I met the Baici family in the harbour in Gibraltar and crossed the Atlantic with them to the Canary Islands in 6 days. In a short diary I report about the crossing and the great time we had together. You can read more about my search for a ship in my blog post about Gibraltar.
The Baici family are Fedi and Silke with their kids Stella and Siro – an incredibly nice Swiss family! They liquidated everything in Zurich a few months ago and are now travelling around the world with their catamaran “Beso del Viento”.
Day 0: We’re ready to go!
Tomorrow we start! Actually we wanted to leave today, but then it got late for various reasons and we’re staying another night. Just mixed cocktails (my bar scored) and then cooked broccoli pasta. (Am now on board with an Italian and can’t say pasta anymore).
First impressions on both sides were not deceiving: we get along very well and will have a good time together! Fedi and Silke were in Mexico 20 years ago and we share a love of tacos and mariachi. And the kids Stella and Siro like to play card and board games, so we’ll definitely be doing a lot of that.
Day 1: Finally on the sea!
Sitting on my first night shift right now from 3am – 6am. I am happy that they trust me directly and that I can help. But that was also their condition, that they take someone with them who knows about sailing boats (actually they didn’t want to take anyone with them).
There is not much wind yet, so we drive our motor. But we are all looking forward to the moment when we set sail.
I used the reception from Spain today, now there’s radio silence – that’s nice too! I gave Siro some guitar lessons, played Virus (a great card game) and watched a great sunset. The moon is full tonight, so I can keep a good lookout. I am happy!
Day 2: The freedom of the oceans
This morning the wind came up and we were even a bit faster under sail than under engine. Now towards the afternoon it has died down again and we need support from the engine :/
The land has been out of sight since tonight, so we only see a ship now and then next to the Atlantic. It’s so nice to be surrounded by water. I feel free! Stella said yesterday that you’re a bit cramped in a small space, but I’ve never thought of it like that. I don’t know where you can feel freer than I do here. It’s also really nice not to have reception.
We’ve put out the fishing rods but haven’t caught anything yet. Instead, Stella, Silke and I painted our toenails today. In my family, that’s been compulsory for years when sailing. And since we don’t do things by halves here, we took 5 different colours.
Day 3: Egg-laying Woolly-Milk Quay
We still haven’t caught any fish. But we saw dolphins and how. Today, some swam with us for about 4 hours. We were even able to watch some jumps. I missed the highest one, but Fedi got it on the GoPro!
Yesterday I already made music and we sang together. Today we got Fedi’s electric guitar and my amp out and I played some songs. We recorded a few too – by far the coolest setting I’ve ever had for song recording!
Silke called me “Egg-laying Woolly-Milk-Kai” today because I bring everything she wants in a fellow sailor. That made me very happy! I also feel super comfortable here. I get along great with the kids, as well as with Silke and Fedi. The boat is simply very spacious and as a catamaran we also have other possibilities when sailing. So I’m positively surprised, I thought a catamaran might be a bit boring because it doesn’t lie down in the wind (it doesn’t), but there are other cool things and simply a lot more space than on a sailing yacht like the ones I’ve sailed before.
It’s almost a bit of a shame that we only have 3 more days together until we reach the Canaries. But let’s see, I think we are all thinking a bit about whether we don’t want to sail together for longer. But it also depends on how our plans fit together.
Day 4: Carnival and birthday
If I don’t spend 11.11 in Cologne, I couldn’t spend it more beautifully. It was Siro’s birthday today and we had a wonderful day! We tried out different constellations of the sails and even started the engine for a short while in between. The weather remains super nice with lots of sun, the wind could be more.
In the morning we had an extensive birthday and carnival breakfast and listened to Cologne music. The birthday dolphins I promised Siro arrived around afternoon and how many!!!
We caught our first fish today. But hardly one person would have had enough of the small mackerel, so we released it again.
Several birds passed us on the boat, probably on their way further south. A small green bird has made itself comfortable in the ship and is now sleeping.
Besides a few sailing ships, we see a tanker or a container ship every now and then.
Until just now we lay together on deck and looked at the stars. Since the moon hadn’t risen yet, we could marvel at a super clear starry sky and see the Milky Way super clearly! We also saw Mars, Jupiter and Neptune! And I learned a few new constellations: including the eagle and the dolphin.
Day 5: Relaxed Saturday
Today was the first day without dolphins. We all did a bit of our thing today. I sorted out pictures, cooked and played music. Now in the first shift from 9 – 0 pm I have the ship to myself, the others are in bed so they get enough sleep.
As long as the moon hasn’t risen yet, there are an incredible number of stars in the sky.
Tomorrow, depending on the wind, we will arrive sometime during the day 😊
Day 6: La Graciosa
There was a bit of action early this morning. I had adjusted the course early to pass a fisherman with enough distance of 2sm, but all of a sudden he turned and went on full collision course. So I pulled out and turned the boat. Suddenly there was real wind and waves. Up to 20 knots of wind and we were able to sail a really nice, rocking am-wind course.
Tonight we arrived at La Graciosa and anchored in a bay here. Tomorrow morning we can look over to Lanzarote 😊
At the same time, we are directly confronted with the EU’s isolation policy: I overheard an emergency call yesterday. South of Lanzarote, 45 people were in distress in an inflatable boat. Boats from various African countries also frequently arrive on the Canary Islands.
I’m going to enjoy and explore the Canary Islands for a bit now, but I’m also going to start looking for the next boat across the Atlantic soon. I’ll keep you posted!