Greece (edited 31/5)

Well we have not been able to update the blog as moving from Italy to Greece we lost internet access. We can receive emails on my mobile but are unable to send any or to update the blog. So I'm doing this in an intenet cafe (another first !). We are really well and currently have Don & Peta Pickering with us. After leaving Ciro we went across to Santa Maria di Leuca, our last Italian port and spent 2 nights there. We used this opportunity to stock up on Italian wine which is said to be nicer than Greek wine (so far seems to be true although Greek wine not bad and very cheap). This was a great spot and from there we headed straight out to the islands NW of Corfu. We had about 25 knots of wind on the port quarter so fairly good for our approx 45 mile trip. We arrived at one island - Nissis Othoni - but it was bleak, windswept and a few reefs around so we set off about 5 miles for the next one - Erikoussa. We had only gone a mile or so when we both smelt something burning. I switched on the engine room closed circuit tv and could see a lot of smoke (but no flames). Envoy has a temperature activated auto fire suppression system in the engine room so I figured it was only very hot rubber and opened an engine room hatch to clear the smoke. When it cleared I went in to see what was up and found the smell coming from very hot grease which had come out of a failed bearing which drives our hydraulic motor which in turn powers the stabilisers. This motor is powered via a fanbelt connection to the main engine and it was still turning and spewing hot smoking grease. We started the Yanmar wing engine to give us some steerage and turned off the main engine to stop the problem getting worse. I then disconnected the two fan belts allowing us to restart the main engine without turning the hydraulic pump. It was only 4 miles to our anchorage but quite rough without stabilisers to assist. On arrival we anchored and an inflatable pulled alongside with some kiwis aboard, from Dunedin in fact. They were running a charter boat fleet called Sailing Holidays and invited us to join them for drinks and dinner ashore (which we certainly needed). From there we had an uneventful and pleasant cruise to Corfu the next day and spent a week at a great marina in Gouvia. This marina is very well equipped and we were able to repair a leaking sea water pump on our Genset, do an oil and filter change and various other maintenance. We attempted a repair on the stabilisers and thought it was all OK but on testing it is still overheating so we need to get specialist help from the dealer based in Piraeus.
Don & Peta joined us in Corfu and we moved from Gouvia to a small marina directly under the castle - very spectacular and had a gresat day asnd evening in the old Corfu town. We then moved to the beautiful island of Paxos with an anchorage off the village in clear, clean water and spent two nights there.
Generally we're heading SE at present and everything is great. Be in touch again soon.