Cousins!

On the 11th of July we waved goodbye to Granny B and Grandpa on Corfu and set off south to meet up with James, Katharine and their 3 children.  First we were obliged to drop anchor close to Gouvia marina to sign out with the Port Police.  A burden of flying a UK ensign in Greece is having to check in and out of big ports and keeping a certified crew list up to date.

We anchored beside the house used for the series The Durrels and I went ashore to check out with the port police.  We passed this amazing Razzle Dazzle boat painted by Jeff Koons.

With the formalities out of the way we had a brisk sail down to the southern tip of Antipaxos where we found an idyllic bay waiting for us.

Zefi was pretending to watch cartoons on her pretend phone.. should we be worried?  Meanwhile Theodore found a tiny flying fish that landed on the boat.  You can see the aftermath of the tumb-in-door incident from Croatia.  It's looking better since this photo.

After Antipaxos we crossed to Kefaloni and sailed down the channel towards Sami where James and co had rented a villa.  The wind and waves picked up so we initially thought it best to shelter at Agia Efimia, just up the coast and complete the journey the next day.  Thankfully the Navily app came to the rescue again and put us in touch with the Sami marina who had space for us. An hour later we were safely moored and the kids had found their cousins!

After a lot of travelling we decided to spend a day on land together so rented a car and set out in convoy to the pretty little seaside village of Asos.

Zefi and Dor were thrilled to be reunited with their cousins and we enjoyed a good catch up with James and Katharine.  We decided to book the marina berth for the week; at just €40 a night, it gave us a guaranteed spot to return to. While the town quay was free, it felt too risky to leave the boat unattended moored with the anchor.

Harry's mad keen on chess and can beat us all.

James and co lucked out with their villa -it's called Emily Villas, just a few minutes from Sami. Three villas share a pool but we always seemed to have the place to ourselves.

On the 14th, all 9 of us set out on Dragonfly for an overnight trip to Ithaka.  We rounded the Southern end of the island and initially anchored off a beach surrounded by many other boats.  Suspecting we could find a better spot we crept further round until we discovered this quiet bay with an abandoned fish farm.

With two lines ashore we had a lovely evening swimming, exploring the beach, and playing Jenga.

Down below there was more chess going on.

The next morning we motored around to a sandy beach close to Vathy while Alice taught Zefi how to keep a diary.

We carried on into Vathy and moored stern to for lunch and ice cream.

After lunch we stopped off at Gidaki beach for a swim.  Google reckons this is one of the most beautiful beaches in Greece -it's definitely up there with the best.  Refreshed, we made our way back to Sami as the waves began to build.

After our overnight trip we were all ready for another land day. On the 16th we tried to beat the queues and visit the Melissani caves first thing in the morning.  Unfortunately a cruise ship full of passengers in coaches had the same plan.  We went for plan B instead -the Nautical Museum of Sami.

This museum was a wonderful discovery -all the scale models were built by the museum owner! A lifetimes work of exquisite wooden ships.

We were still determined to see some of the local caves so next we visited Drogarati Cave.  This was an ideal midday activity as the caves remain a constant 18 degree when outside was reaching high thirties.  We also managed to enter just as the cruise ship crowds were arriving.

With a bit of culture and ice cream consumed, we headed back to the villa for an afternoon in the pool and later we all squeezed in for a sleepover.

For our last full day with James, Katharine, Harry, Alice and Zara we were back on Dragonfly and set out for a morning swim and lunch on Koutsoupia Beach

Later that evening we met for a meal a little further up the beach from our marina.  Harry and Dor played more chess and invented a variation of skittles with rocks along an old jetty.

Back at the villa, we capped off an amazing week with the cousins by screening the ultimate nautical masterpiece: Captain Ron!

Documents stamped and ready, our team was back to four and plotting our next move.