Ionian Sea and its mythology

According to Ancient Greek writers, especially Aeschylus, the name Ionian is linked it to the myth of Io (Greek: Ιω). In Ancient Greek the adjective Ionios (Ἰόνιος) was used for the sea because legend has it that Io swam or flew across it. 

 In most versions of the legend, Io was the daughter of Inachus, the king of Argos and a priestess of the Hera. It was in the Argean planes that Zeus noticed Io, a mortal woman, and lusted after her.  

Although Io initially rejected Zeus' advances eventually relented, and according to some stories, Zeus turned her into a heifer in order to hide her from his wife. Zeus deception failed, as Hera begged Zeus to give her the heifer as a present, which, having no reason to refuse, he did.  

Hera then sent Argus who had 100 eyes, to watch Io and prevent Zeus from visiting her, but Zeus sent Hermes to distract Argus. According to Ovid, he did so by first lulling him to sleep by playing the panpipes and telling stories.  Zeus then freed Io, still in the form of a heifer.

In order to exact her revenge, Hera sent a gadfly to sting Io continuously, driving her to wander the world without rest. Io eventually crossed the path between the Propontis and the Black Sea, which thus acquired the name Bosporus (meaning ox passage), where she met Prometheus, who had been chained on Mount Caucasus by Zeus. Prometheus comforted Io with the information that she would be restored to human and become the progenitor of the greatest of all heroes, Heracles (Hercules).  Io escaped across the Ionian Sea to Egypt where Zeus restored her to human again. 

I presume Io selected the Ionian Sea for her escape because the prevailing winds are usually light.  This was not our experience as for a large part of our crossing the winds were strong thus we kept our jib and main reefed.  In the picture after a four-day and nights sail we are getting closer to the west coast of Greece, our homeland.