Hunkering Down

At: Porto Di Sant' Antioco, Sardinia, Italy

In the morning, we said goodbye to Véronique. She took the bus to Carbonia and then the train back to Cagliari, where a plane will take her to Germany, where a very good friend will pick her up and bring her back home to Belgium. We’ll miss her positive energy and humorous character. Her week of holiday meant a holiday for us as well, as she helped with everything, from setting sails to getting groceries to doing dishes to keeping kids entertained. Dream guest!

I sauntered over to Ikigai to ask them about their plans for the crossing to Barcelona. And so I met captain Maurice Dun. The guy is 28 and has over 60.000 miles of experience. Started sailing on big yachts when he was 16. Sailed across the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean to Australia. He invited me in. I brought my laptop and started taking notes as fast as my fingers could follow. For hours he entertained me with stories and golden nuggets of knowledge about anchorages in various Pacific islands. He’s also an accomplished photographer. Check out his website and Instagram!

In the afternoon a series of squalls passed over us. I tried to make the bimini waterproof yesterday evening with a silicone spray — it rained right through it before — but I’ll need to apply a lot more cans to withstand this kind of onslaught. Maybe I’ll just cover it in corrugated iron.

We watched the ‘Ocean Deep’ episode of Planet Earth, translating David Attenborough’s narrations for our kids.