This blog is my recap of 2022; a vaguely chronological space filled with stories and misadventures of our travels through the year - with some musings about life thrown in for good measure. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in - its a long one. Alternatively pictures tell a thousand words and I have plenty of those. 🔱✨💛
After five long months of wintering in Arenys de Mar and it was now time to leave. It wasn't quite the same as the previous winter, due to our three-month visit home to South Africa resulting in us never truly settling in to enjoy our time there. Regardless, we were past being ready to hit the open seas once again. As always, there’s a little anxiousness when leaving the safety of shore for the first time after a protracted period, but we soon settle back into the lifestyle.
The forecast called for good winds and enough to get us moving - destination Ibiza whoop whoop!!! We finished loading the boat with fuel, water, and food and cut our ties to shore. Steering GypsyDjango out of the Marina was a surreal experience. We were doing it!
Forty-three hours later dropped anchor on Ibiza in late March. Ready to begin our circumnavigation of the place famously (or notoriously) known by most as the Party Island. However discovering Ibiza by boat in March presents a different picture to the typical mid-season scene which possibly an age thing, we wish to avoid. We found Ibiza a little disappointing; the anchorages were not the best (are we becoming tarnished, or just spoiled?) and the expected all-night beach bars and glitzy clubs turned out to be dingy underground hovels in back streets. We moved on fairly quickly, excited to meet our good friend Tony in Mallorca in April.
Besides the excitement to spend time with Tony, who is loved by both of us, there was also a little trepidation at how we would cope with a third in our close space for what would be at least a month on our journey east. Tony, taking a huge leap of faith, was joining us as he searched for skipper positions in the Med, and we were excited to be part of his journey (and of course catch up on all the news from South Africa that he brought us). As an aside, Tony’s leap paid off and after great experience in Sardegna he is currently on a year’s contract skippering in the BVI!
Traversing Mallorca we got to share our love for the wonderful Balearics as we took Tony on some of our favourite trail runs across the Tramuntana mountain range. During the day he bravely crawled up and down some sketchy sections which might have headed straight down the mountain, and at night reported back to Beth that we had once again failed to kill him. Many bays, a few braais, a boat show, and lots of interviews later and we stopped in Mahon on Menorca for a quick refuel and resupply before crossing eastward to Sardegna.
Magnificent Sardegna is a place where you are virtually guaranteed strong sailing winds, with the south of the island known for being one of the windiest places in the Med. And since we were there, it made sense to pop across to Corsica to explore the exceptionally beautiful southern coast, the town of Bonifacio, and the surrounding Islands. Just when Tony was becoming part of the family we swapped him for Clair - a definite upgrade in the looks department ;-) As Tony left for his first gig as a Mediterranean charter skipper, Clair joined us for part of her four-month exciting excursion discovering much of Europe by plane, train, and yes, boat. We would get to enjoy the company of our vibrant, if not somewhat crazy, Clair until Greece. And with her good buddy Leo, on board for the first week, being an experienced sailor, we enjoyed the extra sleep thanks to sharing the night shifts on the crossing to the Amalfi coast amongst the four of us.
The week flew by, from one picturesque bay to the next, until spectacular Capri for another crew change - Leo for Tony. Coincidentally they used the same ferry, which after nearly running us over, dropped off Tony and took away Leo.
With Tony back on board it was time to start heading south and through the Messina strait to the Ionian Islands, with a quick stop along the way to share the always erupting Stromboli with Clair. It turned out to be an active period for volcanoes, and from our viewpoint on Sicily, we were treated to a magnificent night show from an erupting Mount Etna on Sicily. Of course, this also meant the boat got covered in ash, as the channel truly is that narrow.
After an amazing time exploring the wonderful Ionians, Clair and Tony had fallen in love (with the Ionians, not each other) and had to be forcefully disembarked from GypsyDjango ;-). Sadly their journeys were continuing in different directions from ours, but darn it felt good to get some Kev-only time. In the end, it was only 33 days with Tony and 19 with Clair (yes I was counting), over little more than a month-and-a-half. Summer in the Ionians is spectacular and I love the sailing of this genuine, slightly tired but authentic Mediterranean area. The anchorages are harder than in Croatia but the cliffs, with their bright white limestone, are more dramatic and beautiful. While this creates slightly more challenging anchorages, it delivers crystal clear turquoise water like none other.
Determined to keep exploring we headed to Sarande, Albania for a brief visit. We were however disappointed as, unless you are exploring inland, Albania is not great by boat as there are literally only two anchorage areas and kilometers of harsh cliffs. Quickly moving on we finally arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia after a successful 58 hours of sailing. It was hard minus the help and company of our extra hands on deck but we managed it, thanks in part to the thousands of jumping fish that played havoc with our depth sensor for most of the trip. Our depth sensor has a range of an arbitrary 128 metres (go figure) and it struggles to tell the difference between a shoal of fish and a barely submerged rock. You can imagine our panic the first time the fish activated the shallow water alarm miles from anywhere.
Croatia yet again delivered an exceptional experience. Three months of sunshine and bliss in perfect anchorages with predictable sailing winds and the best old towns to be found anywhere in Europe. Fast forward to 114 different anchorages and three months later and all too soon we were sadly on our way back westward. It was an epic season with visits from our good friends Bobby and Jan, Nina, Ebbs and our motley crew of good friends with a week of non-stop fun, tequila and laughter, a boat of derelict saffer sailors, and, finally, my wonderful son Tristan and his friends.
Sensing something afoot neither Tristan’s nor his young virile friends took us up on our challenge for one of them to spend the night sleeping alone on the beach in our secret deserted bay on the Ston peninsula. True to form, close to midnight, the Croatian Siberian wolves showed up to serenade us. (Un)fortunately our run the next morning to try and find them delivered nothing but footprints. Sharing our lifestyle with my son has been the highlight of my year. But saying farewell to Tristan was exceptionally difficult and heartbreaking. Fortunately, I'm sure I managed to embarrass him more than once, as all good mothers should.
Serenade recording below
Adios Croatia, hola Espana. In the past, my favourite part of each year was the all-too-short time we spent living and loving Croatia. That’s changed however and now it's all about the journey; the journey from Spain and back again. It’s the experiences of the different countries and adventures along the way. So with considerably less sadness than when leaving Croatia in 2020, I was excited to begin our return trip. So much so that our first crossing from Croatia to Italy, meant to be two nights, simply continued as we took advantage of the good sailing conditions to arrive in Sicily six continuous nights later - our longest unbroken passage yet. Ever since the night show she gave us in May, we have been dreaming of returning to climb her slopes - and so it was with great excitement that we anchored in the shadow of a smoking Mount Etna. But why walk when you can ride? And it's a little difficult without a car; so it made sense to ride the 25 kilometres there, spend the night in a rustic farmstead amongst the goats, chickens, and hazelnuts first. The next day we tackled a 70km trip with 1500 metres of climbing (read riding up sandy volcanic ash), before the lovely descent back to the coast and GypsyDjango, totally exhausted but elated. And let’s not forget the 200 metre swim Kevin first had to go back to GypsyDjango in his cycling shorts to collect our tender, which the friendly Sicilians wouldn’t let us tie up anywhere overnight. Not too bad for our first ride back on our bikes in five months, although my bottom didn't love the saddle as much as I loved the outing.
After consulting the tide tables we once again traversed the Messina Straits and their famous currents without incident, off to visit our next volcano. Part of the Eolie archipelago north of Sicily, this volcanic island is most imaginatively named…Volcano. Our second ride started with a lot of carrying up a steep, slippery shale slope, past the sign that said the route was temporarily closed due to recent volcanic activity (at least I think that’s what the sign said, my Italian is not to be trusted). Turns out a mountain bike is not a great way to get to the top of the crater, but boy was it worth the trip back down.
Taking advantage of the favourable winds we left Volcano after just one night and 58 hours later we were back in Sardegna. In no great hurry to get back to Spain, we took our time to enjoy Sardegna’s east and south coasts, changing anchorages from time to time to avoid those crazy winds that only Sardegna can deliver. With a mostly straight coastline down the east side, it can be a little challenging to find good shelter from the strong northeast, east, and southeast winds that can pull through at short notice. Fortunately, the anchorages are very shallow for a good distance from the shore with good sand holding. To make sailing even more fun, the mountains and cliffs of the rugged coastline play havoc with any westerly winds; how do you trim your sails when you can go from 8 to 30 knots of beam reach wind in the space of a hundred metres?
But, wild Sardegna is a beautiful, mountainous place to explore and we were blessed with the opportunity of visiting the Gorropu Canyon, another item that had been on my list. After cycling the 30km to get there, mostly off-road, and with the knowledge that we still had to ride this in reverse in the back of our heads, we left our bikes behind some rocks and entered the canyon. Honestly, though it was a little bit of a letdown; unlike the exceptional SA Calobra Canyon on Mallorca we dragged Tony up - again failing to kill him, the wussy Italians only allow you to hike the first 500 metres up without a paid guide. And this is after paying the entrance fee to the officials in the hut in the middle of the mountains 30km from anywhere.
After two weeks, and fearing the changing weather that winter’s approach can bring, we made the decision to head to Menorca. Historically these three days of sailing between Sardegna and Spain have always resulted in Kevin feeding the fish with the wildest of waters. For the first time the gulf of Lyon behaved and, on the 6th of October, we were back in our second home - Spain. Turns out we needn’t have rushed as winter seems to have forgotten Europe this year (so far). October was some of our best weather of the year and being postseason we had most of the bays to ourselves. We absolutely loved our time sailing around Menorca with no pressures and it was with great sadness that we entered the marina in November - not because the weather dictated it, but rather the long list of winter maintenance tasks we had to get started on. Not that I am complaining about being able to swim on Christmas day, but I am sure there will be long-term environmental repercussions (over and above the idiots in the fancy, self-proclaimed sustainable(?) Swiss ski resort that decided to use helicopters to shoot snow with cannons onto their slopes in an attempt to save their ski season).
We’ve had a phenomenal two months absorbing the culture and beauty of magical, laid-back Menorca where they still take a siesta every day. The island is covered in a myriad of footpaths and trails, winding between ancient stone walls and prehistoric ruins, that we are doing our best to get lost on as we determinedly explore all that we can.
I warned you it would be long 🙂 2022 has been epic! Even though it comes with separation from loved ones, I love the life I have chosen for myself. Every day I am reminded that while as humans we are wired for the safer choice, it's never too late for a factory reset. Along the way, wherever we find ourselves, that’s our here-and-now. I am not a free spirit and still plan too much to be one.
A big thanks to all the people that have visited and supported us along the way, from Russel keeping watch to my poor sister going grey with worry.
I look forward to seeing Jade this year and other family in 2023 (see, I still plan too much ;-)
It’s an amazing thing when you finally settle into knowing you’ll never fit in. The difference between the rest of the world and you; you feel too much about too many things. And most others feel not enough, about too few. Keep standing out. Keep showing the crowd what beautifully flying free is all about.” J. Raymond
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