Sailing Adventures of Mai Tai

Finally Homeward Bound.Gibraltar marks the halfway point of our circumnavigation.We left NZ eight years ago in May 2018, our first stop being New Caledonia. Continuing west from there, we spent 2 fabulous years exploring Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Borneo, then got “stuck” in Sumatra during Covid for another year. That turned out to be an incredible experience as well, by

It was lovely to arrive home to New Zealand after our week with the family in Melbourne. Special times indeed. What I love about coming home to New Zealand are the beautiful wild beaches, the bush walks, long hikes, the familiar native trees, the lovely birdsong, and hanging out with dear friends. Having reached the ripe old age of 75,

We are already in July 2025 and I realise we haven’t written any blogs since last November. Family reunions and major boat repairs have kept us incredibly busy. We hope this finds you all in good health and in as good spirits as we are, despite all our trials and tribulations. Our motto is to “keep smiling and keep positive

As much as we loved our time in Montenegro, we finally checked out to begin our sail south towards Malta and eventually on to Monastir, in Tunisia where we will stay for the winter. Checking out of Montenegro at Port Zelenika was remarkably quick and easy, so we were soon on our way to explore more of the Ionian Sea.

What a busy couple of months we have had in this spectacular part of the world. We have had a lot of fun with old and new friends, exploring new places and immersing ourselves in different foods and cultures. We feel very blessed to be able to live this life, despite the occasional drama which we will explain later. The

May and June 2024It is now time to head for Greece, and this year we will sail from Malta to the Greek islands in the Ionian Sea. While studying the weather, the wind direction and strength, we decided that our best bet would be to head to the island of Kefallonia, 328 nms away to the northeast, probably a 3

Sailing away from Monastir, Tunisia on a still April morning, couldn’t have been more perfect for our first sail of the year. Even the dolphins happily escorted us out of the bay. The steady light winds lasted for the first 12 hours of our 190 nm passage to Malta, but by nightfall the seas became glassy calm and the wind

It is hard to believe that it was 6 years ago since we set sail from New Zealand on this circumnavigation. And now here we are, still in the Mediterranean, and still not quite half way home. We can blame Covid for at least one of those years, waiting in Indonesia before we could move on. However, as we slowed

When cruising in the Mediterranean, you will often hear cruisers ask “Where are you wintering over this year?” Generally the weather in the Med is dominated by the strong winds that blow down from the north over the European mountain ranges, and funnel through the narrow channels between the many islands. In winter these strong gusty winds are icy cold,

So much has happened since our last blog, written in beautiful Syracusa, Sicily.We were running short of our time left to be in Schengen countries, so we planned to sail south from Sicily to Malta, to spend a few weeks exploring this beautiful and fascinating island, and then on to Tunisia where we have booked to spend the winter months,