SV Aero

Exploring the 2km walls of Dubrovnik Old Town

We anchored ⚓️ in the shortest river in the world!

Well technically we anchored Rijeka Dubrovačka, the ria (flooded river valley) fed by the shortest river in the world… The Ombla river located just outside Dubrovnik, Croatia only flows for about 30 meters (98 feet) before going over the falls and emptying into the ria. We spent 5 nights here and the scenery never got old. This place is so cute!

Boats! Boats! Boats! Big and small, Dubrovnik has them all!

Also big bridges! With bungee jumpers… This lady jumped just after we passed under.

Red skies at night, sailors delight!

A stunning passage to Dubrovnik complete with calm seas, silly sunsets, SAR helicopter flybys, our first dolphin sighting of the season, and a blood moon rising. Look out Croatia, here we come!

A 200€ plus per person dinner at the Grotta Palazzese restaurant in Polignano a Mare wasn’t in the budget… Instead we feasted on Italian goodies and made our own romantic dinner cruise.

Winning in Monopoli! Unfortunately there wasn’t any money involved… 💵💵💵

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The Red Bull cliff diving competition was just wrapping up when we arrived in Polignano a Mare. This vibrant city was so alive! Such a festive atmosphere with people everywhere enjoying the beautiful summer weather. We topped off the evening with a crazy Tuk-Tuk ride back to Aero in Monopoli.

Day trip to visit the trulli “huts” of Alberobello (a UNESCO World Heritage site) followed by a descent into the massive grotto of Castellana Grotte.

Arrival in Monopoli just before the storm. It was a great sail! ⛵️😎

Taormina! Wow! Just Wow!

The Greek amphitheater was definitely worth a visit. The tiny wandering streets offer amazing views and the gardens were spectacular. We finished off the day with another granite and a hike back down to the bay.

The great Siracusa ebike excursion!

The Greek and Roman amphitheaters, the grotto, the sanctuary, the archeological museum, a ride along the beach to the war memorial followed by a well-deserved granite. A massive, but massively fun day out!

Evening stroll through Ortigia Island, Siracusa, Siscily. 👫

Exploring Siracusa by sea ⛵️ Day trip to Elephant Rock and Due Fratelli anchorage.

Rainbows 🌈 and Sunsets 🌅 in Siracusa 🇮🇹

Marvelous Marzamemi! 🤩

Sailing makes us smile 😃⛵️ 😎 💨

Licata to Portopalo with breezes up to 18kts. Had full sails up for the majority of the day reaching a max boat speed of 9.5kts. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to start the 2023 season.

Aero is finally off the dock!!! See ya later Licata!

Today is bilge cleaning day 🧽🧼🫧

The day we said goodbye to Greece last September. Don’t worry, we will be back soon. ⛵️😎

Flashback to last September - Beautiful sailing through the Gulf of Corinth and under the Rion-Antirion Bridge.

The Below Deck yacht “St. David” approaches the entrance to the Corinth Canal, August 2022. Captain Lee, Captain Sandy were you there???

After watching Season 10 of Below Deck we checked our photos and discovered we had had a brush with celebrity last summer. By chance we happened to be aboard the canal pilot boat (these nice pilots helped us search for our lost drone) and we dropped off the pilot to the St. David for its transit of the canal.

Our Lagoon 440 catamaran “Aero” is registered in Douglas, Isle of Man and this was the first time we had seen another yacht with the Isle of Man 🇮🇲 flag. Knowing this yacht was skippered by both Captain Lee and Captain Sandy in Below Deck makes remembering this experience even more special.

Aero survived Cyclone Helios!

Check out the satellite imagery of this “Medicane” (Mediterranean Hurricane) that developed between Sicily and Malta.

We were fortunate to be in Licata, Sicily on the western, less severe side of the storm. Maximum wind speeds felt in Malta were 133km/h (83 mi/h or 72kn).

Moana’s 😺 second time on the paddle board. 🏄‍♀️ She was a bit more confident until I jumped in to have a swim.

We had no idea she could “walk on water”! 🙀🙀🙀🙀 She was back on the boat so fast!!! At least we know she can swim. 😬😳🥰

Butterfly 🦋 Magic!

This beautiful creature came to visit. It was only natural to share a piece of watermelon 🍉 with it.

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A quick stop in Same, Kefalonia. We picked up some much-needed supplies and had a lovely walk around town.

The highlight was our trip to a local butcher. These guys were so nice! It was really great to share stories and learn more about their livelihood.

Taking our Kitty Crew to the vet for their yearly checkups. 4 cats 🙀😹😻😼and 2 humans 👩🏼🧑🏼‍🦱in the dinghy was quite the ride.

The whole crew received excellent care from a veterinarian in Nafpaktos. They got all their vaccinations and passed their checkups with flying colors.

Sailing into the anchorage at Nafpaktos was unlike any other anchorage we’ve been to before.

A fabulous Venetian castle 🏰 looms above the sea. The small fishing harbor is also surrounded by rock walls giving it that “castle” feel.

The hike up to the castle was a lot of fun. We even met some lovely locals who helped us with directions and gave us some homemade fig jam to bring back to the boat.

Unfortunately, the castle grounds were closed when we reached the top, but the beautiful view was still worth the effort.

A beautiful afternoon sail through the Gulf of Corinth on our way to Nafpaktos. There was quite a bit of wind and the kite surfers were out racing.

Blue wants to know if you can touch your nose with your tongue❔😛 😹

Day trip to Delphi 🏛

Ancient Delphi was the seat of the most important Greek temple and the oracle of Apollo. The ruins are well preserved and it became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

We made the 45 minute hike up in 34 degree (93F) heat 🥵, but it was definitely worth the effort. The air conditioned museum was also worth it too. 😅

Galaxidi. Super cute Galaxidi. It was so nice we spent 5 nights here.

Everything about this town screamed CUTE! The lovely town quay with its cute painted buildings. The cutest local dog befriended us and took us on a tour of the harbor. There was even a cute little floating house for the resident geese. How cute is that!!!

Ancient Corinth is a must see. The museum is excellent and the site is very well preserved.

There is also just a good feeling here. You can easily get the sense of how people lived back in the ancient times.

The city of Corinth. An unusual dichotomy between the old and the new.

This is a highly recommended stop if you’re visiting Greece. We were very impressed with the modern vibe of the port and the new city.