My toilet (head) sounded flat when I flushed it one morning so I mentioned it to Baz.  He said his had been similar too.  He also mentioned how the fridge was making strange sounds, as if it was switching on but didn’t have enough energy, so immediately switching off, and then coming back on again. 

He checked the batteries and to our surprise and dismay it turned out that two of the three house batteries were dead....

If the headsail gets stuck when you’re unfurling it, someone has to go to the bow and give it a little help.  Fortunately when this happened on one of our recent passages, the weather was friendly and the sea was calm.  That meant I didn’t have to put on my PFD (personal floatation device) and clip in to avoid falling overboard.  And the headsail wasn’t too stuck either.  I just had to give it a little twist and Baz was able t...

I was so excited to be leaving Porto Rafti for Marmari on Evia island in Greece because our Australian friends Shelley and Ian were arriving there by ferry and we’d get to spend a week or so with them before they returned to Australia after their 5 week holiday.

I’ve loved travelling on A B Sea and meeting so many new friends – some of whom feel like ‘soul family’ – but I was going to reconnect with an old, dear friend and her...

I’ve never really followed politics.  When I was a teenager, I’d get so annoyed with the politicians’ politically correct yet purposefully non-committal arguments that I switched off to it all on a daily basis.  After millions of people worldwide demonstrated on the streets to not invade Iraq, yet politicians globally blatantly ignored our wishes, my disinterest turned to disgusted disdain.   I’ve met many Brits and Aussies wh...

We had a great sail after leaving Kythnos on Sunday the 8th of September.  It took us just over five hours and as we had between 12 and 18 knots of wind, we got out both sails on a starboard tack and maintained speeds between 5.2 and 6.4 knots.  By 1.30pm we were anchored in Sounion on the Greek mainland, in 4m with 36m of chain out.  The bottom there is mainly sand with some weed patches.

Step off point - Sounion

Soun...

“Chewing gum’s not a good look,” said Baz as we reviewed the video.  I have to agree, so no more gum on film!

The trip from Serifos to Kythnos, both islands in Greece, was a pleasant five hour passage. 

We motored, motor sailed and sailed with variable wind until we arrived at Fikiadha bay and dropped 38m of chain in 6 metres of beautiful clear blue water.

Fikiadha bay is drop dead gorgeous with water the colours of aqua, turquoi...

We loved the Greek island of Milos and waiting in Adamas harbour until the wind gave us a decent window of opportunity to head north to the Athens area was very pleasant.  However, after seven weeks we were getting very itchy feet and also a little anxious that we’d get to the mainland in time.  In time for what?  Well, our son Luke was hopefully coming out to see us for a holiday and also one of Aannsha’s dear friends from Au...

If you’ve lived in Australia since the 1980s you’ll already know that Slip Slop Slap means ‘slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat’.  SunSmart was a successful campaign aimed at keeping Aussies and Kiwis (Australians and New Zealanders) protected from the harsh effects of the sun (specifically UV).   There’s some controversy as to the effects of slopping on the sunscreen vs lowered Vitamin D production and possib...

Standing in the queue of the Piraeus bank in Adamas, on the Greek island of Milos with an expected wait time of more than half an hour so we could pay another 400 Euros/AU$658 for three months of cruising tax wasn’t my idea of fun.  Not when it was my birthday and all I could see out of the bank’s window was a clothes shop.  Beckoning me.  Tempting me.  Whispering to me … “my precioussss”.

Not wanting to let the...

There’s usually something to fix, tweak, polish or replace on a yacht.  This time it was the headsail furling line that needed replacing.  And we were a tad nervous about doing it.  Why?  Well, we hadn’t done it before and only had vague memories of our friend Mike removing the line in Turkey in October 2018.  The one thing I remembered was him saying, “Don’t let anything fall off the bow, or it’s gone for good.”  You know, li...