Another Sunrise

I thought I had missed the sunrise as I woke up just after 7am but as I scrambled up on deck in my PJs I was so pleased to see the best sunrise we have had so far, it was glorious. A good way to start my birthday :)

I was given cards and presents at breakfast, the boys were very thoughtful in their gifts. Then after breakfast we set sail back north towards the marina where we started from in Corfu, but we stopped at a bay before we got to the main town of Corfu so we could swim. We all enjoyed swimming, I was doing lengths again while the others snorkelled or used the SUP boards. We had a delicious lunch there - Giorgos spoiled us again with an excellent mushroom risotto, Greek salad, parma ham, melon, lemon hummus, and a tray bake of Mediterranean vegetables in a tomato sauce. We opened a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate my birthday - I have not drunk any alcohol all holiday but today was a special occasion! After that enormous lunch I felt I had to swim some more lengths, so I did just that before we set sail again.

Before we came into the marina at Gouvia, we had to refuel the boat. This was an exercise that required patience, complete control of the boat and manners, of which Ioannis had an abundance of all three - it was utter chaos, boats all trying to push in front of another to get to the refuelling station, most skippers had no clue what they were doing, boats coming within inches of another - it was a wonder there were no boats crashing. Ioannis skilfully manoeuvred this wide catamaran into the tiniest space by the fuel tanks without upsetting any other boat owners while all the others were shouting at each other, it was rather entertaining to watch! He says doing this same thing in Santorini in 30km winds has prepared him for any situation. 

Now we are back in the marina for our final night before flying home tomorrow. It has been a wonderful holiday with the family, despite the boat and its shortcomings the locations, the food and the company have more than made up for it. Being on a boat is a good type of holiday as you are always together so it’s quality family time well spent. Despite never lying in the sun we are all suntanned and feel like we have had a good summer holiday. I was going to say I am ready to face the autumn but lately I find I much prefer spring and summer and really dislike the days shortening as we head towards winter.

We were so lucky to have Ioannis, a brilliant skipper, and Giorgos, a masterful chef, on board with us. I thought we would be getting someone who would make simple pasta dishes, not the culinary delights were were spoiled with all week - but then Giorgos has worked as a chef in restaurants in London and Paris and is excellent. Ioannis has been sailing since he was a young lad and he is a very competent skipper who knows this area so well. I mentioned that he is also an actor, in the winter he performs in musicals and theatre, so he was also very entertaining and funny. 

We went out to a very nice restaurant in the marina for my birthday supper. I have had a lovely day, lots of messages and phone calls, even from Inca who is currently in Argentina.