I have dreamt of sailing around the world since I was a young girl, ever since my holidays at my grandparents’ house in Corsica. I used to see the boats sailing in the Bay of Ajaccio, and would dream of setting off on one of them to discover the island, and perhaps then to go further and discover whether Corsica really is the most beautiful destination. To be able to one day fulfill my dream, I set about spending all my holidays on that famous trio: Optimist-420-Hobie 16!
Although the sea has always played an important role in my life, I had never really been in a position to follow my dream and leave everything behind and set off on the « big journey », the sabbatical year or the round the world trip. That’s not to say that it didn’t play on my mind constantly. With a view to setting off one day, I managed to come up with a plan which would allow me to sail regularly.
The Seychelles, an early success, and everlasting memories…
Setting off…on an airplane…
To be able to live out my dream with my family, I had to come up with all sorts of ruses. I have to say that the idea of sailing the seas with very young children was not something which appealed to my husband, who was like a fish out of water when at sea. Never mind the fact that he was well aware of my total incompetence with regard to anything mechanical, any DIY and just any practical things in general. He had no intention of ending up in the middle of the ocean on the watch of a skipper with two left hands! In short, I had my work cut out… I therefore needed to use all of my powers of persuasion: I began by suggesting a family cruise in the Seychelles with a skipper. It was a fabulous week, and a real eye-opener for everyone.
Why the Seychelles? Firstly, there isn’t much of a time difference with Europe (this is important when travelling with very small children). Also the outward flight is at night, which again, is a real plus for the little ones, (as well as those sat next to us on the plane!) So, the Seychelles or Mauritius? After looking at it in detail, we chose The Seychelles (Mauritius will be next year…)! Why? Because the distances between the islands in the Seychelles are very short, which means that the children won’t be out at sea for very long at a time, and will be able to make the most of all the anchorages. The anchorages themselves had a reputation for being idyllic and full of multi-colored fish. And finally, the islands are full of places to discover, with plenty for old and young alike. On this score we were particularly spoiled. Having hardly left our base at Praslin, we were ensconced at our first anchorage, the St Pierre islet, in less than an hour. This is a small granite island, which for the kids immediately became a beautiful Treasure Island. We were alone in our anchorage… Throughout our cruise, we were able to enjoy practically deserted anchorages.
With the family reassured regarding my sailing capabilities, which were backed up by the skipper (many thanks to him), I was able to organize the next vacation as the only skipper on board. Perfect!
Guadeloupe, and the magnificent Saintes, one of the most memorable moments of our cruises.
A Round The World Tour of The Most Beautiful Anchorages
After the success of our Seychelles trip, I wanted to take on my own personal world tour. In other words, to sail wherever I wanted to. I took the view that as one spends about 80% of the time on a round the world trip at anchor, I decided that this would be the best way to live out my dream. Of course, this means that there won’t be any long crossings, night watches, amazing fishing hauls on the high seas, and of course the chance to forget the passing of time, something which is so difficult to experience in our society… However, finally, with two 15 day cruises per year, I am able to really make the most of my family, who incidentally have become sailing fanatics. In fact, the oldest child, who’s now 10 years old, is already dreaming about living on a boat! Sounds like an excuse to go sailing to me
Our cruising preparations are now like a well-oiled machine : as a family we choose which will be our next destination, based upon the time of year that we will be travelling – summer or winter, southern or northern hemisphere – and then begin to get organized. There’s no question of us arriving somewhere and counting on the briefing from the charter companies. We look through guides, magazines and internet sites, in an attempt to find the best anchorages, the unmissable visits, everything that’s possible, and everything that isn’t allowed… We cobble together a program which will allow the family to make the most of the different options depending upon the weather.
We then choose the boat: we try whenever we can, to take a catamaran that we know and like. However, the possibility of sailing on a different model, or a boat made by a different builder is something which we consider. One day, I would like us to set off on our own catamaran, so in preparation for that day, any experience that we get on different boats is useful. This process is an enjoyable family pastime, as it allows everyone to weigh up all the pros and cons of the destinations, the boats and the sailing program, before making our choice together. With their accumulated experience, the children know exactly how things work on board, and can now decide whether they want to take on a long upwind sail or not. This was part of the discussion which led us to choose to head for the BVI out of St Martin (it was cheaper than heading directly for the BVI) as the return sail back to our base would be upwind…
Lagoon, Fountaine, Nautitech, Catana, Leopard… and even Outremer. We've chartered most of the boats available on the market. This will help us when we choose our own boat.
The Price Of A Dream.
The idea was to do a real round the world tour over the course of several years, through two two-week vacations each year. By carefully selecting the dates, we usually manage to come up with a reasonable price, (especially compared to the price of the purchase and maintenance of a boat). For example, heading to the West Indies in June means that we can make the most of much reduced airline tickets, and we can get a really good deal on catamaran charter. Last year, we managed to sail for 10 days out of Martinique on a Hélia 44 for €3000. Plane tickets for the family were an extra €1500… And as it was the month of June, and the kids weren’t submerged with school work, we let them skip the last 15 days of school without any regret. And, to reduce the costs, we sometimes go with a family of friends, which allows us to reduce the chartering costs by half… Just about the perfect solution!
Diving and fishing: two of our favorite pastimes (even if we aren't particularly gifted fishermen…).
Dream Destinations
Over a few years, we have managed to discover some of the most beautiful destinations in the world. Some of them are destinations which our genuine "round the world" friends have never had a chance to visit. After the Seychelles, we went to Mauritius. It's a lovely destination, but lacks anchorages, as the coast is very difficult to access in windy conditions. Next we set out to discover the West Indies. Our first destination was Guadeloupe, which allowed us to sail easily in between the islands and to discover very different places in just a few miles. Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, Dominica, the Saintes, Antigua… Wonderful! However, after the Indian Ocean, it was a bit of a shock to have to share our anchorage with so many boats! We then continued our discovery in the Caribbean, with trips to St Martin and St Barths, The Grenadines, Martinique and of course the BVI. The BVI's reputation for being a sailor's paradise is well-merited. Loads of anchorages, short distances between the islands, incredible views, and even empty moorings (if you look carefully), especially at Anegada, and at the world famous Baths in the evening. Another of our cruises, which was chosen after seeing an article in Multihulls World, was in The Maldives. That was an amazing trip! Unparalleled beauty, incredible seas, and magical encounters with unbelievably nice people. For the first time, we said that we could make an exception to our rule, and come back to the Maldives before we had finished our Round The world Trip. We still have quite a lot of places to visit. We started on the Mediterranean with the wonderful Greece (Saronic Gulf, Dodecanese-Cyclades) and the fabulous anchorages in Turkey. In winter, we also went to Asia (Thailand: Phuket and Gulf of Thailand - Malaysia and Bali). And finally, we broke open the piggy bank to fulfill our dream of sailing in the Pacific, and specifically in French Polynesia, sailing out of Raiatea. It was the first time that we had felt that we hadn't seen enough, and the dream of setting out on our own boat to discover all the other islands has practically become an obsession for the whole family.
To finish our "Chartering World Tour", we still need to visit New Caledonia and Australia and the fabulous (according to what we have read) Great Barrier Reef, as well as a trip to the Bahamas.
Our next vacations are already planned, and these destinations should allow us to fill up a hard drive or two with photos, as well as reinforcing our love of sailing.
Anchored in the Grenadines: things could be worse!
What's Next?
We thought long and hard about our chartering world cruise. There are of course downsides. We often found it very hard to hand back our boat after our cruise. The desire to stay on board was often (maybe always!) very, very strong. But at the end of the day, we have made a family choice, even though the children would love to take a sabbatical year, and my other half is starting to suggest that a cruise around the Atlantic might be an interesting thing to do together… But this won't happen. Our professional lives don't lend themselves to taking a year-long sabbatical, and we will continue our world cruise by chartering. It offers us a packed program and we just love it. We'll just have to wait for our retirement or for our work situations to change enough for us to be able to join our fellow Multihulls World readers sailing around the world!
We sometimes have to vote to decide whether we leave or stay on in an anchorage. It's often the children who have the casting vote!
The Good, The Bad & the Ugly
Attempting to charter your way around the world will provide you with wonderful experiences and memories, but also some less positive ones… Here's a short list of what we loved, but also what we didn't enjoy so much.
After having experienced over 20 charters all over the world, and having used all types of charter companies, from multinationals to others which only have one or two boats, we have been able to see how the practices differ. What we have found is that the quality of the welcome depends upon the boss of the agency! We have had briefings ranging from the patchy to the in depth and personalized. This reinforces our belief in preparing well before the cruise begins.
Among our worst memories are a breakdown (once in 20 charters) which meant that we had to return to port and lose at least half a day, or bad weather which kept us in the port for three days thanks to a cyclone alert. Setting off out of season has its advantages, but there are also potential downsides.
Other than that, it's blue sky all the way, and fantastic memories, such as the island of Arki in Greece, manta rays in The Maldives, where our youngest went swimming in his armbands in the middle of the rays, and the mad langoustine in the Grenadines which tried to eat my husband. The kids named it Langoustzilla! There are thousands of other wonderful memories too.
An anchorage off Chancel Islet in Martinique's Baie du Robert. Our trip around Martinique remains one of our best memories.
What about the Maldives? A diver's paradise, and deserted anchorages. Perfect.
