Gail and Frank's travels west from Turkey: June 10th

The morning of June 5th found us sailing north to a favorite snug anchorage in Nydri - just 1 mile west of Aristotle Onassis's island of Scorpio. We had hoped to meet up with our Swedish friends, Mats & Birgitta S. whom we met on the Eastern Med Rally in 2007 and visited in Sweden last summer. They are planning an Atlantic crossing this winter and we wanted to spend a few days with them before they depart. We met them in Lakka harbor on Paxos, near Corfu, one of the prettiest harbors we have visited in Greece. ALCID crossed the Ionian with them in their boat Tarsia III from Paxos to Crotone, Italy (the front of the instep) two days ago - almost 24 hours straight sailing but aside from a few thunderstorms, the sailing was good. We leave tomorrow for Roccella Ionica (near the ball of the foot in Italy) and plan to head to Messina (NE Sicily) the day after that. We enjoyed Crotone with Mats & Birgitta and plan to meet up with them again in Messina to rent a car for a day or so to see the north coast of Sicily. Then we will probably head to Vulcano, a dormant volcanic island north of Sicily and Tarsia III will head to Stromboli to watch the eruptions at night. Lots of things broken and fixed - we think ALCID is trying to tell us NOT to head home!