John's colleague, Julian, had family visitors and had arranged a day's skippered charter. They asked us if we'd like to go. Pope and Catholic. Bears and woods. Hell, yeah.

On a glorious morning we joined the Bavaria 50 Always Summer at the port of Achille. (The name commemorates the hero Achilles, who was hidden here by his mother Thetis, in a fruitless attempt to keep him our of the Trojan War. Odysseus found him, took him off to Troy where, as prophesised, he died a hero.) The skipper has the boat really well set up and we didn't do anything except play at being deck candy interspersed with gentle swims.

We anchored three times on our passage down the east coast to the southern tip of Skyros. (It's not very big: that's about 11 nautical miles.) The first stop was a tunnel in the rock which we swam through, feeling brave. The second stop was this beautiful cave. Our skipper brought his boat so close at anchor that we were craning our necks to see the top of the cliff above us. Local knowledge is a wonderful thing. The cave was enhanced by an impromptu performance by Susie Self, aboard for a day off from working on her next symphony. We decided that keeping an opera singer in your luggage is an exciting addition for any cruiser.

The third stop was a tiny beach below marble cliffs. The Romans had a quarry here, but no-one is mining it now. The beach is littered with piece of glorious shiny rock, from tiny, sea-polished pebbles to huge chunks waiting for a chisel to release the figures within.

From here, we had a lovely sail back north, bounding along while we lay about in the sunshine digesting our packed lunch. (Goat chops. Yum!) What an unexpected treat.