made excellent time. Dawn on 26^th saw us looking at Kefallinia and Lefkas. The cloud lifted, we put our watches forward, and basically we completed the passage in 48 hrs. There was a breeze, so finally Tim got a chance to sail, and we had a relaxing few tacks between Lefkas and Kefallinia, then drifted slowly up to Sivota, where I thought we could anchor and crash out. In the bay there 2 or 3 pontoons, so we went for one with fixed lines, and after some considerable hassle untangling about 3, all of which passed under the boat, we were moored up and headed ashore for the bar and a beer to celebrate the passage.

We had showers, filled the water tanks, ate ashore – it was a Saturday, it looked like change over day for “Sailing Holidays”, about 20 boats in and a big dinner in the restaurant we went to for those on the flotilla(s). We were tired and crashed out fairly early.

From Ragusa to Sivota we covered 324 NM.