This is perfect cruising ground! Green wooded islands rise out of sparkling blue sea, and the weather is invariably good throughout the summer months. The afternoon breeze makes it an ideal area for sailing and there are many places of historic interest to visit.

Here, too, are quiet sandy beaches in picturesque coves where you can anchor for a stroll in the cool shade of an olive grove, or enjoy an afternoon of water sports such as swimming, snorkelling or windsurfing. In the evenings you can tie up on the quay at one of a number of holiday resorts in the area such as Nidri or Parga and join in the nightlife there, or if you prefer you can visit a small village and sample traditional Greek hospitality at a local tavern. Summer nights in Greece are quite magical and what better way to enjoy them than to have your own beach barbecue beneath the bright stars.

The Ionian islands have a high incidence of winter rains and the islands and coast maintain their fresh greenness throughout the summer even though from late April to early October there is very little rainfall and almost continuous sunshine. The sea is warm and clear. The summer weather patterns are fairly constant. The moorings are generally calm and the breeze that get up around mid-day rarely exceeds Beaufort 5, creating superb conditions for sailing. By evening all is quiet again.

To those of you who visualise a Greece of sunbaked rock dotted with dazzling whitewashed houses, the Ionian comes as a gentle surprise. This is not the Greece of the popular travel brochure but a shaded green country, sheltering red tiled Latin houses, an eccentric collection of Italian and French architecture and English tastes (in Corfu the locals play cricket and you can buy currant buns and ginger beer) welded together into a whole that is indubitably Greek.

Ever-green cypress, pine, elm, green fields, flowers even in height of summer, and everywhere the dull dark sheen of the olive, characterize the lower land while higher up the slopes are covered in pine and the tenacious Mediterranean maquis. If the wind is in the right direction you can smell the pungent herby aroma a mile out to sea. The green luxuriance of the islands is in direct contrast to the high eroded mountains of Albania and mainland Greece that form the eastern boundary to the Ionian.

The Ionian Islands located on the western side of mainland Greece, are seven main islands that are different from other islands by their fertile land (blanketed with olive groves sustained by the winter rains) and clear blue waters. The mixture of different civilisations and cultures is harmoniously welded together into one piece that is undoubtedly Greek, in a complex of islands where the most beautiful beaches of the Mediterranean can be explored.
 

The wind and sailing conditions in the Ionian Sea are ideal and predictable. From May to September the wind blows from North-West at Force 2-5. In Spring and Autumn the wind is less strong and blows usually from South-West. It arrives around noon, blows between force 3 to 6 (10 to 25 knots) and dies down at sunset. There may be strong gusts on the leeward side due to the high land (e.g Eastern side of Ithaka and Zakinthos.)

The starting point for your cruise is from Gouvia Marina, about 15 minutes from Corfu International Airport. Corfu is the northern-most of the seven Ionian Islands. Proceeding south from Corfu you come to the islands of Paxi and Antipaxi, Lefkas, Ithaca, Kefalonia and Zakynthos, and the island of Kythira.