As a non-sailor, I was rather alarmed when my husband dropped the bombshell that he would love to mark his 60th birthday year by embarking on a ‘dream’ family flotilla holiday, sailing around the Ionian islands in Greece.
Trying hard to suppress the urge to blurt out: ‘No way! That’s my idea of a nightmare,’ I squirmed inwardly, hoping this was a fleeting notion that would rapidly vanish into the ether. Well, not a bit of it! After some rather, shall we say, interesting discussions, and reassurance from numerous flotilla aficionados telling me how much I’d love the experience, I decided to take the plunge (thankfully, not literally).
On a heady, blue-sky day in August, I found myself at Neilson’s Vounaki Marina near Palairos, on the west coast of Greece, boarding a Dufour 405 Grand Large yacht to receive a comprehensive briefing, before setting off for a week’s island-hopping in the South Ionian Sea. At that point, I was sorely tempted to ask whether I could just nip up the meandering paths leading back to Neilson’s beachclub – lured by the thought of swimming in the resort’s tranquil infinity pool, road biking in the hills, participating in a few fitness classes, and devouring a book or two
