First meal at the taverna next to our mooring.

First view of our boat - unpacking was a treat in the heat!

Day 1 sailing from Sivota to Nidri (8nm).

Our first group meal at the Iris Hitel in Nidri and the first of many carafes of lady petrol!

Charlie had a go at steering - some memorable zigzagging!

The lovely Pia joined us to show us the ropes. She managed to showus how to sail and moor up for lunch, which we did at a beautiful spot en route just off the coast of Meganisi.. Pia was brilliant and we would happily have spent all holiday with her on board, but tomorrow we’ll be flying solo. Hope we’ve taken it all in!

In the afternoon the wind got up enough to put the sails out and do a fair bit of sailing.

Our first day sailing alone was very calm. Some beautiful views en route and crystal clear water.

G&Ts on the quay whilst the children played in the sea, followed by a good meal at George’s taverna and cocktails at a harbour side bar. Spent most of the night debating whether a blonde haired child playing with the cats was a girl or a boy! Can I just point out, I was right! 🤣

View from the harbour wall.

Amy, Julian, Cameron and Imogen.

Maria, Monty, Lucy, Ed, Zoe, Harvey, Laurie and Julie. A rare picture of Monty without headphones and I-pad!

And we had lovely company and lots of laughs. Tortoises featured heavily! Fab evening😊

Lovely views from the taverna after the punch party on the quay.

Sam really did not want his photo taken😖

Dinner was by the beach looking over the bay.

Mimas moored up just before setting off for the next leg of our trip. Don’t know why we bothered hanging the towels up to dry as by now they were already so encrusted with salt and sand they could have probably stood on their own!

Had a long trip to Vathi on Ithaca with not much time to stop.

Laurie and Julie.

This was our favourite lunch stop - the water was amazing and we were moored next to Julie, Laurie and Ruth and Karl. We also had plenty of time to play on the SUPs and get the motor in the dinghy to explore the bay.

Some things you wish had never been filmed for perpetuity.....🤦🏼‍♀️epic fail!!

(Tap next two photos to see the videos).

More zigzagging from CWH.

SUP yoga!

Izzy, Zoe and Robyn on the SUP.

Don’t think even Beyoncé could do this on a SUP! 😆

Mooring was on the quay alongside the shops and cafés and we ate at the taverna next to our boats. Confusion reigned as we tried to book a group meal independently and more and more people joined the group and copious amounts of lady petrol were consumed, followed by ouzo on deck for some!

Ed and Laurie exploring the possibility that ouzo on deck may help with the heat.....

The children quickly discovered the \240icecream parlour

Looking good.

Looking good by night too!

Just floating and chatting with Julie💕

Cheers!

Happy days with lovely people.

Camped out for two days with our own private playground and floating bar! Holiday heaven.

Thai food in Greece.......fab meal again. It was so hot in restaurant. Those cocktails were strong!

There are some impressive boats at Fiskardo!

The flotilla (minus Fetula who moored quayside) rafted beautifully by Connor and Paul and Phoebe. !

Jim making an escape to the town on the only mode of transport available!

Brutal!

Not far to go for dinner!

Invasion of the Elpida flotilla!

No prisoners!

It started well. Got a bit hairy when the bridge didn’t open promptly.......

The other side of the canal the wind got up and we all managed a good bit of sailing. We did our best sailing yet! We hit over 6 nm/h and finally felt like we almost knew what we were doing. We even tried a goose wing into port. 😊😆

Elpida

Elpida motoring past.

Morning briefing on the beach.....

The water taxi.....

Water taxi (with carpet!!!) to Parga where the world exploded into lights and festivities - it was a bank holiday and everyone seemed to be out and about. We had the best meal in a quiet taverns up a side street with Julie and Laurie and the kids, followed be a quick mooch around Parga before getting the water taxi back. Lovely evening with lovely company.

Pre dinner briefing with cocktails - not sure anyone was listening......we’ll ask Amy where we are going in the morning.

The morning would look very different......

Another self-organised, randomly chaotic group meal with the most enthusiastic restaurant owner!

More zigzagging.....

The mooring was beautiful and such a cute little harbour........Megana and Espasia decided to free swing........little did we know there was a storm brewing! ⚡️💨🌦🌊

.....and woke up to thunder and lightening and rain. Not entirely expected and as Trevor said ‘this wasn’t in the brochure!’. \240We delayed our departure until the worst had passed and the kids swam in the rain and experimented as to how many people can sit on one SUP.

The reward was this little gem!

Then we set out for Sivota. Interesting sailing! Not for the faint-hearted! But we all survived. \240The kids loved it, comparing it to being on a rollercoaster! The waves were pretty huge and relentless but we got quite good at navigating the biggest drops and (counter-intuitively) putting the main sail up (thanks for the tip Laurie!) helped massively.

This was one of my favourite stops - had some lovely swims with Ruth and a nice chat on the beach with Julie. Lovely views over dinner and breakfast. The manageress found the kids a bit stressy - I don’t think she realised they hadn’t signed up for the 5* experience and just wanted to run around the beach and giggle!

The girls........what a fab bunch.

Sivota Mourtos was also the venue for the egg drop challenge.......

An impressive re-enactment of one of Sam’s masterpieces! You had to be there......

Rather you than me Phoebe - 50ft up Cassandra’s mast with Connor in control of the ropes whilst juggling 11 eggs........

Ed taking in the last day’s sailing and scenery.

Charlie and the boys were in heaven bombing around the bay in the dinghys.

But first Ed brought Charlie breakfast in bed - chocolate pancake! Bless him😇

More zigzagging!

More zig-zagging! First ever selfies! Photobombed by a small boy.

Beach briefing at Iggy Creek

Me and Ruth😆😊

The sunset was stunning.

2 videos from Iggy Creek......

Final group photo😢

Dolphin hunting.

The sailing was very calm - a bit more wind would have been nice.

Theodora - Robyn, Sam, Ruth and Karl

Alethea - Monty, Ed, Harvey, Maria and Nige

Cassandra - William, Harry, Charlotte, Nicky and Matt.

Alethea in flight.

The shirt competition winners!

The boys

The police line up at the airport🤣

A wandering minstrel🎻🎹🎼

Final photos:

And this is probably the cause of all the zigzagging! (Video)

Thank you everyone - we had a fabulous holiday! ❤️