2018

Mirabella – Welcome to the Caribbean (Dec 2017)

Sailing Mirabella  – welcome in the Caribbean

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Barbados

Incredible how far we have gotten in the last four months… We quit our jobs end of August, subrented our apartment and startet our sailing adventure in Varazze (near Genova) middle of September. We sailed along the Côte d’Azur to Mahon in Menorca, continued to Mallorca, the south coast of Spain, Smir (Marocco) to Gibraltar. We left the Mediterranean sea behind us, sailed to wonderful Graciosa (small island north of Lanzarote) and arrived safely in Santa Cruz Tenerife in early November.

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Cap d’Antibes
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Morocco
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St. Tropez
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Gibraltar

There we joined Jimmy Cornell’s Atlantic Odyssey and crossed the Atlantic in 21 days. We were very lucky to have Jakob Bekhoi joining us for the crossing. This made it a lot easier, as one person usually is busy with the kids. After 21 days we finally celebrated landfall and were overwhelmed to arrive in Barbados.

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Amina – shortly before the Atlantic departure
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The kids of the Atlantic Odyssey

The kids have done extremely well… thank God they did not get sea sick at all. What a pleasure for all of us to feel the soft sand and swim in the warm crystal clear water after three weeks on Mirabella without land.

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Jaël and Amina fooling around on the Atlanric crossing
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Parasailor!
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Jakob caught a tuna, yummy

After restocking food we started to explore the Caribbean sea. First stop was Bequia where we spent Christmas together with KISU and FALKOR who crossed the Atlantic with the Jimmy Cornell Odyssey as well. After Christmas JAJAPAMI joined – another boat from the Odyssey.

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Visiting a local school in Barbados

The skipper of Mirabella is already used to the fact, that it is always difficult to move on from one place to the other as the first mate intends to stay a little longer… same thing happend in Bequia as well… the crew was charmed by this beautiful spot with the lovely Belmont Walkway. But finally we moved on to Tobago Cays after a short overnight stop in Canouan.  Tobago Cays are a group of small, uninhabited islands protected from the sea by the Horseshoe reef. No doubt snorkeling must be beautiful there but the conditions were fairly rough. But we found a perfectly protected small beach which was an absolute paradise for us and the kids.

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Tobago Cays
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Tobago Cays
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Sandy Island

New year’s eve we spent in Union Island together with the «Swiss Connection» of  the Atlantic Odyssey which includes YUANA, MARIPOSA and KISU. It is really nice to have cruising friends and we enjoy this social contacts very much. Also Jaël and Amina are always very exited to see a familiar boat and love to spend time with our new cruising friends.

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Kids from Falkor and Mirabella

Over sundowners we can exchange our experiences and informations with each other which always helps a lot and gives new ideas. After leaving Union Island we wanted to sail directly to Carriacou. However, Dölf from MARIPOSA sent us such a nice picture of the anchorage in Petit St. Vincent that we spontaneously changed our mind and stopped in Petit St. Vincent. What a charming little place.  KISU joined as well and we then had our private little regatta to Grenada the following day 😊

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Leading the race with KISU
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Petite St. Vincent

 

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