Caretta

Who: Marie, Michel, Timothé.
Where:Around the world
Multihull: Eclipse 472
www.michelfischbach.wixsite.com/ catamarancaretta

 All countries have their charms... and their drawbacks. Here are a few of our most memorable moments: the commitment to Sine Saloum with Voiles sans Frontières (Sails Without Borders); Gambia’s wildlife - crocodiles, baboons, and hippos; the relaxed lifestyle in the mangrove near Banjul; and the monkeys that steal your drinks. The Sunday night party in Palmera on the island of Sal in Cape Verde, and the vertiginous trekking on San Antao. The fatigue-free transatlantic trip to Salvador. The maze of the Brazilian rivers and their small villages. The atmosphere of Jacaré, a Brazilian marina run by French people. The dunes of the Lençois islands, Guyana. The island of Tobago which combines superb underwater life with luxuriant flora. The French West Indies. Playing Robinson Crusoe in the Roques and the Aves Islands. The cruiser atmosphere in Bonaire, and the kite-surfing courses. The entrance to Willemstad, where the floating bridge opens on to a colorful city. Colombia, so diverse and contrasting, with two days spent in a village of Arruacos Indians. Panama and the San Blas archipelago and the Kuna Indians: a foretaste of Polynesia. Transiting the canal, a few days before it closed due to the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Then a 25-day crossing to the Marquesas Islands, the longest sail of our round-the-world trip. The grandiose arrival in the Bay of Virgins at Fatu Hiva, where we could not even disembark. The Leeward Islands. But what about the flip side? Especially the issues with our boat, which are almost a daily occurrence. I am learning to accept them better and we are becoming more and more competent at solving them ourselves. The repairs, maintenance and washing, take up to two hours a day, sometimes much more. The growing insecurity in Brazil. The number of boats in some anchorages. Health management, which can be complicated. We had no problem with overcrowding: our catamaran has plenty of room for the three of us. It is fast, comfortable and well equipped. The washing machine is much appreciated, the family understanding is good, and none of us wants to stop the trip. Even if Tim misses his old friends. We don’t see ourselves, for the moment, going back to the life before, waking up in the morning for a day that will look like yesterday and tomorrow. Life on a trip is interesting in that no two days are alike! We had planned four years of travel. We are almost there. But we will carry on, even though we have never excluded the possibility of settling down in a place if we liked it enough. Jacques Brel said that at 16, a man has already imagined his dreams and he will spend his life trying to realize them. Sometimes late in life. As Olivier de Kersauson would say, I had to go around the world, just to be polite. In fact, the interest of this journey does not lie in the beautiful beaches, the beautiful places or the beautiful dives, but simply in the discovery of countries, places, people and cultures.