Sicily: We liked Syracusa immediately, the weather is fairly settled now and the days hot and sunny so we stayed on anchor in the bay for a week. It was lovely there - and excellent holding in mud. There were about 15 other yachts in the anchorage, mostly from Europe but we did spot a New Zealand flag. Sadly the water was not inviting enough for a swim, as there seemed to be a discharge nearby that discoloured the water.

Syracusa, founded by Greek colonists, was once a leading European power and military base. Ancient Syracusa was on Ortygia, a fortified island. With its strong, high city walls it was easily defendable and when in 215 BC it was attacked by the Romans and there began a siege. Archimedes was on the Greek defence team and contrived various mechanical devices (catapults etc.) which kept the Romans at bay for 2 years!

Today Ortygia is joined to the mainland by two bridges and Syracusa spreads onto the mainland. The old town is really lovely, with narrow streets overlooked by tall buildings that are bedecked with wrought iron balconies. Flowers seem to trail from every balcony creating a really attractive and colourful impression. The central Piazza is a grand space dominated by the impressive Doumo (Cathedral), and we enjoyed several mid-morning cappuccinos in the smart cafe opposite.

On show in the Piazza was a 70` aluminium sculpture of a giant emerging from the earth. This sculpture by Seward Johnson, and entitled 'The Awakening' was installed for the opening of the G8 special environmental meeting of world leaders. It is in five parts and shows the giant's head, knee, foot, hand and arm with the rest of the body apparently submerged beneath the floor of the Piazza! This is intended to signify humanity's emerging consciousness about the fragile environment and promote sustainable practice.

Not having an artistic bone in my body, it looked to me as if the giant was sinking into the ground rather than emerging!!! (- let's hope not!!). Nonetheless it is a really impressive sculpture and quite famous. It was certainly popular with the parties of schoolchildren visiting the Cathedral, who vied for position to be photographed by friends (mostly on mobile phones!) with various parts of the giant!

We spent the days relaxing on the boat, replacing our stores, and wandering about the town. Our Dutch friends (on Mermaid) had recommended a wine Co-operative where you can buy fine wines straight from the vat. We soon located the place, where the people are very friendly and offered us a tasting - we tried them all!! Needless to say we now have a good supply on board!! We celebrated Kit's birthday with a delicious fish and shellfish dinner in a small courtyard restaurant hidden away through a stone doorway.

We had been at anchor for about two days before we realised that we could see the top of Mt Etna, some 50 miles away, from the boat! Some days it was very clear and despite the plume of smoke rising from the summit it looked as if there was snow on the slopes. Our next port of call on Sicily was to be Catania, further north, where we could book into a marina and safely leave the boat to visit the volcano.

With the weather so settled there was no wind at all so we motored 28miles up the coast, with Etna looming ever larger, and tied up in Circulo Nautico Marina, in the docks area of Catania. Catania is the second city of Sicily and a busy port. On our first excursion ashore we were looking for an internet café but somehow managed to end up in the red light district! Then we found ourselves pushing through a crowd gathered to hear speakers protesting about the poor conditions of immigrants. Internet cafes were a disappointment too, as without exception they are also phone shops, seedy places filled with booths where the immigrant population call their relatives and friends far away. Not a very good first impression! However we soon got our bearings and found that Catania is a vibrant city, and the people very friendly. It must once have been a beautiful city but sadly many of the grand old buildings are now a bit dilapidated. The narrow streets were not designed to take today's traffic and the Italians negotiate their way around the city with much horn beeping and shouting, as a fleet of Vespa's and motorcycles wind in and out between the cars.

From the marina Etna dominated the landscape with its ominous, constantly smoking cone. We were keen to get an even closer look and took an early morning bus that wound its way up the slopes through villages and countryside to Refugio Sapienza - as far as the road goes at 1900 metres above sea level. The lower slopes of the Volcano must provide good growing conditions as there are acres of green cultivated land growing all kinds of fruit and vegetables. As we rose we passed wide fields of black lava and could see the roofs of houses and farms that had been engulfed by the 2001 lava flow. There is indeed snow at this height despite the heat that must emanate through he ground from the active volcano! You can apparently ski up here in the winter. From there a cable car took us up another 600 metres where we hopped on a Unimog 4x4 jeep for a very bumpy ride up a track cut through the snow. At the summit, we climbed on snow, black rocks and lava up to the south crater. Despite the sun it was very cold and we were glad of the extra clothing we'd carried with us. We both felt the effects of the thin air at this height (3323 metres or 10,700ft) and had to take our time walking around the crater, taking in the awe-inspiring views over Sicily and the boot of Italy. We were lucky to be there on such a clear day as there is often a cloud over the volcano. The main crater, a short distance away, is too dangerous to get close to as it is active, but I got some good photos of the sulphurous smoke rising from the cone. I sat up next to the jeep driver on our descent to the cable car station and got a first class view as we drove down the precipitous track between walls of snow - quite an experience!

With our Etna excursion over we started preparing for a 2-day passage to Cephalonia, one of the Greek Ionian Islands. A large depression was due to pass over us with easterly gales so we had to wait for that to clear before setting off.

Filling up with diesel before we left was quite an experience as we had to take the boat around to a shallow pontoon in the fishing harbour and carry cans of fuel from the petrol station. Luckily there were several pairs of helping hands in the shape of three Sicilian fishermen, Kit had arranged things the previous day but we didn't expect such willing helpers!!

As we sailed away from Sicily we could see the foot of Italy in the distant haze and reflected that this had been our second visit to Italy, but we've still not sailed to the mainland! Perhaps en route west out of the Mediterranean....

We had a good passage across the Ionian Sea. As usual the wind was fluky and either too little or too much - but the weather was fine and we sailed for 50% of the trip. Once Italy was out of sight there was no shipping, it felt strange - just us on a blue sea! We took 4-hour watches this time and felt more rested after a good break. The nights were very dark despite the amazing vista of stars, because the moon didn't rise until early morning. Again we saw loggerhead turtles miles from the shore; in fact one of their main breeding grounds is on Zakynthos, the island south of Cephalonia, so we must have crossed a migratory route. We were also escorted by delightful dolphins for several miles, which always pleases me. We had strong winds during the second night giving us a bumpy ride, and although we had to reef the sails in and keep a good watch, this did enable us to make up time lost in periods of lull, and we arrived 52 hours after leaving Sicily.

Cephalonia looked lovely as we approached, with its spine of mountains and green slopes down to the blue sea. We headed up an inlet to Argostoli, the main town, and tied up on the town quay, opposite towering green hills. Greece - the ninth country we have visited on our voyage!