This is day two of our three day land based tour of Puglia and motionless, real beds.  Alberobello is famous for it's limestone huts with conical roofs called Trulli. These date back to the 14th century. Unfortunately this place is not a secret and even in April there were hoards of people congesting the streets and detracting from the magic of the place. It felt like Toarmina all over again.

Despite the crowds we enjoyed walking around the town, imagining life in these curious mini homes.  We had a lovely hotel booked for that evening so at about 4pm we made our way there to make the most of it.

Squeezing a lesson in whenever theres a quiet moment.

The highlight of our little road trip came on the last day when we visited Matera. Wow -this place is breathtaking! Built into the side of a steep limestone gorge, this ancient city has been inhabited since ​the Paleolithic period (10th millennium BC), making it one of the oldest settlements in the world.

​The Sassi di Matera (Sasso Cavioso and Sasso Barisano) are ancient, inhabited cave networks forming a sprawling, complex city.

People lived like this as recently as 1950.

We drove around to the far side of the valley where the truly ancient caves were.

Bluey never let us down

We returned that evening to find Dragonfly had coped well with the winds and was in fine shape. It was still gusting around 20 knots which gave us a chance to test which is the most accurate weather forecast app -Windguru seems to win most of the time.

The wind had kicked up some swell so we kept the car for one more day and headed south to Otranto -a beautiful small town and anchorage we had to zip past a few days ago to reach Brindisi before the wind.

We started just outside the town with a cliff-side beach that promised so much but turned out to be unreachable from the land. The colours of the water and cliffs were stunning but the kids were disappointed not to be digging in sand.

I remembered to bring a polarising filter.

Lunch and letters.

By late afternoon the kids were done with walking so we submitted to the tourist trap of seeing the town by tuk tuk -the kids loved it and the driver delivered us to the beach so it worked out well.

This is a good time to mention one of the hidden costs of sailing with kids -losing stuff.  They are constantly putting their things down, walking away and completely forgetting what the did with them.  Here you can see the last known sighting of Theodore's second pair of sunglasses in two day. Decent polarised ones too.  Hats and shoes also constantly disappear. We put walkie talkies around the necks of the children in case they go missing too.

Otranto has some beautiful beaches, clear water and amazing rock pools.

Once again we had strong winds forecast, 30 knots was expected to blow for three days.  We decided to secure Dragonfly in the marina at Brindisi, rent a car and discover Puglia.  It's tough sleeping onboard in a windy marina, cleats creek and the boat heaves on her mooring lines so we planned to stay on land for a night or two.

Julia has managed cooked up quite a few delicious feasts with our limited kitchen facilities!

In anticipation of strong gusts we secured Dragonfly with double lines and springs. We also packed away all cushions and wrapped up the bimini & flag.

Our trusty blue stead for the next 4 days -Panda's are the only car to be seen in here in Puglia!

Wet Lecce!

We all had soaking wet feet all day & competed for wrinkliest toes that evening!

Lecce has a plethora of elaborate Baroque monuments built from beautiful soft limestone.  This stone rapidly erodes creating beautiful patination and patchworks of repairs.  After struggling to park the car we were pleased to find the city not too crowded.  Limited by the walking range of Zefi and Dor we found an efficient route recommended online that passed the most important spots.

Our hotel that night had a Moroccan theme. We chose it because it had an indoor pool as well as an outdoor pool.  The strong winds had begun so the outside was a bit chilly and it was still too early in the season for outdoor unheated pools.

The pool was fantastic, with an indoor and outdoor section, also heated to about 29'.  We bumped into some of the only other guests at the hotel -a couple with a 3 year old boy. They were from Sicily where they too had a sailing boat. Needless to say the kids and grown-ups bonded quickly.

It was a long day and both Zefi and Dor were exhausted and fell asleep during supper. If you look closely at this photo you can see where we tucked a sleeping Theodore while we finished supper.

We were all very grateful for a good night's sleep in a real bed!

Delicious breakfast, a quick game of chess and we're off to our next destination.

Early on the 27th of April we slipped quietly out of Crotone to cross the Gulf of Taranto.  We were on our way to the heal of Italy with a reservation in the marina at Leuca.

Favourable conditions saw us get off to a flying start with a very civilised ETA.  Dragonfly cruises under wind or engine about 3 knots faster than Bumblebee could. This makes a big impact on our daily range and crew morale. 

Zefi was first to wake.

After a brisk first half of the crossing we eventually resorted to motor sailing before becoming totally becalmed.  This is actually ideal for us as the full speed sailing is exciting but gets tiring. Motoring along on a pancake flat sea is more conducive to home schooling and turtle spotting.

We also avoid marital friction by refueling and mooring in very calm conditions.

We visited Leuca before but my memory was hazy so I skipped back ten years on this blog. I discovered we only stayed one night and that was on the fishermen's quay and we were asked to leave. It quickly became apparent that we missed a gem!

The water quality is visibly cleaner than our previous two stops.  Within minutes of leaving the boat we found a lovely little beach where the children played happily in the (cold) water.

We saw these curious cut-outs in the rock all along the seaside. Luckily AI was on hand to explain.

Leuca has some interesting villas and a wonderful cascading waterfall that runs down long steps leading to a monastery.  This and remnants of bathing pools suggests this was a popular destination during the Victorian era but has been slightly forgotten since.

We found a sea pool which Julia couldn't resist dipping into.

As we set off from Leuca on the morning of the 29th of April we officially crossed into the Adriatic.  With the currents helping us along we hit 10.5 knots over ground. Next stop Brindisi.

There is a curious error with our mobile contracts which we are benefitting from greatly.  We should only have 14gb of data abroad but our phones don't realise we are abroad so we are chugging through unlimited data and saving lots of money.  This started in Warsaw -I got in touch with the provider as I was worried about getting a huge bill, they made a note on my account not to charge and said carry on!

Log reading circa 650 nautical miles from purchase and refit in Malta. Log at the start of this trip was 470. We are now almost three weeks into our trip.

We arrived at Rocella Ionica on the 21st of April knowing that the wind and waves for the next few days would likely keep us there.  We had visited this town ten years ago so it was interesting to see what had changed.  The marina has a great restaurant where we quickly became familiar customers however the kitchen only opens at 7:30pm -quite late for exhausted children.

We explored the town on the first day.  In the middle of the day it felt deserted with very few shops or cafes open.  We hiked up to the castle, knowing it's museum was also closed.  There's not a lot going on in this town so we planned to hire a car the following day and delve a little deeper inland.

Our trusty rental saw us safely navigate some very dodgy roads/tracks -up mountains and along riverbeds!  Our first stop was the curious but enchanting Parco Musaba with it's wonderful ceramic murals.

After ascending the high mountains and finding lunch in a very unlikely restaurant, we dropped down in search of waterfalls and gathered flowers to press.  On the drive back to Dragonfly we stopped at a hardware store for the bits to build a flower press and some other tools required for a few needed repairs.

100 & 1 Dalmations won the vote for film night.

We had been noticing the smell of diesel and I tracked the source down to a leaky fuel gauge sender seal.  A mechanic who had recently had it out had used the wrong sealant.  It was an easy fix but cleaning and getting rid of the small was not!

The windlass control buttons also needed replacing.

With each job I get a bit more familiar with our new boat.

Next stop Crotone -I crept our of the marina at about 6am, being careful not to wake the others.  We had a 9 hour sail ahead of us and got off to a great start with ideal conditions.

Theodore loves challenging everyone to untie his knots.

We arrived in Crotone at about 3:30pm on the 25th of April.  We are hopping along the southern coast to avoid wearing the family out with long crossings when not necessary. This means we end up in some very authentic towns that do not see a lot of tourists. Crotone is one such seaside town.  Our 2 night stay coincided with a local holiday and the streets were heaving!  Our two blonde haired children stuck out like sore thumbs and we had eyes on us constantly as we navigated the crowds looking for a pharmacy somewhere to eat.  Julia had come down with a mystery bug that left her feverish and feeling rotten. Sadly all the pharmacies were shut for the next couple of days.  Food was also hard to come by -it seemed 8pm was far too early for the locals to consider sitting down to eat.  We eventually found a restaurant willing to feed us -delicious food but Julia was fading fast so we didn't linger long.

The next day we wandered around the old part of town and again struggled to find an open restaurant. We sampled some local pastries as we walked by the beach. Sadly the town of Crotone feels run-down and dirty. We didn't let the children paddle on the beach as rubbish drifted in the water and it felt unclean.  Needless to say we weren't too sad to slip away very early the next morning and leave Crotone behind us.

Very busy promenade and lots of people interested to know where we were from.

Visiting Noto was our last excursion before finally casting off from our mooring in Ragusa and sailing away. Motoring away is more precise as the conditions were calm and the wind was gently blowing from behind us.

Our last day on land coincided with a good-bye celebration for Chad and all the exercise sessions he'd hosted -keeping the kids in the marina fit and motivated.

We left the gathering early and set our course for Syracuse. For some reason our starter battery was flat as we left -fortunately Dragonfly has a switch to put the house batteries in parallel for just such an occurence. A few years back on Bumblebee I had to haul a house battery up to the engine to jump start it and fried a spanner (& nearly myself) in the process by shorting the terminals.

In Warsaw the kids were taught to play chess properly at their kindergarten. It's amazing to see them progress from our earlier games where any move was allowed.  We arrived in Syracuse without drama and anchored in the harbour.

It was late but we still had energy so took the dinghy to Ortigia to find supper and stretch our legs.

We remembered how much we love Syracuse so decided to stay for another day.  We hit the market in the morning

We spent the day exploring the less familiar areas of Ortigia. We came across 'treasure beach' where every other stone was an ancient ceramic fragment -needless to say we had to lug all these treasures back to Dragonfly!

My camera picked up a battle scar along the way. When we returned to our dinghy we were locked in by the next door dinghy. Fortunately I was able to track them on the Noforeignlands app with just their tender name and within five minutes we'd made friends with the owners and were released from their padlock. Back onboard at last, the kids needed to let off some steam before bed with some disco moves (see vid at end of post)..

Nipped into Syracuse the next morning to top up our fuel tanks. Then we were off on our way to the anchorage below Taormina.  Zefi lead the yoga session along the way.

Sailing and scrubbing.

As we pass Mt Etna we were visited by a huge pod of dolphins and a few dozing turtles.

We anchored below Taormina and the next morning took the dinghy ashore to explore.

Not your average anchorage!!

This was our third time visiting Toarmina and to be honest it's also our last. Even in April it was crowded with so many people and shops.  Getting around is either by queuing for busses, rip-off taxis or you can risk your life on roads with no pavement to walk on.  It is beautiful but not the pleasant experience I remember from ten years ago.

Back on Dragonfly we endured a second wobbly night on anchor. The kids managed to sleep but we suffered! Regardless, at first light we weighed anchor and set our charts for Marina de Roccella on the Italian mainland.  After a calm morning the wind and waves picked up giving us an exhilarating ride as we surfed down two metre waves and filled the genoa with twenty five knots of wind.  After about eight or nine hours we were finally at rest in the marina at Rocella but not before bashing my shin while mooring and bleeding on our new teak.

Sunday the 12th of April was very windy.  We were still safely tucked up in Ragusa Marina but Dragonfly spent 12 hours lurching from side to side, straining on her mooring lines. Another boat in the marina recorded a gust of 49 knots. We are a bit more sheltered at the back of the marina and saw 43.7.  I'm afraid this post contains no sailing or boaty pics!

Sunday morning started with a display of Theodores finest dance moves. We then did a supermarket run requiring a taxi back.  Zefi and Theo were starting to go a little crazy with only us for company so I pinged the Marina Facebook group and was invited to join the kids parents Whatsapp group. we were also put in touch with Ines who popped over with her daughter Lucie for an impromptu playdate. 

Then we grabbed some supper in a nearby restaurant and had to carry two sleeping children all the way back to the boat.

We discovered on the Whatsapp group that Chad, one of the dads, organises a kids meet up most mornings with jumping, skipping, catching etc, so we turned up the next morning. Our kids were delighted to find loads of other boat kids of the same age and got stuck right in!

The wind on Sunday had kicked up some large swell so for the next couple of days there was no option to set sail.  To make good use of our time Julia booked us in for a wine tasting at a local vineyard called Tenuta Bastonaca..

With Dragonfly's bilge lockers now resembling a respectable wine cellar we planned a walk along the beach to see the waves.  Just before we set off I visited the boat yard to find help with our water maker. A mechanic returned to the boat with me but was also unable to get it to draw seawater.  The problem is likely a pinched or blocked inlet pipe or the first stage of the pump/seals.  Further investigation is necessary.

The Scirocco wind left lots of dust in the air and moved drifts of beach sand throughout the marina.

Despite a big shop the day before we were still short on fresh food so found it easy to justify an evening feed in the town square.  The temperature dropped a bit and caught us a little underdressed.

On Tuesday the waves on our intended route were still forecast at 1.5m and coming head on.  Julia heard of a castle nearby with a labyrinth so we rented a car and set off in search.  Castello di Donnafugata turned out to be a wonderful crumbling Baronial Palazzo with beautiful gardens.

Jozefina had been begging for some roller skates so we made Decathlon our next destination, en route to Ragusa town to check out a little private garden we found online.

Decathlon is one of my guilty pleasures -I feel like a kid in a candy store surrounded by all the fishing, diving, hunting, sailing gear.  It's reasonably priced and surprisingly good quality.  That skateboard Theodore is towing is a few inches shorter for kids and a couple of plys thinner to make it light -it's actually quite good.  From there we hunted down Radici gardens but were not able to enter without a booking. Something to save for another day. Instead we hiked some of the steps of Ragusa (there are a lot) and found a good spot for an Aperol Spritz.

The next day the kids were very excited as we were going to a 6th birthday party on the beach for Karoline.  Zefi had chosen a present and written a card.  It was a perfect day with a gentle breeze for flying (and losing) kites, and a good turnout of all the families we had recently met.

We kept our hire car for a second day and drove one hour to Noto to spend the afternoon exploring.

Tuesday the 7th of April 2026 saw Julia, Jozefina, Theodore and myself board a plane at Warsaw's Chopin airport, our destination: Catania, Sicily.  We have just spent the last seven months living in Warsaw with Julia's mum. The children have been in a Polish speaking kindergarten and are now so fluent they choose their new language to speak between themselves.  We've all had a wonderful experience during the first stage of our year away from the UK.  Now the second stage of the plan is being put into action.

It was a late flight -arriving at midnight.  Then a two hour taxi ride before safely boarding Dragonfly and bedding down well past everyone's bedtime.  Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day in Ragusa Marina. We had lots of jobs to do so planned to spend four or five days within the comfort of the marina.  To begin with Julia took Zefi and Theodore to the beach while I worked through a checklist or chores.

I won't bore you with the entire list but the main ones were:
Mend & reattach bow roller
Learn to use the water maker
Collect and install sails, hood and bimini from repairs
Swap life raft
​Repair dinghy
​+ lots of little jobs

Putting Theodore to work.

After three days the children were well settled in to boat life and the bulk of the jobs were complete.  On Saturday we assessed the weather conditions for making our move East towards the mainland.  Unfortunately it looked like the best day to sail was already well under way and we might have missed the perfect window  Determined not to rush, we agreed there was still plenty to do in and around Ragusa -for Dragonfly and for ourselves.  With this decided we took a taxi to Ragusa town, 30 mins drive inland.  An excellent decision as we might have missed this beautiful city!

After two and a half months at Portorosa in the North of Sicily, we finally got the call from Carlo that the work was done.  Dragonfly's old teak had been stripped and replaced after 19 years of service.  This was never going to be a small job but as expected with an old boat, there were issues and delays. The deck hardware backplates had corroded and required removal and replacement, necessitating extensive removal of interior panels.

Dragonfly now needed to return to her annual mooring back in the south of Sicily at Ragusa. Julia couldn't leave the kids so I managed to persuade our great friend Jan to help with the mission.  Despite the delays and a few changed flights we eventually arrived in Sicily on the 7th and 8th of December -Jan flying in from Brussels and myself from Warsaw.

The plan was to retrace our route from a few months earlier, however it now being December we were anticipating changeable weather. We also had some serious time constrains so needed to manage the journey of 170nm in four days.

On arrival I was relieved to find Carlo and his team at Teakmarine.it had done a fantastic job!  The work was flawless and made our 2006 Jeaneau look and feel brand new.  The new teak is much thicker than the original and is from better quality, mature seasoned stock -hopefully good for the next 20 years.

While in Portorosa we also had some other jobs done. The exhaust elbow that had only just been welded up was showing another pin hole leak and the boat smelled slightly of exhaust. This was welded up by Michele.  He also serviced the engine and outboard.  I'd asked him to replace the fuel gauge/sender as this was not showing a reading. I turns out I just needed to hold down a switch beside the gauge and it powers up the sensor -a free fix!

Around midday on Monday Jan arrived and we were ready to set off. Unfortunately we had been wedged into the mooring by a large catamaran but the marina staff managed to make just enough space for us to squeeze through, then we were on our way.

Day one saw perfect sailing conditions as we tried to approach the Straits and tick about 5 hours off our itinerary.  Unfortunately many of the marinas were closed for the winter so we couldn't stay at Dello Stretto and anchoring was not advised on the Navily forecast. We took the safest option and found a berth in Milazzo. Only two hours of sailing but no bad thing to have an easy start/shake down sail.

We moored up on the outer pontoon at Milazzo Marina del Nettuno, then went to explore the town.

Sicily is wonderfully empty in December but many of the restaurants and bars remain open.

The next morning we set off for Catania at first light.  The forecast was for warm calm conditions with very little wind.

This was my third time passing through the Straits of Messina.  It's always busy with shipping and changing currents but we kept a good lookout and motored through without drama.

The landscape around Taormina is breathtaking however we had no time to stop and explore.  We maintained schedule with good accuracy as we were under motor and autopilot. We pulled in to Catania at about 6.30pm.

Plenty of time to polish and wax the coachroof sides. But still too lazy to stow away the fenders!

Motoring past Etna on a glassy sea as the sun sets. A pod of dolphins appeared but sadly didn't give chase.

We found a berth at Circolo Nautico (the large icon above), a vast improvement on Blu Marine where we stayed last time.  I was keen to arrive before 7pm as there was a shop I was keen for us to visit. Three month earlier, while exploring Catania, I had spotted an antique mercury mirror in a gilded frame -ideal to replace the unwanted widescreen TV in in the saloon!  I had already reserved it -I just hoped it would fit.

It's our plan to make Dragonfly feel like a home from home. We never did this with Bumblebee as we did not expect to own her for ten years.  With this in mind we bought some small, affordable paintings in auction and had them shipped to Portorosa.  Annoyingly they got held up at customs and arrived after our departure! I'm still trying to work out how to retrieve them.

We wandered around exploring Catania. Approaching via a different street to my previous visit revealed the city in a totally different light. It appeared clean, grand and welcoming!  We discovered a great little seafood restaurant and returned to Dragonfly completely exhausted after a long (if not tough) day.

A light breakfast and coffee before heading off.

Motoring out of Catania on Wednesday mid-morning on another calm sunny day, we realised there would be no prospect of sailing again on this trip.  Quite ironic as we brought wet weather gear and harnesses expecting foul conditions!

Fuel was beginning to be a bit of an issue with all the motoring.  We were told there was no fuel to be had at Catania and warned our next destination, Marzamemi would be much the same.  After many calls we persuaded the fuel dock at Syracuse to open for us. We would have to take a detour and wait a couple of hours but we had no other options.

Approaching Grand Harbour and waiting on the quay in the hopes we were in the right place.

All went to plan and we set off from Syracuse with a full belly of fuel but heading into the darkness with 3 hours still ahead of us.  Jan was kitted out like a pro, including proper sailing shoes. After badly stubbing my toe and bleeding over the new teak I'm inclined to buy a pair myself.  That evening we discovered how useful the radar overlay on the plotter is for spotting little fishing boats and even buoys on a very dark night.

Our destination for Wednesday night was Marina di Marzamemi. We had been warned in Catania to approach the entrance on the starboard side as the channel is silted up. Useful info as our radio was somehow failing to transmit as we reached the entrance and the marina staff were slightly panicked that we arrived without being guided in.  

Another beautiful day on Thursday as we rounded the South-Eastern corner of Sicily and reached Marina de Ragusa perfectly on time for Jan to jump on a bus and make his flight.

It's a pleasure to see our AIS location being updated on Marine Traffic. It seems we often get frozen in the middle of the sea for weeks at a time!  Here we're also hammering along at 8.5 kts.  This speed is quite comfortable without over-working the engine given a flat sea. We push the revs a bit higher higher every couple of hours to clear out carbon build up in the exhaust and turbo.

With Dragonfly back at her annual mooring and Jan on his way to the airport, I spent Thursday evening running through a check list of jobs, fixes and cleaning before turning in for an early night. Friday morning saw me catch the first bus to Catania and on my way to the UK for the weekend (stopping over in Rome) before joining back up with Julia and the kids in Warsaw.  We will be returning to Dragonfly around March next year with the kids for a whole summer at sea!

So it has finally happened.. we have sold Bumblebee.
It's possible to get attached to things like cars, houses and boats -they have character, keep us safe and together we experience life's wonders.  Bumblebee is even more than this. Julia and I learned to sail on her and spent a summer exploring the Med, with friends joining us along the way. This was ten years ago. The six months together at sea strengthened our relationship and once back on dry land Julia agreed to marry me. Our honeymoon was spent on Bumblebee exploring the Balearics.  Years later our children's first experience of sailing was on this wonderful boat.  She has a very special place in our hearts and it was going to be difficult to say goodbye.

With Bumblebee under offer, I flew out to Valencia alone with a day spare to clean and check everything was in order. The following day I would meet up with Paco our broker, Jesús her new owner and his sailing instructor friend as advisor. The following morning I would fly back to Warsaw.

I gave the deck a thorough wash and scrub as a thunderstorm built around me.  Once the rain came I headed down below deck to tackle a few jobs.  First was to service the forward head which was not drawing water to flush.  Upon replacing the seals I discovered this unfortunate fish had perished inside the valve.  With that sorted I then reattached the engine inspection cover strut which the mechanic had removed.  I also removed and cleaned the log wheel but would later realise I cleaned the obsolete old one by mistake.  One shower drain pump needed replacing but the part was out if stock at the chandlery.  Other that this she was in fine shape and with a calm sunny day forecast for tomorrow I had no concerns about the sea trial the next day.

On Tuesday morning we all met onboard and cast off for the South Marina, about 45 mins away.  All went well and we lifted her for a hull inspection that also confirmed no nasties.

Smiles all round so we lifted her back into the water and returned to her berth to complete the paperwork.  I was then alone to lock up and say goodbye to Bumblebee for the last time.  I took my time and thanked her for all the wonderful memories.  Feeling emotional I walked back to my hotel.

I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying Valencia, knowing that our regular visits to this wonderful city were at an end. I had a fantastic meal at Casa Montana and was delighted to sit next to the same Dutch couple who were beside me at La Sastrería the night before, their kids, the same age as Z & T, tucked up nearby but monitored on camera.

Not my hotel but I dropped in to see why it's over ten times the price.

The next few posts cover a ten day trip with Zefi (5) & Theo (3) onboard plus Peter and Brigida as we sail with the kids for the first time. The aim is to deliver Dragonfly from the South to the North of Sicily where she will receive a new teak deck.

From the Strait of Messina we sailed and motored for about 4 hours to the island of Vulcano -famous for it's active volcano, black sand and sulphurous hot springs.  We had visited the island ten years earlier and even had Peter with us that time too.  On arrival we considered anchoring but the steep drop off makes it tricky, instead we chose to take a mooring buoy. A lucky choice as we would see gusts of 34 kts the next morning.  The marinero managing the mooring advised us of strong winds coming but we planned to be in Portorossa marina on the mainland within 48 hours when the wind was expected.

Jozefina and Theodore delighted in the black sand and stinky sulphurous air!

We swam on the beach and explored the town for a while before returning to collect warmer layers for the evening.  The beach was buzzing with mosquitos so on our return with the dinghy we tied up in the harbour. We had a delicious supper ashore then returned to Dragonfly for the night.  In the morning we woke to heavy skies and waited out a thunderstorm safely attached to out mooring buoy while others tended to their anchors.

The island looked a bit different after a torrential downpour!

We explored the other beach on the West coast, it was just 5 minutes away.  Then we headed back to the boat at about 3pm to set sail for the mainland. Our destination was Portorosso Marina at Tonnarella where we would meet Carlo and leave Dragonfly with him for the next two months. She was booked in to have her teak deck stripped and replaced with new wood. This was the entire purpose of our trip north and the end was within sight.

Throughout this trip the kids had been fantastic.  We had no idea what to expect from them but with plans to live on the boat for a few months next years we were relieved that they took to sailing so well.  I think on Bumblebee they might've gone a little crazy with the lack of space but on Dragonfly they could spread out and enjoy different areas of the boat, interact, explore and even be alone.

The crossing back was peaceful and calm despite the storms forecast to arrive soon.

We left Dragonfly on the 2nd of October in the hands of Carlo and Spartivento Marina at Portorosso.  This is a strange place, half abandoned with derelict buildings but operating as a busy charter base.  We will return at the end of December, hopefully to a gleaming new 10mm teak deck.  Many of the deck fitting will be removed and reinstalled for the work so I hope nothing leaks.  We have also entrusted some engine and outboard maintenance to a colleague of Carlo, plus the fuel gauge repair, dinghy fix and bimini stitching.  If all is carried out as intended, we will have a fully operational Sun Odyssey 49 DS and will endeavour to keep her that way.