Since my last post we have traveled through sixteen ports listed as follows:

Benalmadena, Motril, Almirama, Torrevieja, Villajose, Denia in: Spain.

Ibiza, Port Andraix, Porto Colom and Mahon in the Balearic Islands.

Cagliarii In Sardinia.

San Vito, Acquasant, Capo D'Orlando and Messina in Sicily.

Argostoli on the island of Kefelonia and now Patra in Greece.

All of these visited in a yacht traveling on average at just 5 miles per hour, the large island hops of between 200 and 250 miles taking between two and three day to complete.

The overriding feeling for the both of us has been the sense of freedom in the vast open seas of the Mediterranean, but at the same time actually being a prisoner on the boat. We have spent days at a time seeing only the horizon in a completely empty ocean, with only dolphins and the occasional sighting of a whale to keep us company, interspersed with moments of high activity as we berth the boat in one after another strange marina.

The highlight of the journey so far has definitely been the sighting of the whale and its baby, and the pod of about fifty dolphins - both sighted on our sail to Sardinia.

The baby whale played around the boat for a few minutes before rejoining its mother who shot up a wonderful spout of water, before diving and showing the archetypal tail fin as it vanished below the surface.

I managed to get some shots of the dolphins as about a dozen of them spilt from the main pod and played around the boat.  In a flat, totally calm sea they could be seen turning on their sides to look up at us as we stood on the bow of the boat trying to photograph them.

Andrew and I are in disagreement about our favourite places visited so far.  His is Mohon in Minorca, which I admit is a beautiful city overlooking a beautiful bay, but I think my choice beats it; Villajosa in Spain, which is just down the coast from Benidorm.

But whilst Benidorm is all high rise hotels and a sky line like Manhattan, Villajose is a beautiful old Spanish town with beach front houses painted in primary colours.  It is full of Spanish families on holiday enjoying the wonderfully clean, palm fringed beach and restaurants serving Tapas, freshly barbequed sardines and octopus.  As far as I am concerned it's heaven on earth.

We are now in the port of Patra in Greece, and the least said about the place the better.  'Run-down' doesn’t describe it adequately.  We have traveled through six different countries so far and not had a problem with our documents.  Now in Greece, in this and the last port in Kefelonia, they are not in order, for two completely different and obscure reasons.

I wonder if this has anything to do with our addresses being in Turkey?

Next through the Corinth Canal and then the island of Naxos.

Love to all our friends in Kalkan

Andrew & Barry xxx