Well, we had originally planned on 6 days in Malta and it will end up being a little more than two weeks! But we have really enjoyed our time here and gotten important work done. The big project was getting the mast taken down at Kalkara Boat Yard, an excellent family business run by four brothers, their sister, and a hoard of nephews and nieces (meanwhile their father was off enjoying his retirement on his own boat in Sicily for a few weeks).

Nachdem wir bereits letzten Donnerstag (23.08.) im Grand Harbour von Malta angekommen sind wird's nun endlich Zeit für ein deutsches Update an alle, die es interessiert. Wir sind am 17. August gegen Mittag von Milos aufgebrochen, nachdem wir ein paar sehr schöne Tage in den Zykladen verbracht hatten (Kithnos, Serifos, Sifnos, Kimolos und Milos). Die Welt war auch dort klein: In Milos hatten wir 100m entfernt von Avensa geankert, deren Crew, Anka und Gerald, 25 Jahre lang am Kasseler Staatstheater gearbeitet hatten (meine Heimatstadt).

Hooray, we are in Malta! It was an interesting week getting here ...

Ein kurzes "Hallo" aus Milos, wo wir uns gerade für die ýberfahrt nach Malta versorgen. Abhängig vom Wetter werden wir wohl morgen (Donnerstag) oder am Freitag Richtung Malta aufbrechen. In der Photo Gallery gibt's neue Bilder aus den Aegean Islands. Nächster Update vorauss. aus Malta in ca. 7-8 Tagen - stay tuned...

Neues Bild im Album "Krabbelgruppe at Sea" - diesmal auf Kithnos! Auþerdem enthält das "Gulf of Corinth" Album jetzt auch Fotos...

As promised from Aigina a more detailed update about our travels since Patras - this time from Livadi on Serifos in the Southwestern Aegean.

Quick update from the "other" side of the Corinth Channel. After 3 very nice days in the Gulf of Corinth with Catherine and Chris (including a trip to Delphi) we stayed a night in Corinth and then went through the channel on Sunday (pictures to follow - impressive sight). Having reached the western exit we then sailed on to Aigina which was quite a wet slug against wind and waves. We ended up with a bilge full of seawater because the drainage from our anchor locker was clogged and all the water we were getting over the bow ended up flooding part of our provisions...

Ein kurzes "Hallo" aus Patras, am Eingang zum Golf von Korinth, wo wir gestern aus Ithaka kommend festgemacht haben. Wir hatten ein paar sehr entspannte Tage auf Keffalonien und Ithaka (neues Fotoalbum in der Galerie) und planen morgen Richtung Korinth aufzubrechen (vorauss. 3-4 Tagestouren mit einigen Stopps im Golf von Korinth). Heute abend stossen Catherine und Chris, zwei Freunde aus USA, zu uns, die bis Korinth mitsegeln werden.

Nicky has done really well. He doesn't seem to mind the confined space and we have managed to keep him occupied well. Thank goodness for Lego! He got a gift of a Lego Toolo helicopter (the type that screws together) for this crossing and spent several hours busy with the parts today. We also did face painting - I made Nicky into a sea dragon and he painted my face with blue stripes. Another thing he enjoys is towing objects like the sea dragon we carved out of a swim noodle - it hops along on a rope behind the boat and you can make it jump and splash.

The Aeolian islands were a real highlight, especially our beautiful anchorage on the west side of Volcano and our hike up to the crater rim. We left the Aeolian islands at 3AM on our third night at Volcano in order to make the favorable tide at the Strait of Messina, about 45 miles away. In fact we arrived near the opening of the Strait early and had a few hours anchored off Sicily to wait for the tide to turn (this way we were able to go with the strong current rather than against it).