Well, although the 20th June is not the longest day of the year, it certainly felt it today! An early start, anchor weighed easily and departing the anchorage at 6-10am as planned. Graham on the wheel watching the sun rise over the mainland, everyone else asleep again. As usual for the Ionian in the morning, no wind again. Progress was steady throughout the day and with the sails up and engine on (called motorsailing) the boat can travel significantly faster than just running the engine with no sails. Several times during the day we managed to sail the boat with no engine but opportunities were not really in our favour today.My plan was to reach Syvota area by 2pm which we did successfully, the reason being that a strong north westerly was forecast to start building from this time. As luck would have it, there was still little wind so we decided to push on closer to Corfu, possibly anchoring near the old fort in Garitsa Bay. By 6pm we had reached the fort and the wind was beginning to build. We had two options: anchor in Garitsa Bay and finish the last 5nm in the morning or push on for another hour and tie up back at the marina, hot showers, taverna meal out, get up tomorrow and plug in the electric toaster.....we did not anchor in Garitsa Bay! After a total of 13 hrs 15 mins, we were tied up back on our pontoon in Gouvia Marina relaxing prior to enjoying an excellent Greek meze-type dinner in Harry's Taverna, Kontokali, a top local restaurant in this area at excellent prices. My cold which had been slowing building over the past 24 hours had kicked in hard now so after the meal we just returned to the boat and went to bed.Some tiydying up in the morning could be done and hosing down of the boat before returning home. This has been a great trip and more enjoyable than our previous outing in April which you may recall didn't really go to plan, albeit was still quite good fun. This time however, great weather, no boat problems, catching up with old RAF friends and seeing some great places made the trip most memorable. Now, back to the real world or repairing the house and sorting out the garden.....

After a great meal last night, iy was time to start thinking about getting back to Corfu over the next couple of days. Some strong north westerlies are being forecast which will make progress to Corfu very difficult if we leave it too late. To break the journey, tonight's destination is planned as Cleopatra Marina, anchored outside this time, with a meal ashore in the fine restaurant. We weighed anchor at Vlycho at 9-30am, no wind, so motored towards the Lefkas Canal. Once at the entrance, I carefully tweaked our speed as we went along the canal to ensure that we arrived at the bridge as close to midday as possible when the bridge would open. The canal is 5nm long so this required some constant mental arithmetic! We arrived five minutes before the bridge opened, a very short wait and we were through. Only another 5nm to the anchorage which we reached at 13-45pm, no problems. The canal was quite busy with boats again today but it's fairly easy to avoid a collision as most boats stay in the correct side of the channel, yes, most boats....there's always an idiot somewhere! The plan to eat ashore was somewhat scuppered today as the wind never dropped to a level that would allow us to launch the dinghy from the boat or get ashore without getting totally drenched. I cooked a pasta dish instead which went down well all round. A couple of glasses of wine and that was it for the day ready for a 5-30 start tomorrow morning for Mark and I to get the boat on route to Corfu with an option to stop at Syvota, wind dependent. It only takes two people to get the anchor up so Mark would assist in the morning, head back to bed, then I would carry on at the helm for a few hours before Tracey and Mark needed to get up for the day. Tomorrow could be a long day so getting as much sleep as possible always pays off when sailing.

It was great to see Agia Efimia again after so many years. Not much has changed although a few bars and restaurants had either gone, arrived or changed hands. One of our old favourites, a lounge bar above Finikas Taverna, had gone which was a shame. The main noticeable difference was the number of boats present - it was packed and we arrived at 2pm! The anchorage used to have one or two boats moored over night but this time I could count 22! Anyway, a 9am departure this morning and a very pleasant motor (no wind....again) to Syvota, the initial plan for the night. Syvota was very pleasant but it became obvious that it was going to get very busy. So, Plan B, we anchored for lunch, left at 4pm and sailed round to Vlycho, a massive anchorage, very peaceful. After cracking open a chilled bottle of Prosecco for Mark's birthday, and finishing it of course, the dinghy was pumped up, engine deployed and we went ashore to Gialos Taverna where we had another really excellent meal. Returning to the boat at about 11pm, a quick Ouzo and off to bed. Another great day at sea!