Antony and Cleopatra had a larger fleet than Octavian, but the crews of Antony and Cleopatra's navy were not all well-trained, some of them perhaps from merchant vessels, whereas Octavian had a fully professional force. Antony wanted to cross the Adriatic Sea and blockade Octavian at either Tarentum or Brundisium, but Cleopatra, concerned primarily with defending Egypt, overrode the decision to attack Italy directly. Antony and Cleopatra set up their winter headquarters at Patrai in Greece, and by the spring of 31 BC they had moved to Actium, on the southern side of the Ambracian Gulf.
antony and cleopatra had a larger fleet than octavian but the crews of antony and cleopatra's navy were not all well-trained some of them perhaps from merchant vessels whereas octavian had a fully professional force antony wanted to cross the adriatic sea and blockade octavian at either tarentum or brundisium but cleopatra concerned primarily with defending egypt overrode the decision to attack italy directly antony and cleopatra set up their winter headquarters at patrai in greece and by the spring of 31 bc they had moved to actium on the southern side of the ambracian gulf