Things the kids were into in May 2018 Swimming – swim season has started again! LEGO – they go on and off Lego’s. Definitely ON at the moment. Pokemon – it’s an obsession… Funny stuff they said this month Beau During a sail the wind unexpectedly picked up and caused the boat to heel over […]
Slowing Down in Slovenia
Since we’ve been in Slovenia we’ve been at anchor for three nights and have done a lot of nothing much. Sometimes it feels difficult to slow down. Right now though, we aren’t having too much of a guilt-complex about it. I did manage to cut the boys hair, and we did go to the shore […]
Boat Stuff
For people interested in our sailboat and the things we do to keep her floating, I have added ‘boat stuff’, which may or may not float yours. People ask us constantly what type of boat Spacegrazer is. She is an Irwin 52, designed by Ted Irwin and built in 1988, in Florida, USA. These boats […]
Venice “La Serenissima”
We left Venice this morning after a wonderful stay. The thing that really surprised me is how many calm, green places Venice has. Yes, the city itself is crazy busy – packed with tourists, pushing their way through the narrow alleys and canals. But just a few hundred meters from Saint Mark’s, there are quiet […]
Venice (baby!)
Well I can’t say anything about Venice that hasn’t already been written. Our excitement was overflowing as we entered. As expected, it was teeming with all sorts of boats, from cruise ships to oar-powered craft. We stayed at Certosa Marina. Only our third marina in over 2 years. It was hectic coming in as we […]
Up the East Coast of Italy
The pilot books warned of a sparse cruising-ground when sailing the east coast of Italy, and it wasn’t wrong. It could’ve been that we were already of the mindset to cover some miles so that we could enjoy Venice and Croatia without the feeling of being rushed. To Otranto Our first leg up from Siracusa […]
What we do on a passage
We just did our first overnight sail of the season. We left Siracusa, Sicily, last Thursday and arrived at Otranto on the Italian mainland on Saturday morning. So we were underway for 2 days and nights non-stop. Time passes by very strangely underway. There are moments of relaxed bliss when time flies by. There are […]
On the move again
So we left MdR on Sunday 6 May after spending our second winter there. Shaking off six plus months in a marina is a surreal experience. Suddenly after ages of being in one place the boat is moving. The boat the was once the shape of a house, is once again a house in the […]
Frolicking in the Forest
Monkeys on My Back The sun was finally shining today so we headed out to the woods and dunes near The Hague and Wassenaar. There’s a lovely bit of forest there designated for kids to build huts, swing on ropes and climb trees, called the Monkey Forest. Beau is getting a bit tired and slightly […]
Friends’ Reunion
Today we got together with many of the old gang – there’s seven of us on the picture above from 2004! With (new) partners, friends, and children added over the years, we were with a group of 18 today. Party On, Dudes! We had lots of fun, starting the day with pancakes and prosecco, then […]
Holiday in The Netherlands – Week 1
Taking a Break from Boat Life – Week 1 The trip from Sicily to The Netherlands did not start very promising, with poor Beau feeling sick. He threw up a couple of times at the airport, and we were worried he would not be able to get on the flight. Luckily, he managed to board […]
Winter Fun – Ice Skating in The Netherlands
Swapping Liquid for Frozen Water Being on land for a month, we are enjoying some activities we normally cannot do on the boat, like ice-skating! Yesterday was the first time the kids ever wore skates. In fact it was the first time they were even on ice! We went to an indoor ice-skating rink, since […]
Taking the Monkeys to Monkey Town
Monkeying Around From the moment we told the kids that we would go to The Netherlands, they have been excited about going to Monkey Town. It is an indoor play area that we visited last year, and they just love it. We love it too, since it gives us a chance to sit back with […]
Road Trip to Agrigento Valley of the Temples
More Old Stones This winter we plan to explore Sicily in a series of little road trips. The first road trip led us to the Valley of the Temples near Agrigento. More ancient Greek temples for us, yay! Or, as Kai would put it: more old stones that we are not allowed to climb on… […]
Halloween
Trick or Treat! Halloween is one of our kids’ favourite holidays. They had been counting down for at least 60 days… We had great fun going around the marina trick-or-treating. 14 kids were in the marina at the time. They all went along the boats together, with us parents in tow off course. The kids’ […]
Back in Sicily
Back in the Land of Power Ballads We are back in Sicily for the winter. Just one tiny example of things we love about Italy is: listening to Italian radio stations while driving. The excited talking! The power ballads! Love it, just love it. Other than that, we are loving the food, the prosecco, and […]
Video of Spacegrazer in Methoni harbour
Check out this awesome video of our boat Spacegrazer in the old harbour of Methoni. Thanks to Jack on SV Vesna for making this video and sharing it with us!
Goodbye Greece Hello Italy
Saying goodbye in Zakynthos Our last Greek island this summer was Zakynthos. Since we had considered ourselves intrepid travellers rather than tourists, we had refrained from buying tacky souvenirs all summer. So… here was our last chance to go shopping! The boys got lousy t-shirts, Zoë a frilly dress, and I got a captain’s hat… […]
Run Children Run – Ancient Olympia
Katakolon – a geriatric playground We parked Spacegrazer along the town quay at Katalon to go visit the site of ancient Olympia from there. Katalon is a weird place! The town was completely empty when we got there. But soon after, two cruise ships arrived. Shops opened, souvenir stands popped up, horse-drawn carts and beer […]
Raiding Castles in the Rain – Methoni
Walking in the rain Methoni has a magnificent old harbour, flanked by a fortress and a Venetian tower. Even though it rained and the fortress was closed on the day we were there – we did try to get in, but hey, it’s a fortress – we had fun exploring outside. We also caught up […]