Corfu to Otranto

We are now in the beautiful town of Otranto.
We started this cruise with a lovely tacking day against the wind to the small island of Erikoussa. What was expected to be a deserted island was in fact a nice resort beach with a small hotel, some restaurants and even a small shop where we could get a fresh watermelon. The beach is lovely with real sand like we have in Israel. The only problem was that waves made their way into the bay what made our night sleep not so comfortable.

 The following day we had a challenging voyage, leaving Erikoussa (the small island 25miles NW of Corfu), at around 11am finding ourselves in a notable swell and no wind. Motoring towards the Italian coast was challenging, with the girls feeling sea sick with not much we could do about it. Fortunately, at some point a school of dolphins joined us for a short ride. They went on their way a few minutes later leaving both Noga and Yasmin refreshed and feeling good.
Later on the wind picked up gradually steadying at 20kts 70deg on out port side. We could really feel the power of the boat riding the sea at over 8kts.
It wasn't till 7pm that we were moored in Otranto.
Otranto is surprisingly beautiful. The old town is really impressive, very nicely preserved and very lively with tons of shops and Italian tourists. We even had a chance to listen to a live performance of local percussionists including marimbas, xylophones and a vibraphone.
Tonight there's a ballet performance of Romeo and Julia expected.

Surprisingly the weather here is exceptionally good. It's even raining here and there and the morning walk was even a little chilly. Most convenient because the visitors quay at the marina has no electricity.

We're thinking of leaving tomorrow towards Brindisi and then cross to Bar in Montenegro.

Pictures soon...

Gouvia marina - Corfu

Started the summer season yesterday. We had a good flight to Corfu. The surprise was when we went out of the airport in Corfu and found out that Taxis are on strike!! We were lucky to find a car to rent so we can get to the boat in one piece (we were lucky to get a BMW-X3 as they ran out of any other car :) )

We found the boat in great shape, and starting getting her ready for the cruise up North.


We'll keep updating.

Eyal