9 to 14 August 2017

Argostoli, Cefalonia, N 38° 11.11′ E 20 29.49′

to Spartia, N 38° 61.13′ E 20 34.93′, 15nm, 2 hours 30

to Alykanas, Zakynthos, N 37° 50.68′ E 20°46.83′, 19nm, 3 hours

to Limin Zakynthos, Zakynthos, N 37° 46.69′ E 20°54.36′, 12nm, 2 hours 30

to Porto Roma, Zakynthos, N 37° 43.11′ E 20°59.48′, 6nm, 1 hour 30

After getting very wet on our unexpected crossing to France and his visit to us in Gibraltar, we had long promised our friend and crewmate Lee (aka Chuckie) some sunshine and calm weather sailing.

He had barely arrived when he was diving and bombing off the boat but best of all he brought with him a wonderful new shipmate, Ella and her mum Lucia. They flew in to Argostoli and quickly settled into life at anchor.

Before we left Argostoli we went to the market to stock up for our 4 day adventure. There was no fish market in Argostoli. Instead the fishermen came in every morning and sold their catch directly from their boats.

Amongst the fishing boats we had our first encounter with the loggerhead turtles that live in the Ionian waters. Their decreasing numbers as they compete for space in the water and the turtle versus tourist battle on the beaches of Cefalonia and Zakynthos was something we thought about a lot during our two weeks on the islands.

We sailed round to the beautiful clear water off Spartia. It was extremely difficult to get Ella out of the water

but she got out long enough to help make a Greek salad for lunch with the ingredients we had bought in Argostoli. Greek salad has been one of our staple lunches on Pintail so it was good to finally be eating it in context!

On their third day with us we sailed across to Zakynthos and spent time looking for pirates. On closer inspection the pirate ship we spotted was actually a tourist boat. Phew!

Anchored off the beach at Alykanas, Kakynthos we all spent a lot of time in the water and, with her new snorkel and mask, Ella gave me a lesson is snorkelling.

It may have had something to do with the slush puppy but Ella could stay up later than all of us grown ups. She was also an excellent storyteller and introduced scary story time to Pintail’s end of day routine. When she had exhausted her own terrifying stories she threw some Horrible Histories into the mix.

But after four very hot and sticky nights on board it was time for Ella to jump ship. At Ayios Nikolaos, having bought their tickets from the man in the white van, Ella, Lee and Lucia left on the ferry back to Cefalonia to continue their holiday on land.

Thank you Ella for being a brilliant shipmate. With you gone things just weren’t the same on Pintail. No matter how many times I ask, Stefan just won’t tell me a scary story!

Selfie with Lee, Lucia and Ella in Zakynthos