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Concentrating? 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 feels like a strange mix with so many memories. We reached down from Epidavros. We had a glorious sail, and even gybed in through the gap to Poros island, although conceded the bigger part of the channel to the large car ferry from Athens. We close-hauled and tacked into Navy Bay as far as we dared with all the boat traffic. T

A shared Orthodox faith 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 the question was, “ What do the Greeks think of Putin? ” As if it were possible for him to answer that! Well, his answer lasted the entire 15-minute journey from the sanctuary to old Epidavros port. And he barely stopped for breath. There were a few conspiracy theories thrown in, but in case you were wondering, his i

Badge of the Royal Army Medical Corp Have you ever wondered why a snake entwined around a stick has become a standard symbol of the medical professions? No, I thought not. But I’ll relate, in any case, what I told the flotilla guests at the briefing on the morning before the yachts arrived at the old port of Epidavros. Now, most people know of Epidavros because of its ancient sanctuary of the same name, which has probably the finest preserved theatre in Greece. That is what m

One of the most delightful forms of entertainment is being safely moored up, not going anywhere, and then watching other yachties trying to tie up or leave. For some voyeurs, it’s schadenfreude , but for me, it’s “ there but for the grace of God ”. We have all done stupid things when mooring, or leaving a berth. It’s very easy to get distracted, and we have learned to take it easy and work through our checklist. But mistakes or bad luck can still happen. We had a delightful

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 one on the end of the Methana peninsular. Admittedly, the latest one last erupted about 250 BC, but it still bubbles out sulphurous waters that fuel the hydrotherapy spa at ‘stinky’ Methana town. Apparently, if you keep your boat there, you don’t need to antifoul the bottom, because the eggy-smelling waters will keep all the barnacles and w