My father Walter is 86 years old. He was born in 1936. He is almost as old as Wood Rose: a classic, hardwood, 24’ Gaff-rigged yacht,...

If you ask a British tourist in Greece what they know about the Cyclades, they are likely to give a variety of answers, depending on...

The lee of the mainland bares a lighter sea hue, we spy horses ahead frothing white o’er dark blue. The cape off port-bow portends...

I’ve probably said it before, but I’ll say it again. This is not a holiday; we are living on board. Although while we were in Poros, it...

I made the classic mistake of asking a taxi driver for his opinion. What made it worse was that this taxi driver happened to be Greek and...

Have you ever wondered why a snake entwined around a stick has become a standard symbol of the medical professions? No, I thought not....

One of the most delightful forms of entertainment is being safely moored up, not going anywhere, and then watching other yachties trying...

We have knowingly sailed past four active volcanoes so far on Missy Bear: two in the Aeolian islands and one on Sicily last year; and now...

Our Cadogan guide says that Portocheli (Porto Heli) “has as much personality as a doorknob”. Now, I’ve seen some interesting doorknobs on...

For those who are too young to remember it, this is how Gladys Pugh (played by Ruth Madoc) used to introduce her broadcasts in the BBC...

(or ’Did we beat the other buggers here?’) With Cape Maleas behind us, we could now drift up the coastline to Monemvasia. R has mentioned...

The memory that has remained most vivid from our 2004 post-flotilla road trip with Suzie and Bente is the cloud of pink covering the top...

or 'Third time lucky' Thanks to the landslide which has closed the Corinth Canal, we have to round the three fingers at the bottom of the...

I’ve been trying to keep the outside of the yacht clean and failing miserably. Every time I scrub the topsides down, the next light wind...

(or ‘Traipsing down mainland Greece…’) After leaving Zakynthos (Zante to give it its Italian name), our first port of call on the Greek...

The Spartans really did beat up the Messenians. One hopes that during the three-month truces (Ekeheiria) during the games at Olympia,...

The head of Constantine, the head of Constantinople, fell during the fall of Constantinople. (All my own work. I thank you!) [Alix:...

[Stop press May 4, 09:00: Ed - input charge down to 2-3A this morning and batteries cool at 21-22 degrees C. Reconnected bow thruster...

We were running under jib down the western Peloponnese from Pylos to the bottom of the first Peloponnesian finger. The low walls of the...

"Knock knock." "Who’s there?" "Amos." "Amos who?" "A mosquito" We were just drifting off to sleep. We were at anchor, the sea was calm,...