29th July
Today we left Tunisia at 6am to go to Port El Kantoui, this was our maiden voyage of the year and hopes were high as we slipped out of Yasmine Port into perfect seas with not even a whisper of wind. We passed the fisherman and waved our goodbyes. About 15 minutes later we were ready to put her to the test and tried to get the boat on the plane.... unfortunately she did not want to know and we lacked power so we turned around and headed back, passed the fisherman who were still waving (I don’t think there were many bites that day!)
We went to see our friends who we called Mr and Mrs. ‘fix it’ because every time we had a problem they seemed to resolve it! Kim and Duncan had the answer in a diver who scrapped the bottom free of barnacles and seemed to think that would do it. The plan was to try again the next morning so we said our goodbyes again and went off to dinner for our last night in Yasmine. During dinner Martin felt unwell and by the time the main course came he had a temperature and we had to leave (My God we even left almost a bottle of wine...he must be ill!) By the time we got home I was ready to call an ambulance....groaning, shaking and constant complaining really worried me.............coupled with Martin asking me if I thought he might have Malaria!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My God what a fuss, I got his temperature down and looked up Malaria on the internet net just to placate him. High temperature (yes) shaking (yes) aching bones (yes) but no sore throat...........so I really felt we were talking virus but martin was adamant it was worse than that! The next day Martin spent in bed mainly asleep all day and all plans went out the window. So our friends all came to visit and we said goodbye again hopeful martin would be free of malaria and we could move on.

31st July
Martin is feeling better so we set off again with trepidation that the scrape would work, past the fisherman into perfect seas once again. Martin (having made a remarkable recovery, to be honest I think Cheryl Cole is making a fuss about nothing!) tried to put her on the plane and up she popped in an instant and our journey was wonderful. An Hour and a half later we pulled into Kantoui very pleased with ourselves indeed.
Kantoui is a lovely port and we planned to spend a few days here before heading off to Lampaedusa an Italian Island 100 miles away.
2nd August
We have good weather reports for the next two days so we set off on our 5 hour trek to Lampedusa. As we left hundreds of flying fish leapt and sparkled their goodbyes as we put Tunisia behind us and set off for new adventures. We had a picture of Lampedusa in our minds, tranquil and serene and under developed and we were so excited to be going there. The plan was to stay for a week so that we could have our anniversary there. It was not long until we saw our first set of dolphins and from then on we saw regular pods all around us. The approach to the Island is truly magical, blue seas like we have never seen before and the clearest water you can imagine!
After 5 hours at speed we were ready to get a berth, a shower and go exploring......wrong.....there was nowhere to berth and an hour later a nice you Italian allowed to berth against his massive Catamaran. However there was no electric and no water (Oh my God, no hairdryer!). That was all fine but what was not is that the fishing boats sped past all the time and we rocked and rolled as if we were in a tumble drier and with the same heat! It was so hot with no breeze and no fans to cool us down we realised this island had its drawbacks! It was not a difficult decision to move on the next day, we had a small window of weather and then the winds were coming and we would have had to stay a week. We organised a tanker to come and fuel us up............what a drama, the boys did not speak a word of English and did not understand the boat likes her fuel in drip by drip and not with a full on gush! After many ‘splash backs’ and nothing less than panic on their part as they are paranoid about the environment on this nature island they finally allowed us to do and calm was restored!
We set off for dinner and found a lovely restaurant overlooking the boat. Again no-one spoke any English and we don’t speak Italian so the ordering was interesting but we ended up with a great meal. All the waiters were Gay and I think Gay Gods in the homosexual World. All with pecks bigger than my boobs and hair teased and tousled within an inch of its life (I was jealous, my hair was flat and ghastly!).............they also eyebrows plucked to perfection and skin tight clothes......interesting evening!
2nd August
After a terrible night in the washing machine we slipped the knots of the Catamaran at 6am and headed for Malta (or Gozo a small isled just south of Malta). Unfortunately the ‘Malaria ‘had struck me and I had a sore throat and temperature so snuggled up for most of the journey although I was able to refrain from the groaning and shuddering that had affected martin!
The sea was the calmest we have ever experienced and we headed toward Malta at a huge rate of knots on a magical journey that will go down as our most memorable.
At 10.30 we pulled into the most beautiful marina we have ever been in and were shown to a wonderful berth where we opened a bottle of wine and just sat in utter disbelief we had made it to somewhere so lovely. We spoke to an English lady who told us there was a 5 year waiting list to berth in the marina and our hearts sank when the marina told us we could only stay 2 nights.
We went out to a couple of the bars and sat down to have lunch within a hundred yards of the boat. There was a long table of obviously wealthy people eating at the next table and we were so busy looking at the lobster they were eating we failed to realise said lobster eater was Rod Stuart!
Rod was performing in Malta and had come over on a luxury cruiser for lunch on Gozo with Martin and Julie!
We had Bacardi and lots of it (you cannot get it in Tunisia) and ended up waking up at 9pm having slept of probably half a bottle and a bottle of Gozo’s best red!
3rd August
After a wonderful quiet night we woke up hung over and really happy and went on an open top bus around the island, during Martin said this was the most beautiful place we had ever been and it felt like home and he wanted to stay a year! I warned him about getting excited as we only had one more night and we had to leave! We went to the shops and found the supermarket full of edible food!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited, there was meat, fresh veg, fruit and Bacardi!!1, we ran round like the bisto kids picking up far too much food and finding ourselves having to carry bags full of food for the second leg of the sightseeing tour. By now Martin had worked himself up to a £500 bribe to someone to let us stay and was on a mission to find the man who can! We had spoken to many of the marina staff and dished out beer, coke and anything else we could think off and we were allowed two more days if we moved berths which we did and found ourselves next to an English man and his daughter who are possible the kindest people we have ever met!
Martin was still not happy and although we had plans to go to Malta had said this was where he wanted to stay so we set off for a fight to the Marina Head Office ( a porta cabin left at the wooden boat!) Half an hour later we were drinking Bacardi (10am) and celebrating our new berth.........we told the staff a big gentleman said we could stay and they thought he was the boss and said OK if it is OK with the boss pay a month’s fee. We paid and ran, we have since seen the boss and he is nothing like the man who said we may be able to stay. So far we have not been caught out but we keep expecting a knock on the boat!
We have had some wonderful days just getting the bus into town and messing around on the boat, we really feel at home here it is great for visitors.
Life is truly wonderful at the moment and we are not taking anything for granted, we are luxuriating in our good health and happiness.