Our plan for June included a few days sailing off Essex with friends on their 36' catamaran, Vandal. Then we got an invitation from other friends to visit them on their 38' Lagoon catamaran Murihiku in Italy. Um! Essex? Tuscany? Sorry, Vandal. Italy it is.

So we are now aboard the smart Murikhiku, revisiting Le Grazie. Kiwi dykes Ange and Deborah have made us very welcome and it's amazing to be with other cruising women.

This little bay is Le Grazie, at the southern end of the Cinque Terre. It's an excellent anchorage for holding and weather protection. (We've been here before, back in 2009, when this pic was taken.) The other boats, especially large groups of loved up charterers partying through the night, are a much bigger risk. But they shut up relatively early, at about midnight.

It's a breezy day so we're chilling out afloat. Tomorrow, after filling up at La Spezia, we're planning to use the forecast westerly for the leg back to our favourite anchorage at Portoferraio. Woohoo!