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Our boat for the week, moored at our starting point, the coastal village of Syvota.

Vicki takes the helm on our first morning out on the ocean. Happily, all the boats had motors.

Motoring out between the islands off Syvota.

Our first day, up the coast to Plataria. Look at my mini vienetta. Greece is awesome.

Moored up at Plataria on the second day. Glassy calm.

The interior of our 40ish foot boat. It would have happily accommodated more than just the two of us.

Our fleet at Plataria. There were around ten boats in all, with some very pleasant people, including a surprising number of Scots.

Goosewiiiiing! See, we've got this ocean sailing thing sorted.

Behold the clarity of the Ionian sea at a depth of around 5m. You don't get this on the Norfolk Broads.

Our snorkel masks have been exceptionally useful.

Vicki swimming at a lunch stop on our way to Corfu for the night, off a massive sand bar that jutted out into the ocean.

We may have got our boat a little dirty coming out of Plataria that morning. Luckily, we were fully equipped.

Our stop on the island of Corfu, a tiny little fishing village called Petriti. The nets used by the fishermen were brightly coloured.

Going for a walk at Petriti. That's not one of ours.

Our mooring at Petriti. It got a little rough that night so some of the boats got moved inside the harbour wall.

Early morning, probably at Petriti.

Breakfast on the third day. I think this is still Petriti.

The sailing was a lot of fun. And surprisingly easy, once you've spent ten years sailing elsewhere.

Vicki at the helm, with what looks like Corfu in the background.

On from Corfu, south to the island of Paxos and the beautiful bay at Lakka. There was a pirate ship there.

Lunch in the bay at Lakka.

More swimming. It was brilliant to be able to sail somewhere, drop the anchor and go for a dip.

Vicki and the pirates.

Lakka bay. It was very sheltered and a popular boat destination.

No caption necessary.

The pirates are leaving. We found out later this was a tourist boat you could hire for the day.

Out on the water again, heading down the coast of Paxos.

We saw dolphins near here a few days later, but only managed to get some wobbly video of them at a distance.

Sunny.

On to the village of Gaios for our next overnight stop.

Moored up at Gaios with the fleet and a few superyachts. One of them managed to get horribly tangled on the anchor chain of another while trying to leave mooring, which prompted a long and drawn out incident that drew quite a crowd. They were eventually rescued by our skipper.

Smiling!

Gaios harbour the next morning.

Still sunny. We think it must be like this all the time in Greece, since the whole week was like this.

Vicki helms on the way to Anti Paxos.

Exploring the bays around the islands.

A much needed shot of our gangplank. In fact the boats were very well equipped and easy to handle.

An example of some of the amazing coastline we sailed around.

Boat tech. Check out our speed. We got faster later in the week, but the wind typically would be between 5 and 10 knots.

Our next mooring at another tiny village, Moggonisi, on the southern end of Paxos.

Demonstrating the cooking area. We had sausages that evening. They were good.

Night falls over Moggonisi.

Lakka. So good we went back a second time, thus demonstrating the flexibility of our sailing route.

Back across to the mainland again, and the harbour of Parga.

Our mooring at Parga was bow on, onto a beach. Skipper Magnus sorting out water pipes.

The harbour at Parga, featuring cool partially sunken ships.

Time for some dingy action to get to the shore.

View of the castle at Parga, which sits atop a hill that divides the bay into two.

Here's the other side of Parga, taken from the castle.

View further out into the bay at Parga.

The castle was very high up. Our boat is moored just off the left of the frame.

Dinner that evening at Parga, in a restaurant that looked out over the bay.

Night fall at Parga.

Parga the next morning, just before departure.

The rest of our fleet.

An interesting rock we found on the way back to Syvota.