TOULON TO CORFU
 

Left:- Saturday 27th March 1999
Under a grey sky we check and provision "Minos",
a brand new Dufour 35 in readiness to deliver her to her owners, Odysseus, a Greek flotilla company based in Corfu.
 

Right:- Monday 29th March
From L to R. Myself, Dennis (the Skipper), Arthur, Mick and Dave just before setting sail for Corsica. Weather forecast is reasonable. Ha bloody ha!

  
 
 
Eight hours out from Toulon and the wind gets up and veers round until its astern. By midnight its increased to force nine, gusting force ten. Dave and Dennis spend the night fighting with the wheel, trying to prevent us broaching as we surf down the waves. Me, I am just plain sea sick and spend the night on the cabin floor in shutdown mode.
 

Left:- Dave in the early hours completely knackered. Bless Im!
Right:- Sanctuary, Macinaggio on the north east Corsican coast and a day to recover

 

Tuesday 30th March
We depart Corsica for Italy but the wind veers again, this time on the nose and after making little headway we turn back for Elba.
Right:- Arthur peering into the gloom for the port as the light fails
 
We leave Elba Thursday morning, call in at Ercole in Italy
for a few hours then run down towards Naples arriving on Saturday 4th on the Isle of Capri. We sailed from Capri and arrived at the active volcanic island of Stromboli in the early hours to see it
 
We pass through the Straights of Messina between Italy and Sicily and after a day in Reggio we set sail on the last leg to Corfu. The sun finally puts in an appearance and to round it off, after watching a Tornado jet refuel above us the tanker swoops down to buzz us no more than 100 feet above the water and departs with a waggle of his wings
  
 

Left:- The last supper.
Right:- Sunset off Corfu.

We arrive in Corfu in the early hours of Wednesday March 8th

 
Over the next few days we take the opportunity to explore the island before flying home.
The Wild Bunch Mount Up
The Wild Bunch Ride Out
The Wild Bunch by the Sea
 
 
Saturday 10th April:- With Pat, the local delivery skipper at the helm, we cadge a lift to Previsa, a port 12 hours further down the mainland coast. The trip is nearly over and the following morning we say good-bye to Dennis who is staying on for the season.
 
Sunday 12th April:- We are booked on a midday flight home which turns out to be the first holiday flight into Greece from the UK. As there are no holiday makers to take back we find we are the only passengers on the aircraft and so enjoy a 386 seater DC10 all to ourselves, thus bringing to a close a brilliant trip.
 
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