A midday start after provisioning the boat and a plan to head to Assos on Cephalonia. Assos is very susceptible to swell from the prevailing winds. So the twenty-knot (un-forecasted, of course) winds came as a bit of a surprise. The accompanying swell made Assos impossible.
True Colors sailed well and did a great job beating into the wind at just under eight knots. It was surprisingly cold and we all added more layers as the day progressed.
We changed our plans and headed for Fiskardo which is usually REALLY busy in the season. But two weeks before the season begins, Fiskardo is quiet - I might even say "closed".
Lori parked the boat with Ruairi's supervision. We will eat at the one open restaurant tonight which will be, by default, the best restaurant in town.
Tomorrow we head for Malta.
No internet connection so this is going to be a longer entry covering the trip to Malta
We left at about noon and headed out into the Ionian. The route is pretty straightforward' largely one long (320 nm) leg in a southwesterly direction. It turned out to be a play in three acts - a few hours of good sailing with favorable winds, then we motored; the second day saw us motoring again but with a good bit of afternoon sailing before the winds died early in the evening' the last day we were lucky in that the winds forecast to be on our nose did not turn up until early afternoon but thereafter it was a Force 6 bumpy ride into Valetta.
The overnights worked well and with Ruari's guidance we developed a routine that worked well for the three of us. Lori's confidence is growing and she is looking very comfortable in all sorts of weather and other situations.
Valetta looks to be quite remarkable and we plan to explore here for the next couple of days before heading over to Gozo.