Pax latest

Hi Everyone,
We made it to Malta, almost 2weeks ago.
Had some lovely sailing from Greece, altho got blown back when we
tried to pass between Kefalonia and Zakinthos and had to spend a
couple of nights in Ayios Nikolais, Zakinthos.[the water was crystal
clear but cold]
We left there and sailed straight to Syracuse, Sicily with Emily and
Andy as crew.We saw dolphins, a turtle and Emily swears she saw a
shark , Paul thinks it may have been a sunfish but she's adamant.
Every night we had several swift type birds seek refuge and sleep on
top of the radio or curtains in the caboose, or snuggle up outside;
sadlythey didn't all wake up and fly of but most of them did.
After a rest in Syracuse we set sail south and had to take refuge in a
small port on the se corner of Sicily, as the wind too much on the
nose. We had hoped to set off early the next day but heard water
swishing around in the bilges and discovered the sterngland was
leaking rather more than it should be. So after pumping the water out
we nipped ashore to a boatyard and managed to explain the problem and
asked for a quick lift so we could undo the gland and repack it but
their licence to lift was not operating and they were unable to help.
However the yardowner assured us we would be able to take it all
apart, put in new packing and retighten it without sinking the boat
.So it was with a little trepidation we did just that.Emily and Andy
had their bags packed ready in case they had to get off quickly and
try to get a flight back to the UK from Sicily instead of the ones
already booked from Malta.
All went well and we sailed off to Malta that evening, making such
good progress that we had to drop all but one sail inthe middle of the
night to avoid reaching Malta before first light. Andy treated us all
to a full english before he and Emily leftthat evening to take those
flights that night.
We are enjoying Malta very much-they are very friendly, english
speaking, drive on the right and have shops full of British food, plus
they have excellent pie shops everywhere. There are some stunnung
places to visit and we have even had a few beers in 'The Pub', famous
as the place where Oliver Reed dropped dead in 1999!!! Paul's dad has
had 2weeks holiday with us too.
So now thinking about the next leg, planning to go from here to
Tunisia, probably via Sicily, then on to S Sardinia, across to Ibiza
and mainland Spain. We will leave early june, so now's your chance to
join us.Lots of cheap flights seem to be available to Malta,Trapani in
Sicily and Cagliari, s Sardinia. Not so sure about Tunisia, but there
probably are. Please get in touch asap, noone confirmed yet but one or
two are making arrangements to join us for some of the next sail